Large caliber rifle help

[Drycreek3189]

I would go 300 wsm or 300 win mag. I killed my brown bear with a 300 wsm. One shot and it went straight down. I have watched several bison, elk, and red stag killed with 300 wsm. It’s deadly on big critters with 180 grain ttsx. And it doesn’t beat you to death.

Agreed. I've had a Browning A-Bolt in .300 WSM for years. Right on the heels of the .300 Win Mag with much less recoil. Good for everything with the possible exception of the biggest animals you mentioned.

If I could afford $20/30k for a brown bear hunt or an African hunt, I'd certainly be able to afford a bigger caliber also.

[saintsfan]

Ive own and have used the .325 wsm with a lot of success. Ammo can be a little steep but I havent had one animal absorb more than one round.

[TxAg]

Thanks for all the replies. It's a fun exercise.

Realistically, elk and nilgai would be in the short list.

[RifleBowPistol]

I would say something along the lines of a 340 Wheatherby Mag. If you want a gun that will solidly knock down all of the game you listed, I would want around a .338 to a .375 bore. The 338 Win. Mag. would work, but I would prefer a bit more powder for a gun of those purposes. But a 338 Win. Mag would work fine. You might consider a 35 Whelen, I would still prefer more powder for that size bullet. But both the 338 Win Mag and the 35 Whelen work very well.

I have been looking at the idea of getting a gun specifically for hunting elk, potentially at longer ranges. I like to be prepared, I have driven long distances in the past to hunt and found I showed up with too small of a gun for the ranges I was finding game at. So I have been thinking most likely a 300 RUM, possibly the parent of the 300 RUM the 8mm Rem Mag. Possibly a 340 Wheatherby Mag.. If I thought I could get a good rifle chambered for 300 Norma Mag., for a reasonable price. I would really like to have one of those. The 300 Norma Mag. would probably be my preferred 308 caliber rifle round, for elk, but I am going to bet most of the guns chambered for that round are out of my price range. But then there is the 30 Nosler and the 33 Nosler. Those would also be calibers I would really like to own, but most likely could not afford the rifles that would be chambered for either caliber.

Don't expect to get ammo for most of the calibers I listed at Wal Mart or Academy, Cabela's would have some of them, but likely not all of those calibers. Once you figure out who stocks ammo for the caliber you buy, I would stock up on ammo, whenever you find some and always take a lot more ammo with you when going hunting, that you would ever think you might need.
For the purposes you are planning, I would prefer around a 338 caliber gun with a case that holds a lot of powder to push that bullet out the muzzle at some decent velocity, for the game animals you listed. But there are a lot of calibers that would work for what you listed. A 45-70 would be a nice choice, but it would not have anywhere near as flat of a trajectory as a 300 Norma Mag. or the other calibers I listed. A 30-06 or 308 would work reliably, but neither would have the knock down power of the bigger magnum calibers. I loaded a bunch of 200 gr. Nosler Partitions for my buddy's 30-06 many years ago, when he moved back to Wyoming. He killed quite a few elk with the ammo I loaded for him. If you select your bullets carefully for a given caliber, you can make most calibers work for most game animals. If you buy a 300 Win. Mag. and the wrong ammo, you could easily spend a lot of time tracking wounded game.

[az2tx]

For all those? You listed some big animals. .338 Winchester mag for a guy that’s not reloading.

And even better for the guy who is
For all the game listed I would use my 338 win mag, its also fun to shoot 500 yard steel targets with.
For Africa it depends where i'm hunting, but I prefer my 7mm STW , 375 H&H mag and my 470 nitro express for the big/dangerous stuff, unless it is going to be wet. leave the 470 home and take my 416 rem mag

[Artos]

I would go 375 H&H...

[aggie_archer]

Another vote for .375 H&H. I was surprised recoil is manageable, ammo is available at most major stores and will take anything you want down.

[Maxlab]

28 Nosler

[TxAg]

Hmmm I've always wanted a .375 H&H since my PH had one in SA

[Louis]

300 win mag

[lmartin5]

Some will disagree, but I think a 7mag would be enough for all mentioned. I try to have 3 guns, small, medium, and large. I've had a .243, 6.5x55, and 7mm-08. I recently sold the 7mm-08 and picked up a 7mag for some extra pop with the heavier pills.

They've been killing moose in Europe with a 6.5x55 for ages.


There are a couple of good options here. This is what my 7mag is. Shot it yesterday and it was stacking factory ammo.

https://www.eurooptic.com/Sako-A7-En...?homepage_link

This...100%

[J-J Matt]

For what you said you are realistically planning on hunting. It’s very hard to beat a 300 Win Mag. Ammo is readily available and the 180 Nosler Accubond is a hammer.

[TxAg]

For what you said you are realistically planning on hunting. It’s very hard to beat a 300 Win Mag. Ammo is readily available and the 180 Nosler Accubond is a hammer.

Roger that. Just checked the ballistics...very nice

[TxAg]

Some will disagree, but I think a 7mag would be enough for all mentioned. I try to have 3 guns, small, medium, and large. I've had a .243, 6.5x55, and 7mm-08. I recently sold the 7mm-08 and picked up a 7mag for some extra pop with the heavier pills.

They've been killing moose in Europe with a 6.5x55 for ages.


There are a couple of good options here. This is what my 7mag is. Shot it yesterday and it was stacking factory ammo.

https://www.eurooptic.com/Sako-A7-En...?homepage_link

That Sako A7 is pretty sharp

[Sleepy]

That Sako A7 is pretty sharp

The Big Game with threaded muzzlebrake is what I got in 7mag. They have one in 300wm also. I’m very happy with it.