Alright sorry in advance for the novel.
Ok im 38 years old and have been raised around guns my whole life. Recently I started doing research for my first hunting rifle. While I own quite a few guns I dont own huntin rifle that would be good on larger game.(deer, elk etc...)
There are more threads in more forums than one can imagine discussing and arguing all the different calibers one can use. The best is this and the best is that sort of stuff.
Being an engineer I like numbers and data so naturally those are the sort of things I gravitate to. After scouring through just about any data that would be applicable to my situation it finally dawned on me.
All the reccomended calibers are basically all the same! With a few exceptions they are all basically the same. If you look at the average energies carried downrange and average speeds most are not really different at all. Plus or minus a few hundred pounds and plus or minus 20 or 30 yards. From .270 (and somewhat even the .243) up to .308 and slightly beyond.
My dad has bagged untold whitetail and even elk for over 30 years with the same .243. This tells me using the right bullet and proper shot placement is the key factor here and not what superdupermagnumboattailWSM rifle you have.
What got me started on this is a good friend of mine who is an avid and skilled hunter wants me to come visit him at some point and do a little huntin. I told him I would look around and find me a rifle.
I had settled on a .270. He said "nnnnnnoooooooo you want to go with a .308 or a 7mm mag". When I asked why he said that the 308 is "inherently more accurate" and "Why do you think snipers use it". This is the kind of stuff that trips my trigger... so to speak.
Snipers use it as it mandated by NATO, and inherently more accurate is horse@#$!. Accuracy has many factors, and being .308 is not one of them.
After pouring over many charts I have come to this conclusion,pick the one you can find the best deal on when your looking to buy and learn to use it. While I may very well end up with one of those rifles it will be only because I got a good deal and ammo is cheap and plentiful.
So now the search for a decently built rifle for around 300 bux in whatever caliber, new or used.
