What's the best all around hunting caliber?

[Carolina Kalash]

I'm talking from yotes up to say bears, and everything in between. When it comes to this question, the good ol' .30-06 is what I get from a number of people that I've asked, they say just use heavier grain bullets for bigger game. Now I mostly hunt deer (never killed one with a -06 though), but is the .30-06 the best all around caliber for anything bigger than varmints, or do yall have other preferences?

 

[WestKentucky]

'06 is certainly in the running but I would want a bit more for western North American bear species. I'm thinking modern (hot) 45-70 or 444 marlin in a modern levergun for strong up close and personal shots.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I could do all my needs with a .30-06. Matter of fact, I did. I used 700 BDL for groundhogs to keep sharp for deer season

 

[LT.Diver]

.30-06 or .308 or even .270 would kill just about anything on this continent. There are plenty of others of course, but I would choose from these three. If pressed I guess I would choose .308.

 

[Robert]

375H&H. One world, one cartridge.

It can do everything is he 30-06 can do, only better and can be loaded up to take anything up to elephant. Though that is really pushing its upper limits.

 

[H&Hhunter]

Actually with modern monolithic bullets the .375H&H becomes a very effective elephant cartridge. But you'd better be darn sure of yourself if you are going to use one to try and stop a frontal charge on a big bull elephant.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programing.

The .30-06 is a solid base for a do anything North American round. The .375H&H is a solid base for a do anything in the world round. The .30-06 can be pressed into service without leaving one wishing for much more or less on any side of the scale from smallest game to largest game in North America.

The .375 H&H is the same only on a worldwide scale.

Are there better tools for specialized purposes? Of course there are. But we are talking about generalized all around use in this thread and those two are HARD to beat.

BTW I take the .30-06 over the .308 simply because it is a more capable rifle with heavy bullets. The 06 with quality 220 gr bullets becomes a serious killer of big game in fact it makes it into a useable (not ideal, but adequate) thick skinned DG rifle if the need were to arise.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Any rifle caliber starting with .30

 

[Gunnerboy]

6.5x55 for the win!

 

[MrBorland]

After reading H&Hhunters postings on the .375 H&H, and speaking in person with Gaiudo, I'm much more inclined towards the .375H&H as the consummate all-arounder, particularly if you reload.

 

[MCgunner]

Not a doubt in my mind that it's the 12 gauge. Squirrels to brown bear, it's effective, just change the load. And, I doubt I'd ever hit a dove on the wing with a .375 H&H.

 

[Art Eatman]

If stopping the charge of a big bear is needful, the .375 wins quite easily. For "just hunting", though, the '06 has been proven to be adequate.

And for a handloader, the '06 can be a very good squirrel/rabbit cartridge, with a lead ball and five grains of pistol powder.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

.530 patched, all lead round ball. Bears to squirrels no worries. Just pop the heads off the rabbits and squirrels to save the meat.

You new fangled "fixed" cartrdige guys sure do spend a lot of money on ammunition and sometimes also on optics.

LD

 

[Carolina Kalash]

.530 patched, all lead round ball. Bears to squirrels no worries. Just pop the heads off the rabbits and squirrels to save the meat.

You new fangled "fixed" cartrdige guys sure do spend a lot of money on ammunition and sometimes also on optics.

LD

yeah but it dosen't take forever to reload our rifles either

 

[Panzerschwein]

.300 Mag, with the right bullet it will harvest everything from white tails to moose without destroying too much meat.

For smaller predators it is fine as well because I don't know of anyone who wants to eat coyotes.

 

[jrbaker90]

I would say the 30-06 I have one in a model 70 winchester I would be scared to go hunt anything in north america up to a brown bear. I'll throw another one in the running the 300 win mag is pretty much in the running with the 30-06

 

[Arkansas Paul]

What's the best all around hunting caliber?

What's the prettiest woman in the world?
What is the best truck?
Who makes the most comfortable blue jeans?
What is the best tasting pizza?
Bud Light or Miller Lite?

See where this is headed?

 

[DeepSouth]

I'd have to go with 12ga.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

yeah but it dosen't take forever to reload our rifles either

Reload? Why? Shoot the deer, it falls over, go pick it up. No need to track nor worry about blood trails.

IF I wanted to shoot more than once I'd use my caplock SxS.

LD

 

[illinoisburt]

Another vote for 12 guage. Under 100 yards you will not be undergunned for anything in North America.

 

[gamestalker]

My one cartridge of choice would be hands down the 7 mag.. You can do varmints at 3600 - 3700 fps or more, or jump all the way up to a 175 gr., and with the right powder can be pushed to near 3000 fps., if need be.

I'm not much of a .30 cal. guy, but if I were to go down that path, I would be using my 300 WM, which will do anything the 7 mag does, more than 30-06 can, but with heavier bullets, which also means increased pain to the shoulder region.

Nothing at all wrong with the 30-06, I have one, and can make it do just about anything with reloads, it's just not my first choice cartridge as such.

GS

 

[jmr40]

I'm partial to any of the 30's. But most of the 7mm's or 270's will do the job. It is really more about bullet choice than caliber with anything from 25 caliber up to the 30 calibers.

I can understand the argument for the 375, at least on paper, but let's be realistic. They are simply overkill for everything 99.99% of hunters are going to actually hunt. The only game in NA where they would be of any advantage is coastal brown bear. I've priced some of those hunts, they start at about $20,000 and go up to $40,000. And that doesn't include tips, transportation, and taxidermy bills. Anyone who can afford the hunt brown bear can afford more than 1 rifle. Even for 90% of African hunting they are not needed. There are only 4-5 species of game on the planet justify rounds larger than 30 caliber, and only a handful of folks will ever hunt them. It's like owning a 1 ton dually truck rated to tow 30,000 lbs when you're never going to tow more than 3,000 lbs.

Like virtually all hunters elk is the largest animal I'll ever hunt. My 308 weighs under 6 lbs scoped. It is a joy to carry, is cheap to shoot, extremely accurate, and with virtually no recoil. I can sling 130 gr bullets over 3100 fps, 165's @ 2800-2900 fps and 200 gr Accubonds @ 2500 fps. That's a 300-400 yard elk rifle, I don't care what anyone says.

The 30-06 gives you 100-150 fps more speed and the 300 mags another 200-300 fps for a little more effective range. But that speed doesn't kill them any better at closer ranges.

I have no doubts the 338 and 375 mags can offer a slight advantage on elk or moose size game to make up for poor shooting. But from 9-10 lb rifles vs 6-7 lb rifles. And with 40-50 ft lbs recoil vs 15-20 ft lbs recoil in a 308 or 30-06, 25-30 ft lbs with the 300 mags. They don't kill 'em any deader if the bullet is in the right spot.

As said earlier, I'm partial to the 30's, but most of the 7mm's including the 7X57, 280, 7-08, any of the 7 mags and even the 270 are very close. Just not as many options for bullets heavier than 175 gr. Probably not needed either.

 

[fiftybmg]

416 Ruger if you handload. Short, light, manageable recoil even with 400gr @ 2300 fps.

Lighter bullets and a scope can easily stretch it to 200 yards.

 

[cammogunner]

i would have to agree with the posts above stateing that the 30-06[as usual] is in the running for north America it can be loaded all the way up to a 220 grain bullet imo that will cover most anything except maybe monster brown bears but with a well placed shot i would say it would do the job and also as another poster said i dont care about over kill for coyotes as i do not eat them so a 150 grain bullet is fine for me but the argument could be made the 30-06 or any rifle would have difficulty to say the least hunting water fowl or other such thing in witch case the 12 guage shotgun takes over however i dont waterfowl hunt much so i would not know

 

[jmorris]

Although I rarely use my 30-06 rifles, if I could only have one, I might.

 

[allaroundhunter]

I really think that I could take any animal in North America with most any gun in my safe (aside from my AR and .22 LRs). With the construction of high end bullets today, even a .243 can successfully harvest bear and elk. And over the past century and a half, the .30 WCF has probably killed more North American big game than any other caliber.

If I had to pick one caliber for me to accomplish all of my hunting needs, it would be either a .30-30 or a 7mm-08.