Best cartridge in your opinion?

Joel said:
270, 280, 308, 30-06, 7mm-08, 7x57, 8x57...whatever a guy likes best will all do that job for sure.
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Yup all those cartridges will work for sure. I think we could eliminate a few for off the shelf ammunition. Which will leave 270, 308 and 30-06 and possibly the 7-08. We are splitting hairs here lol. I think the 30-06 if it came to a vote, would be tough to knock off the podium as the best allrounder. I like the 270, you can load light bullets for varmints, 110 gr ttsx at 3400 fps for pronghorns, sheep or goats, this load turns the 270 into a 257 weatherby damn near. Then the heavier bullets for deer, moose and elk. jmo.
 
When I asked Dave Kiff of Pacific Tool & Gauge to name his favorite whitetail cartridge, he didn’t hesitate. “The .257 Roberts. It’s a perfect all-around gun,” Kiff said.

Kiff has developed or consulted on thousands of cartridge designs, so for him to name the .257 without second thought is no small potatoes.
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Best cartridge I’ve ever hunted with? Probably the .375 H&H. If there can only be one, it has to be the one that can do it all, and you can find wherever you’re going. Used it from Bison & Grizzlies to a couple of the Five, and many in between. It‘s got it all.

Best cartridge I’ve used for the bulk of what I do? .308 Winchester. It’s just too well rounded, available, and suited to the guns I like, those being high volume target rifles and ultralight mountain and stalking rifles.

Best cartridge I’ve used in pleasure and ease of use afield throwing ubiquity out the window? That’d be the .257 Roberts, unfortunately it’s not the most common, but it is one of the absolute bests when we look at what we use our rifles for the most in hunting. Just like Dave Kiff says.
 
Yeah. Best means different things to different people. If factory ammo availability is a factor then 308 is the hands down winner. It’s available on shelves in 10x the quantity of everything else pretty much everywhere. I’ve used mine in all sorts of situations on deer, bear, and moose over the last 25 years and it has always been more than adequate. I’ve somewhat moved on recently to 6.5cm and soon to be 7prc but that’s more about wanting to try something new and getting new gear than any sort of gripe about 308. I still think the answer to OP’s question is 308.
 
For Canada, my vote is 30-06. Load it light and fast for the small stuff, or stuff heavies in it if you're walking where grizzly roam.
Second choice is probably the 7 rem mag. Flat shooting, not too hard on the shoulder for most people.
Third would be 270. That's the one I'd carry if the biggest predators we had here were black bears. That or the 257 Bee.
 
I’m tempted by the G Flach kimber on the EE in .308 win. I have a 6x45 Sako that he stocked in the same pattern that I quite like. My problem is I don’t know what it would replace in the safe. There’s a handful that a 308 is “almost as good as” that could go.
This gunnut disease is weird, my distaste for the 308 win rivals the old legend’s distain for the 270.
 
If moose, bear, or elk are on the menu, my go-to is the .280 Remington.
Just for deer, at the ranges I shoot, the .250 Savage and the .257 Roberts are winners.

There are a lot of great choices available. If I were going out today to buy a “one-and-only” deer rifle, I’d likely grab a 7mm-08 and never look back.
 
35 Whelen pistol bullets for plinking and varmints, load it mild to fall between the .350 legend to .35 Remington for mild but effective 200 yard and in deer killing, its large enough bore diameter to make cast bullets perform and has enough powder capacity to let jacketed and mono bullets do their job to ranges most game is shot. Its one minor short coming is lacking high BC polymer tipped bullets.
 
I do believe the best cartridge is pending on where and what your hunting .
If I live in southern Sask and that's it then a fast flat shooting cartridge is in order
In Ontario , no grizzly so a 243 may work . LOL
In BC , being in grizz country I'm gonna go as big as I"m comfortable with.. 300 and up maybe
Alberta can have all the above
I may be hunting an area where I wanna drop the animal on the spot and and don't have the luxury of a blood trail for 100 yards or seeing it run off for 1/2 mile
The 6.5 don't fit in many area's . Maybe Ont ...haaaa
 
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AlbertaJohn said:
You don't know what you're talking about.
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If anyone's having a hard time putting big game down quickly with 6.5s I'd also be inclined to ask just where they're hitting them.

They've only got over a century of track record behind them, and that's in weaker forms than a lot of what people carry today.
 
Joel said:
If anyone's having a hard time putting big game down quickly with 6.5s I'd also be inclined to ask just where they're hitting them.

They've only got over a century of track record behind them, and that's in weaker forms than a lot of what people carry today.
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Pretty sure I read somewhere that more moose have been harvested in Europe with the 6.5x55 than any other caliber.
If I was to get a 6.5 for hunting, it would be a 264 Win mag in a Model 70 Supergrade.
 
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