a lot to be said for classic calibres

[Acm]

Had a chat today with a guy who spends 30 weeks of the year hunting recreationally, wealthy guy, travels a lot shoots in europe africa america and new zealand. he offered me some handy advice i think, and approved of my calibers which was a nice feeling. i shoot .22 .243 .275 .30-06

"don't worry too much about caliber performance, find a rifle thats comfy to shoot and comfy to carry in a caliber suitable for the job and that you can buy anywhere"

food for thought i guess!

 

[caorach]

"don't worry too much about caliber performance, find a rifle thats comfy to shoot and comfy to carry in a caliber suitable for the job and that you can buy anywhere"

food for thought i guess!

When it comes to our deer legal cartridges then the only reason to chose between them is ammo availability. Pick something that you can't easily get ammo for and shooting becomes your hobby rather than stalking, there's nothing wrong with that at all but stalking and shooting are not the same thing.

I've got to say that I don't think the various magazines and so called "gun writers" do anyone any favours. They have to fill their magazines so they can't have an article on the 308 every month and so they punt stranger and stranger "new" cartridges which, in practical terms, are no different from something that's been readily available for 50 - 100 years. They also, generally, have about as much grasp of basic physics as a monkey with a copy of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Of course having lots of choice is always a good thing but the truth of the matter is that if you could only have a 243 or a 308 no stalker would be any worse off and we'd have a great supply of ammo and reloading components plus we'd not have to listen to people getting excited about the fact that the latest new wonder cartridge is a whole half inch flatter than the rainbow 308 at 600 yards. I'm not sure if that would make life better or not

 

[Southern]

Although a have a mess of rifles, I hunted for a long time with very few. A lot of well-known hunters who bagged a lot of game all over the world only had a few rifles:
Eleanor O'Connor - 7x57 and .30-06 - deer, elk, sheep, leopard, lion, tiger
Ernest Hemingway
Harry Selby, Percival, WDM Bell, John Hunter
JY Jones ( took everything you can think of with the same .30-06 )

I know one gun writer who had his garage full of rifles in boxes, which the makers had sent to him to test and write about. He had maybe shot half of them. They never asked for them back. He did 90% of his hunting with a Remington 700 in .280.

But for me it is mostly about the rifle, and the cartridge is secondary. I just love hunting for something different, and using a nice old tradition rifle when I can. When the slopes are steep and the trail long, I like a carbine, or stutzen, or my T3 Lite. When I am out in all kinds of rough terrain, dust, and weather in a tent or no tent for a week or two and hunting almost anything, I bought a Steyr Prohunter 7x64 with iron sights and a Rem 700 BDL SS in .30-06 just for that - ammunition readily available.

 

[Stumack]

"don't worry too much about caliber performance, find a rifle thats comfy to shoot and comfy to carry in a caliber suitable for the job and that you can buy anywhere"

food for thought i guess!

So simple, yet words of wisdom one cannot debate!

 

[Backstraps]

I love variety and options , but no doubt the classics are classic for good reason!

 

[A Guy Out West]

Although a have a mess of rifles, I hunted for a long time with very few. A lot of well-known hunters who bagged a lot of game all over the world only had a few rifles:
Eleanor O'Connor - 7x57 and .30-06 - deer, elk, sheep, leopard, lion, tiger

Southern,
You left one of Eleanor's out, olifant. Yep, that's right, she used a 30/06. Been to the Jack O'connor museum in Lewiston, ID. You would love it. They have some of his guns and mounts. Pictures of Eleanor with tigers, etc. My 12 & 14 year olds drove over there with me just to see it. We saw some big horn sheep and mountain goats on the way, it was perfect.

 

[mchughcb]

Had a chat with a very poor guy with 5 kids who hunts about 15 weeks a year. He uses a 22lr, 223 and a 12g. Why? cause their cheap lol!

 

[Erik Hamburger]

When it comes to our deer legal cartridges then the only reason to chose between them is ammo availability. Pick something that you can't easily get ammo for and shooting becomes your hobby rather than stalking, there's nothing wrong with that at all but stalking and shooting are not the same thing.

I've got to say that I don't think the various magazines and so called "gun writers" do anyone any favours. They have to fill their magazines so they can't have an article on the 308 every month and so they punt stranger and stranger "new" cartridges which, in practical terms, are no different from something that's been readily available for 50 - 100 years. They also, generally, have about as much grasp of basic physics as a monkey with a copy of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Of course having lots of choice is always a good thing but the truth of the matter is that if you could only have a 243 or a 308 no stalker would be any worse off and we'd have a great supply of ammo and reloading components plus we'd not have to listen to people getting excited about the fact that the latest new wonder cartridge is a whole half inch flatter than the rainbow 308 at 600 yards. I'm not sure if that would make life better or not

Wise words indeed.
However, without the caliber worshipers and long-distance shooting debates these forums would be dead.