Poll: Do-it-all freezer fillin' rifle

[MTGamecock]

I voted for the .308, but I have no issues with choosing the 30-06 either. But I went with the .308 because I happen to shoot my .308 better than I shoot any of my 30-06s. In fact, I shoot it better than any of the centerfire rifles I own. Since I subscribe to the "the best gun for the job is the one you shoot the best" philosophy, I went with my .308.

 

[dcreiss]

A Tikka T3 30-06 has never failed me and will likely be what I take with me for any serious hunt I attempt in the lower 48.

 

[SkipperRipper]

I would say it's a toss up between 270 and 30-06. But I recently found a hot load in .270 with the Barnes TTSX 110gr that is absolutely devastating on any game. So I say 270 because of the mass availability and lower cost.

 

[DamascusSteel]

I chose the 308 even though I own a 270 and 6.5, everyone in my hunting group shoots and 308 but me actually. I bought a 300 wsm that is quickly becoming my favorite rifle.

 

[CubSlayer]

I chose the 308 even though I own a 270 and 6.5, everyone in my hunting group shoots and 308 but me actually. I bought a 300 wsm that is quickly becoming my favorite rifle.

Whadya get in 300 WSM? Going from a 6.5 Creedmoor to a .300 WSM sounds like it would be quite a jump. I got into .338 Federal because CDNN had a big sale on some of the less popular Savage Model 11s. A friend, who bought their .270, clued me in to the sale.

I was really torn between the .338 Fed and the .300 WSM, both of which were still available. (Other than .270, nothing common was on sale) I ultimately went with the .338 because of the magazine capacity, recoil (or lack thereof), and price of ammo. At the time, .338 Fed was running $25/box whereas .300 WSM was closer to $40.

Still, .300 WSM is intriguing. I love short actions and have an irrational bias against belted magnums.

 

[WVmike]

I have a .308, .264 win mag and a 7mm rem mag. If I had to choose just based on doing everything that I need in regards to big game I'd pick the .264 but without reloading, the ammo selection is limited so if I would have to pick I would choose the 7mm.

 

[DamascusSteel]

Whadya get in 300 WSM? Going from a 6.5 Creedmoor to a .300 WSM sounds like it would be quite a jump. I got into .338 Federal because CDNN had a big sale on some of the less popular Savage Model 11s. A friend, who bought their .270, clued me in to the sale.

I was really torn between the .338 Fed and the .300 WSM, both of which were still available. (Other than .270, nothing common was on sale) I ultimately went with the .338 because of the magazine capacity, recoil (or lack thereof), and price of ammo. At the time, .338 Fed was running $25/box whereas .300 WSM was closer to $40.

Still, .300 WSM is intriguing. I love short actions and have an irrational bias against belted magnums.

I went 300 WSM because i like the stats and wanted a 30, i looked at the 338 federal heavily, the gun shop had both but; ultimately i went 300 WSM because it is easier to find ammo and i just wanted a magnum cartridge. I was looking for something that was big enough for everything and wasnt belted. It's a jump but i am quite covered along the spectrum from .264 up to .308

 

[tikkaman]

I think my new Howa 1500 in 6.5 creedmoor will fit my needs now days .

 

[6mm Remington]

I hear ya. Smallest I've used on elk is y 6.5x06. With a 140gr Hornady interlock it has taken two elk with two shot's. Here in Oregon it is legal to hunt elk with a 243! Shoot, I don't even hunt deer with a 243 and I've got two!

6mm Remington - A whole bunch of deer and antelope have fallen to my 6mm Remington as has an elk. My son has also taken several antelope, a couple of deer, and his first cow elk with his 6mm Remington. Yes it's light for elk but it will work. Good bullets and good placement! His cow was at 350 yards and one shot was it. The 6mm Remington (or 243 ) are fantastic on deer and antelope.

 

[Don Fischer]

6mm Remington - A whole bunch of deer and antelope have fallen to my 6mm Remington as has an elk. My son has also taken several antelope, a couple of deer, and his first cow elk with his 6mm Remington. Yes it's light for elk but it will work. Good bullets and good placement! His cow was at 350 yards and one shot was it. The 6mm Remington (or 243 ) are fantastic on deer and antelope.

I don't doubt the ability of a 6mm to take pretty much any animal. I have shot two or three deer with the 243 and all one shot kills. But in my mind there are better rounds. many years ago I shot a good number of deer with a 22 LR, never lost a one but that does not make it a good choice for a deer cartridge. I am pretty certain my view on the 243 is simply a glitch in my head but I do think the 25's make better deer cartridges for no other reason than better bullet's. Well rephrase that, heavier bullet's. Over the years my ide on hunting bullet's has gone from light fast bullet's to mid range to heavy bullet's at or under 3000fps.

 

[CubSlayer]

One thing often overlooked when people talk about smaller bullets killing animals is the blood trail. I am mainly a bear hunter, so this is of particular importance to me, which is why my main bear rifle switched from .308 Winchester to .338 Federal. In 2017 I shot a bear in Maine with my .308. No blood trail, but it was a good shot that passed through and killed the bear.

When we processed the bear, there was a lot of blood inside. Not surprising, since the bullet took off the top of the bear's heart. The .338 Federal is no more effective at killing the bears than the .308, but it leaves more blood. I know my sample size is small, but I see a tangible difference.

My daughter just killed a bear with a .243. Clean, ethical kill, but no blood trail at all.

You could take this thinking to the next level and say "Why not use 12 gauge slugs?" Some bear hunters do, but I make the tradeoff between hole size and ballistics. All of you western hunters are probably even more sensitive to the long ranger performance, so maybe 6mm would be a good choice. For me, I wouldn't shoot anything under 30 caliber for black bear. I do plan to use the .243 for deer though.

 

[HighDesertSage]

I would look at the 450-400 Nitro Express. That way when you hit it in the ass it will still die.

 

[6mm Remington]

Graphic:
Here is a blood trail from a mule deer doe a buddy heart shot with his 7mm Remington magnum at about 160 yards. She ran more than 100 yards leaking like this before she fell. Amazing will from a 140 pound doe.

 

[jcbdc]

Graphic:
Here is a blood trail from a mule deer doe a buddy heart shot with his 7mm Remington magnum at about 160 yards. She ran more than 100 yards leaking like this before she fell. Amazing will from a 140 pound doe. View attachment 162975

Wow!

 

[roberte65]

Many clean kills on whitetails with my Ruger 308, using a variety of ammo. Glad to see folks singings its praises for western game as I plan to add a tikka 308 to the safe

 

[Alpine01]

May be a bit late to the thread but I would choose a .308. No arguments with a 30-06 but given the choice of carrying a short action or a long action into steep terrain, I'll take my .308 every time and save a pound or two in the process. It will drop anything I will encounter in the lower 48 and if I can't closer then 500 yds to do it, then I haven't honed my hunting skills well enough.

 

[buffybr]

There is a lot of "it depends" in this question.

Allpine01 posted "It will drop anything I will encounter in the lower 48."

Not my choice, but I have a friend here in Montana that does most of his hunting with his .22-250. He has probably shot more elk with his .22-250 than most posters on this forum will in their total hunting career. He has also shot several buffalo and a lot of black bears with it.

If the only animal that you hunt is whitetail deer, any cartridge listed will easily kill one, and you don't need all of the power (and recoil) of a .300 WM or even of a .30-06 or .270 Win.

I grew up and started hunting in Colorado, then have spent the past 45 years in Montana. My .30-06 (which I voted for in this poll) easily handled any animal that I hunted in these states.

In the past 20 years I have been fortunate enough to have been able to go on a number of international hunts. I have taken a variety of rifles on these hunts. Like someone else mentioned, many African countries have a minimum caliber requirement for large dangerous game. So when I hunted the cape buffalo in my avatar, I built and took my .375 RUM. I took that rifle on two African hunts and shot animals as small as a jackal (like our coyote) and 20 pound steenbok with it, but there is no way that I would pick that rifle for hunting coyotes or whitetail deer here at home.

For many years I had wanted a 7 mm Rem mag, but since I had a .30-06 I couldn't see a real advantage of a 7 mm RM over my .30-06. So until a few years ago when a friend offered me one at a really good price that I couldn't pass up. This rifle has a stainless barrel and action in a plastic stock that will handle a wet weather hunt much better than my rifles with blued barrels in their fancy walnut stocks. So this rifle has become my foul weather rifle for anything here at home, and I have taken it on a number of international hunts where I expect a lot of wet weather.

Often I read posts where the author picks a short action rifle over a standard action rifle in order to save weight. The actual difference in the length of the actions is about 1/2". My 7 mm RM rifle is a Rem 700 standard long action in their factory plastic stock. I have it topped with a Leupold VX 3i 4.5-14x40 30mm scope. I also have a stainless .308 Win in a Weatherby Vanguard with their plastic stock. It wears a Leupold VX 3i 4.5-14x40 scope with a 1" tube. These are basically the same rifles except the rifle with the short action and the thinner scope tube weighs 2 ounces more than the rifle with the long action and the thicker scope tube .

Long post, but if I really had to pick only one rifle from my safe to hunt anywhere in the world, it would by my .300 Weatherby.

And the rifle that has put the most pounds of meat into my freezers would be my .30-06/.30 Gibbs that put, IIRC, 29 elk, 8 deer, 4 antelope, 2 Shiras moose, 1 Alaskan caribou, and 1 mountain goat in them.

 

[Alpine01]

There is a lot of "it depends" in this question.

Allpine01 posted "It will drop anything I will encounter in the lower 48."

Not my choice, but I have a friend here in Montana that does most of his hunting with his .22-250. He has probably shot more elk with his .22-250 than most posters on this forum will in their total hunting career. He has also shot several buffalo and a lot of black bears with it.

If the only animal that you hunt is whitetail deer, any cartridge listed will easily kill one, and you don't need all of the power (and recoil) of a .300 WM or even of a .30-06 or .270 Win.

I grew up and started hunting in Colorado, then have spent the past 45 years in Montana. My .30-06 (which I voted for in this poll) easily handled any animal that I hunted in these states.

In the past 20 years I have been fortunate enough to have been able to go on a number of international hunts. I have taken a variety of rifles on these hunts. Like someone else mentioned, many African countries have a minimum caliber requirement for large dangerous game. So when I hunted the cape buffalo in my avatar, I built and took my .375 RUM. I took that rifle on two African hunts and shot animals as small as a jackal (like our coyote) and 20 pound steenbok with it, but there is no way that I would pick that rifle for hunting coyotes or whitetail deer here at home.

For many years I had wanted a 7 mm Rem mag, but since I had a .30-06 I couldn't see a real advantage of a 7 mm RM over my .30-06. So until a few years ago when a friend offered me one at a really good price that I couldn't pass up. This rifle has a stainless barrel and action in a plastic stock that will handle a wet weather hunt much better than my rifles with blued barrels in their fancy walnut stocks. So this rifle has become my foul weather rifle for anything here at home, and I have taken it on a number of international hunts where I expect a lot of wet weather.

Often I read posts where the author picks a short action rifle over a standard action rifle in order to save weight. The actual difference in the length of the actions is about 1/2". My 7 mm RM rifle is a Rem 700 standard long action in their factory plastic stock. I have it topped with a Leupold VX 3i 4.5-14x40 30mm scope. I also have a stainless .308 Win in a Weatherby Vanguard with their plastic stock. It wears a Leupold VX 3i 4.5-14x40 scope with a 1" tube. These are basically the same rifles except the rifle with the short action and the thinner scope tube weighs 2 ounces more than the rifle with the long action and the thicker scope tube .

Long post, but if I really had to pick only one rifle from my safe to hunt anywhere in the world, it would by my .300 Weatherby.

Not necessarily the action weight but the barrel that typically goes with it. Just talking off-the-rack rifles, nothing custom, but 308's are typically 22-inch barrels, 30-06 & 300 WMs are more likely to be 24-26 inch barrels. Those longer barrels add mass. I don't include scope mass in my comparisons at that is not a function of the rifle design. What scope you put on along with any other attachments, bipods, slings, etc. is an individuals choice depending on their desire for weight vs added performance & stability. Just my $0.02.

 

[Bullbrl]

300wm vote here. I don't get the wide bullet selection argument of the '06 that people make. The 300wm has just as big bullet selection as the venerable '06 but shoots the 175-220gr bullets with more authority.

 

[RaiderRich]

This really is a scenario of ask 5 hunters their opinion and get 6 opinions, type of debate. I did say 30-06. Did I state that because I thought the 30-06 is the best caliber ever invented, no. I said it because my 30-06 rifles 1 with a 22" barrel and the other with a 24" are two of the firearms I enjoy shooting the most.

Each individual has to decide if they could only have one rifle for a do it all rifle what would it be. I would not make it a .22-250 but if the individual that does use that is effective with it, apparently it is the best all around freezer filler for him.

A person needs to do what is right for them. Fun debate and discussion.