SmallCaliberCentral

I figured I would make a new post instead of highjacking EJ's "Hog Hunting" post. I'm looking for a good all around cartridge for taking antelope, hogs or elk. I would say a majority of my hunting would be antelope or hogs with an occational elk.

My intial thoughts were .270 or 7mm mag. Plenty of other great cartidges come to mine but I wanted to get some others thoughts around this topic.

Any stories, load data or pictures (gotta love the pictures ) would be appreciated!

30-06 all the way! I've never hunted hogs or antelope, but the 30-06 kills deer and leaves 'em layin with a near center hit. I don't know much about hogs(which I would say does a pretty good job), but a 220 grain bullet will take an elk down. Just my .02.

Nothing wrong with a .270 or 7mm Mag, I use a .270 and have for 25+ years now, along with others like the time-honored .30/06, which is probably what I'd recommend. If you do something dumb and forget to pack your ammo, you can buy topnotch .30/06 ammo anywhere. I have NO regrets using my .270, though. 7Mags are, for some reason I can't explain, not too exciting to me, I've had a couple and lost interest pretty quickly, sold them faster than I bought them!
In truth, though, anything .270 on up is pretty good, any of the 7mm cartridges like 7-08 or .280, or 7x57, all are excellent and will do most anything needing done, possibly excepting bears (I have a friend who lived in Alaska and killed his griz with a 7 Mag). Hey, it's your money, get what suits YOU.

Wolf: What Glenn said. I could not agree more in every regard...good advice all the way through.

I've done the "more is better" thing long ago, and have come back to the basics, and feel the old '06 just does it all, and does it all very well indeed. I have friends who hunt the world, and that's their caliber of choice, and we're talking BC, Alaska, and Africa here.

For what you want, either the '06 or .270 would fit the bill nicely, even the 7-08. I have a custom Titanium 7mm-08 Ackley that shoot flat, is light (6.5 lbs scoped), and with a Barnes 120 or 130 gr TSX, will give full penetration on large bull elk. How much more could a guy ask for?

The right bullet and shot placement is more important than caliber, and you don't need a magnum for any game that walks the lower 48, period.

You wanted some pictures, so here's some for you: Bull elk taken with my M70 in .338-06 Ackley. Texas heart shot, all I had was his orange rump to look at, Nosler 210 Partition entered just east of the poop chute, broke the large hip joint, traveled all the way to the other front shoulder, broke it and exited. Not bad performance; almost 5' of elk penetration from the '06 case (no magnum).



Another bull, taken with same rifle:



Mulies, all taken with '06's and .270's:



Another mulie, .270 & 130gr.:



I could go on, but you get the idea; magnumitis is a myth, you don't need them. More blast, more recoil, longer barrel to get in the way, heavier rifle, less rounds in the magazine, more expensive to shoot, and just not as much fun to shoot, meaning you'll practice less, and not shoot them as well. Out of all the guys I know who hunt seriously, not a single one shoots a magnum. I own a sweet .330 Dakota on a M98 action, Shilen barrel, select Black English walnut that shoots less than MOA, but in truth, I've never even hunted it! Go figure.

Advice is free, and you'll get alot of it, but you asked, and that's what I'd recommend. Good luck with the quest, hope you like what you end up with and shoot it well.

I like the 270 as well. But a few years back,I was able to get a great deal on a Savage in 7mmSTW. I love this gun. I have never reloaded for this gun, but plan to start soon. From all that I have read about this cal., it shoots about 200-250 fps faster than a 7mag. of same bullet weight. As far as recoil. I don't know if I just take it better, or if is a lot less than it should be. I had a 308 that kicked harder. As far as thinking that it may be too much gun, It's kinda like a 4WD auto. It is better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

Rick,

The right bullet and shot placement is more important than caliber, and you don't need a magnum for any game that walks the lower 48, period.

I couldn't have said it better myself. For some reason I've never had the itch for a huge magnum rifle or any of the new fancy super-duper short magnums. I'm more intersted in the older calibers like the 06's and the .270's of the world. Before my grandfather passed away we used to shoot his 1903A3 Springfield at the farm (what a hoot for a boy in the 4th/5th grade).

I did ask for advice and I love reading what you guys have to say. Unfortunetely my hunting experience has been limited to Whitetails, pheasants, rabbits and squirrels....oh and lots of paper! It's great reading about other peoples experiences.

Glen - You're not the first person I've heard say that they have lost interest in the 7mm for one reason or the other. What I like about the 06's and .270 is the history that they have. The .270 with Jack O’Conner and the 06 with the War and it's long success since then. I've been told before that you can find cartidges that out perform the 30-06 in some areas but you'll be hard pressed to find one that performs as well in as many different circumstances as the 06 does. Versatility is a wonderful thing! Did I just answer my own question?

I'll second that point about bullet placement. You can kill game with any number of different cartridges and bullets, as long as you hit your quarry well.

Am a big fan of the 7mm Rem mag. I've had bigger, badder rifles, but the 7mm Rem mag with 175's or 160's will dump an elk just fine. I find the 7mm Rem mag to be just enough easier shooting than the .300 mags, that I prefer to shoot it. Favorite bullet for me has to be the 175, either Sierra's SPBT or Nosler's wonderful partition.


Wyoming 6x6 taken with a single 175 Nosler from a 7mm Rem mag a few years ago.


The other real nice all-around big game cartridge I like is the .30-06, and when it's squeezed down to .25-06, I find my favorite mule deer cartridge!


My 2005 Washington mulie taken with the .25-06 Rem 700.

Also have a real soft spot in my heart for the .308 Winchester because it shoots so nice. Accurate, soft shooting and plenty of power. Have put more .308's downrange than any other cartridge, except the .22 rimfire. If I could have only one rifle, (what a terrible thought!) it would likely be a .308 Winchester.

These cartridges have become my favorites because they're predictable, accurate, easy to shoot and effective. Choose your poison, many different combos work, just place those shots!

Regards, Guy

The 25-06 and 7mm-08 I have well kill any thing we have here in wis.

Lee C. wrote:The 25-06 and 7mm-08 I have well kill any thing we have here in wis.

If I want to get historical, so will my black powder .50 Cal. That being said any of the 7mm's will do you good.

As most have already said, it's about impossible to argue against the .270's and .30-06's of the world. They're two of the most popular chamberings around for good reason and you can pick up a box of ammo anywhere. Knowing all of that, I still choose to use a Browning A-bolt in .300 Win Mag with a BOSS. I like the ballistics of the .300 and don't mind having one less round in the magazine. My Browning with the BOSS has considerably less recoil than all of my friends' .270's, .30-06's, etc. Of course, with anything there are trade-offs. My soft recoil comes at the expense of being extremely LOUD. I don't mind, but there are others who might. I've also been thrilled with the accuracy of my rifle. When tuned properly, I've put down 5-shot groups at 100 yards that would fit inside a dime (using factory ammo). Just some food for thought.

Guy - awesome pictures!

I haven't forgotten about the .308 and I was doing a little looking around on T/C's website at the new ICON and I see it's cambered in 22-250, 243, 308, and the new 30 TC. Out of those options, I would most likely choose the .308. Hopefully they will offer additional cartidges like the .270, 30-06 and 7mm.

I'm not trying to kick a 'dead horse' here, but I had to put my $.02 in. I agree with most everything said above but my take on the .270 is this. It's a GREAT cartrige but.. the .280 I think is a little better ONLY because of it's greater bullet selection. (more weights available). Ballistically, the two shells are alike and I know the .280 is a great elk stopper. Three of the bulls we bagged with the .280 went over 800 pounds live weight and all dropped where they stood.
Down load the sucker with lighter bullets and you've got a flat shooting Cantelope gun (that's what my youngest calls them), good for varmints too.
Dane the Pain

I would choose a 280 Rem over everything listed here so far. I've killed 1/2 dozen Elk, both Whitetail an Mule Deer and Antelope 50-500 yards over the years with my Ruger 77,Leupold scope, Hogue stock, Timney trigger. Shoots 120-160 grain bullets very well and has bigger and smaller lead available. But, why would a man equip himself with only one hunting rifle for big game and buy several tack drivers to kill rodents?

Because you can shoot rodents all year long There's not really any difference between the .270, .280 and .30/06, except what one wants to make up in their heads. There are enough good .270 bullets to do anything that really needs doing here in the lower 48 states, with the TSXs and Nosler Partitions, Swifts and other good bullets. BUT, it ain't worth arguin' about, unless you're a gunwriter and need to meet a deadline or something, and are fresh out of worthwhile ideas I suspect that most of them ARE in that category these days!

Truer words were never spoken.