The “best” round for, deer, elk, pronghorn, black bear, so on and so forth.

[H&Hhunter]

What is the best round for your target species?

The simple answer is that there not one single “best” round/rifle/bullet/scope for your target species. For deer sized animals just about any center fire is capable of cleanly killing a deer. They are soft, thin skinned and lightly built. The “perfect” deer rifle in the Pennsylvania woods is most likely not the perfect rifle in wide open sagebrush country of southern Wyoming. However either can be made to work in either location.

IMO it’s not until we start thinking about dangerous game and in particular thick skinned dangerous game that we need to seriously consider minimum and adequate caliber, velocity, bullet weight and construction. And that is because we’ve now entered into a realm where inadequate terminal performance even with optimal shot placement can mean injury or death to the humans involved in the hunt.

In my home state 6MM is the smallest legal diameter for hunting big game. So 6MM and up is the answer for what’s the “best” deer cartridge in my area. Same with bullets on deer sized and critters. Just about anything will work, light for caliber, heavy for caliber, cup and core to ultra premium controlled expansion and even hard cast solids where legal.

Would I use a 100 Gr 6MM ballistic tip on a moose or an elk? No I would not, but If it was all I had I would make it work.

 

[Patocazador]

I used a 7x57 AI with 140 gr. Nosler Partitions to take all of your choices plus 13 African plains animals. The only one that took multiple shots (5) was a zebra. Gemsbok, kudu, hartebeest, nyala, etc. were all one shot.

Therefore, my answer is that any caliber bottleneck cartridge over 7mm is adequate as long as you are a good shot and use quality bullets.

 

[troy fairweather]

The 7x57 is just about perfect for most any game I hunt, if bigger stuff like elk, moose or planes game was added it would still hold its own. Tho I've shot a lot of deer with 22-250 down to 222 many animals are taken with the 22lr legal or not.

 

[Rubone]

I've killed multiple Elk with my 25-06. They don't seem to mind!

 

[Telum Pisces]

Use what works for you and you are comfortable using. End of story. Otherwise, it's a Chevy vs. Ford discussion.

 

[jmr40]

That has been my philosophy for a while. I've killed deer with 223 and with the right bullets it works. Still wouldn't be my 1st choice and certainly not for anything bigger than deer. The 24's and 25's might be ideal for deer, or similar size game and would be about the minimum for game up to elk or moose.

To me the all-around big game cartridges start with 26 caliber and 140 gr or heavier bullets. That's the smallest I'd be comfortable with on elk size game or black bear. They could be used on big bear, but I'd sure feel better with something bigger.

I started with various 30 caliber rifles and at this point in my life don't want to re-invest in something different, but any of the 7mm family of cartridges might just be the perfect balance.

 

[Chuck R.]

I like to get a little more specific than even "my area", cause even here in NE KS, I can go from 50yds wooded to 600 yds row crops while hunting the same piece of property.

For a "do everything reasonably well" I like my .260 rem M7 with it's 20" barrel. It's not stupid fast for up close, and can still reach out if I have to. It's compact size & weight make it great for stands and blinds, and it's nice for carrying all day. Personally I wouldn't use it for anything larger than deer.

IF I know I'm hunting one of the woods stands I'm going to use my 350RM with a Hornady 200grn at a little over 2700 FPS. IF I'm hunting my neighbor's lower corn field it's either my 24" .270 or my 24" .300WM, cause there "the" buck can step out of the wood line a good ways out there.

Bottom line is I try tot to use the HV stuff when I "know" the distances will be 100 yds and under. While I fully believe in double lunging deer I know that sometimes chit happens. Even though there's only on degree of dead, putting a 130 grn starting at 3150 into a shoulder at 100 and under wastes a lot of meat.

All around, everything in NA, I'd either stick with my 300WM and load it accordingly, or stick with my .350RM and pass on anything further than 350 yds. I'm modifying it now to be a sub 7lb rifle. I've also got a Steyr Model S in 8x68S that I've used on elk, but my days of lugging a 10lb rifle are over. It's probably going to be the next gun I part with.

 

[wbm]

The simple answer is that there not one single “best”

 

[Ru4real]

For me, “Best bullet for game” depends on: Game, Caliber, Cartridge, Distance, Price in that order. A couple examples.

Elk, 7mm Rem Mag, from muzzle out to 600y is the Sierra 175 Gameking.

Elk, 358 Win, from muzzle to about 150y is the Barnes 200gr TSX and from about 150 to 300y is the 200gr Hornady FTX.
Deer, 358 Win, from muzzle to 300y is the 200gr Hornady FTX.

 

[mcb]

How many of us choose to use something less than the best (assuming we can even define that)?

ie during gun seasons we choose to use a handgun or traditional muzzle loader to add extra challenge to our hunting by requiring us to be closer and taking more careful shots.

 

[Keyfer 55]

The 270 Win.or 3006 Sping is my goto rifles for big game .If I lived in northwest, I would probably have a 338 WM.

 

[Duster340]

Nothing wrong with the venerable Ole 30-06.

 

[Keyfer 55]

There are so many new rounds to pick from.
I took my first deer with a 20 ga slug.

 

[JFrank]

Would y’all use the same caliber for prong horns as wolves ?
What caliber would that be ?
Jim

 

[troy fairweather]

Would y’all use the same caliber for prong horns as wolves ?
What caliber would that be ?
Jim

Something flat shooting I'd pick,

 

[JFrank]

Something flat shooting I'd pick,

Maybe a 243 Ackley or 6 creedmoor ?

 

[troy fairweather]

Maybe a 243 Ackley or 6 creedmoor ?

Will work, normal 243 is pretty flat shooting, most use the 100 grain bullets but if you find a bullet with the right construction for your needs the 75-85 are lighting bolts. I shot a few deer with the 85 interbond, think they were about 3200fps if I remember right and the bc is still on for the weigbt. Today think I'd go with a hammer bullet, they can add 200 fps to a load.

 

[H&Hhunter]

Would y’all use the same caliber for prong horns as wolves ?
What caliber would that be ?
Jim

6.5 PRC, CM, .264 WM, .270 (Various flavor) would all be too contenders for me. As would some 6MM’s but I don’t have any. And there’s. real good chance I’d use a .308 Win out of my Steyr Scout because it tends to go most places with me, it’s handy like that.

 

[earlthegoat2]

I like generalized utility in as few cartridges as possible.

My range is under 200 yds. My target species are whitetail deer in MI and whitetail deer and feral hogs in GA. MI is a straight wall cartridge and less than 1.8” case length area.

Since I hunt MI, I want a straight wall cartridge that will be legal there while squeezing out as much power and range for when I hunt GA. I just flat out don’t want extraneous hunting rifles clogging up my safe. So I choose one cartridge that is versatile for my play style.

That is 450 BM. It also happens to have some pretty good wounding characteristics as well. It might not be “the best” for GA but it is darn close for MI.

I will admit, if I found myself needing more range, I would buy another rifle. Right now I just don’t need it.

 

[Wolfshead]

I going to add the 30-06 as my answer.
I mostly hunt whitetails and I handload 150 gr. Nosler Accubonds.
It can be used with lighter bullets up to 200 grains.
I feel it’s very versatile and is one of the reasons I chose the caliber, as I wanted something I could use to hunt from coyotes to Elk and Moose if the opportunity presented itself.
You can find ammo most anywhere and it’s relatively easy to find .30 cal bullets even in these sparse times.

 

[WestKentucky]

Nearly any critter in North America can be killed with a 30-06. I don’t hunt the big critters though, or the dangerous variety. I’m going to leave “best” open for interpretation, but it’s probably something based on 30-30 case. I’m partial to 7-30 waters, 35 rem, and the hood ok 30-30 does just fine. The other 30-30 bases rounds generally do well too.

 

[CowboyTim]

Well, my favorite centerfire rifle is chambered in 8x57, it shoots 200gr bullets best...if I can't tip it over with that, I probably don't need to hunt it.

 

[Chuck R.]

Would y’all use the same caliber for prong horns as wolves ?
What caliber would that be ?
Jim

I dunno, but the 6.5 Manbun out of a 1:6 twist, 26" barrel comes awfully close to a pronghorn/wolf combo hunt caliber "perfection". I'd run it out of a long action, just so I could seat the extra stupendous high BC bullets without compromising powder space. I don't think the bullets have been made yet requiring the 1:6, but I'm leaning forward..

I'd also have to have something close to 24X on the high end for magnification, just cause I wouldn't want to get to close to wolves.

Seriously, I'd probably use my Nosler M48 in .270Win with Leupold VX6HD 2-12x42, worked on a pronghorn last year.

 

[codytrucker]

Would y’all use the same caliber for prong horns as wolves ?
What caliber would that be ?
Jim

yes. 25-06 . But anything from 223 to 260. My personal favorite is a .22 savage high power .

 

[Buckeye63]

308 win. ,260 win , 7-08 , 358win , 338 Fed … 270win ,30-06 , 338-06 , all the same to the game