Your 3 favorite hunting cartridges of all time

[JOHN WATERS]

My three:
30-06 Spr. (Hard to beat as a go-to caliber for small to medium game animals)
300 Win. Mag. (Mule Deer, Elk, Sheep, medium to large African horned game- but maybe not the cape buffalo tanks, unless I was 100 yards away or more)
444 Marlin (Lever action bush gun with some "thump")

 

[JOHN WATERS]

My father in law swears by the 270 win for everything, though.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

My three:
30-06 Spr. (Hard to beat as a go-to caliber for small to medium game animals)
300 Win. Mag. (Mule Deer, Elk, Sheep, medium to large African horned game- but maybe not the cape buffalo tanks, unless I was 100 yards away or more)
444 Marlin (Lever action bush gun with some "thump")

John
Did have a 444 Marlin made on a no4 SMLE action with a 22inch 1in 20 twist. It's nick name was thumper. Because of the stronger action I could load it up a bit more. 265gn flex tip @ 2,460 and 280gn woodleigh @ 2,380. What you hit with it stayed hit. Rifle only weighed 8 pounds all up. She really gets your attention when you pull the trigger. Unfortunately sold it due to a work related shoulder injury

 

[JOHN WATERS]

John
Did have a 444 Marlin made on a no4 SMLE action with a 22inch 1in 20 twist. It's nick name was thumper. Because of the stronger action I could load it up a bit more. 265gn flex tip @ 2,460 and 280gn woodleigh @ 2,380. What you hit with it stayed hit. Rifle only weighed 8 pounds all up. She really gets your attention when you pull the trigger. Unfortunately sold it due to a work related shoulder injury View attachment 321211

Nice gun, too bad you had to part with it. Love the action on that one. I have a model 4 in .303 Brit. that my grandfather brought back from Australia in WWII. I shoot it all the time.
Have taken down a Blue Wildebeest and Greater Kudu with my Marlin 444s, and I agree, that caliber packs a healthy "kick."

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Nice gun, too bad you had to part with it. Love the action on that one. I have a model 4 in .303 Brit. that my grandfather brought back from Australia in WWII. I shoot it all the time.
Have taken down a Blue Wildebeest and Greater Kudu with my Marlin 444s, and I agree, that caliber packs a healthy "kick."

John
Agree the old 444 does have a bit of a boot especially when you push the 265gn flex to almost 2,500fps she tends to buck and roar off the bench not to bad in the bush

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Nice gun, too bad you had to part with it. Love the action on that one. I have a model 4 in .303 Brit. that my grandfather brought back from Australia in WWII. I shoot it all the time.
Have taken down a Blue Wildebeest and Greater Kudu with my Marlin 444s, and I agree, that caliber packs a healthy "kick."

John
Could you please let me know how your 444 performed in Africa .
What rifle did you use and what load?
My mate is thinking of taking his CVA single shot 444 to Namibia next year year.
Cheers mate Bob

 

[JOHN WATERS]

John
Could you please let me know how your 444 performed in Africa .
What rifle did you use and what load?
My mate is thinking of taking his CVA single shot 444 to Namibia next year year.
Cheers mate Bob

I have a Marlin 444s with a 22 inch barrel. Tried sighting it in with a scope, but ended up taking it off and using iron sights because most animals we ran into in Eastern Cape were with 150 yards and I prefer the iron sights. I used the factory Hornady 265 grain FTX Leverevolution cartridges. Killed my blue wildebeest at 138 yards with one shot and it dropped without it taking a step. The kudu was also killed with one shot at 150 yards

but it ran quite a ways before it died​

(admittedly it was a pretty long shot for iron sights and my shot placement was off).

 

[McKim226]

First would have to be 25-06, then 300 Weatherby and finally 375 H&H.

While pondering this again I'm torn between my 300 Weatherby(nice West German built) or my 6.5x55 Sauer 200....

 

[IvW]

7x57mm
375 H&H
500 Jeff

 

[Andy the Aussie]

.22RF
.308Win
.375H&H

 

[Tanks]

.22 LR
.375 H&H
.458 B&M wildcat.

If I had to pick a fourth I'd pick .300 RUM and I'd cover everything in the planet at any reasonable distance.

 

[Rick Cox]

.22 LF target and small game.
.6.5-06 - deer, goat, etc and double duty as a varmit gun.
35 Whelen or 9.3-62 larger game, elk, moose, bear and Plains game. If I needed something bigger I would have to rent.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

.270 win
.340 weatherby
.28 gauge

Ive not seen mention of the 28 gauge in this thread? Surely I'm not the only one who favours this cartridge?

 

[Tbitty]

I did not read all the replies in this thread, but it's a decent bet someone has already said mine. But if I was to pick 3 cartridges to use the rest of my life, I would choose the following. What a fun exercise!

.22 Win Mag (could say .22 LR, but this adds a little extra range.)

.30-06 Springfield - I'd argue that with the right bullets and shot placement, it will humanely kill any game on Earth.

You can sub in any number of options here for #3, but I'm going to choose the .223 Remington.

Also in contention for #3, in my head, were, in no particular order, 25-06, 308, 243, 6.5 Creed, 6.5 grendel, 7mm-08, 204, 375 H&H, or 338 Federal. I settled on 223 because it is a nice short action, lots of ammo and gun selections and availability, easy to shoot, and I personally have more use for a smaller than 30-06 caliber in my collection.

 

[Tbitty]

.270 win
.340 weatherby
.28 gauge

Ive not seen mention of the 28 gauge in this thread? Surely I'm not the only one who favours this cartridge?

As soon as I hit "post reply" I looked at this answer and realized I was so focused on rifles, I forgot about shotguns entirely. I would easily substitute either the .22 Win Mag or .223 Rem for a 12 gague shotgun. Probably the .22 wm for this debate.

While I love the 16, 20, and 28 gauges, I'll stick with my reasoning of popularity, availability, and range of options by choosing a 12 as "permanent" selection.

 

[Rule 303]

Three, that's hard.22Long Rifle

35Whelen

Toss up between 375H&H and 416Rigby.

Had to leave out 6.8SPC, 303Brit 270Win and two wild cats 35Sambar (35WSM) and my current favourite 358/338 RUM

 

[Tanks]

...

Toss up between 375H&H and 416Rigby.

...

If ever going after elephant then I'd say pick 416 Rigby.

 

[shark_za]

Background, I don't hunt dangerous game so my selection can be seen based on standard hunting in South Africa. Both plains and bush.

What I have used
.243 (100gr) - synonymous with springbuck and open plains
6.5x55SE - I use this for everything now
.30-06 - majority of what I have taken has been with this caliber; usually 180gr bullets but have loaded GS Custom 150's and Hornady 220gr RN's in the past.

Ideal battery
.25-06 plains
6.5x55SE general purpose
9.3x62 bushveld

 

[Rule 303]

If ever going after elephant then I'd say pick 416 Rigby.

That is exactly what I have done on my 2 Ele hunts and one Buff hunt.

 

[John Camp]

30-06
7 mm Mag
9.3x62

I do not yet have a 9.3x62 but am so in love with the caliber it made the list
Still need to check out the rest of the Euoropean caliber .