One rifle for North American big game?

[R eight]

I wrote on Friday and asked the original what he had chosen after getting all this good advise for six years. He hasn't answered.

He probably went down the 35 Whelen wormhole and is too embarrassed to say so.

 

[Certus]

@Hunter-Habib
African grizzly bears???? Where do you hunt them
Bob

Hey there used to be brown bears in africa..

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Hey there used to be brown bears in africa..

@Certus
And there used to be tigers in Tasmania
Bob

 

[Certus]

@Certus
And there used to be tigers in Tasmania
Bob

No they weren’t even close to being related..?

 

[Certus]

Atlas bear - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

As said, brown bears (true ones, not something sharing a similar name), in Africa.

 

[Phil Giordano]

Yeah, you could just run into any little store in Wyoming or Utah or Georgia and pick up a box of ammo......oh, wait...

...or you can reload, just as many of us do
RWS and Norma (now Beretta), Brenneke, and few others make rounds in 8x68S
I guess, that little store in Utah or Georgia, maybe will not have many cartridges we commonly use as well...

 

[Doug Hamilton]

...or you can reload, just many of us do

As do I, but I like knowing that if I am ever separated from my ammunition I can buy some. One time a friend went hunting in Nevada with me and some other guys. He had forgotten to pack his smmo. Fortunately he had brought his .30-06.

 

[Phil Giordano]

As do I, but I like knowing that if I am ever separated from my ammunition I can buy some. One time a friend went hunting in Nevada with me and some other guys. He had forgotten to pack his smmo. Fortunately he had brought his .30-06.

This is true, I agree
Some few rounds are a pass-par-tout, and for sure 8x68 is not - as many good cartridges around

 

[dchamp]

I am a big fan of eight millimeters. My goto is my 8mm Rem Mag, a wonderful thumper.

Ballistically, I find the 8x57 & 30-06 to be equals, the 8x68s & .300WM to be equals and the 8mm Rem Mag to fall between the .300Wby and .340 Wby. But if I take into consideration the practicality of factory ammunition and popularity of caliber I would go with the .300WM. It would not be out of place for hunting anything in the western hemisphere nor most of the world. But that’s just me, you may have another preference and you wouldn’t be wrong.

Another candidate would be the .375H&H.

 

[Alaska Luke]

Rifles are fun to experiment with. But with anything there is a cost. Maybe you can afford it but is that taking away from something else? Here is an illustration.

Back in my younger days I was an early adopter of ultralight backpacking gear. I worked hard and spent a lot of money getting my gear (not counting food and water) down to around 15 pounds then 9 then 5 (for special occasions only). It was fun but I spent a ton of money. Eventually I quit spending money on backpacking gear (it was becoming redundant) and I got a packraft. Wow that was a whole new world. If I had it to do over I'd spend less on backpacking gear and I'd get a raft sooner. The raft was a game changer. Going from a 25 pound pack to a 15 pound pack was not.

Now I'm into hunting again. I've tried a .375 Ruger, a 358 Winchester, a .308, a 30-06 and now I'm experimenting with a 6.5 Grendal. It's fun but that was a lot of money. If I had it to do again I'd buy fewer rifles and spend more money on ammo. A new rifle usually doesn't improve my ability to take game much. $700 worth of target practice might be better.

My point is, we often perfect one tool at the expense of other tools that could actually improve our enjoyment more. I don't know what the perfect rifle is but I think most people spend to much on that and not on other things that might help more (assuming your rifle does its basic functions of shooting accurately and reliably)