best all around rifle round

[jay43]

Just looking for your opinions on the best all around rifle round. A well balanced round that won't kill your budget a the range but also will be effective to hunt a wide range of animals with.

 

[rdaines]

How about a Remington 700 in .270? If you handload you can make varmint loads (115 grain bullets) to deer and larger beasties with 130, 150 grain. Also a very common cartridge so you'll be able to buy ammo almost anywhere.

 

[GRIZ22]

I'd pick .308 Winchester. There's a wide variety of 30 caliber bullets available that you can use from 110 to 200 grain and although not that inexpensive, 7.62 NATO ammo available. 7.62 NATO milsurp is a lot more inexpensive than commericial ammo.

 

[CavalryJim]

A Remington, Savage, CZ, etc. in .30-06.

 

[jpwilly]

Best all around cartridge for North America is the 30-06. Therefore any rifle that shoots it should be what your looking for.

 

[timothy75]

7.62x54

 

[Float Pilot]

It really depends on;
1. Where you live...
2. The type of critters that may hunt you.
3. The type of critters you are hunting.
4. If you reload / handload.

This last year I built up a 350 Rem Mag Chambered M-77MKII for my particular area of Alaska.
The difference from the stock rifle.

1. Front sight installed.
2. Low light fiber bead.
3. front sight hood drilled for sky-lights
4. NECG, detachable rear peep sight.
5. Warne quick detach scope rings with a 2x 7 Leupold. With backpack case.
6. high heat Ceramic coated.
7. Second sling swivels on left side of rifle. (not shown in these pics)

I use 225 grain Kodiak Bullets. Out to 300 yards, it works for anything in my AO and weights exactly 8 pounds with the scope.

I have lots of others that work just as well. And maybe a 35 Whelen in an old M-70 action or Mauser action would have been better. But I ran across this rifle fairly cheap, it has enough power for the local job, and it is light enough to carry...Oddly enough it is very accurate...


BTW: Here in Alaska we ran a few polls about what the best all around Alaskan rifle caliber would be if (God Forbid) you could have only one...
The last results whcih are pretty typical....

338 Win Mag at 35.4% followed by the 30-06 at 25.4%

.270 ................0.62%
.30-06...... ..... 25.47%
7mm Mag...... ..4.35%
.300WM..........14.29%
.338WM..........35.40%
.375 H&H.........14.91%
.45-70.............3.73%
.416 Magnum... 1.24%

It is a regional type of thing,,,,

 

[RancidSumo]

.243
the only animals I wouldn't feel comfortable hunting with it would be moose and bears.

 

[RockyMtnTactical]

If hunting large game is one of your major uses, I would suggest .308, 30-06 if you're gonna be hunting VERY large game...

 

[hossdaniels]

I love my 270, but all around has got to be a 30-06.

 

[Charles S]

Just looking for your opinions on the best all around rifle round. A well balanced round that won't kill your budget a the range but also will be effective to hunt a wide range of animals with.

I think for the purposes you specify....A well balanced round that is effective to hunt a wide variety of animals and is not expensive...assuming you are limiting the discussion to North American game. I personally believe that the 30-06 is the best all purpose round.

However there are several others that will work almost as well or better; although each will have it's strengths and weaknesses.

Obviously the 308 will work, but you give up some performance with heavier loads.

The 7mm Remington magnum will work, you gain some maximum point blank range, a little energy, for the most part bullets with a little higher sectional density, but you loose bullet weight and diameter and it will cost you a little more.

The various 300 magnums all work well, but cost more, recoil more, and produce more muzzle blast. However they also deliver more energy and have a greater maximum point blank range. In truth they are not necessary for the vast majority of hunting situations.

There are a number of wildcats that will do a good job, but at an increase in cost.

If you consider the larger bears and the African Plains game then IMHO the 338 Winchester becomes very attractive as does the 375 H&H magnum.

If you wish to hunt the really large game then the 375 H&H is the starting point, however I believe you are entering the realm where a hunter would be better served with more than one gun.

Good luck.

 

[Nameless_Hobo]

.30-60, .308 or .30-30. They'll each work.

I wouldn't recommend getting "odd" calibers, like 7mm magnum, 7mm-08, etc. They're not as common, and if you're going for a "do all" rifle, you need something you can find ANYWHERE.

.30-06, .308 and .30-30 will be cheaper than them as well.

 

[Will Learn]

.308

 

[kir_kenix]

id have to go w/ the good 'ole .308. it will get the job done on EVERYTHING (bing and small) in north america except bear, carabou, moose etc. it is very versetile...w/ light bullets it is a medium-to-long range varmint gun, w/ heavier a medium range deer round.

 

[W.E.G.]

+1 for .308... and a minor in .223

.270 is a very good sporting rifle cartridge

 

[jefnvk]

.30-06, simply for availability, power and versatility

 

[amprecon]

I just can't help but keep recommending the SKS. This rifle is just tough as nails, reliable and ammo is cheap. On the power scale it's on-line with the venerable .30-30 Winchester. Not to mention 10 rounds down-range as fast as you can pull the trigger.

 

[Sharps-shooter]

I'll say a .22 long rifle, just to be different.

It's plenty cheap, you can easily carry a thousand rounds of it around, and you can easily hunt all sorts of things-- varmints of all sorts, squirrels, rabbits, hares, snakes, beavers, bobcats, various weasels and skunks, coons.

If the need arises, you can hunt bigger things with it, but such is frowned upon in most locations, and better rounds exist for the job.

additionally, it's easy on your shoulder and ears, and you can get good accuracy with minimal effort.

Of course, my personal favorite is 45-70 loaded hotter than hot. but that's not exactly "practical", it's just fun. Great for cattle hunting, though.

 

[retrieverman]

I have to vote for 30-06, but my second choice would be 308. I would have nominated 270, but the choice of bullet weights is too limited.

 

[RNB65]

Remington/Ruger/Savage/CZ bolt action in .308.

 

[davera]

In my opinion, the most versatile has to be the "30-06 class" of rounds to include .308, 7.62X51, 8mm mauser, maybe .270 and 7mm-08 and at the lower end of that scale 6.5 Swede. Those will let you hunt most anything if you do your job. I've heard of 6.5 Swede being used for moose. You can add widespread availability to the equation and narrow it down to 30-06 and .308 here and maybe 8mm mauser in Europe.

 

[Jimmy Newman]

I shoot 7mm-08 and love it. I shoot 139 grain Hornady loads that are 100fps slower than their 140gr load for .270. I wouldn't trade it for anything, honestly, for deer-sized game and stuff a little bigger or smaller.

Maybe it's just Texas, but I see more than just 30-06 everywhere. There's almost always .270 and 7mm mag, as well as .223 and .308 and I can't remember more than once seeing somewhere without 7mm-08. Maybe I'm just lucky. They have all those calibers at the general store in the small town nearest where I deer hunt, which has a population of under 300 people.

 

[rangerruck]

price wise, one would have to say, 308, 30.06, 762.39, or 762.54 r. All these can still be had for about 8 bucks or less per box, with 762.39 going for 4 to 5 bucks per box. the 30.06 and the 762.54 r will take out all size animals in North America, no matter how large.

 

[Samuraigg]

30.06 for me. I would trust my Garand to do what I need it to.

 

[sm]

30-06.