What caliber to the "only one rifle" big game hunting in Ontario?

Hate to say it, but due to their ridiculous bore size rule, a .270 Winchester. Can get ammo at any small shop, hunts coyotes, deer, and black bear equally well. Not the greatest ballistics, but a solid hunting caliber. This is the only time I'd recommend a .277" bore; Ontario. If you want a fancy hum-zinger, .270 WSM, but then you get into ammo availability issues unless you handload, and for a one gun guy, probably not your case.
 
If you are in Ontario and can only have one rifle it should be a .270 Winchester. In many parts of Southern Ontario it the largest calibre you are permitted to use and is more than adequate for deer, moose and black bear when elswhere in the province.
 
The .275 bore restriction applies only to small game (varmints) in certain townships in extreme Southern Ontario.
And big game, is already shotgun/ML/bow only (in that area). So I wouldn't necessarily choose the 270 based upon that and that only.

30-06, 270, 7mm etc. etc. All good choices for any "big game" you will find in Ont. But it all depends on where you want to hunt.
A friend purchased his 1st gun (30-30) to deer hunt with me... HE really liked it till I told him we hunt in a Shotgun/ML only area. :eek:
 
My moose hunting buddy ran a 6.5x55 Swede with premium bullets for years and shot maybe a dozen moose with it but all of them needed at least a second round. He since switched to a .308 and all of them dropped on the spot. So while people's mileage may vary if moose or bear are onth e agenda I would go with a .30 , with .308 and 30:06 being the most widely available, closely frollowed by .300 winmag.
 
Uncle Den said:
This is unexpected piece of news for me actually.

and I have looked in Ontario hunting regulations for 2008 - 2009 one more time. Nothing like this in there.
So I was wondering if you could, please, point me to material where that restriction is writen. I want to read up on this .270 BS.
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http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/239852.pdf

Under the small game Regulations. It may not affect you, depends where you plan on hunting.

Other than that all the Calibers you mention would be more than adequate.
 
The way all the laws are setup, it is very confusing.
Why don't we start over. Where do you plan on hunting? WMU wise? And what Big Game do you plan on hunting? Your Small Game License covers you for Moose, Deer, Bear, Coyote, Rabbit, Squirrel etc.? Other than buying seperate Tags for Moose, Deer, Bear etc.
 
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The .257wby would be the most versatile to me 75gr vmax for yotes and 100gr TSX for deer, Bear, Moose........the 100gr TSX fly's around 3700fps and should have no issues dumping any Ontario game out to 400yds.
 
I'd say 7-08, 30-06 or 308 any would do just fine, the last 2 have many different factory loads available. Me I don't shoot any of those calibers but hey I have more than 1. I'm sure you'll get a 100 different answers.......:)
 
srt4u2nv said:
The .257wby would be the most versatile to me 75gr vmax for yotes and 100gr TSX for deer, Bear, Moose........the 100gr TSX fly's around 3700fps and should have no issues dumping any Ontario game out to 400yds.
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However cool, the guy is on a budget and does not likely reload, if he can even get 257 wby it will expensive $$.

My recommendation is .270 win or 30-06 for a new guy.
 
Uncle Den said:
Thank you,

But in the initial question - I was asking about a big game caliber [Data-(2)] not about small game caliber.

for small game I've got .22 ang a 12GA.
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Much of the "small game" hunting in Southern Ontario is for coyotes. The .22 isn't adequate and the 12 gauge is good only if you get close to them.

But for big game only, the .270 will get the job done but in the absence of a calibre restriction then a .30-06 or 7mm Rem Mag. would be what I'd suggest.
 
another vote for the 270 if a guy knows his stuff there are guns out there better sutted like the 264 win mag 257 wby mag great guns that will lok after everything from groundhogs yotes deer bear and moose elk DUTCH
 
Uncle Den said:
Thank you,

But in the initial question - I was asking about a big game caliber [Data-(2)] not about small game caliber.

for small game I've got .22 ang a 12GA.
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I ran two polls recently - The Optimal Deer Round and The Optimal Moose/Elk Round.

The most favoured round for deer is .308, .270 and 30-06

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=310223

The most favoured round for moose/elk is .338, 30-06 and .308

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=312074

If you can only have one gun it should be a .308 or 30-06. There has been tons of discussions on these two rounds.

I don’t believe in the one gun theory. The “one gun” is your first gun and not you last gun. You will continue to buy more and more…. Ask any member here.

By the way, the Ontario regulation restricts firearms bigger than .275 calibre for small game hunting in the specific counties. Technically, a .270 is .277 and therefore not allowed according to the small game regulation.
 
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