These are my caliber arsenal, been using my mid-break single shot CVA Optima Stalker in 7MM-08 with Bergara barrel the last few years but feeling I should break out some of the other Boyz next year for more variety and capacity if not anything. The other 3 are all bolt action rifles with 4 in magazine and 1 in chamber. Starting to see more hogs and varmints the last few years. Hunt both SW Young and Throckmorton counties for reference; shots tend to be 100-200 yards with occasional longer, deer weights on bucks avg. around 160-170 live weight and hogs in the 200 LB. range. Bullet grains are 100gr. for .25-.06, 139gr. for 7MM-08 and 150 gr. for .308 and .30-.06. Shoot all pretty equally well. What say THF, variety or stick to a favorite??

Beware the man with one gun.

Sell em all and get you a bolt action 7mm-08.

It does everything well.

It’s nice to have options. Sometimes you might be in the mood for a handy single shot, other times maybe you want to shoot as many as you can as fast as possible. Single shot 7-08 for a deer stalker and a fast flat shooting repeater for killing the varmints as fast as you can before they hide.

Hard to argue with this.

At those distances, 308. You won’t be disappointed.

I love my 25-06.

JR

all those are great calibers for what you describe ... variety, like ice cream but I understand we all have our favorite go-to.

They’ll all do the job if you do yours and use a reliable bullet. Reliable being the key word.
Me personally I have no issues getting off several accurate shots with a bolt action.

My pick, pending on the make and model, would be the 25/06 but bump up a few grains in bullet weight.
Then the 30/06

I like variety. It is not unusual for me to tote multiple guns in one weekend. Sure they all work just fine for deer and pigs, but as they say, variety is the spice of life.

Have to agree. Bolt action 7mm-08 is going to be very hard to beat.

I consolidated away from .308 and .243 three years ago into one caliber 6.5cm. Call me a fanboy if you want but I have taken everything from smaller whitetail to Red Stag and it performs so I’m in the camp of pick your favorite and roll with it

This right here. I like variety anywhere else, but unless you put in lots of practice with whatever new firearm you choose, I'd go with what you know. Unfamiliarity with a weapon will miss you more shots than the caliber of the weapon ever will.

Any of the higher calibers out there are going to be more than enough for 100-200 yards in terms of ballistic impact for any of the game listed here. So then it comes down to non-ballistic questions, like ammo availability, recoil, etc.

7mm 08 , 308

I clearly prefer the 308, but all of those are great calibers. 308 is by far the cheapest to shoot (even if you reload).

Several years ago I put my 30-06 in the safe and have been hunting with my 25-06 with 120gr bullets for deer. 762x39 AR with 154gr SP for hogs....

I really like my 6.8 SPC AR15 for a lot of my hunting. I’ve cleanly harvested deer to 190 yards with it and killed four pigs one morning about as fast as one can shoot. But if 200+ yds is on the menu, I pull out the CTR in 6.5cm. I’ve taken at least 8 deer with it between 240 and 360 yards and feel pretty comfortable to 500+. But I also have .223, .243, .308, and .300WM if I want.

2nd on the 6.8-covers a lot of scenarios up to 200 yards…very handy

^^^^This…

Get rid of them all and put together one non garbage gun with good glass in a short action handy rig

Go right in the middle of all of those and buy a .270.

This.

I have a safe full of calibers that I never shoot. When hunting time comes I either pick up my old Win 30-30 or my butchered Eddystone 30/06. All depends on distance.

I think your scenario is more common than not.

And many in your situation say they can't afford ______. Pertaining to really great optics, rifles and ammunition.

Gold bars sitting in the safe, taking up space.

This thread could've ended right here.

My Bergara 7-08 is the rifle I use the most. It's easy to wield and the 150 Berger Classic Hunters I use do a great job.