Big game all-rounder

[wpeach1912]

I’m usually a 300 wsm guy. 212 ELDXs worked very well on 4 elk in 2023. No bang flops. I used a 6.5 creed this year with 147 ELDMs on a cow elk, a muley Buck, and a whitetail doe. Total tracking distance was exactly 0 yards combined. Mainly due to shooting either high shoulder or neck shots. All the shots last year with the WSM were heart lung shots, which I would not expect drops with that placement

 

[tacoman69]

Yea guys spend tens of thousands of dollars on gear and travel to hunts to use a cheap bullet.....no

guys spending tens of thousands of dollars on gear and travel to hunt but don't know how bullets kill animals is funnier

 

[EXSOCAL]

guys spending tens of thousands of dollars on gear and travel to hunt but don't know how bullets kill animals is funnier

Agreed. Id say that’s actually pretty common, sadly.

 

[chevy_man]

Everything I've ever shot with my 6.5 creed or 25-06 has died no problem.

115 Partition out of the 25-06 has killed plenty of elk.
6.5 I pretty much only shoot the 147eld-m. Again, it's killed every deer and elk I've shot it at.

 

[diggler1833]

No it doesn't bc it doesn't tell you anything about what the terminal performance is going to be. You can shoot a mono bullet, a match bullet and a varmint bullet all same weight with same impact velocity out of same gun and get 3 completely wound channels based on the bullet choice. The "energy" is the same though, yet performance completely different. It's a meaningless number in itself. Bullet choice>

We'll let this be your secret...

 

[DeathBeforeDismount]

guys spending tens of thousands of dollars on gear and travel to hunt but don't know how bullets kill animals is funnier

Rhetorical statements are lost on you. It's ok, autism seems to be common around here.

 

[chevy_man]

These threads always devolve into the same discussion. Someone asks “what’s the best cartridge for hunting NA game” and then the Alaska boys turn that into “what’s the best cartridge for point blank self defense against a Kodiak bear”.

That’s not what he asked.

I stick with my suggestion: 6.5 creedmoor is probably the best. Lots of others will do. There’s no freaking way, if I was buying one rifle, that I would throw away all the ballistics/recoil/weight/availability of rifle & cartridge of a common round and buy some super-magnum ‘just in case’, as has been said 50 times in this thread now.

If you’re legitimately going into beer country up close then carry whatever you think is appropriate in that extremely narrow experience of NA hunting. Otherwise carry a realistic rifle. Most American hunters are not in this camp of up-close grizzly/brown encounters.

30-06 is only cool if you hand load. If you’re buying factory ammo then it’s just a long(er)-action .308 with poorer bullet selection and more recoil.

Exactly.

To go along with my personal selection, I always have a 357 and 9mm in the truck. If we're hunting in bear country (and there's plenty in Montana) I will gamble my life on 21 rounds of 124grn Hydra shocks before I pick up the 357 that only holds 6...


If you have a close encounter it will be at pistol range, and the rifle is just as well used as a club. The number of people I've seen miss a finishing shot on a wounded animal at 10 yards with a rifle is actually about 90%. And that was with a motionless animal that was spined and couldn't move.

 

[FuhQ]

7 RM
7 PRC
30-06
300 PRC
300 WM
338 WM

If you had to choose only one caliber for most of the North American big game, which one would it be?

You can rank the above list and please state your reasons, experiences, complaints, etc.

If you prefer something that’s not on the list, do mention it.

Old thread that someone else revived, but tossing my opinion on the OP's original question...

The .280 Ackley, 7mm RemMag, or 7mm PRC with 175 Elites will take down anything in N. America, and most of what's on the planet, with the right shot placement and at proper distances.

 

[Jackomason]

As always, shot placement trumps what ever caliber you choose.

Shot my bull elk this year with a 6.5cm and 140eldm.

Not sure I would have gone smaller but he stumbled and fell 3 yards from where he was shot.

Outside of external ballistics, I don't see a reason to go bigger.

 

[inspcalahan]

If I could only have one for four legged creatures, it'd be the .30-06 all day long. Small deer to big bears, I've done it all, as has my family for many years. Granted, if I were intentionally targeting the big guys and had choices, I'd prefer my .338winmag or a .45-70, depending on terrain and distances involved.

But the OP asked or "the one". .06 it is.