[Kicker]

I have experience with .243, 30.06, and a 12ga slug gun, but nothing with .308, 7mm Rem Mag, or .300 Mag. I am looking into buying a rifle to be used for whitetail, elk, caribou, mule deer and possibly bear, and alot of target shooting.

I am leaning towards the 7mm Rem Mag. The ballistics on it look pretty impressive and I am told that the kick is not quite as mulish as the .300 Mag.

A Remington 700 BDL SS is the most likely choice as far as the rifle goes and I like the Leupold Mark IV series with the Mil-dots reticule.

I'd appreicate any and all input on any portions of my choices. I haven't bought anything yet and I look forward to the comments as I am sure to learn something from them.

Thanks

 

[muzzleblast]

Hey Kicker, hows it going?

Yeah, 7mm does kick less than a 300 wm, with the lighter bullets and all. Of course those 7mm mag bullets have pretty high SD. A .308 would be economical to practice with I guess. 30-06 is a nice compromise. Has enough power to handle your elk out to 300 M, not a hard kicker, lots of nice loads available for it. Actually, with new HE (high energy, not high explosive :twisted: ) and Light Magnum ammo, its right up there in 300 wm ballistics I think.

Either way, between those three I don't think you can go wrong. Whichever one you decide you like best is the one for you. The rifle and scope sound like a sweet setup too.

 

[Chubs]

well there are a few things to concider when buying a rifle to hunt all these things the main thing i concider when buying a rifle is where am i hunting me personally i have any thing from dense brush to wide open fields so for me i chose the 300WM because i like the heavier bullets for the brush and if im in a field situation i know i have the range and accuracy i need. the 7mm is nice but if u hit a branch with it its hard to say what can will happen dont get me wrong my 300WM has hit branches and not hit the deer but i have also taken out small trees and had the deer laying on the other side so i guess its just the luck of the draw. the .308 is nice because the recoil isnt bad and it gives you good range and enough knock down power. but i dont know how well they would preform on something as large as elk i saw a guy shoot an elk with a 270 for example right in the kneck at 250ish yards and the bullet never came out ther other side i know the 308 has more power but a shoulder shot or some thing might not be as adviseable with a .308 but thats just my opinion and i do not have much experence with the .308

 

[spade]

dood, learn to use periods.

 

[Chubs]

i dur did done well in my hear anglish klas yis ser

 

[6.5shooter]

ok now i may be a little biased on my caliber choice, but its really hard to beat the good old 6.5x55. If you talk to people here in the states they will tell you that you have to have at least a .30 for elk, but i know many people in europe that routinely shoot elk and even moose with the 6.5x55. There are several 6.5 variants out there: 6.5x284, 6.5 Rem Mag, .264 Win Mag (im not sure if you can even find a new rifle chambered for this anymore). There are a few companies that are offering a 300 WSM necked down to a 6.5, but you would certainly have to reload if you went this route (this is the caliber im looking at for my next rifle) Ok now i have to admit i have NO experience with shooting bear, so i cant really make any suggestions on this, but i will say that the 6.5 bullets have a relativly high sectional density so penetration normally isn't a problem.
Just something from a 6.5 fanatic
Chris

 

[muzzleblast]

I never really thought about it until someone told me, but when I looked at the figures...well, yep. 6.5x55 should be called "270 Swedish" lol. I would trust it for moose. People always say "with the right placement" if they think a bullet is too small, but its not like having a super magnum makes it okay to use sloppy shot placement anyway. I would trust a Swede to be effective on moose. It does pack more than 2,000 ft-lbs, with a 140 grain round. One in the lungs, that moose is yours! Bet it can make it through one shoulder in nice shape as well.

Maybe its just me, but I would trust it for black bears too. Most of them here top out at 250 lbs that I have seen. Maybe there were bigger ones taken. For the bigger dangerous bears, I dunno lol.

Funny about the .270 not penetrating neck. I wonder if it hit the spine and the bullet failed? exploded or broke apart? One thing to keep in mind though...I bet if you shoot animals with the same gun long enough you'll see sooo many different results.

 

[Jeff_850]

all about shot placement
30 cals have the killing power but even a .243 or 6mm would get the job done with the proper shot placement
.223 would be fine in my opinion but there not legal to use for hunting here though

 

[Chubs]

thing you have to remember with the 270 is that if your taking a shot at 200+ yards and hit a rib...well you already have to go though that thick skin on the elk and im sure those bones are strong enough to stop a bullet but ur right you will get different results because i know my father found a bullet from his 300 H&H 165 gr that didnt go though a white tail... there is a lot of things that can change the effect of your shot

 

[Jeff_850]

for long range a .270 is a good choice
i know people who have hunted at close range with a .223 for elk even moose

the bullet your father shot out of his .300 H&H would probably have been going too ast and expanded too fast and got stuck... just a guess anyway

 

[muzzleblast]

My father dropped a moose with a .223 when he was younger...this has prompted many arguements over what is or isn't an acceptable caliber. Worse yet, I have seen one killed by a .22 magnum.

Like chubs was saying, sometimes bullets do something funky. 300 H&R fails to exit whitetail, one round of 22 magnum kills a moose. Animals are funny too. Sometimes they may just want to fall down, sometimes they run off without realizing they are dead yet. Best to have a round that was designed for the purpose of what you were doing. I'm sure a swift a frame or winchester failsafe, remington core lokt ultra, etc would be fine most of the time if it meets a rib.

I'd like to say it would always be fine, but we know better...from any caliber.

 

[Kamatz]

6.5x55 for elk, and possibly moose, is no sweat at all. I have several friends that has tipped over plenty of elk with it. And none of the animals ran off into the bush.

.223 sounds a bit dodgy to me, though.

 

[cody221]

the 7mm rem mag is very good choice for all of them...i use mine for whitetail and black bear and have never had to shoot a deer more than once or blood trail one and they exit wound is normaly bigger then my fist... i also have a 300 win mag and it doesnt kick all that bad..and the best part about both of these calibers is they have been around forever so there is a ton of ammo...
but if u are really into knockdown power go with a .30-378 weatherby magnum... sends a 200 grain bullet at 3600 fps lol

 

[Springer45]

7mm mag for deer i will voutch for, my brother in law shot one at 150yd, but in order to get to the deer it need to go through a 3.5 in tree, no ****. if i still have the pics i will post. for heavier animals we dont have elk bear or moose here in kansas

 

[muzzleblast]

Just for my curiousity, do you remember how far from the deer that tree was? 7mm Mag can penetrate alright.

7mm mag does have a great reputation around here with some hunters where I am, and for the game I have shot (deer and moose) I wouldn't complain about one. Truly, the only reason I bought a 300 WM instead is for 200+grain bullets.

 

[Springer45]

somewhere around 10-12 yds, i need to find those pictures, hell he cut the tree down just to have it mounted next to the deer

 

[muzzleblast]

Hey, I would too!

10 yards is plenty of room for a round to deviate if it became unstable after going clear through something...say...a tree lol.

From what I gather in books (and I think the test was done at 10 yards) is if you hit something like a tree or branch centered, you will probably be okay. Still though, thats a wild story!

 

[Springer45]

Ya, i couldnt belive it till i saw it, it did hit dead center of the tree and dropped the 10 pointer in its tracks, Im still dont know how to post pics

 

[Jeff_850]

get a photobucket account and upload it tot hem
then use the tags and put the url in side the tags
or you will see those tags and you can copy/paste the ones that have