List your favorite centerfire rifle calibers

[Smithfan]

I'm curious:

My guess is, there will be a sizeable minority who will hunt and/or shoot some of the traditional magnums, including those based on the belted H&H case design.

There will be a big majority (with some crossover to trad'l magnums) who principally shoot, as I do, rounds in the .308 and .30-06 families, or that have cases that started life there.

And while there are new blastfire hotshot magnums introduced every year, I'll bet there aren't all that many fans of the .300 Lapua, .300 or .338 Remington Ultra, .300 or .338 Canadian, and so forth into the more arcane proprietary rounds.

No right or wrong answers, obviously, and if my premise is wrong, I will be happily surprised to eat crow and say so!

(Varmint rounds arguably are a sub-category, but if that's also what you shoot, please say so! After all, rounds like the venerable .22-250 started life as an '06 case!)

Thanks, and let's hear from youse!

Bill

 

[jag312]

.45-70 with a 300 grain hollow point. If I'm going to shoot something, like a wild pig, I want to shoot it just once, and I want it to know it has just been shot. Same thing goes if I ever have to shoot someone with that rifle.

 

[J. Galt]

.30-06
.30-30
.45-70

Nothing exotic, but they work!

 

[minuteman]

257 Roberts, 375 Winchester, 32-40 Winchester

 

[Old 44 Guy]

.308 Winchester & 45-70. Have my old 30-30 Winchester in the safe but don't use it much anymore.

 

[Joni_Lynn]

I've become fond of my Sako 75 in 300 Ultra mag. It's proven quite accurate, now I just need to find something to hunt with it.

 

[ancient-one]

.243 Winchester. Takes care of anything I am going after.

 

[84CJ]

50 BMG

 

[chillypepper]

.223 rem., .308 win., .221 fireball, .257 roberts. .357 mag., .45-70.

and if i remember correctly the 22-250 started out as the .250-3000.

good topic, interesting to see the results.

c.p.

 

[Steave]

I really don't hunt big game any longer, but the only time I really favored the magnums were for long range, western hunting and/or large game, That said, my favorite of the magnums for western elk was the .338 Win. mag., it's drive a heavy bullet a long way and at relatively flat trajectory, if I were to get back into elk hunting I might take a look at some of the newer .338 loadings. Other than that, my favorite varmint cartridges have always been the .22 PPC, .222 Rem and .220 Swift. For deer antelope, etc, I've always been partial to the .257 Roberts, .270 Win. and 7X57.

Any way you look at it, there are many, many cartridges that will do an excellent job on whatever game you're after.

 

[toroflow1]

I really like the ballistics on the old 8mm Remington mag from the late 70s. Take a 375 H&H case, blow it out and neck it down to 8mm and presto. I really think it has been underloaded all these years, and has great potential, of which I'm trying to wring out on my Remingotn 700.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

Well, I like the .308 BECAUSE it's common, and because I really like the FN LAR, but I also like the 6mm Remington. That's for rifles. I also like the 7mm-08, but only because it's about as powerful a cartridge as I would fire in a pistol, my H-S Precision.

 

[Smithfan]

Good stuff so far; looks like I shoulda included the 7x57 case family (.257 Roberts, etc) in the discussion.

Chillypepper, while the .22-250 started as the .250-3000 Savage, both it and the .300 Sav. are WWI-era Charles Newton designs based on a shortened 06 case.

Thanks, and keep the comments coming!

Bill

 

[Sara Noh]

.257 Roberts and .35 Whelen in pre'64 M/70 Winchester rifles. The Roberts is a superb pre war and the Whelen is a Randall Redman rechamber/rebore of a '50's vintage standard grade rifle. Both are very accurate and have accounted for their share of midwestern whitetails.

 

[SWID]

.358 Norma Mag, accurate, flat and the recoil in my very modified Remington 700 is not bad.

I use a 225 gr. Accubond with I think 75 or so grains of 4350. 2825 fps, and .75 moa.

Smaller stuff, 30-30, .257 Roberts, .22 Hornet. I also like the 22-250.

 

[winchester1]

Gotta love the rifles too!
My favorites, all in Model 70 Winchesters:
280 Rem w/ 140 gr. Nosler B.T.
270 Win w/ 130gr. Winchester Power Points
30-06 Sprg w/ 150gr Hornady Spire Points
300 Weatherby w/ 180gr. Nosler Accu Bonds
And I can't leave out my Model 94 in 444 Marlin w/ 240 gr. Nosler H.P.

 

[blackhand]

.375 HH
30-06
.308
30-30
22.250
300 win.
32-20

 

[Iggy]

I have two "big game" hunting rifles. A Model 721 Remington 300 H&H Magnum and my Dad's 1950's vintage Model 70 Winchester 300 H&H.

I had to give $80 for that brand new Remington in 1957.

I got my first elk with it at age 14, and several more over the years.

My Dad had a 300 mag, and I had to have one too. Now I have both of them.

In the last few years I have had lots of fun with various 45-70 single shots, but my sentimental favorite Big Guns are the 300 H&H's

 

[Wickahoney]

While I own a lot of centerfire rifles in nearly all of the standard and traditional Magnums along with a few Short or Super Short Mags and a few Weatherbys, the vast majority of my actual big game hunting is done with one of 6 calibers.

6mm-284
257 Roberts
257 Roberts AI
280 Remington
7mm STW
338 Winchester Magnum.

Those 6 probably account for 80 percent of the big game I've killed in the last 48 years.

Varmint calibers is certainly something different and over all I've probably killed big game animalas with 40 or 45 centerfire rifle calibers in total.

R W Thomas
Owyhee County, ID

 

[crofoot629]

223/5.56
30-06
45-70

All I need, it's actually all I even want.

OK, I wish I NEEDED a 375 H&H.

Emory