One do it all rifle caliber? What if TWO?

[Legionnaire]

I've enjoyed the "one do it all rifle caliber" thread. I think it has been a good discussion. I know that many of us can afford multiple rifles for varied purposes, but not everyone can. My married children are managing the expenses and time commitments of young families and they are (thankfully) watching their budgets carefully. Others (like me) anticipate retirement in the next decade, and face the very real prospect of pursuing our hobbies with a fixed income and the inevitability of declining health. Those are just the realities of life.

So in the spirit of the "one do it all rifle caliber" thread, what would y'all recommend if a family member asked your advice on two center fire rifle cartridges? I'm sure answers will depend on whether someone is thinking about hunting vs. target shooting vs. defense. I think like a hunter, so here are my initial thoughts.

.308 Winchester. Loaded properly, a very capable hunting and target round. While it might not be the best round for the biggest bears in North America, it would do in a pinch, and it is adequate or better for everything else. While a .30-06 would be a bit more capable on the high end, I'm a fan of short-action rifles. That makes my other option a 7mm SAUM, but that's virtually become a hand-loader-only cartridge, which makes it hard to recommend.

Something in .243/6mm. While the .223 is a great round, I'd like something lighter than the .308 for smaller game, but with better long-range ballistics for getting "way out there." Until recently I might have said .243 Winchester, but now I'm leaning toward the 6mm Creedmoor.

As always, I reserve the right to change my mind ...

 

[kBob]

"There ain't a lot of problems a man can't fix,
with six hunner'd dollars and a thirty-ought- six."

For my second, as much as it will surprise some folks, .223 Remington aka 5.56mm.

Flexibility. With hand loading that covers a lot of territory.

If you are as lazy as me it also lets you use chamber adapters. A host of .30 to.32 labeled pistol rounds can be pushed through a .30-06 as well as .30 carbine, even 7.62x39 or .308 with chamber plugs and chamber adapters with rim fire plugs can let you shoot everything from CB caps to .22 magnum a .223. This also makes the survivalist types and leaners happy.

That didn't take long.......

-kBob

 

[SamT1]

When I was a kid my dad bought all us boys a 870 20 gauge shotgun when we were 10, we used a break over .410 until then. The next year for Christmas you got a Marlin 22LR. The next a big rifle. I got a rem700 .270, but brothers got various other things.
Those 3 guns could really be all a man needs for his whole life. Of course we all want other things and get it in our head that we need/want something new for a specific purpose.
If my .270 was a short action I’d slap a .308 win barrel on it and really love it.

So basically a man needs a low power rifle like a 22 or 22 mag and a mid power rifle like a .308 you may move that mid power up with your geography. Most anything else is for pleasure or tactical stuff. Guys that don’t hunt may want an AR instead of the .308.

 

[Charliefrank]

I have to agree with SAMT1, 22 rifle, 308 rifle

 

[Armored farmer]

.30-06
AR15 in 5.56mm/.22lr conversion kit (I have yet to understand why everyone doesn't have one)

 

[SamT1]

.30-06
AR15 in 5.56mm/.22lr conversion kit (I have yet to understand why everyone doesn't have one)

That’s a valid point. I think a while back I saw an AR with the conversion kit for like $650.

My boys may need one of those for their 22

 

[kBob]

Armored Agrarian,

I just can't seem to get mine (drop in BCC group type) conversion to work as reliably as I would like. Funny thing is the first one I ever used, one of the old CoBrays in an M16A1 forty years ago, worked just fine despite all the horror stories I had heard. Mine is an Olympic Arms and uses Black Dog magazines.

Thanks for the like BTW.

Folks,

It's two CENTER FIRE cartridges the OP was asking about.

-kBob

 

[someguy2800]

First one would be a 22lr, but since you said centerfire a 223 remington.

For the second ideally a 30-06 but whatever size cartridge they can handle for recoil. .243, 6.5cm, 270, 30-06 would all be fine.

Add a pump 12 ga and your all set.

 

[Armored farmer]

It's two CENTER FIRE cartridges the OP was asking about.

After re-reading my post, I wasn' very clear.
I would be satisfied with a .30-06 for big game, and 5.56mm for varmints/general purpose

 

[Balrog]

I live in Georgia. There is nothing in Georgia that cannot be done with a 223 Remington. Hunting distances are about 150 yards at most and deer are mostly less than 150 pounds.

 

[kBob]

Panzer Bower

Didn't mean you. Meant them other folks! They mentioned one center fire and one rimfire.

It occurs to me with these writings that I have not tried the PSA build M-4-ish I did during the election with a .22 single shot chamber adaptor. Must find that darned adaptor now. I will say it worked best in a AR180 with a 1-12 twist barrel. I suspect that huge free bore followed by a 1 in 7 Colt twist might be rough on a little .22LR pill as groups with an H-Bar were larger. Iliked using the adaptor in a Mini-14 the best as there was less chance of losing the rimfire adaptor plug with that ejection system.

The single shot adaptors in all calibers are slow, what with having to recover the steel case, eject the smaller cartridge, reload a small loaded cartridge, then reload the adaptor, and the addition of the extra part on the rimfire adaptors make sit even slower......recover the steel case, panic because the rimfire firing pin adaptor is not in place, crawl around on the ground sifting through leaves and grass looking for a dinky black bit the thing will not work with out, find it, eject the smaller cartridge, reload a small loaded cartridge, load the rimfire firing pin adaptor behind the rimfire cartridge then reload the adaptor with out dropping the rimfire firing pin adaptor.

I think you can see how I would REALLY like to get the semi auto BCC group style adaptor to work reliably.

-kBob

 

[Sam1911]

Pretty sure I could be totally covered with a .240 Hawk for the smaller stuff and a .333 Jeffery Rimless for the bigger jobs. Should cover all the bases.

 

[MTMilitiaman]

Hard to beat the 5.56 NATO and the 7.62 NATO. You can pretty much do anything most of us will ever need from a rifle with either or both of those, from rodent control to personal defense and big game hunting. I would even go with a 16 inch barreled AR-15 with a mid-length gas system and an 18 to 20 inch barreled AR-10 with a rifle length gas system. Put a red dot and magnifier or a 1-4x compact scope on the AR-15 and a compact variable, like a 2-10x32 on the AR-10, and be pretty well set for everything from bad breath distance to half a mile.

 

[horsey300]

.243, I can download it or crank it up depending on the day, that covers 60-95% of everything that I will ever point a gun at, .270 wsm semi auto takes care of the rest, but the closest second is the 6.5 leopard.

 

[Armored farmer]

Hard to beat the 5.56 NATO and the 7.62 NATO. You can pretty much do anything most of us will ever need from a rifle with either or both of those, from rodent control to personal defense and big game hunting. I would even go with a 16 inch barreled AR-15 with a mid-length gas system and an 18 to 20 inch barreled AR-10 with a rifle length gas system. Put a red dot and magnifier or a 1-4x compact scope on the AR-15 and a compact variable, like a 2-10x32 on the AR-10, and be pretty well set for everything from bad breath distance to half a mile.

I think this ^^^^^makes really good sense for the 'family member that doesn' have a rifle' scenario.

The versatility of a customized AR is undeniable.

 

[Charlie98]

MTMili pretty much said it... 5.56mm and 7.62. I like the .30-06 but feel the .308 meets it about 90% in versatility, and you can probably split hairs about competition between the 5.56 through 6mm cartridges, but the versatility and availability of the 5.56mm wins the day. If you need something bigger than the 5.56mm... the 110grn 7.62mm cuts in at that point.

As far as rifles... the AR platform is the obvious choice for .223/5.56mm, but I think the .308/7.62mm would be better served in a bolt gun with a 20-24" barrel.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

While it takes the fun out of life's diversity, I could do everything (except maybe clays), with an M1A and an M4.

If it was 1949, I would say a M1 carbine and a 1903 Springer with an Unertl on top......lol.

 

[Robert]

My 375H&H and my AR-15

 

[DDDWho]

30-06 150gr ENERGY
muzzle 100yds 200yds 300yds
2820 2281 1827 1445

280 150gr ENERGY
muzzle 100yds 200yds 300yds
2781 2293 1875 1518

30-06 150gr VELOCITY
muzzle 100yds 200yds 300yds
2910 2617 2342 2083

280 150gr VELOCITY
muzzle 100yds 200yds 300yds
2890 2624 2373 2135

I'll take a .280 and a Mini 14

 

[entropy]

.30-06
AR15 in 5.56mm/.22lr conversion kit (I have yet to understand why everyone doesn't have one)

I agree, though ironically, I own neither at the moment. I will have an AR as soon as #1 son shows up at the house; I'm beginning to think he rethought our trade and doesn't want to do it.

 

[Legionnaire]

Hard to beat the 5.56 NATO and the 7.62 NATO. You can pretty much do anything most of us will ever need from a rifle with either or both of those, from rodent control to personal defense and big game hunting ...

This makes good sense. It's hard for me to keep my own interests out of the equation. I might prefer a 6 mm to the .223, but if I'm recommending to a son-in-law a pair for maximum flexibility, this might be the best solution. Also leaves open the choice of bolt-action or semi-automatic, depending on purpose.

I'll have to explore Armored Farmer's idea of a .22LR conversion for my AR. I've never pursued it because when I first heard of them, they were notoriously unreliable. Guess they've gotten the kinks worked out?

 

[Mosin Bubba]

223 for plinking and varmints, 270 for anything bigger. Maybe not moose, but it will kill an elk just fine.

 

[bannockburn]

I'm pretty much in step with what Armored farmer suggested: .30-06 and 5.56 as my centerfire choices. Add a .22 conversion kit for an AR and you should be good to go for most anything.

 

[444]

In the other thread, I said my ONE rifle would be a .30-06. However I was just playing the game, pointing out that the '06 will pretty much do it all. That being said, I own several .30-06s and haven't fired one of them for years.

This time I am going to answer this question honestly based on what I really do with a rifle and not some fantasy where I am hunting all over the world and all that.

What I really do with a rifle is target shoot and I use a 6.5 Creed. So, there is one.

I am no longer really "into" hunting. Where I live, there is only one big game animal and that is the whitetail deer. And bottlenecked rifle cartridges are not legal for hunting. So, I guess I might take my .45/70 lever gun as the second one. I would use it 99% of the time playing around on a rifle range (which is what I actually do with it) and if I wanted to hunt, that's what I would use. I would be just as comfortable with a 12 gauge slug, but this is about two rifles.

If I ever hunted outside this area (which I doubt will ever happen), either of these two rifles is adequate.

 

[cdb1]

.264 and .224, both in high velocity cartridges with fast twist barrels.