Suggestions for a "big and slow" caliber?

Browning makes a fine lever 358, the stainless laminate takedown BLR. Stows nicely when scouting around on my dirt bike.

So far I have taken 1 Moose with it using the 310gr Woodleigh bullet at about 2100 fps muzzle speed. Quite an acceptable performer on heavy game. :d

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358 Win. Browning BLR Lightweight '81 Stainless Laminate Takedown with Leupold FX-II Scout IER 2.5x28mm
 
Something that I may have missed on this thread is whether the OP has friends who have bigger bore rifles that could be tested... There are some great recommendations that have been given over the 15 pages that have drawn shooters to provide their comments and experiences that they had with various rifle / caliber combinations. Due to availability of rifles and ammo I would suggest the 9.3 x 62. The caliber simply does the job and the recoil isn't too bad at all. And the 45-70 is a classic as is the 375 H&H. Those would be the three that I would suggest. All of these calibers have tremendous ability to take game of any size. Ammo, dies etc can be readily found and loads can be made for a variety of scenarios. A fair warning though - If you get one you may find the urge to get another.
 
Highwind said:
Something that I may have missed on this thread is whether the OP has friends who have bigger bore rifles that could be tested... There are some great recommendations that have been given over the 15 pages that have drawn shooters to provide their comments and experiences that they had with various rifle / caliber combinations. Due to availability of rifles and ammo I would suggest the 9.3 x 62. The caliber simply does the job and the recoil isn't too bad at all. And the 45-70 is a classic as is the 375 H&H. Those would be the three that I would suggest. All of these calibers have tremendous ability to take game of any size. Ammo, dies etc can be readily found and loads can be made for a variety of scenarios. A fair warning though - If you get one you may find the urge to get another.
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I'm between windsor and London if anyone wants to try a 45/70 or 458wm
 
Dogleg said:
It would be easier if we could decide what big is, and what constitutes slow.
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These things are movable, while I think a "big bore" is 444; 40 cal, 400 grains, 4000 ft/lbs. For here and now I think big is +35 cal, 250 grains and up and less than 2200 fps is slow.
 
Slamfire said:
Browning makes a fine lever 358, the stainless laminate takedown BLR. Stows nicely when scouting around on my dirt bike.

So far I have taken 1 Moose with it using the 310gr Woodleigh bullet at about 2100 fps muzzle speed. Quite an acceptable performer on heavy game. :d

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358 Win. Browning BLR Lightweight '81 Stainless Laminate Takedown with Leupold FX-II Scout IER 2.5x28mm
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How well does that BLR takedown return to POI after disassembly/reassembly?
 
Perfectly with the scope mounted on the barrel. No misalignment with the receiver and barrel that way. Haven't tried a receiver-mounted scope set up since I prefer the Scout set up.

I would imagine there could be some minor variation with POI with a receiver-mounted scope but probably not enough to make a significant difference at 100 meters or so.
 
I've owned a BLR takedown model in .325WSM, and played with the takedown/re-assembly dozens of times. I currently own one in .358Win which I have only taken apart a few times so far. Both of them consistently seem to come back to within 1MOA of original point of impact, sometimes much closer. This is the case whether the scope is receiver-mounted or in the scout position.

The .358Win (in this and other rifles) has accounted for several deer and bear for me over the years. In every case the cartridge was...by Slamfire's criteria...a miserable failure as a hunting round. Virtually every animal made two or three steps, sometimes even a jump, before expiring. In this day and age I see no reason for tolerating this kind of sub-par performance...:)
 
MiG25 said:
These things are movable, while I think a "big bore" is 444; 40 cal, 400 grains, 4000 ft/lbs. For here and now I think big is +35 cal, 250 grains and up and less than 2200 fps is slow.
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That's where I place "big" as well; 40 cal, enough weight to get sectional density up to .300 and enough velocity to get that bullet up to 4000 foot-pounds. That would at least get it up to barely big. 5000 is better, nobody contests that as big.

I doubt that our OP wants big.
 
Another vote here for the 9.3x62 - it can always be loaded down to x57 levels if desired. I find mine to have "different" recoil than 30 caliber rounds like the 308 or 3006. Even warm loads in the 9.3 have more of a push type recoil than the sharper recoil from the smaller bores.

Brass is also easy to make from 30-06. Just buy a replacement 40 caliber expander for any Lee die and stick it in the Lee decapping die. I use one for the 416 Rem Mag. Use the expander to bring the brass up to 40 cal, and then run it through the FL 9.3x62 die. Done. Or just get brass from TradeEx.
 
The Moose I downed with my 358 BLR required 2 shots. The first was frontal at about 180 meters. Definitely had an effect because the Moose staggered off a few steps then turned broadside when the 2nd quick shot hit through the shoulders dropping it DRT. Took me a while to find it in the tall grass. :eek:

2 shots were needed but the sub-par performance is mitigated to some degree by the extended range. And because I happen to like this rifle a lot. ;)
 
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A moose dropped only a couple of steps from his position at 180 yards...and you couldn't find him in the grass???

Okay...now I understand why you need animals to drop in their tracks...:)
 
Once I got to about where I thought it fell the Moose was nowhere to be seen because it was hidden by the tall grass. So I walked a ways past and began walking in smaller and smaller spirals until I eventually found it. Fun times. :d
 
This may or not be the place, but for Christmas I received a copy of "Hunting in Many Lands. The Book of the Boone and Crockett Club" originally published in 1895.

One will note based on the chapter he wrote, that Teddy Roosevelt seems to have been a very poor shot.

There is also a chapter on hunting in Mongolia and Tibet, the author expresses his full confidence in his good little Winchester, a 44 carbine (1873 44-40?) for all game including Wild Asses, the variations of Asian Grizzly, the Wild Yak (second largest bovine after the Gaur), sheep, antelope and leopard. He does note that shot placement is important on the Yak and that his rifle is too light for such but he did kill the largest bull he saw with 1 shot (according to wiki they can weigh up to 2200lbs).

So a 44 or 45 lever action might scratch your itch.
 
Slamfire said:
The Moose I downed with my 358 BLR required 2 shots. The first was frontal at about 180 meters. Definitely had an effect because the Moose staggered off a few steps then turned broadside when the 2nd quick shot hit through the shoulders dropping it DRT. Took me a while to find it in the tall grass. :eek:

2 shots were needed but the sub-par performance is mitigated to some degree by the extended range. And because I happen to like this rifle a lot. ;)
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You did the right thing shooting him again! But those suckers are hard to DRT when shooting em frontally with any caliber I have seen. Even the broadside shot tends to make em run a few feet before they die, eh?

Good not to chance it but maybe he would have toppled over if left alone for 5 seconds anyway.
 
Roosevelt apparently saw the need for bigger and heavier as appropriate for the game being hunted -

"The .405 Win. cartridge came about in 1904, chambered in the Winchester Model 1895 rifle....President Theodore Roosevelt was a huge fan of the .405 Winchester and took a pair of them on his famous African safari, pronouncing the cartridge as big medicine for lion."

https://www.americanhunter.org/articles/2013/6/7/the-405-winchester/
 
Slamfire said:
Roosevelt apparently saw the need for bigger and heavier as appropriate for the game being hunted -

"The .405 Win. cartridge came about in 1904, chambered in the Winchester Model 1895 rifle....President Theodore Roosevelt was a huge fan of the .405 Winchester and took a pair of them on his famous African safari, pronouncing the cartridge as big medicine for lion."

https://www.americanhunter.org/articles/2013/6/7/the-405-winchester/
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In his chapter TR liked the 1876 45-75, basically he wanted the most powerful, fastest shooting rifle he could get to send as much lead downrange as he could. He writes of making 2! hits out of 50 shots. I suspect he'd be using a 450 AR today.
 
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