Two Hunting Rifles - Which Calibers?

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Your initial choices are very legitimate, and would cover most things that need doing - so long as you allow for the .22lr in addition.

Because there are so many calibers out there, tailored for so many different purposes, it would be very easy to say, "But that caliber can't do this job as well as" whatever the favored specialty round is. Doesn't matter, really. If you're only going to have 2 rifles, then you're going to have to give up some of the specialty capabilities in favor of "general purpose" that just gets the job done.

.30-30, .308, .30'06 - each of them can do what the others do, just at different maximum ranges. If you regularly need to shoot past 200 yards, then get the .308 or the .30'06. If you have never taken a shot on a game animal past 225 yards or so, then why do you want to get something that is just going to kick the crap out of you for no legitimate advantage? If the shooter can get rounds on target, the light-kicking .30-30 will kill anything the other .30 cal rounds will.

I don't think that your general purpose rifle exercise is pointless ... but, just like sidearms, if you think you need to be ready for big, bad bruins, you may want to get a specialty rifle for that. .338, or a .45-70, and a .41 or .44 mag would be good places to start for that. If you dream of going to Alaska, but don't have that as something you're actively preparing for currently, I suggest getting rifles that are practical and usable for where you are and do hunt, and then if you need something more for that special hunting trip, get it as part of your preparation for that trip.

Just my thoughts. .22lr, .223, and a good .30 cal will take care of most things a rifle can take care of.
 
OP asked:
If you could only have two bolt action hunting rifles for all around hunting ...
Click to expand...
If you really, really mean only two rifles, I'd opt for a .22LR and a .30-06. If you mean two in addition to a .22LR, .223 and .30-06 would be fine. I was there, eventually replaced the .223 bolt gun with a .243 ... and then decided I still wanted a .223 so bought it, too. I know I'm doubling your numbers, but I'd be quite content with:

.22LR
.223
.243 and
.30-06 (or a .308 if you desperately want a short-action carbine-length gun)
 
Which two hunting rifles? This is not a hypothetical question for me. For most of my professional life I was a high school teacher trying to afford several equipment intensive hobbies on a modest budget. I decided that I would buy one good quality gun of each type that I used. For the last 30 years, I have owned two rifles: a Ruger 10/22 with custom stock and standard barrel which I used for plinking, and a Ruger M77 in .300 Win Mag. which I used for hunting.

Since I am a reloader, I frequently downloaded my .300 to 30-06 levels (or about 100 fps faster) when hunting for mule deer. I only loaded near maximum loads for elk. During the first year I owned the rifle, I couldn't get it to shoot accurately with any load I tried. So I glass bedded it and floated the barrel. It still wouldn't shoot, so I rebarreled it with a Douglas barrel. After that, I was able to develop hunting loads which would group 10 shots into .8 to 1.00 inch groups. And because of the stable bedding system, the rifle never changed zero for 30 years!

This system can work pretty well if you load to different levels for different game and you select your bullets carefully. Most .30 caliber bullets available to hand loaders are designed to work well with .30-06 or .308 at velocities under 3000 fps. Whenever I loaded near maximum loads, I would use a premium bullet, usually Speer Grand Slam.

I also used S&W 629 for a lot of my hunting, but you just asked about rifles.

The one disadvantage was the rifle weighed about 3/4 pound more than a deer rifle needs to. If I had it to do over again, I would probably go with two rifles: a.280 Rem (or 7mm-08) and a .338 Win. Mag.
 
I'm not sure if it has been said but I would go with a .204 ruger (mean little round) and .303 british (round with the most confirmed big game kills around the world. Elephant, moose, rhino, bear it doesn't matter) I would also have to put the 7.62x54R up there but I'm old school and think that you don't need an expensive rifle to kill game.
 
One rifle, .30-06 the most available factory loadings. Two rifles, .243 and .375 H&H. That covers everything from field mice to polar bear and elephant.
 
Kludge wrote:

As long as you don't count small game in the CPX1 category, then I can bypass the .22LR, which in any quiz like this, I think that it's a given that you get a .22LR and it doesn't count against you.

.260 Rem and a .338-06
Click to expand...

What he said!!...though I have a mild bias towards the 35 Whelen.
35W
 
There are several choices for this mission. I have .303, .308, .30-06, 7mm RM, .300 WM, and .35 Whelen. I think the best "one rifle" of those is probably the 7mm, in its heavy P14 platform.

I would be tempted to say .22-250 as the light rifle, but for its reputation as a barrel burner. .223's not a bad choice for 10-170 lb targets. If you were going to shoot only smaller than deer with it, 5.45x39mm is an interesting and economical choice.

I'm going to buck the trends, and say 7.62x39mm and 7mm RM. I can't see doing much varmint shooting past 200 meters, and a properly loaded 7.62x39mm can handle that, with little recoil and long barrel life. :D

John
 
I'd pick .22 hornet and .30-06, with the caveat that the latter is in a repeating rifle, not a single-shot. Both of these rounds can be handloaded to cover a very wide range of game.
 
Do you really mean all North American game? or will you ever be hunting large bears?
The .30-06 seems a tad small for Kodiak bear.

Your choices seem like good ones, unless you plan to hunt for the big bears.

Down here my all-purpose rifles are a 6.5 x 55 and a .22 mag., and for years these were what I used and they have performed quite well.
 
I could getterdone with these three:

- 243 for varmints, prairie deer, and antelope

- 30-30 for mulies and whitetails forests & foothills

- 308 for everything else that walks

TR
 
I am also new to the forum. Here In MS iI use the 243 Win. for the varmits and the 30/06 for the deer.
 
Wish I could claim credit for saying it first but I cannot. .223 and Barret .50. Since the stipulations were only limited to lever action and not to cost of rounds or rifle, that is what I would go with.

In reality .243 and .30-06 would make the most sense.
 
Only 2 guns, I would go with a Browning A-bolt featherlite in .358 Winchester and a Savage Model 14 Classic in .250 Savage. The .358 winchester is a great round at 200 gr and the .250 savage is fast and accurate.
 
winner winner chicken dinner!!!! And if you reload and you run out of 25-06 brass you can neck down the 30-06 brass
 
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