You may qualify for a discount on a new purchase. Don't know - just trying to help.

-Mickey

If I had to go with one all around, and for dangerous too, I'd say .338 Win Mag.

If I had to have just one caliber for everything I would hunt, I'd say 8x57mm Mauser....but I'm a little weird. lol

The .35 Whelen is a .30-06 opened up to .35 caliber. Definitely not "ridge-to-ridge" caliber. But within 250 yds it has some knock down power.

ridgeline to ridgeline & slow in the 06 would be the 338-06.

I keep coming back to .338-06 too.

1. Thank you for your service.
2. I think the .300 is overkill, but that is just my opinion.
3. For $650, you can get the standard savage model 111(not the bull barrel hog hunter) in the caliber of your choice (including 06, and I believe 300) you will have enough leftover to get a quality scope.
4. The savage 111 is a great rifle. I have one in .270. They have a reputation for being very accurate out of the box.

I'm weird like that too, love me some 'o that Teutonic 8mm sweetness. For the op's requirements (with the exception of factory ammo) I'd still have to go with the 338.

25/06

Either find a used tikka or save a little and buy a new tikka think they are somewhere around 700 or so. Plenty of gun to shoot ridge to ridge and will last a long time.

Walter

An Encore with 30-06 and. 458 bbls. But why am I posting-your mind was made up before you posted.

Here's an idea.....

Since one can never have too many rifles.....and assuming a brown bear hunt in Alaska is NOT on your immediate TO-DO list.....

Just buy a .30-06, or a 7 Mag, or a .270, or even a .25-06. Now, you're set up for Texas, and most everything else.

Then, for the future, plan on adding a .338 or .375 to your arsenal, pre-Alaska.

All this talk of "ridge to ridge". Highest BC possible, and as much MV as possible. If you're not going to consider that then stop talking about it. And the 338's don't fit the bill unless it says Lapua Mag after the numbers.
30-06 has been doing it for over 100 years. Factory rifle, 300 Win Mag, custom or semi-custom aggressive twist 7 Rem Mag.

Op, just as Mr.dawaba said don't worry about bears until it's time to go on a bear hunt. And the 300 Win and 7 Rem will handle even grizzlies.

One other thing to consider. If active military, you may want to check branch wide, and local command policies regarding POW's and see if it's worth it to your particular situation. An example, if you get stationed in Germany,you won't be able to have a gun without a proven need. Means you'll have to be an active sport shooter or (easiest) obtain a hunting license and go thru all the other loops to get your POW sent over or buy one here... Understand there are some places you can't even bring your own.... Just a thought...

Way dawaba says, but he left out .280 Remington. Buy a .280 and you'll find yourself looking into reloading soon enough. Why stick only a couple of toes in the water?

Now there's a statement I can REALLY agree with!



As far as 30.06 or 300 - IMO go for it......

Just for grins "google 30.06 for bears" and see what you get!

A lot of good input, thanks to all for taking the time to share. I don't take questionable shots on vermin, either. I am confident in my ability to make a long shot on a small target with a rifle that is capable. It will take time to learn the trajectory of the gun I choose however, and until i figure it out I won't stretch it out anyway. As I understand it most opportunities are not outside 200 yards anyway. I don't see the opportunity for a hunt that will require a 400+ yard shot happening any time soon. But as many have pointed out, it's an investment and I want to buy once and cry once- just trying to get the most for my money. The consensus seems to be that $400 is unrealistic for my expectations, it will be a needle in a haystack of used rifles with damaged crowns and pitted bores- so I ought to save a little longer. At 33 years of age and having never hunted large game, if I have to wait another year or two I can handle that. But I need a gun that i won't necessarily grow out of in terms of how far I can place an ethical shot, or how big and tough the game I am pursuing in North America. I also understand that I am gonna have to pay a premium price for ammo to hunt larger animals and this ammo will be expensive no matter what caliber- good partitioned bullets seem to go for around $60/20 in every caliber I have looked at. But animals are not the only thing I'll be shooting and I don't want to pay $2-$3 a round for ammo I occasionally use to punch paper or plink with. I understand that I'll probably end up investing a lot of money over the years in hand loading and etc. in the pursuit of better accuracy with good hunting bullets. And I'll probably spend as much on good glass- or more- than I will on a good rifle. I still need a good gun to start with, that will grow with me. I am fairly confident that most successful big game hunters don't start out by spending thousands on everything at once. From the advice I've been given, .30-06 is a little more reasonable for most hunting I will do, .300 win mag is a little bit overkill but will cover me for all but grizzlies, although some people would still hunt them with confidence with the right ammo- and most of you would rather step up to .338 or larger for them. I recieved a PM suggesting .300 RUM and have been looking at it closely, ammo on the low end is a little high but not too bad and the loads available cover a more broad spectrum. Anyone have experience shooting .300 RUM?

I've got a new 300RUM I've yet to actually kill something with. It shoots pretty good though.

let me ask you this....you stated that you have a lot of experience with air rifles and hunting small game.

how much experience do you have with centerfire or rimfire rifles?

One thing to take into consideration is ammo availability. During the gun/ammo panic, I could walk into my Walmart any day of the week and find 270 and 30-06 on the shelf. 15-20 bucks for 20 rounds. My vote would be the 30-06. It has been a successful hunting cartridge on every animal that walks N. America. The 30-06 is plentiful, cheap, has range, a huge selection of ammo, and repeatidly gets the job done.

Never bought one box of ammo at a time, I prefer same lot #/run

JG - When you say "aggressive twist" for 7mm, I assume you're talking about 1:8.5 or faster...

I don't think it would bother me to shoot any of the big bears with my 270, I would do it with it or a 30-06 in a heart beat.

maybe from 200 yards out, from inside a truck.


your crazy if you would take a .270 bear hunting.

The basic, stock lower end rifles are all pretty good. I'd expect them to shoot 1.5-2 moa (which is about as good as most cheap ammo shoots anyways). Which frankly if great out to 300 yards.

Anything off the 30-06 case or the 300 win mag case will kill, or be overkill, for anything save grizzly. But even then, it'd probably work.

I don't know what range "ridgeline to ridgeline" shooting is, but you are overthinking this. Find a deal on a rifle, used or otherwise, buy it, and shoot it. I wouldn't be afraid to buy used, either. Most people don't shoot much. Ammo isn't corrosive anymore.

If I had to choose, I'd cheap out on the rifle and buy better optics. You don't need a thousand dollar rifle to hunt. It may not be the most beautiful rifle, it may not be what many consider an "heirloom," but it will put meat on the table.

TXTrophy- First time shooting a rimfire, was my stepdad's browning buckmark pistol when I was 12. He liked the Remington 700 and also owned a .22-250 and a .222 as well as an old Black Nylon but i never got to shoot them- i only cleaned them lol. Older stepbrother had a 700 in .223 and hunted deer and coyotes quite a bit but i never got to go. I picked up a savage .308 at age 19 bundled with a cheap scope, zeroed it at 100 yards and planned my first deer hunt. Cancelled that deer hunt when recruiter offered me a bonus to leave within the next week. Over the years I have bought and sold at least three other shotguns including a 870 ultramag, also an AR-15, couple .22's, and a springfield xd .45 ACP which was the only handgun I've ever owned. Hardest recoil I've experienced is 3.5" 00 buck and i had no issues with it, hardest weapon to control that I've ever fired from the shoulder is a M249SAW. I do not currently own any firearms because as it has already been mentioned, having a personal weapon in the Army is a P.I.T.A. And I made the mistake of moving on post- at this time i only had a couple shotguns. My paperwork got lost and i ended up selling to cover my hiney, lesson learned and next time I PCS i'll leave my guns with a relative untill I get it all straightened out. Right now I do not own a firearm. I got into air rifles because I could shoot em in my backyard when I lived off post. I lived in N.C. at the time and hunting laws were airgun friendly so I ate plenty of rabbit and squirrel. Hunting with an air rifle is a lot of fun and takes me back to my childhood. I made a lot of good memories as a kid with a pellet gun. Anyway I took a 20 guage loaded with slugs once in case I might get lucky and see a hog or deer but i didn't. I have stalked right up on top of deer in the n.c. woods searching for squirrels and rabbits but only had an air rifle at the time. Shooting a magnum breakbarrel is something you have to experience, if you can master a 25+ fpe breakbarrel you can probably shoot anything. Within the last couple years the only firearms I've shot are service weapons. I'm an infantryman and I shoot my M4 quite a lot depending on how much training we are doing at the time. I am prior service marine corps- the longest shot I've made is 500 meters standing off-hand with an M16A2 and I hit more than I missed. I shot expert pretty much every time I went to the range and I still do unless there is an issue with the pop-ups. I usually get the benefit of the doubt and switch lanes because people that know me know I can shoot. Okay I guess now that I've tooted my horn, someone's gonna take me down a notch lol. I am sure there is a bit of adjustment and a learning curve switching to a powerful rifle and a different style of shooting but i am ready and willing to figure it out.