Best all around rifle caliber

[jdt48653]

my 6.5 win mag covers a broad spectrum, long barrel,cpc`s,great scope
i would only worry a bit about the big bears.

[Drilling Man]

I think the myth of the "one rifle for everything" is just that a myth.  Every caliber has some trade off ie., recoil, energy, range, expense.  If a guy has the money to hunt many different species of game all over NA he sure has enough money to buy more that one gun.

I doubt that anyone on this board only has one gun.........

  Just because i own or can afford more than one rifle, doesn't mean that i want to use more than one rifle!

  In the last 20 plus, i've shot pretty much all of my big game with one rifle...  If i was going after deer tomorrow, it's what i would use...  If i was going for elk or moose tomorrow, it's STILL what i would use.

  I just don't need or want to hunt with a magnum, and i learned long ago it isn't necessary... So why put up with the recoil and muzzle blast??  Why put up with the longer bbl. they need??  Why put up with the extra expense it takes to shoot one??

  I enjoy being a "one gun person"...

  DM

[SHOOTALL]

I don't believe its a myth . Most settlers headed west with one gun . I could hunt everything a centerfire is needed with a 30-06 . Best gun for all nope , work for all yep !
We live in a time where we make the need for new toys because we can ( myself included ) but the reality is we could get by with one , maybe 2 or 12 !

PLEASE KEEP THIS TO YOURSELVES AS IT WOULD BE BAD FOR THE WIFE TO CATCH WIND OF IT !

[Bear Wallow]

Best cartridge .30-06 or the most sensible at least in my opinion. 




 

[jdt48653]

starting with the 30/30,wouldn`t every step up in the same caliber be a magnum to the previous one on up the line.
wouldn`t every other round be a magnum then?
assuming each had a larger powder charge,then the previous.

[taylorce1]

I was a .30-06 man for a few years when I came home from the Army in 1996 and liked it before that I only owned a .243 Win, but I switched to a .270 on 03 and haven't looked back very often.  From Varmints to elk I have not found the need for a larger caliber.  For elk hunting I've always chosen the 150 grain Nosler Partition even if the first time was by accident and used just about every flavor of 130 grain cup-core bullet for deer on down.  From 250 yards on elk and 560 on mule deer with pronghorns and coyotes being somewhere in between for my longest shots to date I haven't found the .270 ever lacking in power for a swift kill on Western game. 

If the grizzly ever becomes de-listed and I get to hunt them, I might reconsider my choice of firearm for my western big game hunting needs.  As far as bison or moose go I would not hesitate to use my .270 on one of them either. 

[striker525]

I would have to say the 30-06 as the best "All around" rifle. but ever since Ruger came out with the 300RCM and 338RCM I would have to re-evaluate my answer. Both rifles can be loaded with any combination of powder and bullet for any size animal in North America. Why go to the 375 and bust your shoulder? when either of these two will do the same with less.

[Hunter78]

There are alot of good choices, 7mm, 270, 308, ect... The 30-06 is probably the best, you can find ammo almost anyplace and it is the classic all around rifle. 

If you want a magnum and can handle them great.  I know how to stalk, but sometimes you run out of cover and it leaves you with a long shot at a trophy.  It still takes skill to make long shots, but you are shooting flatter with alot more downrange energy.

Personally I use a 30-06 around home, and a 300 remington ultra mag on trips.  I have limited knowledge of the area, and less time to hunt, so if I see a trophy animal at 500 yards+  I have the ability and the confidence to make that shot.  Recoil problems are all in the shooters head anyway.  No worse then shooting slugs in a shotgun (which I had to use at home before this year).  I think half the problem with them is that writers need to grow a pair and quite talking like they will break your sholder