Out here in Montana, the 7mm Remington magnum has served me well for coyotes to elk. Just my 2 cents. If I lived farther east I think a 270 would do everything that I would need.
One gun? A modern rifle in 6.5 X 55 is an ideal rifle to go from varmits to elk. Especially if you handload. You can go from bullet weights of 85 grains on up to 160 grains. There are some wonderfully constructed bullets out there for almost any job you can imagine. It can be loaded pretty hot in a modern rifle, but modest speeds and slow burning powders generally give fine results. It can be a truly accurate round.
If you don't handload, I'd suggest starting with a .243, and add a 30/06 to your battery as soon after as you can afford it.
Or, buy a used .243 and a used 30/06 and you'll probably have enough to get decent glass.
I am in the camp of "Nomercy448". Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending upon how you look at it??) I live and hunt in a state where the only "medium" game are white tailed deer and feral hogs. As far as coyotes? I am not into keeping the hide. I just want these non-native to Alabama critters dead. And we don't have "wistle pigs" either.
My rifle of choice is a 30 caliber. It is chambered for the 308 Win. cartridge. In fact, it ain't too bad on coyotes using a 110 gr. "plinker" load that I worked up.
Having said that, I do plan an elk hunt before I go "toes-up". So I jumped on a great deal on a friend's "one-trip out west", barely used (5 shots through the barrell), custom shop, Rem. 700 in 338 Win. Mag. Man what a shooter ! Anyway, I figure that if I never go, I'll get my $400 back.
I have two favorites. 300 Win Mag and the 270 Win. If I was to choose an all around rifle and only one caliber I think I'd have to take the 270 Win for everything I normally hunt. Which includes up to Elk sized game. It has some of the best down range ballistics for run of the mill factory ammo plus I've already killed everything with a 270 win that I have using the 300 win mag and a lot more of them having the 270 win longer.
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.30-06 with accelerators will take varmints, load accordingly for the size of big game from there. 7mm mag will also do the job if you're not selling the pelts.
Load and range should be within ethical specs for the game you are hunting using a rifle for everything. Don't take a 1000 yard shot on an Elk with a .30-06 when a .50 bmg will do the job better.
I sold mine years ago but I'd say the .270. Ammo is fairly easy to find. Like others have said, I too use several calibers for what and where I'll be hunting. I live in the flat lands of Texas where a close shot may be 250 yards and a long shot can be 750 yards. But if I were to have only one rifle to do all the hunting that I can, I would go back to the .270.
Both taken with one shot, behind the shoulder, at about 80-85 yards, DRT, using 140 gr. Remington PSP Core Lokt's... Haven't had a chance to try it on anything bigger than a whitetail, yet...
Last edited by ipscshooter; 02-16-2012 at 07:10 PM.
Haven't had a chance to try it on anything bigger than a whitetail, yet...
