Need best caliber Opinions.

[LBCwanabe]

I am looking at buying a new bolt action rifle. I was wonderin out of the following calibers what would be the best. A .308, 270, 280, or a 300 win mag. I will be hunting elk, whitetale, and varmints. Also does anyone know of a good website to find ballistics and facts on different calibers? thanks a million, Russ

[stubblejumper]

Hunting both elk and varmints with the same rifle makes for a very hard choice.You will either choose a smaller cartridge to reduce recoil for varmint shooting and be on the small side for elk or choose a cartridge suitable for elk and have a poor varmint cartridge.I would rather be overgunned than undergunned so I would choose a good elk cartridge and put up with more recoil in a varmint gun.That being said of the choices you give I would choose the 280rem as it shoots a slightly bigger bullet than the 270 for elk and shoots flatter than the 30-06.Although you don't mention them I would also consider the 7mm wsm and 7mm rem mag as both are a little more powerful than the 280 and have less recoil than the 300 winmag.

[handloader1]

300 Win. Mag. then get you a 22 cal. for varmints. Good luck.

[halcon]

They would all work but its a little difficult streching one caliber to do everything like stubble said . Your best option would be to purchase two guns unless you are into handloading . www.loaddata.com might help you

[Deleted User]

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[Duffy]

Would you go golfing and take one "all around" club? $ is always a consideration but trying to do everything with one gun never really works too well. When they brought out the .22 accelerator sabots for the 30/06 it looked like the solution had arrived for the fellow wanting one gun for big game and varmints. From what I've heard and the fact they never caught on, it didn't work out.

I have never owned or shot a .280 but have always liked the look of them on paper. I shoot a .264 win. mag.

Robin

[Quilly]

how far will your shots be? will you hunt elk more than once in awhile or once a year?

if you spend most of your time hunting deer and with a ocasional elk and your shots are under 300yds i would compramise between the 280rem and the 300win.

just go with the 30-06sprg. best of both worlds without the extra kick. better selection of bullets premium and non. ammo is every store and cheap.you can get some of the accesllorators up to 220gr. bulets. even though 180gr. will be more than enough for elk.

if you don't want a 30-06sprg. i would personally go with 300win mag since the ammo of the 280rem are alittle bit harder to find.

[dodgeram400]

Go with the .308 or the 06 good for all of the above animals and ammo is fairly cheap,i have had good luck with both of them.

[bigbulls]

If you truly want a "dual purpose" gun then the .270 would be the one that I would choose. There are bullets ranging from 90 grains to to 160 grains. I use mine every year elk hunting and so far they have all gone down with one bullet. The .270 really is a great cartrige and will do better than the 30's on varmints and is plenty enough gun for elk.

[Vapodog]

I'm going to side with the guys that said to buy two guns. If that's absolutely not possible, I'd then pick the .280 Remington.

For ballistics, look to Federal's website, ballistics for every cartridge is available there.