Anything but a .308

mauser98 · Jul 10, 2026

Running the 303 British for this long came out of the circumstance at hand. Lack of resources and whatever was on hand was used. The Rangers used the No 4 Lee Enfield until 2018 because of the government's lack and willingness to upgrade, not because its such an amazing platform and cartridge. Look at how long it takes to even consider an aging fleet, airforce, small arms and etc in our country. Were 25+ years behind on most things. This shouldn't be something to brag about. I can agree to the Lee Enfield being a good rifle in a good cartridge but hardly the best or better than other options.

Back to circumstances, Mosins are much of the same in the Ukraine conflict. People use what they have because of the lack, they work, sure but put that up on the modern battlefield and you'll wish you had something else in hand. Same with the Yugo wars with old Mauser's being used well into the 90's.

Back to the question at hand.

30-06 and 8x57 would be my contenders.

Grumpy gumpy · Jul 10, 2026

Tubby’s Canteen said:
Perhaps it could stem from his earlier editing of one of my posts where he called the Canadian rangers little more than drunken Inuits , was dismissive of any of Britains colonies contribution to the victory and insinuated only those who couldn’t afford better would use a .303? Foxi started this whole tangent off by basically calling me a liar when I claimed the .303 was in service 112 years.

You know, strictly speaking, he was semi correct, it was 114 years of service……
I’ll see myself out……
Gumpy

CBH Australia · Jul 10, 2026

mauser98 said:
Running the 303 British for this long came out of the circumstance at hand. Lack of resources and whatever was on hand was used. The Rangers used the No 4 Lee Enfield until 2018 because of the government's lack and willingness to upgrade, not because its such an amazing platform and cartridge. Look at how long it takes to even consider an aging fleet, airforce, small arms and etc in our country. Were 25+ years behind on most things. This shouldn't be something to brag about. I can agree to the Lee Enfield being a good rifle in a good cartridge but hardly the best or better than other options.

Back to circumstances, Mosins are much of the same in the Ukraine conflict. People use what they have because of the lack, they work, sure but put that up on the modern battlefield and you'll wish you had something else in hand. Same with the Yugo wars with old Mauser's being used well into the 90's.

Back to the question at hand.

30-06 and 8x57 would be my contenders.

Well, I guess like many battle rifles the SMLE is solid and reliable and works in rough conditions.

The 10 round mag etc probably works for the Rangers as does the cartridge.

Maybe not the best at everything but ticks a lot of boxes albeit they need to keep up with the times.

If I had of started the thread with a poll I think .30-06 might be leading as a suitable choice for a hunting rifle.

Rule 303 · Jul 10, 2026

Mauser 98 your friend had a stuffed rifle, happens with all of them. If a SMLE could not put 5 shoots into 4" at 100 yards, then it received a new barrel or was scraped if action not up to specs. I could judge the 30-06 similar, had one that would not group better then 6". Admittedly it was a Semi Auto but they still had to met 4" grouping. Saw a M98 in 8x57 that would shotgun pattern. The barrel was almost a smoothbore, worn out me thinks.

JPbowhunter · Jul 10, 2026

I’ve got a true Mauser 98 action and a Lee Speed action. I love them both. The m98 just feels strong. The Lee speed is smooth and fast.

If I were to do a custom with either a p14 or an m98, which would I choose…not sure.

franzfmdavis · Jul 10, 2026

I suggest considering the .275 Rigby with a throat long enough to chamber 175g bullets. Its effective and nostalgic!

mauser98 · Jul 10, 2026

Rule 303 said:
Mauser 98 your friend had a stuffed rifle, happens with all of them. If a SMLE could not put 5 shoots into 4" at 100 yards, then it received a new barrel or was scraped if action not up to specs. I could judge the 30-06 similar, had one that would not group better then 6". Admittedly it was a Semi Auto but they still had to met 4" grouping. Saw a M98 in 8x57 that would shotgun pattern. The barrel was almost a smoothbore, worn out me thinks.

I think your mixing me up with someone else. I never mentioed having a friend with a Lee Enfield that can't shoot but I do agree, a worn out rifle is a worn out rifle and it happens to all eventually.

Rule 303 · Jul 11, 2026

mauser98 said:
I think your mixing me up with someone else. I never mentioed having a friend with a Lee Enfield that can't shoot but I do agree, a worn out rifle is a worn out rifle and it happens to all eventually.

My apologies, you are quite correct. I meant Doug Hamiltion. I was trying to multitask, that'll learn me.

Rule 303 · Jul 11, 2026

JPbowhunter said:
I’ve got a true Mauser 98 action and a Lee Speed action. I love them both. The m98 just feels strong. The Lee speed is smooth and fast.

If I were to do a custom with either a p14 or an m98, which would I choose…not sure.

I'd go the P14. Yes it is heavier but has a stronger action, the bolt locking lugs and bearing surfaces of lug recess have a Helical cut to them. If you go with a rimless round the M17 bolt fits and the extractor if stuffed can be replaced with any of the Ruger 77 extractors. Bill Ruger used some of the P14/M17 ideas, like the dog leg bolt handle to put the bolt knob directly above the trigger.

Oh, almost forgot, if some does stuff up you can beat a T76 to death with it

The Mauser though is nicely balanced.

Jon Glajchen · Jul 11, 2026

Razorback said:
For you stated discriminators, specifically for deer through large plains game with classic status, my vote would be the 300 H&H if you hand load. Can handle the large selection of 308 bullets available so you could tailor it to the task at hand. Pure class.

If you don’t handload, 30-06, 300 weatherby or 300 win mag would be more practical and still have some history and class. All the above would easily handle any of your stated hunts.

Couldn’t agree more. The advent of better bonded and monolithic bullets has made the 300 magnums true all rounders capable of taking game at all ranges.
I own both a 300WM as well as a 300H&H and while I absolutely adore my H&H, the logical conclusion is to choose the WM for ease in finding ammunition.

Foxi · Jul 11, 2026

Tubby’s Canteen said:
Remind me again how many world wars have your people lost while armed with the “superior” battle rifle the Mauser?

We lost both world wars because the Americans intervened. Otherwise, Europe wouldn’t have stood a chance—neither in World War I nor in World War II.
With all due respect to the Canadians, the German Wehrmacht would have wiped the floor with you in a week. It took 14 days to defeat France with its huge army. Yeah, you’d probably say they just didn’t have any Lee-Enfields chambered in .303

Tubby’s Canteen · Jul 11, 2026

Foxi said:
We lost both world wars because the Americans intervened. Otherwise, Europe wouldn’t have stood a chance—neither in World War I nor in World War II.
With all due respect to the Canadians, the German Wehrmacht would have wiped the floor with you in a week. It took 14 days to defeat France with its huge army. Yeah, you’d probably say they just didn’t have any Lee-Enfields chambered in .303

Lot of dead nazis in the Netherlands would disagree with you, Canadians took vimmy ridge in ww1 Canadians liberated the Dutch Canadians advanced further inland on d day than any other force and secured all of there objectives. Seems like an awful lot of times y’all didn’t wipe the floor with Canadians?

JG26Irish_2 · Jul 11, 2026

I would first say that your premise that the 308 is not a good answer is somewhat flawed. You can take PG up to and including Eland with the 180g bonded 308. Same for Moose or Elk. Anything smaller and it rocks. I hunted deer exclusively with a 308 for over 10yrs. With one exception caused by bad ammo, every kill was a one shot bang flop. On my first safari, I took a 308 and a 375 and ended up using the 308 on all but one animal. ALL fell with one shot! Using 180g bonded Fed Fusions. From 300lb Gemsbok to a 30lb Duiker. Most PH's provide a 308 as their primary loaner/rental rifle. Why? It works.

If you are Hell bent on choosing another cartridge, then the ones that I know that work well are:

30-06
7mm RM
7mm/08
338 RCM (limited ammo options)
338 wm - only if you lean more to the larger species such as moose, elk, eland or brown bears

Others I would consider but do not know so well:

35 Whelen
9.3x62
300wm

I would not consider anything smaller than 7mm or larger than the 9.3mm (.366)

Pic below of my vintage FN Browning CRF rifle in 308 while in use in Limpopo South Africa. It was made for this.

Wyatt Smith · Jul 11, 2026

sgt_zim said:
I love 30-06, but let's be real - the only thing it has over 308 Win is about an extra 100 yards of lethality, assuming you want a minimum impact speed of 2k fps. I know you can hand load 190 gr or heavier bullets, but honestly, how many people actually do that?

Compare any 180, 165, or 150 gr pill, apples-to-apples (no Scirocco II vs Grand Slam or Interlock), 30-06 just has about an extra 100 yards of lethal reach over 308 Win.

The difference in ballistic arc between a 180 gr at 2550 vs 2750 is practically non-existent out to around 300 yards.

The 308 can’t push 220s to a usable velocity. Otherwise I agree, often my 30-06 is loaded with 180 hot cors at about 2500fps. So basically like a 308.

Doug Hamilton said:
I haven't been to Australia, but I do hunt a lot in the US, and have hunted in Canada and Zimbabwe. Although hundreds of thousands of .303s have floated around the US and shooters do buy them as they're cheap and available and people play with them, I've never seen one in the hands of a serious hunter. In Zim I have seen a few in houses again because they are cheap and available in a country where you can't exactly run over to the corner sporting goods store to.buy a Model 70, but I can't say they are the preferred weapon of hunters. In Canada, I've never seen one. It seems to.me that those waving the ".303 forever" flag are a lot like the American hunters that swear the .30-30 is the best deer cartridge ever created and real rifles have leavers. The rest of us tend to think of them as "old - school" or "quaint." It was probably a great round when the .30-40 Krag was Americas military cartridge.

Ever use a 30-30 on deer? I find it to be perfect within 100 yards, (lots of times that’s more than I can see).

JPbowhunter · Jul 11, 2026

franzfmdavis said:
I suggest considering the .275 Rigby with a throat long enough to chamber 175g bullets. Its effective and nostalgic!View attachment 776061 View attachment 776065

Beautiful guns, just wish they had a tad more drop in the stock for those of us that shoot irons.

Smull1010 · Jul 11, 2026

I use a 7mm-08 with 150 grain TTSX for the type of game you are looking to hunt

jruby · Jul 11, 2026

Wyatt Smith said:
The 308 can’t push 220s to a usable velocity. Otherwise I agree, often my 30-06 is loaded with 180 hot cors at about 2500fps. So basically like a 308.

Ever use a 30-30 on deer? I find it to be perfect within 100 yards, (lots of times that’s more than I can see).

Within a 100 yards i will use my slug gun. It has killed a lot of White Tails in Michigan

Wyatt Smith · Jul 11, 2026

jruby said:
Within a 100 yards i will use my slug gun. It has killed a lot of White Tails in Michigan

As an Illinois resident, I’ve taken my share with a slug gun. I must admit I’ve never used a 30-30. But have loaded 150 grain Hornady 30-30 round nose bullets into a 300 BO at 2200. So basically the same as my 30-30. ( the 300 BO is legal 30-30 isn’t)
It truly kills as well as any 12 gauge slugs I’ve used, although I’ve never tried sabots. Also has a lot less recoil.
I wish my 30-30 were legal so I could use it because I just love a win 94.

JG26Irish_2 · Jul 11, 2026

Smull1010 said:
View attachment 776128

I use a 7mm-08 with 150 grain TTSX for the type of game you are looking to hunt

I love my 7mm/08. It is a ultra-lite CT-Edge which is a Carbon & Titanium version of a Sako 85 action. Guaranteed 1/2moa with Barnes 140g TTSX. Weight with scope and sling is 6.7lbs. I use either a muzzle break or my Ti Silencer to help tame the recoil from this feather lite package. Used it in Africa last year to take a Blk WB at 314y and a Springbok at 243y. Also a Warthog at 70y on the run and a nice Blesbok at 280ish yds. Only the tough assed Blesbok required multiple rounds.

Rule 303 · Jul 11, 2026

Foxi said:
We lost both world wars because the Americans intervened. Otherwise, Europe wouldn’t have stood a chance—neither in World War I nor in World War II.
With all due respect to the Canadians, the German Wehrmacht would have wiped the floor with you in a week. It took 14 days to defeat France with its huge army. Yeah, you’d probably say they just didn’t have any Lee-Enfields chambered in .303

Once again you are showing your ignorance. WW2 maybe, but do not forget the Russians.
WW1 the US were late into the war and it was the Australians that dealt the Kaiser some massive blows including what Germans top general Ludenorff called their Blackest day. I forget the figure but for a small number troops around 13% from memory they took over 23% of all land the allies took. Rough figures to give you an idea.

Now lets get of the who shot who up the arse -that is who did what in war-debate as it has no real bearing on the subject.

Anything but a .308

mauser98

Grumpy gumpy

CBH Australia

Rule 303

JPbowhunter

franzfmdavis

mauser98

Rule 303

Rule 303

Jon Glajchen

Foxi

Tubby’s Canteen

JG26Irish_2

Wyatt Smith

JPbowhunter

Smull1010

jruby

Wyatt Smith

JG26Irish_2

Rule 303

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