BigGameHunt.net Hunting Forums

moderator · Joined: 27 Jan 2002 Posts: 6546

June 2003 Poll:

Best Big Game Cartridge....

Compared to 60 years ago, hunters today have a huge range of calibers and cartridges from which to select a rifle. With all this selection, which cartridge is the best all around for most big game?

It was impossible to list every possible cartridge in a given caliber. So, for example, 7mm means all possible 7mm cartridges (Rem S.A. Ultra Mag, Win Short Mag, Rem Mag, Wthby Mag, etc).

Unfortunately we had to leave a few calibers off (not enough space) such as the 6mm, 260, 357 Mag, and 416. If we left your favorite off, please vote for "Other" and post your comment below.

saskie · Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2003 10:11 am Post subject:

Although not my personal favourite, I voted for the 30-06 out of sheer versatility. The 300 would be second, but it's getting a little "biggish" for smaller big-game.

ChesterGolf · Joined: 17 Aug 2002 Posts: 1609 Location: Nova Scotia

Had to go with the 300. "Big game" is such a broad range but I thought of the smallest calibre I would be comfortable hunting brown bear and grizzly. I think the 30-06 is best for 95% of the available big game but I would be timid to take it as the lone rifle on a brown bear hunt.(or any other animal that wants to eat me as much as I want to eat him)

bitmasher · Joined: 27 Feb 2002 Posts: 2619 Location: Colorado

I went with the 30-06 too for the same reason as Saskie. Chester is right though, I would not use it on brown bear. For that I would step up to something with more punch.

When caliber discussions come up, I invariably hear people say something like a 338 or larger is too "big" for deer or antelope. I don't understand this statement. Clearly you can pick too small a rifle, but how can you pick too big a rifle?

Other than recoil (which can detriment accuracy if you flinch) and the possibility of larger spread, I don't see a disadvantage to using a larger caliber magnum round on smaller big-game. Anybody have thoughts on this?

For the sake of arguement assume that you shoot as well (hit the kill zone 95% of the time) with a 243 as with a 338 Mag is there still an advantage to using the 243 over the 338 Mag on smaller big-game?

[ This Message was edited by: bitmasher on 2003-06-15 22:57 ]

donmillion · Joined: 27 Feb 2003 Posts: 394 Location: Colorado

I agree, bitmasher. The only detriment to larger calibers is the recoil.

Say you have a .458 Win Mag, shoot it really well, and don't have any recoil-related problems with it. Is it "too big" to use on pronghorn? OF COURSE NOT!

I mean, what's the worst that would happen? Instead of a .243 or maybe .270 sized hole through the animal you get a .458 sized hole. Big deal! It's not like you've damaged a lot of meat or anything!

Yeah, of course, it's bigger than you really need, but so what? It doesn't hurt anything.

[ This Message was edited by: donmillion on 2003-06-16 10:01 ]

BareBack Jack · Joined: 06 Jun 2003 Posts: 31 Location: Centeral Montana

My vote gose to the 338 win mag,it adds that little more use on bigger game,it will take deer with 210 grain loads,and kill elk and brown bear with 250 grain,but then again i'm from montana and the game here is bigger than back east.:grin:

2506deerslayer · Joined: 24 Dec 2002 Posts: 101 Location: Nebraska

I think it depends on what state you are from. I am from Nebraska and there are elk but they don't get hunted much. In Nebraska for deer and antelope, I would pick the 2506 or the 270.
But if I was to only have one rifle I would have a 300 mag. the 7mm is awesome but not quite the bite as the 300!!
But I have had a lot of older guys tell me that there has been a lot more big game taken with a 3006 than any other cal.
COOL!

Guest · Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2003 8:17 am Post subject:

My pick is the 338 Win mag, when you figure in the BEAR FACTOR. The only negative thing about this pick, is the recoil factor and the fact that many hunters wouldn't be able to hit their mark with it I am affraid. Same goes for my favorite, the 300 Win mag. Recoil is a big factor for many hunters!

I must vote hands down, for the tried and proven for 80 years now........The "30-06 caliber" as being the caliber that most hunters are able to shoot with authority in the field. Not to mention that this caliber has a rainbow of various weight bullets, to cover the entire gamet of hunting species of one's choice.

AUSSIE HUNTER · Joined: 14 Jul 2003 Posts: 4

How much does the 308 get used over there? What are your opinions of how it compares to the 30-06? My ideas are that it is almost as good until projectile weights get above 180gr when the 30-06 works better. When combined with a more compact and lighter rifle I will vote for the 308. I hunt pigs, feral goats and deer with my 308. The deer I hunt are the Sambar(3rd largest deer in the world after moose and wapiti)as well as red deer and fallow. The 308 is considered light for sambar but its where you hit them not what you hit them with that counts.

shieldingarrow · Joined: 24 Sep 2003 Posts: 28 Location: Southern Indiana

Got to be 3006 just do anything round.

Captain_Obvious · Joined: 21 Aug 2003 Posts: 891 Location: Missouri/Arkansas

As you can imagine, I am a big, big fan of the 7mm Remington Magnum, and of course, the 150-160 grain bullets are awesome. 150 grain bullets have been chronographed at up to 3300 fps and the 160 and 162 grain have achieved velocities up to 3165 fps, so the reach 300 yards with as much punch as many other popular rounds develop at the muzzle. Their performance on big game is very close to that of the 300 magnums.

saskie · Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2003 4:13 pm Post subject:

To Aussie - the .308 seems to have regional followings. Around home in Sask it was rare, in NS I think it must be solidly in the top 5 calibres. .303Brit, 30-06, 270, 308 and 30-30 are about the only calibres that every ammo shop carries all the time in NS.

I would say that the .308 is in the "lightweight but acceptable" category for moose, elk and "safely acceptable" for black bear, but that's as high as it goes. And if you're a serious moose or elk hunter you should probably start looking at a 30-06 and up. Anything bigger, such as browns/grizzlies = 300 mag or better.

The .308 is ideal for whitetail. Mulie and antelope hunters would probably prefer a faster round like the 270, but at 200yds or less I don't think this would be an issue.

In general I think the .308 is an excellent all-round cartridge, it just doesn't have the same top-end performance as the 30-06.

[ This Message was edited by: saskie on 2003-10-03 16:18 ]

Big Bore 54 · Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2003 12:15 am Post subject:

That Question probably will never be answered right because of all the varibles. A 22 with perfect shot placement will kill most anything in the U.S. of A. The 300 or bigger is a little more forgiving if your off an inch or two, but not much fun to practice with. My vote goes for either a pre-64 winchester in the 30-30 or a 45-70 in a sharps rifle.

captchee · Joined: 20 Sep 2003 Posts: 138 Location: Idaho

DANG ya beat me to it. I would say that the 30 30 has taken more game by far of any other cal. in the US. I personally have taken lots of deer, elk and black beer with my marlin. At one time it was a toss up with my 54
But if you want pure unstoppable punch the 45-70 is hands down .I have even seen the sharps chambered in 45-100 and 45-125. It may take a hair longer to get there but when that round hits its like a train hitting a VW bug
http://members.shaw.ca/curtito1/lgsharps.jpg

[ This Message was edited by: captchee on 2003-10-17 14:48 ]

Big Bore 54 · Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2003 10:07 pm Post subject:

Captchee,
A good friend of mine bought two of those sharps from that company in Montana and he let me shoot one. We did some 500 yard and some 100 yard stuff and if I had the money I would have ordered me one. Not to mention they are a good looking piece. The one he won't shoot is one he is saving for his son to be old enough to shoot, he's only 6 months old now.