Your 3 favorite hunting cartridges of all time

My three:
30-06 Spr. (Hard to beat as a go-to caliber for small to medium game animals)
300 Win. Mag. (Mule Deer, Elk, Sheep, medium to large African horned game- but maybe not the cape buffalo tanks, unless I was 100 yards away or more)
444 Marlin (Lever action bush gun with some "thump")
 
My father in law swears by the 270 win for everything, though.
 
JOHN WATERS said:
My three:
30-06 Spr. (Hard to beat as a go-to caliber for small to medium game animals)
300 Win. Mag. (Mule Deer, Elk, Sheep, medium to large African horned game- but maybe not the cape buffalo tanks, unless I was 100 yards away or more)
444 Marlin (Lever action bush gun with some "thump")
Click to expand...
John
Did have a 444 Marlin made on a no4 SMLE action with a 22inch 1in 20 twist. It's nick name was thumper. Because of the stronger action I could load it up a bit more. 265gn flex tip @ 2,460 and 280gn woodleigh @ 2,380. What you hit with it stayed hit. Rifle only weighed 8 pounds all up. She really gets your attention when you pull the trigger. Unfortunately sold it due to a work related shoulder injury
20191105_120003.jpg
 
Bob Nelson 35Whelan said:
John
Did have a 444 Marlin made on a no4 SMLE action with a 22inch 1in 20 twist. It's nick name was thumper. Because of the stronger action I could load it up a bit more. 265gn flex tip @ 2,460 and 280gn woodleigh @ 2,380. What you hit with it stayed hit. Rifle only weighed 8 pounds all up. She really gets your attention when you pull the trigger. Unfortunately sold it due to a work related shoulder injury View attachment 321211
Click to expand...
Nice gun, too bad you had to part with it. Love the action on that one. I have a model 4 in .303 Brit. that my grandfather brought back from Australia in WWII. I shoot it all the time.
Have taken down a Blue Wildebeest and Greater Kudu with my Marlin 444s, and I agree, that caliber packs a healthy "kick."
 
JOHN WATERS said:
Nice gun, too bad you had to part with it. Love the action on that one. I have a model 4 in .303 Brit. that my grandfather brought back from Australia in WWII. I shoot it all the time.
Have taken down a Blue Wildebeest and Greater Kudu with my Marlin 444s, and I agree, that caliber packs a healthy "kick."
Click to expand...
John
Agree the old 444 does have a bit of a boot especially when you push the 265gn flex to almost 2,500fps she tends to buck and roar off the bench not to bad in the bush
 
JOHN WATERS said:
Nice gun, too bad you had to part with it. Love the action on that one. I have a model 4 in .303 Brit. that my grandfather brought back from Australia in WWII. I shoot it all the time.
Have taken down a Blue Wildebeest and Greater Kudu with my Marlin 444s, and I agree, that caliber packs a healthy "kick."
Click to expand...
John
Could you please let me know how your 444 performed in Africa .
What rifle did you use and what load?
My mate is thinking of taking his CVA single shot 444 to Namibia next year year.
Cheers mate Bob
 
Bob Nelson 35Whelan said:
John
Could you please let me know how your 444 performed in Africa .
What rifle did you use and what load?
My mate is thinking of taking his CVA single shot 444 to Namibia next year year.
Cheers mate Bob
Click to expand...
I have a Marlin 444s with a 22 inch barrel. Tried sighting it in with a scope, but ended up taking it off and using iron sights because most animals we ran into in Eastern Cape were with 150 yards and I prefer the iron sights. I used the factory Hornady 265 grain FTX Leverevolution cartridges. Killed my blue wildebeest at 138 yards with one shot and it dropped without it taking a step. The kudu was also killed with one shot at 150 yards
but it ran quite a ways before it died​
(admittedly it was a pretty long shot for iron sights and my shot placement was off).
 
First would have to be 25-06, then 300 Weatherby and finally 375 H&H.

While pondering this again I'm torn between my 300 Weatherby(nice West German built) or my 6.5x55 Sauer 200....
 
.22 LR
.375 H&H
.458 B&M wildcat.

If I had to pick a fourth I'd pick .300 RUM and I'd cover everything in the planet at any reasonable distance.
 
.22 LF target and small game.
.6.5-06 - deer, goat, etc and double duty as a varmit gun.
35 Whelen or 9.3-62 larger game, elk, moose, bear and Plains game. If I needed something bigger I would have to rent.
 
I did not read all the replies in this thread, but it's a decent bet someone has already said mine. But if I was to pick 3 cartridges to use the rest of my life, I would choose the following. What a fun exercise!

.22 Win Mag (could say .22 LR, but this adds a little extra range.)

.30-06 Springfield - I'd argue that with the right bullets and shot placement, it will humanely kill any game on Earth.

You can sub in any number of options here for #3, but I'm going to choose the .223 Remington.

Also in contention for #3, in my head, were, in no particular order, 25-06, 308, 243, 6.5 Creed, 6.5 grendel, 7mm-08, 204, 375 H&H, or 338 Federal. I settled on 223 because it is a nice short action, lots of ammo and gun selections and availability, easy to shoot, and I personally have more use for a smaller than 30-06 caliber in my collection.
 
Skinnersblade said:
.270 win
.340 weatherby
.28 gauge

Ive not seen mention of the 28 gauge in this thread? Surely I'm not the only one who favours this cartridge?
Click to expand...
As soon as I hit "post reply" I looked at this answer and realized I was so focused on rifles, I forgot about shotguns entirely. I would easily substitute either the .22 Win Mag or .223 Rem for a 12 gague shotgun. Probably the .22 wm for this debate.

While I love the 16, 20, and 28 gauges, I'll stick with my reasoning of popularity, availability, and range of options by choosing a 12 as "permanent" selection.
 
Three, that's hard.22Long Rifle

35Whelen

Toss up between 375H&H and 416Rigby.

Had to leave out 6.8SPC, 303Brit 270Win and two wild cats 35Sambar (35WSM) and my current favourite 358/338 RUM
 
Background, I don't hunt dangerous game so my selection can be seen based on standard hunting in South Africa. Both plains and bush.

What I have used
.243 (100gr) - synonymous with springbuck and open plains
6.5x55SE - I use this for everything now
.30-06 - majority of what I have taken has been with this caliber; usually 180gr bullets but have loaded GS Custom 150's and Hornady 220gr RN's in the past.

Ideal battery
.25-06 plains
6.5x55SE general purpose
9.3x62 bushveld
 
30-06
7 mm Mag
9.3x62

I do not yet have a 9.3x62 but am so in love with the caliber it made the list
Still need to check out the rest of the Euoropean caliber .
 
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