Your 3 favorite hunting cartridges of all time

[Michael Dean]

It's tough to limit it to only three; 22-250, 7x57 Mauser and 375 H&H.

 

[Red Devil]

The American Trifecta:

- .22 LR (36 gr. HP).
- .270 Winchester (150 gr. NP).
- 12 Ga. (#6 high base).




Red

 

[Inline6]

I'll play this game...

25CM
338LM
375XC

I am also a fan of.

6BRA
6XC
6CM

And I must say I do enjoy my 22LR, 223, 308, and 12ga too.

 

[CZDiesel]

I know this is going to read as really vanilla or as a paid Winchester advertisement lol
But I really do believe Winchester got it right all those years ago and for just three to hunt all medium and big game

.264 Win Mag
.338 Win Mag
.458 Win Mag

I have a .264 WM Super Grade and a .338 WM Custom Shop Super Grade that have been used on pretty much everything States side. I had a Ruger M77 Safari in .458 WM but it was traded away to someone who actually took it to Africa. Some day I hope to replace it with a New Haven Custom Shop Winchester to match my other two.
I used to hunt small game a ton but now not so much... So I love to plink with my .22lr’s but don’t hunt much with them anymore. But I guess if I had to change one of the above it would be with a .22lr

 

[hyipl]

7x64 brenneke. 9,3x62. 404 jeffery.

 

[Chago]

300 win mag
300 win mag
300 win mag

Best all around caliber on the planet. It can be loaded with heavy 212 grain bullets and still fling them at 2900fps. Enough juice to kill anything on earth in my opinion. I would gladly shoot a elephant with that. But it can also be loaded down with less powder and smaller 140 grain bullets to take your smaller animals. But with that set up would have zero recoil and would shoot flatter then a pool table.

 

[CoElkHunter]

300 win mag
300 win mag
300 win mag

Best all around caliber on the planet. It can be loaded with heavy 212 grain bullets and still fling them at 2900fps. Enough juice to kill anything on earth in my opinion. I would gladly shoot a elephant with that. But it can also be loaded down with less powder and smaller 140 grain bullets to take your smaller animals. But with that set up would have zero recoil and would shoot flatter then a pool table.

I believe the .30-06 is probably the best hunting caliber in the U.S. ever produced. But, I've never owned one. I bought a .270 Win. instead. I would give the .300 Win mag (in the U.S.) second place, just in front of the .338 Win mag (in the U.S) which I do own. And 7mm Rem mag or maybe the .270 next. I'm sure many of the hunters in different countries here on AH would disagree, but I've never hunted with their choice of cartridges. I do own and shoot my British Enfield .303 and Russian Mosin Nagant 91/30 7.62x54. They both are excellent built and accurate rifles, but I've never hunted with them.

 

[Ironhorse375]

My 3 top choices. centerfire.
280 Remington

300 Weatherby

375 H&H

Shotgun
20 ga hands down

 

[Philip Glass]

.22 mag, .223, .375

 

[Sika98k]

22/250

275 aka 7x57

375 H&H

 

[Sika98k]

It's tough to limit it to only three; 22-250, 7x57 Mauser and 375 H&H.

My thoughts exactly .

 

[John Torcasio]

For me it is the
270 Weatherby
3060
416 Weatherby

 

[Scrumbag]

7x64 brenneke. 9,3x62. 404 jeffery.

I own those 3, love your taste, sir!

 

[hyipl]

No more belted mags for me .cast bullets from Mountain mold 368 275gr and 424 380 GR

 

[marcosfal]

Is that a cast bullet for the 9.3? Looks good.
Nevermind, I can’t believe I just found that mould site. Very nice options.

 

[Desert Dog]

There are a few really great versatile cartridges like the 30-06 and 375H&H. But if I were allowed to have only 3 cartridges for what I do, it would currently be the following. Allowing 3 cartridges means you can specialize more.

25-06 = Everything from coyotes to mule deer. The world's most underrated round. Flat like a 22-250, recoil of a 243, but hits like a 270. Everything the 257 Roberts wished it could be.

300 H&H magnum (or any practical 300 mag) = Perfect for elk, black bear, plains game, and any open-country hunting.

416 Rem or Rigby = The most versatile of all the big bores. The perfect medicine for buff and griz, but also an ethical elephant cartridge when I finally hunt one. Also probably the most accurate and flattest shooting big bore, especially with the 350gr TSX.

 

[BlackBearsMatter]

5.56x45 (M193 to be precise)
.300 Win Mag
Either 375 H&H or .404 Jeffery

 

[Alexandro Faria]

Glad thread is still going, it's fun!

I'm going to analyse the s**t out of this, just cos it's a enjoyable...

I assume were looking for versatility here, in which case FA type is also important. So let's see what we have here:

1) 7mm rem mag (bolt or fallingblock, either in SS) for all thin skinned critters smaller than eland/moose
2) 375 Weatherby bolt action with 350gr projectiles for things that can argue back
3) 12 gauge pump action, synthetic stock, for just about anything... You don't get more versatile

 

[Kawshik Rahman]

1) 12 bore 70 millimeter SG 12 pellet cartridge
2) Rimfire magnum.22 by Winchester
3) Magnum .375 by Holland and Holland

 

[Scrumbag]

1) 12 bore 70 millimeter SG 12 pellet cartridge
2) Rimfire magnum.22 by Winchester
3) Magnum .375 by Holland and Holland

Interesting you picked the WMR over the the long rifle!