I really want a new caliber, but can't really justify it. The three Centerfire rifle calibers I own pretty much have me covered from prairie dogs to grizzly bears.

22 cal-223/5.56 - 40 or 50 grain for prairie dogs, 55 or 62 for humans, 60, 64, 69, or 77 for coyotes or smallish deer.

26 cal-6.5 cm - anything from 95 grain at 3000+ for small deer or coyotes to 140ish grain for mid to large game.

30 cal-300 win mag - you can load from 110 to 210+ grain. Would feel comfortable taking any animal in NA with it. Recoil is manageable with lighter loads or muzzle brake.

Want to add 24 cal, either 243 or 6mm Creedmoor, and/or 28 cal, either 7mag or 28N, but I can cover pretty much anything I want to with the 3 cartridges I currently own.

OP, as others have said, bullet selection and shot placement is more important than caliber or cartridge selection. Any 24-30 cal will be sufficient for your needs.

highvelocity said:

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had a similar experience this past weekend on a pig. shot was 155 yards, heard impact, no blood, no pig.

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Neck shot or boiler room?

in the neck. he was quartered towards me. typically take the head shot, but wanted to see what happened with a neck shot and my assumption was unfortunately correct.

gf dropped one a couple weeks ago with a heart shot, but even still, no blood on the ground

BenderRodriguez said:

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NRH ag 10 said:

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Positional shooting and going from walking with a pack to different shooting positions will be the focus of this spring and summer.

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Learned at a rifle match last month that I'm also not nearly as comfortable building non conventional shooting positions as I should be, so that's also a goal of mine next year.

But if we started a thread on improving positional shooting it would have you and I and maybe one or two other replies, not 60+ in 3 hours.

People love talking gear. Fixing our own deficiencies? Not nearly as fun.

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Until you see the results....

I'm guilty of the former as well. It's why I'm converting a perfectly good Tikka t3x SL in 6.5 CreedMOOR (not "more", people!) to a 6.5-284 Norma once my supply of 147gr ammo is shot up.

The building positions thing has helped me on quite a few hunts and left me going home with unpunched tags when I fell on antelope and black bear. It's been fun figuring it out while keeping it realistic for things I will actually carry with me for a day of hunting in the mountains, especially if I'm packing camp in too.

It's really weird. I can shoot a hog or a deer with. .222, .223, .243, .257, .270, 30-06, 6.5 CM, 30-30. And they drop dead. Or maybe go 10 yards gushing blood.

Yet I come on Texags to find out the deer tracker guys and some of y'all swear deer run off when shot with a 6.5 and don't even leave a ****ing blood trail.

You boys know what my father would have told me if I claimed to have shot a deer and it didn't leave a trail?

NRH ag 10 said:

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O.G. said:

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30-06 if you want to kill what you are shooting.

6.5 CM if you want to support the tracking dog guy.

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I'll let the mule deer doe I shot opening morning of 2nd season here in CO know. 465yds with 147gr Hornady ELD-M at a BLISTERING 2625fps at the muzzle, rifle rested on my pack using my bino harness as a rear bag.

Fell where she stood...just like the deer I shot 3rd season last year. Only had 1 animal in 4 so far take a step after an ELDM to the chest cavity. Doe during 2nd season last year, frontal shot at 40yds as she stared at me. Didn't go far, hard to do so when lung and heart are goo.

Bullets matter more than headstamps. People suck at shooting and don't want to admit it.

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While I get what you are saying, if you are truly a believer in bullets mattering more than head stamps, why are you shooting ELD-M match bullets instead of the ELD-X which is actually designed for hunting. Hard to say that "bullets matter" when you are picking match bullets for hunting.

...because they work. They destroy soft tissue exceptionally well, which leads to rapidly expiring animals. I do not often hunt in environments that necessitate a vivid blood trail produced by an exit wound.

If I had to crawl through cactus and other thorny things any time an animal ran, I'd probably use something different, but I don't.

You should check out the 77gr tipped matchking thread on rokslide. Tons of animals falling to match bullets from a .223. Not every match bullet will produce the desired results on game, but the ones that work, work.

Therefore, bullets matter more than headstamps.

I'm pretty sure NW80 is cursing at this thread from Heaven

I think bullets definitely matter. That's why I'm picking up a 300 Win Mag and have a 30-06 and 6.8spc.

My Nosler Accubonds out of the 6.8 have been the hammer of Thor on every whitetail and pig I've shot with it. The WinMag will be a solid western hunting rifle.

NRH ag 10 said:

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...because they work. They destroy soft tissue exceptionally well, which leads to rapidly expiring animals. I do not often hunt in environments that necessitate a vivid blood trail produced by an exit wound.

If I had to crawl through cactus and other thorny things any time an animal ran, I'd probably use something different, but I don't.

You should check out the 77gr tipped matchking thread on rokslide. Tons of animals falling to match bullets from a .223. Not every match bullet will produce the desired results on game, but the ones that work, work.

Therefore, bullets matter more than headstamps.

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This whole thing is really a sliding scale and gives you more margin for error.

A .223 with match bullets punched right through the heart will kill everything every time.

Same bullet quartering shot where you have to go through the ribs or bone at a tough angle may not produce that kill.

A.223 with hunting bullets punched in the heart or just outside the heart will expand and get your kill expanding the bullet placement radius for a kill. May punch through the bone or difficult angle.

A 300 win mag has greater frontal area with expanded bullets give you even greater shot placement radius and at that point could argue even shock from the impact contributing to the kill. Can take shot at just about any angle.

Basically if you are perfect you can do whatever you want if your not every little step along the way bullets and calibers gives you more and more room for error. Every hunter has to balance that with recoil and how it affects their ability to create good shot placement.

Everyone has a sweet spot and just because you can do it and have done it doesn't mean it was right thing to do it means you just got away with it. If you hunt long enough you will have a failure to retrieve an animal anyone of these thousands of variables contributed to it.

I see all the Billy bad asses showed up because they don't like the negative opinions on their sportscar caliber....

3006 tikka t3x

Doesn't kick bad and that caliber offers versatility as he matures as a hunter

mts6175 said:

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I see all the Billy bad asses showed up because they don't like the negative opinions on their sportscar caliber....

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Dude, I'm not shooting bullets that pencil through. An ELDM will generally cause MORE tissue destruction than an accubond/TSX/partition for a given weight and caliber.

I think I'll continue to "get away with it".

The best I've ever heard it put is that 30-06 comes in at 2nd place on everything. Might not be the best at any one category but checks the box on everything.

6.5 is appealing. I think the military has adopted it, don't quote me on that but someone told me that.

Buy both?

OP, I have a 30-06 Axis II that I've never shot that I've been considering parting with. I was going to use it this season and just haven't had the time. I also have a new Nikon scope to go with it. I don't know what the going rate is for the gun, but I'd consider selling it if you're in Houston.

mts6175 said:

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I see all the Billy bad asses showed up because they don't like the negative opinions on their sportscar caliber....

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I see it the other way. All the billy badasses showed up to tell us how big a gun they carry and how big a hole they blow out the backside of the deer.

Bison with 270WSM


https://www.ar15.com/forums/General/Bullet-perfomance-on-a-Bison-1-graphic-pic-5-sec-video-in-1st-post/5-2400937/?page=1

O.G. said:

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ironmanag said:

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O.G. said:

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30-06 if you want to kill what you are shooting.

6.5 CM if you want to support the tracking dog guy.

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This isn't true at all. Everything with the exception of a big hog hadn't gone 15 yards with the 6.5.

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The tracking dog guys that I know in Brownwood and Frederickburg say other wise.

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I bet this is more about the bullet type than the caliber. For some perspective, my son has killed Mule Deer with both a 30-06 and 6.5 Creedmoor. Both calibers are effective when placed properly. For some perspective, in the Fall of 1995 I had a to have a dog find the 1st deer I shot with my 7mm Rem Mag.

Replace .30-06 with .308, then recompute.

The 30-06 will kill a deer just as dead at 500 yds but you got to hit what you are aiming at. The trajectory between the two are just a few inches different at that distance depending on bullet selection. In my opinion anyone that takes on game beyond 300 yds needs lots, and I mean lots of trigger time. I shoot maybe 3-4 hundred rounds of rifle a year and 300-325 is about my limit to take a deer.

Edit: My post is not to disparage any shooters here, this site seems to have competent hunters. I'm talking about beer can Joe that might explain why suddenly tracking dogs are needed.

pdtnation said:

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OP, I have a 30-06 Axis II that I've never shot that I've been considering parting with. I was going to use it this season and just haven't had the time. I also have a new Nikon scope to go with it. I don't know what the going rate is for the gun, but I'd consider selling it if you're in Houston.

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I'm in Houston and interested. Drop me a line at agforsale95 at gmail

mpl35 said:

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You boys know what my father would have told me if I claimed to have shot a deer and it didn't leave a trail?

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"That's what you get for not using the 30-30" ?

If elk is an option and you already own a .270, I'd go magnum caliber. 300wm or 28 Nosler

Jv106 said:

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The best I've ever heard it put is that 30-06 comes in at 2nd place on everything. Might not be the best at any one category but checks the box on everything.

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There are a lot of dead nazis that beg to differ...

Totally agree with you though, 30-06 just WORKS. That's why I love it.

As someone who occasionally guides, I'd prefer that you shoot what you are accurate with.

HTownAg98 said:

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As someone who occasionally guides, I'd prefer that you shoot what you are accurate with.

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I could not agree more with this! Find the rifle you're most confident and accurate with.

Email sent

My daughter shot this one Saturday with a $200 TC Compass 6.5 CM and Federal Non-Typical 140 grain ammo.

It sucks that 6.5 doesn't leave a blood trail, as this one certainly didn't. High shoulder shot, dead in its tracks.



This thread, like all other caliber threads, ends up being about shot placement for 90 percent of hunting applications.

ttha_aggie_09 said:

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I'm pretty sure NW80 is cursing at this thread from Heaven

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This. I'm sure he's cussing the ****ers on the OB

Have you thought about a 7MM Rem Mag? I love them and it's a nice middle of the road mid/large sized game round. It can stretch to take an elk and is a great round for deer. There are tons of options in terms of ammo that make it pretty dynamic.

Versitile and personally i love how flat it shoots.

I would look at a 25-06 or a .257 Roberts. Both superb cartridges for anything in Tx. It is a little lite but I have taken the 25-06 elk hunting. Super accurate. Very flat shooting cartridges

Or the 6.5 PRC. I own 25-06 and the PRC. Both are great rounds with similar ballistics

Hit him hard enough to knock the corn out of him!