What is the best all around rifle caliber!!!

[Reloadron]

What is the best all around rifle caliber!!!

There is none. I choose a caliber based on application and there is no one size fits all. While it is a nice pipe dream I have yet to see it come to fruition and I have been waiting a long, long time. Hunting? You match the cartridge to the game.

Ron

 

[tark]

What is the best all around rifle caliber!!!

There is none. I choose a caliber based on application and there is no one size fits all. While it is a nice pipe dream I have yet to see it come to fruition and I have been waiting a long, long time. Hunting? You match the cartridge to the game.

Ron

BINGO !!!!

 

[ilbob]

.22 LR.

Rifles are cheap and easy to shoot. Also fun.

Ammo is inexpensive.

 

[jmr40]

Anything from 26 to 35 caliber will cover anything in North America and all but 3-4 animals on the planet. Literally anything from 260 to 35 Whelen. Match your bullet to the game hunted and the only real difference is the effective range, ammo costs and availability, and how much recoil you're willing to tolerate.

Personally I'm sorta a middle of the road guy and settled on 30 caliber rifles years ago, but readily admit the 7mm's are just as good if not better. A 308 or 30-06 would be the 1st choice. For what I do 99% of the time any of the 6.5's will work, but they are starting to be close to borderline for bigger game.

As much as Robert likes his 375 (and I understand the rational), it is just too big for my tastes. It is suitable for the 3-4 other animals referenced above while still being viable for deer size game, I get that. But the way I see it, if I can afford to hunt those 3-4 species, I can afford more than 1 rifle.

And while the 25-06 is a viable deer and varmint round it just doesn't shoot bullets heavy enough to be a good choice for game bigger than deer. I know it's used by some guys for elk, but so is 243. The 25's are only a baby step better than the 24's.

 

[Meeks36]

.303 centerfire, rimfire 22 mag. Maybe a over under bottom 303 top 22 mag.

 

[entropy]

375 H&H makes a terrible rabbit gun at point blank range...

Speaking from experience? I bet that was a mess!

 

[Rembrandt]

Before the internet.....one of the great magazine writers of all time claimed there was no game on the North American continent that couldn't be taken with the .270.

“Assuming a cartridge can make its way on merit alone, that cartridge is the .270 W.C.F. In its early years it sat in the corner, dressed in sackcloth and covered with ashes, while few riflemen suspected that underneath it had a figger like Miss America, a disposition like an angel, and it could bake pies like Mother used to make.” Jack O'Conner

 

[Rembrandt]

Before the internet.....one of the great magazine writers of all time claimed there was no game on the North American continent that couldn't be taken with the .270.

“Assuming a cartridge can make its way on merit alone, that cartridge is the .270 W.C.F. In its early years it sat in the corner, dressed in sackcloth and covered with ashes, while few riflemen suspected that underneath it had a figger like Miss America, a disposition like an angel, and it could bake pies like Mother used to make.” Jack O'Conner

 

[Rembrandt]

Before the internet.....one of the great magazine writers of all time claimed there was no game on the North American continent that couldn't be taken with the .270.

“Assuming a cartridge can make its way on merit alone, that cartridge is the .270 W.C.F. In its early years it sat in the corner, dressed in sackcloth and covered with ashes, while few riflemen suspected that underneath it had a figger like Miss America, a disposition like an angel, and it could bake pies like Mother used to make.” Jack O'Conner

 

[Rembrandt]

Before the internet.....one of the great magazine writers of all time claimed there was no game on the North American continent that couldn't be taken with the .270.

“Assuming a cartridge can make its way on merit alone, that cartridge is the .270 W.C.F. In its early years it sat in the corner, dressed in sackcloth and covered with ashes, while few riflemen suspected that underneath it had a figger like Miss America, a disposition like an angel, and it could bake pies like Mother used to make.” Jack O'Conner

 

[entropy]

We got it the first time. I still prefer it's parent cartridge.

 

[ford8nr]

CHEVY

 

[mustanger98]

30-06. Second would be the .308 win.

It don't matter. Get one or the other and get good with it... probably end up with both anyway.

 

[Duster340]

Mopar

 

[mustanger98]

CHEVY

Mopar

That's gonna tear up a lot of meat. Y'all realize how much powder it'll take to throw those?

I'm right back to .30-30Win.

 

[illinoisburt]

I'm going with tried and true -- 7.62x39. Still probably the #1 common centerfire around the world used for everything and anything. If it's good enough for elephants and lions, it's good enough for bears.

 

[Newtosavage]

If Jack O'Conner were alive today, he'd be saying all those same things about the 6.5 Man Bun, and you know he would. LOL

7.62x39 isn't a bad choice. Been working for me for many, many years now.

I can say the same about the venerable 30-30.

But if I had to pick one, right now, it would be the 7x57 or 7mm-08. Best balanced hunting round, period.

 

[d2wing]

7-08 for me, but 30-06 the big game standard. Good arguments could be made for many others. 22 LR. 22 mag. .223.

 

[Demi-human]

30 caliber. Obviously.

 

[WisBorn]

The 30-06 for cartridge (I like the 308). I have used the 30-06 on a pesty red squirrel it works!
Well my ladder stand was built for one person and I didn't want to share it with one of those pinecone eating pests

 

[mokin]

I'm going to go with .303 'cuz that's what's in my avatar. And there's the rule.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

And the answer is 375 Ruger. Because otherwise it's silly but will kill really big bears.

Hey man. The first thing someone told me when I moved to Alaska was "Carry enough gun, not for what you're hunting, but for what might be hunting you."

 

[DocRock]

Hey man. The first thing someone told me when I moved to Alaska was "Carry enough gun, not for what you're hunting, but for what might be hunting you."

Great quote and words to live by!

 

[jeepnik]

If O'connor was alive today, maybe he would have learned by now that the 270 isn't the end all be all of rifle cartridges. It's parent is much better in almost all respects.

 

[cdb1]

There isn’t one. Geography plays a role. For example take whitetail deer. In Alberta they weigh two to three times more than Texas non-high fence whitetails. Or if I lived in Namibia maybe my 6.5x55, which is a great all around cartridge for Texas would not be so great.