ajmorell

Looking at purchasing my first centerfire this summer, have it narrowed down to 4 calibers. The gun will primarily be used for MI whitetails and possibly black bear, but I can see it being used for hunts out west in the future (mulies, anelope, possibly elk, and I would like to be able to use it for varmints too if possible). Most likely a 4-12x or so will sit atop. I'm looking at Browning X-Bolts, A-Bolts, Tikka's, Savage's and Remington 700s. Whichever I get I will be reloading.

.270 Winchester - everything I have read says this is enough to take down an elk with the right bullet, ammo is pretty common (relatively speaking anyways), not sure about long range accuracy and capability to take down deer-sized game or larger at long distance (400 yards+)

.308 Winchester - also very common, enough to take down anything listed, endless bullet possibilities, decent at long range

30-06 Springfield - most common deer caliber out there, ammo available everywhere (you know what I mean), good at long range, lots of bullet options for reloader, but recoil is a bit stouter than .308 & .270

300 Win-mag - obviously most stout recoil and greatest ability to take down large game, but also probably the best at long range. Might be a bit overkill for varmints but again, lots of bullet choices for this caliber as well.

techase

It is hard to to beat the 30-06 for an all around North American caliber. Just my personal opoinion.

axis

I would choose the 30-06 also, but then again we don't have Elk or Bears in Hawaii!


Axis

boosted

.308 or .30-06. I like the .308 because I can shoot all day with the thing and it really doesnt bother me. The reason I chose the .308 over the .30-06 is because the recoil. You may want to look at the 7mm-08. It is not very common, but it's performance is just a bit better than the .308.

MrPhil

Sounds like you are a reloader. Study the manuals and see what you can do with each of these chamberings. Personally, I'd lean toward the 270 Winchester for an all arounder. That said, I have 270, 308, and 300 in the safe.

Average Joe

For an all-out, all-around one rifle for all things, I would go with one of the DPMS 308's. http://www.dpmsinc.com/firearms/firearm.aspx?id=14 This one is a little heavy, but 3 or 4 lbs. more in your rifle matters little, when you consider how much rifle this is. Varminting can get expensive in .30 cal, but with a 110 gr. HP going 3,200 fps, this is plenty of "varmint" gun. At the other end, 180~200 gr. bullets will do fine on Elk, or trucks....

jlangton

I agree. With ammo from 55gr to 220gr available-it's a great all-around caliber.
JL

fangus

rem 700 in 30-06

Average Joe

Where/how are you getting a 55 gr. bullet for .30/'06? -and what could it possibly be good for? Is it a saboted .224? accurate to 25 feet...... The lightest real .30 cal bullet available is 110 gr., and even those have very poor SD.
If you're dead-set on the '06, and you intend to reload anyway, read up on the '06 Ackley Improved. A good gunsmith can do the chamber work. You fire form regular '06 brass, and get slightly better performance than the .300 H&H with only a tiny bit more powder than standard '06 loads. A standard '06 neck sizing die works fine from there on out.

ajmorell

Thanks guys. I've narrowed my decisions down..the -06 is out. It is just too much gun for what I need. I have been reading and looking at ballistics charts and I think I am going to end up with a 270 Win, but the 7mm-08 is still on the table. The reason I like the 270 a bit more is because of it's downrange ballistics, however I do not care for the fact that it is a long-action gun, but this is not a deal-breaker.

GREGG

ajmorell, Browning A-bolt 270 WSM with the boss would work. I have 308 w/boss and just got an A-bolt in 325 WSM w/boss. You want to check it out.

ajmorell

Gregg, 270 is at the top of the list right now but I have zero interest in a WSM round, they are more expensive to shoot & reload and for what, another 100 fps at the muzzle?

cat skinner

270 is a great choice. I bought a featherweight m70 Winchester about 1955, and have downed 8 elk, 4 moose, 3 black bears, and a bunch of deer; mostly blacktails, but a few mule and whitetail with it. The only time I felt a bit undergunned was walking on bear trails in grizzly country. Most elk dropped with one shot, but moose usually took a few more. As you pointed out, ammo is widely available. Almost everything I shot was with 130gr. For the moose, I used either 150gr or 130gr Nosler partition handloads.

robfromaz1977

A 30-06 is never too much gun. I own two of them and also a 270 Win. I have shot and loaded for both for several years and believe that the 06 has better downrange ballistics than the 270. That being said you should buy what will make you happy and build confidence with. Good luck with whatever you decide to buy. None of the calibers you were considering will be a bad choice.

Blackhawk45

Remington 7600 carbine in .30-06. Much faster than a bolt gun.