COMPLETNG MY HUNTING RIFLE COLLECTION

The .30-06 will take all big game in North America and has, along with the .270. Yes, that includes the bears. Put the bullet where it needs to be and you don't need to compensate for poor marksmanship with magnum firepower.

the browning a bolt 7mm is awsome. i hear a 300 is a good gun too


9er

My choice would be a .300 WSM in a Kimber 8400 and areally nice scope, like a Burris.

You don't say where your from or what you plan on hunting. But you did mention collection, that implies "more than one". Also, your a shotgunner, bet you have more than one.

Chosing cartridges can be awful confusing and advice usually leans toward personnel preferences. One guy swears by a 300 mag and another swears by a 30-06; both are right. Funny thing tho is that a 180gr bullet from a 300 mag will not kill an animal any deader at reasonable range than it will from a 30-06 or even a 300 Savage. Indeed when going to say a 150 gr bullet, the Savage may have the upper hand IF the shot comes at a range where the 300 mag just has to much velocity and tears up a bullet.

There's several types of game you might hunt in he lower 48;
thin skinned and light boned, ie antelpoe, deer
thicker skinned and heavier boned, ie elk, black bear, sheep.
heavier skinned and boned animals, ie moose

For the first class, fairly light bullets are fine, 100gr on up. Your choices run from the 243 on up. But as caliber increases bullet weight needs to increase also to be tuff enough to penetrate and hold together. A 100gr bullet from a 243 is a good deer load but a 100 gr bullet from a 30-06, not so good. There's a number great deer and antelope cartridges, even more than I'll list here: 243win, 250-3000, 25-06, 257roberts, 6.5x55, 260rem, 7mm-08, 7x57 ect. We do have an embarrassment of riches.

for the second class a heavier bullet would be prudent. Here I'd start with the 6.5x55, 260, 7mm-08, 280rem, 7x57, 300sav, 308 and 30-06. Any of these would also work well in the first class.

For the third class I'd start with the 7x57, 7mm-08, 280rem 308, 30-06 ect. These larger animals dictate heavier bullets, in my opinion 160gr and up.

Perhaps someday dangerious game may be on the table and some of these work well there also but, I believe that if you have to ask about cartridges and loads for dangerious game, your not ready to hunt it.

Many people make much to do about flat shooting cartridges but in fact, more animals are killed at far less than 250yds than over. There not a cartridge here that won't handle that if you can.

Now with that done here's my personnal choices.
250-3000, 25-06 (must have), 6.5x55 (must have), 7x57, 280Rem,
308win, 338-06 (I handload!)

There's no reason in particular for these other than I like them. I've used many others but this is my list...........................today!

Good luck, about the time you figure out what you really want, you'll get a new idea, I do anyway! So many choices and none of them wrong!

I shoot both a .270 and a 7mm Rem Mag and use both on deer, elk and bear. I just choose different ammo weights and bullet types for what i am hunting. I also have a .243 that i use on deer.

I find that if i am going to be doing any longer range shooting i grab my 7 mag mainly because it's more accurate than the .270, i can shoot consistant 1" groups out of my .270 at 100 yards, but they go down to 5/8" with my 7 mag.

I know many people have had success with the 30-06 for years on all types of game. my next rifle purchase will more than likely be a 30 cal. Probably a 300 win mag, unless i can fing a Rem 700 LSS in 300 RUM...

.450 marlin in the marlin xlr

other than that the 7mm is great the 300 is great the 338 is great its just preference of the shooter i have a 7mmwsm and love it except its not the greatest selection of cartridges i woud stay away from the wsm now that i know, if i could id have just gotten the old 7mm rem mag there really isnt much ballistics diff against the wsm and regular cartridges they are just more efficent so you can carry a little lighter rifle because it will have less recoil which i understand was the main reason for wsm's but cartridge availability evens the score. if you plan on ever hunting buffalo i understand the fast lighterweight bullets suck like the 7mm or the 300 they just punch holes in the buff and the heavier slower bullets are much more effective such as 45-70 and 450...etc the 338 win mags are decent too although a shot from a 7mm in the sweet spot would do the job the bigger slow bores are more recomended ive understood

and the 7mm is basically the same as the 300 win mag ballistically just slighty smaller bullets i believe the 7mm is .284 the 300 starts out slighty better but the 7mm passes up out at longer ranges but i personally wouldnt rate either or better just depends on the shooter pref.

unless you do oyur own reloading i would recommend staying with the more common cartridges that you can find anywhere and have a good selection of different loads. cause even in little podunk towns they have common cartridges so if your far from any cities a little hardware store out in the country may have a common bullet (if you happened to have forgotten your box of ammo which happens )
well there is my 2 cents

i would perfer the .308 it will take any animal down

a .338/.325/8mm and a .257/6mm would round off your collection quite well.

get a 325wsm and a 25-06AI
top it off with a VXIII and you're all set!!!!