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)

 

[DJR1911]

"if I am ever separated from my ammunition"

It does happen. I recall some fellas launching a flat bottomed river boat some years back. Circle, AK and a pretty brisk Yukon river. Boat was loaded heavy and never even attempted to float off the trailer before water filled up the stern. A lot of gear lost including the ammunition. It took a lot of effort and several vehicles, including a cat tractor, to get the whole mess back up the launch. It was getting late when a couple of the guys headed south towards Fairbanks in search of ammunition. Didn't see them again until early the next morning when the boat was successfully launched, lessons learned. One thing I remember was two of them (maybe all three ?) were now sharing one rifle, a .30-06 as that was the only readily available ammunition which I think they found at a gas station somewhere. I think they were from one of the Dakotas if I remember correctly. Hope they had a successful hunt, it sure couldn't have started any worse.

Even if you don't lose your ammunition the .30-06 is a pretty solid choice.

DJR

 

[Northern Shooter]

The 6.8 Western looks like it would be a great do it all options these days.

 

[BeeMaa]

The 6.8 Western looks like it would be a great do it all options these days.

Because I assume you are trying to kick the hornets nest with a comment like that.

Love to see you show in brown bear camp with it and the reaction on the face of your guide.

 

[Northern Shooter]

Because I assume you are trying to kick the hornets nest with a comment like that.

Love to see you show in brown bear camp with it and the reaction on the face of your guide.

It would do the job.

If 6.5 Creedmoor's and 6.5 PRC's can take a brown bear, so will a 6.8 Western. With a S.D, 0.326 it has every 30.06 load beat aside from the 220 grains. It outperforms every .308 and 30.06 load in terms of muzzle energy and carries that energy downrange far more efficiently.

It wouldn't (and won't) be my first choice of cartridge for a brown bear hunt, but it would kill it just as dead as those 30cals.

 

[McKenzie Sims]

Pitching my hat in the ring on this one with a 7 Rem Mag.. have done just about everything in North America with it.

 

[radname]

Yes sir. And thank you. That being said MY choice then would be 300 mag or wsm. As versatile as you can get and will kill everything in NA. The only gun you will ever need for your situation.

I agree with this 100% but I would give the .300WM an edge for ammo availability.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I agree with this 100% but I would give the .300WM an edge for ammo availability.

@radname
And what will the little 300WM do that the mighty Whelen won't do better may I ask.
Bob

 

[radname]

@radname
And what will the little 300WM do that the mighty Whelen won't do better may I ask.
Bob

Pretty sure this is a debate I don't want to get into with a guy who has 35Whelen in his name! If I was going to..... Mind you I am not..... But if I was.... id say ammo availability. If I dared to be even more petulant..... Again no way am I poking that bear!...... But I might be tempted to say something like..... Nothing that the 9.3x62 doesn't do even better yet.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

For 90% of your list a 6.5 Creedmoor/7mm-08 would do well. The 6.5 will have better ballistics so would do well at longer ranges. The 143gr ELD-X shoots reasonable well and is very effective on thin skinned game. If you are planning on taking longer range shots on larger animals like elk with any regularity you could consider 300 Win Mag/7 Rem Mag. They will normally have a longer barrel for full powder burn so they seem to not as in tune with the dense cover in Florida theme, but they are solid cartridges.

The 308/30-06/270 cover most of your list as well. It starts to become dependent upon distance you plan on shooting.

Also do you reload, are you planning on hunting trips where you might forget your ammunition and need to buy emergency ammunition factors into the decision process. I have a 300 SAUM that I love, but you are not going into Walmart to buy ammo if you forget to pack it. I don't normally use store bought ammunition so I quadruple check before I get on the road that I didn't forget my ammo. I pack some in the rifle case and som

Pitching my hat in the ring on this one with a 7 Rem Mag.. have done just about everything in North America with it.

I thought the thing, until I realized that the guy asked the question six years ago, and hasn't been heard from in four or five years.

 

[Certus]

30-06, there’s a reason it’s very popular in the States.
Failing that I think 35 Whelen will do any of the big stuff over there.
If you wanna go lever gunning then a .45-70 can be thrown in. Mild to wild, as they say.