Powerful Rifles For Big Game in North America

[IJ1981]

The choices are plentiful. The game is immense from big deer to Polar Bears and Brown Grizzlies.

From The Great North
West to Northern Alaska what are your choices , THR?

 

[Flat Rock]

Good old 30-06 is always the answer

 

[jmr40]

I'd rather have a properly loaded 30-06 than any of the others but the 308 is a close 2nd. 300 WM doesn't do anything 308 or 30-06 won't do inside of 300 yards. It's a better choice for longer shots. Shots farther than I'm skilled enough to take so I can't take advantage of it's capability.

 

[tws3b2]

If you can't do it with a 30-06. Well, maybe you should just put it down and go sit back down on the couch and ask your better half to bring you another cold one.

 

[codytrucker]

While I honestly believe that a 30-06 is the perfect N. American all around caliber , I would go with a 300H&H , with 200 grain partitions. Just for the nostalgia and cool factor .

 

[Legionnaire]

If big bears are on the menu, 375 Ruger. Honorable mention to the 7mm Remington Magnum or its younger cousin, the 7mm PRC.

 

[Chuck R.]

My current "big game" rifles:

300WM: Solid all around cartridge, also does well for open country deer. Going with me to SA in JUL for plains game.
350 Rem Mag: Short, fat, 35,Whelen in a sub 7lb platform, probably my favorite rifle for 300yds and under, but least favorite rifle to shoot from the bench. Launches a 250grn at 2500FPS and the 225 at 2730 out of my M7.
8x68S: Close to a 338Win, but without the belt.

 

[luv2safari]

300 Wby and 9.3X62, as well as the American Standard, the '06

I got my German 300 Weatherby MKV 55 years ago. It has been hunted so hard that it looks like everything I killed with it was clubbed to death with the rifle. I even had the wrist break in two and epoxied back together by an old gunsmith friend. The Wby hammered everything I shot with it. Every scratch in it reminds me of it's long past.

The 9.3X62 is a rifle I used in Africa and still carry in western N America. It shoots as far as I care to now, and it is a bone crusher with the right bullets and loads, plus there is no more accurate mid-bore round out there. It earned it's reputation as a spooky-accurate round.

The 30-06? Well, truth be known, I've killed at least 1/2 of everything with a pre-war Mdl 70 30-06, a three digit serial number gun, made in 1936. It shows "honest" hunting experience, too.

 

[FL-NC]

I would use my 6.5 CM for just about any application in the lower 48. It is definitely more than adequate for any hunting I actually do in the real world. If I was going to spend the $ to go out west on a once in a lifetime elk hunt where I may have longer shots, I would just borrow whatever nicer/more powerful high end elk rifle my former team mate (who is a professional big game guide out there) recommended. He frequently loans his high end rifles to clients that show up with less than ideal or just plain messed up rifles.

 

[luv2safari]

I would use my 6.5 CM for just about any application in the lower 48. It is definitely more than adequate for any hunting I actually do in the real world. If I was going to spend the $ to go out west on a once in a lifetime elk hunt where I may have longer shots, I would just borrow whatever nicer/more powerful high end elk rifle my former team mate (who is a professional big game guide out there) recommended. He frequently loans his high end rifles to clients that show up with less than ideal or just plain messed up rifles.

You make far more sense than I ever will. Use the money for the hunt. BTW, I am new to the 6.5CM and am loving it. It kind of reminds me of hunting with my old 7X57AI.

 

[Flat Rock]

I would use my 6.5 CM for just about any application in the lower 48. It is definitely more than adequate for any hunting I actually do in the real world. If I was going to spend the $ to go out west on a once in a lifetime elk hunt where I may have longer shots, I would just borrow whatever nicer/more powerful high end elk rifle my former team mate (who is a professional big game guide out there) recommended. He frequently loans his high end rifles to clients that show up with less than ideal or just plain messed up rifles.

Lower 48 against deer yes
Against larger elk and brown bears no
It’s a great flat shooting round but I don’t think it packs the punch needed to take down larger game, especially at longer ranges 600+yards

 

[JmacD]

I’m thinking the 7PRC… if not, something old school.

 

[Gerd33]

From what I have available, it would be the .444 Marlin.

 

[Roverguy]

The step up from a 30-06 with 220s, which will happily do for any game in the lower 48, to something with significantly more power means 375, whether H&H or Ruger. The 338s and 358s offer limited gains over 30-06. 300 grs at 2800 fps in the 375s on the other hand is properly big and will happily do for polar bears, though I’m not sure there’s a season…

The 6.5 Man Bun is not suitable for Brown Bear, and its partisans are likely among the 6% of Americans who imagine they could go hand to hand with one.

 

[American_Fusilier]

I'm not huge into hunting, but I'd have to go with 30-06. Should be able to take down an elk, caribu, or moose with 180gr+ bullets

 

[.308 Norma]

"Other Tell Us What" gets my vote - my 308 Norma Mag, of course!
No, seriously - I did just fine with a 308 Winchester, and then a 30-06 Springfield for a lot of years. They both worked, as did the 270 Win, the 300 Win Mag and the 338 Win Mag I used for a while. Even at that, I'd like to try a 375 H&H before I'm gone.
I've never been thoroughly committed to just one cartridge for everything big game hunting. I'm not married to a big game rifle cartridge for crying out loud! BTW, my big game hunting wife (of almost 54 years) would add the 7mm Rem Mag to that list.

 

[luv2safari]

"Other Tell Us What" gets my vote - my 308 Norma Mag, of course!
No, seriously - I did just fine with a 308 Winchester, and then a 30-06 Springfield for a lot of years. They both worked, as did the 270 Win, the 300 Win Mag and the 338 Win Mag I used for a while. Even at that, I'd like to try a 375 H&H before I'm gone.
I've never been thoroughly committed to just one cartridge for everything big game hunting. I'm not married to a big game rifle cartridge for crying out loud! BTW, my big game hunting wife (of almost 54 years) would add the 7mm Rem Mag to the list.

If you promise to shoot an elk and share it with me you can borrow my LW FN 375 H&H.

 

[Armored farmer]

Whenever I see a poll, I automatically choose something that I have personally. The "familiarity factor" i suppose...
If i knew the range would be close...I would have chosen .45-70.
While hunting.....you never know.
I would choose the venerable .30-06.
(Thats the proper, well-used, term.)

 

[Flat Rock]

Townsend Whelen said “The 30-06 is never a mistake”

 

[jmorris]

I have a number of calibers on that list, what I pick depends on a number of factors.

I haven't had 1 gun for everything since I owned my 2nd firearm.

 

[AWS]

It really depends on what and where I'm hunting. Tracking and still hunting the north woods, drilling 16ga/16ga/7x57R, 35 Whelen, Rem 600 350 Rem Mag, Savage 99 375 Win and Rem 760 35 Rem. More open country spot and stalk 25-204, 6.5 Grendel.

 

[.38 Special]

I have chosen the .30-'06 for all sorts of game on this continent, but would be pretty unhappy with it if faced with the biggest bears. Yeah, a 220 at 2400 fps would probably work, most of the time, but that wouldn't be terribly comforting in the moment.

If I could handle the recoil, I'd take a .340 Weatherby. I can't, though, so my "one" rifle would almost certainly be a .375 H&H.

 

[KnightHawk]

Well the pole closed before I could vote.
The 30-06 is a great choice. I also have a very nice 35 Whelen, and a 338-06 improved.
If I’m in big bear country I carry a Marlin 45-70 or a custom 458x2 American

 

[buck460XVR]

I would have voted for the ol' ought-six myself, but the poll was closed. My dad never called it 30.06 Govt, but the 30 Gov't '06 or 30-06 Springfield.

 

[Highland Lofts]

At my age i'd stick with a 30/06.
I do not shoot over 200 yards so it should perform.
If I were younger i might go with a 7mm mag.
I never was any good at distant shooting.