What .cal

Alan413 · Jun 4, 2018

Hi Guys.

I am from Scotland.
We have Reds, Sika, Fallow, Roe and foxes.

I use a .243 for every thing.

Big Red Rutting Stags drop to it. 20 stone plus.

Just wondering what you guys use over the pond?

One rifle for all.

Or

A few rifles for different jobs.

Cheers
Alan

PS a couple of photos from the .243 hit list

The Stag on the Left was 20 stone dressed. Stag on the the right was just over 18 Stone

A Royal Stag shot over 300 yards (12 Points=a Royal)

Couple of wee Roe Bucks

MThuntr · Jun 4, 2018

I'd wager you'll get a pretty big range of answers but 7mm-08 would be pretty high on my list.

Being an American 1 gun is probably not enough

...I'd probably have a dedicated rifle for predators and it would likely be a 243 or smaller

Ben Long · Jun 4, 2018

Americans are gun nuts and our gun industry has marketed a plethora of cartridges for every game and circumstance, so the variety is kind of mind-boggling. But it gives us plenty to argue about. In my experience, a .243 is a great cartridge for game up to the size of sika and fallow deer, which to my understanding are roughly the size and physiology of an American whitetail deer. Red deer are akin to North American elk. I have come to use a .308 or a .30-06 on elk, though plenty of my neighbors use larger calibers. I think I would feel undergunned hunting North American elk with a .243, although some people do it. Of course, shot placement and bullet construction are paramount.

Ben Long · Jun 4, 2018

In 1886, Theodore Roosevelt wrote: "Like all Americans, I like big things; big prairies, big forests and mountains, big wheatfields, railroads -- and herds of cattle, too -- big factories, steamboats and everything else." He was fond of the .405 Winchester.

TexAg09 · Jun 4, 2018

.308 for everything, but I change up the bullet type and grain depending on what I'm hunting. Just my opinion, but you'd be hard pressed to find a cheaper more versatile caliber that will still get the job done humanely in most situations. I'd rather have a lot of hours practicing on one gun than just a few hours on a bunch of different guns. Also, I'm cheap....

Alan413 · Jun 4, 2018

I think your spot on with that.
I don't think I could get used to two or more rifles. Just different feel. Different triggers
243 flat and fast most of my shots are under 200. Point and pull.

Not to say I wouldn't like a bigger cal.
But 243 kill everything in the UK .

I would go semi custom Remington again .

Ben Long · Jun 4, 2018

If I remember right, a "stone" is about 14 pounds. So your stag that dressed out at 20 stone is 280 pounds. I' would wager a full grown North American elk would weigh closer to 400 pounds (say 25-30 stone). Of course, all grizzly bears in North America weigh 1000 pounds. (71.4 stone).

Ben Lamb · Jun 4, 2018

Dick Casull once famously remarked that guns are to men what jewelry is for women.

I like my bling. Give me a lot of options and I'll be happy.

wytex · Jun 4, 2018

I use my 300 wsm for most hunting, but also use my 270 wsm . I love my .44 mag and 41 mag lever guns for hogs. I have also taken some feral hogs with 10mm pistol.
We have a plethora of varmint and small game rifles and pistols. Everything from 22 cal , 22 mag ,17hmr, .204 and .223.
It's true , we have more guns than we need but not more than we want, lol.

Sawtooth · Jun 4, 2018

Shot everything (deer, elk, antelope, coyote) with a .270 win. for the last 35 years. Wore that barrel out and it is now a 338-06 and my backup elk rifle. I now shoot a 308 win. as my main big game rifle.

Alan413 · Jun 4, 2018

Ben Long said:
If I remember right, a "stone" is about 14 pounds. So your stag that dressed out at 20 stone is 280 pounds. I' would wager a full grown North American elk would weigh closer to 400 pounds (say 25-30 stone). Of course, all grizzly bears in North America weigh 1000 pounds. (71.4 stone).

We get 25 stone stags over here but they will be feeders.

I would love to see a grizzly let alone hunt one. Totally up my street.
Biggest predator we can shoot is the fox

Alan413 · Jun 4, 2018

Sawtooth said:
Shot everything (deer, elk, antelope, coyote) with a .270 win. for the last 35 years. Wore that barrel out and it is now a 338-06 and my backup elk rifle. I now shoot a 308 win. as my main big game rifle.

270 is a great round. So flat, fast and punch you get .

We had the 270 out shooting 110 vmaxs at rabbits at over 300 yards with little height adjust.

It's mean on stags.

Dan O · Jun 4, 2018

Ben Long said:
If I remember right, a "stone" is about 14 pounds. So your stag that dressed out at 20 stone is 280 pounds. I' would wager a full grown North American elk would weigh closer to 400 pounds (say 25-30 stone). Of course, all grizzly bears in North America weigh 1000 pounds. (71.4 stone).

Ben I've had a average size cow elk tip the scales at 300 lbs. at the Augusta check station. No doubt a bull will make 400 lbs. and over. The Lincoln grizzly weighed 835 lbs. and was about 12 years old, but to hunt him with a 243 now that would take ALOT of stones!!!!!

Dan

Dias454 · Jun 5, 2018

My 300 weatherby mag shooting 200 grain accubond doing 3050 fps with 86 grains retumbo this is a 1 gun do all

MLaird · Jun 5, 2018

I have a Winchester .243 featherweight that is a tackdriver with 100 gr Nosler partitions. I generally use that for deer (whitetail, mulies). For elk I have a Ruger m77 in 30-06.
.
I’ve been saving for a Christensen Arms Mesa, probably gonna get a .300 winmag. As my boys get old enough I’ll probably pass on the .243 and 30-06 to them and use the 300 winmag for everything.

beagle001 · Jun 6, 2018

Nothing revelatory here, as there are so many "perfect/do-all" calibers out there and some mentioned here, but we can't have a thread without mentioning the boring old 30-06

spinal tap · Jun 6, 2018

Great pics from across the pond! Thanks for sharing those.

I'm primarily a whitetail hunter and generally use either a Ruger Gunsite Scout or a Tikka T3 Lite, both in .308. My wife has claimed the Tikka for herself, so I borrow it when needed.

I've used .300 Blackout to good effect, but lean toward the .308. I've had really good experiences with the Hornady Custom Lite 125gr .308 load. I discovered it while setting up a rifle and low recoil load for my son's first deer hunt when he was nine. I found the Hornady load accurate in my rifles and very pleasant to shoot. Our shot distances aren't very far in the Tennessee hill country, so it's a good fit for that kind of work.

Of course, we also have muzzleloader season.

Redman · Jun 6, 2018

Don't let my wife read your post. I have her convinced that you have to have a different rifle for each animal.

Alan413 · Jun 6, 2018

What do you think of a 7mm. .284 win?

Crumb · Jun 6, 2018

I can’t have just one personally, I use .22 or .17 for small varmits, .223 or my favorite .204 for coyotes, 25-06 for antelope and deer out west or 12 gauge with slugs at home for deer(shotgun only in my part of MN) and 300win mag for elk.

What .cal

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