One gun/caliber to rule them all?

[Hunter4Life78]

I prefer the .22 Guffaw.

 

[Irrelevant]

Put a nose button on it.

We should redefine that term and put it on urban dictionary

 

[QuazyQuinton]

Not too good for mountain quail, iffen you're gunna want to eat em.

Forager rounds.

QQ

 

[Sytes]

.284 PRC?

Was more a humored response though if I was to pick a gun for all (word used loosely) with dies, brass, shelf ammo... I'll stick with my .06 All around good thunderstick. Yep, even over the illustrious 6.5-284.


180 Nosler partition, converted e-tip pew-pewer.

 

[fortunato]

I agree with 7mm. Great round

 

[cthomas88]

375 H&H

 

[Oldskool67]

Not the first time I’ve said this but…30-06, back to back World War Champion

 

[drake2h]

It’s hard to argue with a solid 30 caliber (’06, Win Mag, etc), but I like to shoot a lot to really develop confidence with my rifle. Recoil can be a factor in high volume work and a magnum 6.5 fits the bill nicely.

 

[millerkiller77]

300wsm

 

[Wind Gypsy]

284 win although about any 6mm-30mm centerfire would work. It’s honestly about the highest energy option I’d choose for this scenario. I’d think you’d want something one would shoot a lot and a lightweight 284 wouldn’t be much fun to shoot unless you went pretty soft on the loads.

 

[Four22]

30-06 has been killing everything since 1906…………

But a 280 ackley is damn hard to beat

 

[Kevin11mee]

For just one rifle I'd go .300 Win mag. Super versatile and can be loaded down with smaller bullets.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Have a 7mm Rem Mag and it will do everything I need to do and then some. Personal preference.

I concur 100%. Between that and the wife's .270 I think we've got most everything covered.

 

[R*and*Y]

If we found ourselves in bad times and could only have one rifle; I would like a 308 Winchester.

On the other hand, I'm not giving any up.

 

[bucdoego]

I've shot a 270 WSM for a long time. Out of all the rifles I own, its still the one I reach for on almost every hunt. I think something in the 7mm/.270 family would be hard to beat for top to bottom performance.

Yup. I've got a 270WSM too. Nice as long as you can find or reload ammo (I think I'm set for life). It wasn't like that a year ago.

The modern-bullet update, the 6.8 Western, might top it on my list, if I didn't already own my 270WSM. Ammo manufacturers have all but abandoned the 270WSM for factory loads and only Winchester (they make Browning's offering, too) supports the 6.8 Western, which would be my only hesitation. It needs the support of rifle manufacturers and ammo manufacturers alike.

The 7mmPRC looks to be the industry's choice to replace the 7mm Rem Mag. Faster twist rates and modern-bullets. If you own a 7mm Rem Mag there probably isn't enough difference to upgrade. If you don't, then the 7mmPRC is going to be an attractive option.

 

[howl]

Well, you start with .22 because there's no getting away from 22lr. The only centerfire you can shoot a whole lot of is .223. So, as you already have a 5.56 before you start this one rifle business, your choice has to be significantly more than .223 in terms of what can be accomplished. That probably starts somewhere around 7mm.

If bear means those really big brown ones, then the next significant step up from 7mm is around .338. I'm not interested in the big brown ones, am not around them, and don't have to be if I don't want. I don't need the .338.

270 WSM is close enough, but to tell it all, the reason I have that rifle is I like the stock.

 

[Bullbrl]

Either a 6.5 or .308 for me. Now, if we're talking cartridges that's a whole other story. Seems many on here get caliber and cartridge confused.

 

[Don Fischer]

I still have to think that reason say's something like the 30-06 is hard to beat with the 308 close behind. Reason being fairly low recoil and bullet's up to 220gr you can set up for most anything. But truth is, unless you live in a state that offer's grizzly and moose hunting, most of us will never hunt either! And if we won the lottery and could come up with the money, no trick to use either 30-06 or 308 and a good 180 or 200gr bullet. Then to if you have the money you can have more guns than the law would allow anyway, funny how that works! Well I doubt I'll ever hunt moose again and never grizzly, no desire to hunt grizzly! So think I'll just stick with my 6.5x55 and 140gr bullets and call it good.

 

[Colorado Luckydog]

Easy answer! 300 WSM! In my opinion, the very best! Short barrel, short chamber. Put you scope where you want it. Great ballistics! And you can send 200 grains of metal exactly where you want it!

 

[Bambistew]

I have most of the cartridges mentioned in this thread... I would still chose a 375H&H. I've shoot duikers to moose/eland with it and most things in between. It has the trajectory of a 30-06. Farthest shot was near 400 yards, or as far as I like to shoot stuff.

Yep if I had to choose only one it would be a 375. Might be a bit much for squirrels bit I don't eat many of them..