Personal preference rifle cartridge poll

[Garandimal]

Good ole .270 Winchester.

150 gr. Lead.
130-140 gr. Mono-copper.

Ole meat-gitter.

​

GR

 

[mshootnit]

Out of that list it would be 270 for me but I would not begrudge anyone their 30-06 in this case. Smaller is probably too small for me in this scenario and on the big end I'd load some stout 150-160 gr. big game bullets. A-frames, Partitions, or Grand Slams.
If someone told me a 270 with a 160 gr. Partition is not enough gun, then I don't want to be there.

 

[WisBorn]

I picked the 7mm rem mag because my favorite rifle is chambered in it.
It will do everything the other cartridges will do and then some.

Yes I love the 30-06, 308, & 7mm-08. But if I could only have one the 7mm rem mag is it!

Harry added more choices after my vote and comments. I'm sticking with my 7mm rem mag. The 300 wm is though to beat. I would prefer the 300 wsm, but I won't give up my Mark V.

 

[2ndtimer]

This is just a little poll for y'all to share your preference in a few listed cartridges and to explain why you made your choice.

I picked .243 Win, because my first centerfire rifle was a Winchester Model 70 Westerner chambered in .243 Win. I bought it for varmints and deer, realizing it wasn’t the best for either, but hoping it would be adequate. My current .243 Win Stevens 200 proved adequate on a nice antelope buck at a lasered 318 yards last fall.
Truth to be told, if I had to choose just two, it would be a .270 Win and a .223 Rem. My favorite is the .223 Rem., but it isn’t legal for deer in my home state, and varmints are my favorite target. I will still continue to enjoy all 3, as well as my .270WSM, and .308 Winchester’s, too. Not to mention .22 lr and .17HMR’s.

 

[Garandimal]

Out of that list it would be 270 for me but I would not begrudge anyone their 30-06 in this case. Smaller is probably too small for me in this scenario and on the big end I'd load some stout 150-160 gr. big game bullets. A-frames, Partitions, or Grand Slams.
If someone told me a 270 with a 160 gr. Partition is not enough gun, then I don't want to be there.

After all, all it has to do is kill it... not cook it, too.






GR

 

[Oldschool shooter]

My vote went to the '06. Good for anything in the US and you can buy ammo for it anywhere. If ammo availability was no concern, I would have chosen the 6.5x55.

 

[Peakbagger46]

30-06 with 180g Accubonds at 2875fps for pronghorn, mulies, and elk.

 

[Coal Dragger]

None of the above if I could have only one.

 

[James Fonteneaux]

I chose .308, but only because my AR10 won't chamber 30-06. If we're talking only one rifle, then '06 all day.

 

[WisBorn]

Good ole .270 Winchester.

150 gr. Lead.
130-140 gr. Mono-copper.

Ole meat-gitter.

​

GR

I bought a box of 150 grain SP CORE-LOKs for a new 270 I have. They have a round nose. Had hunting Buddy's years ago use them in WI. They liked the hammer effect. I gave them a hard time telling them that they were just trying to make their 270's into a 30-06s. Now it's my turn to try them.

 

[Txhillbilly]

I've always wondered why guy's come up with these " Only one gun threads",when most of us have a large collection of most of the cartridges listed. That's the great thing about being an American,we can and do have as many different guns as we choose.
I have 2/3's of the cartridges listed,and enjoy all of them. My favorite hunting cartridge is my 6.5-06,but I have many that are both smaller and larger. I can't vote on just one,because I like them all.

 

[Vlad3572]

I choose the .45 70 Gov. I have rifles in at least half of the choices listed. My most used has been the .243 and 30-06, excluding any hunting done for Uncle Sam. I just love a lever in .45 70 Gov and it's all I use any more. With decent loads I can hit and kill anything I choose to shoot. Pretty easy to reload as well.

 

[375supermag]

Hi...
I chose the 7mm Magnum for a couple of reasons.
It shoots pretty flat out past 300 yards which is important because I deer and bear hunt in an area with a lot of large open areas of blueberry flats and swamps surrounded by heavily forested mountainous terrain in northern Pennsylvania.
The recoil impulse is easily handled and the cost of factory ammuntion isn't unreasonable.
My second choice would be the .30/06 for pretty much the same reasons with the added reasons of rifles available in not only bolt actions but also pump actions as well.

 

[Swampman]

Very hard to choose just one.

Even harder when the list doesn't include .257 Roberts.

I chose 6.5x55 under (mild) protest.

 

[Ohen Cepel]

I'm torn between 30-06 (which I think would be first and my vote), 308, and 45-70. I think the 06 wins by a hair for me though.

 

[MacAR]

I voted for the ought six. Because why wouldn't you? You can hunt basically everything in N. America with it, and defend yourself too if required. That's my opinion, anyway.

Mac

 

[cdb1]

I voted 6.5x55.

If I lived in Montana/Wyoming I might have voted .270.

If I lived in Alaska I probably would have voted 30-06.

 

[792mauser]

Since there ain't a 8mm mauser option.
7mm mauser.
Pure unadulterated class in cartridge form.

 

[Picher]

Hate to bring it up, but the cartridge that impresses me lately is the 7mm-08. Of all the rifles I've sighted-in for people this one shot factory fodder best. Perfect cloverleafs at 100 yards with Rem Core-Loct 140 grainers!!! Couldn't believe my eyes!

The rifle is a used Rem Stainless Model 7 owned by a buddy that had a stock split from over-torquing the main stock screw. I happened to discover it when cleaning and inspecting the rifle for sale to a neighbor lady. Couldn't sell it to her like that, so did a repair/pillar-bedding job on it and it came out nice!

Fortunately, I don't have to choose just one, so this exercise is bogus for me.

 

[Hookeye]

7mm 08.
Like the looks of short action bolt guns better.
Varmints and deer.
BTW, you left .25-06 off the list

 

[Hookeye]

Had a 788 in .7mm 08 and it did OK, nothing special.
Clunky rig and man, that magazine.
Yeeesh.
A 7mm in varmint bullets isn't overly big. And in deer bullets shines.
For a deer rig, a Ruger #1 A in 7mm 08 might be perfect.

How boring would that be? One rifle and done. LOL

 

[Rexster]

No 45-70?

Of course, .45-70 is OK. It is listed as a choice.

Edited to add: Was 45-70 one of the original poll choices? I am not sure.

 

[Rexster]

Thankfully, this poll is just a “thought exercise,” as I see it. I am not actually going to get rid of my .223/5.56 NATO, .45-70, .357 Magnum, .45 Colt, or .375 H&H rifles, just because I checked “.308 Winchester” in this poll. And, I still plan to add a nice example of an M1 Garand, .30-06, sooner or later.

My most recent two Midway USA orders were, each, for both .45-70 and .308 Winchester.

 

[Garandimal]

I bought a box of 150 grain SP CORE-LOKs for a new 270 I have. They have a round nose. Had hunting Buddy's years ago use them in WI. They liked the hammer effect. I gave them a hard time telling them that they were just trying to make their 270's into a 30-06s. Now it's my turn to try them.

They carry 1,500 lb-ft at 200 yards, and will still expand with over 1,000 lb-feet at 300.

With a scoped rifle and a 200 yd. zero, mid-flight rise is ~ 2.25", and the drop at 300 is ~ 10".

A good woods/thickets round, and usually very accurate.


Been loading Speer mono-core Grand Slam 150's at a little over 2800 fps, for a do-it-all round, and like that one as well.

The higher BC of the spitzer GS bullet lowers the mid-flight rise to ~ 2" and adds ~ 100 yards to the velocity and energy of the above RCL performance.

Drop at 300 is ~ 8".




GR

 

[Project355]

30-06 for ONE only, but so many GREAT choices