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If you could pick just one calibre for a rifle....


Savhmr
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Sorry but it seems a daft question to me.

 

As you say....... "several rifles usually end up in the cabinets for reasons of suitability, practicality and best suited to specific tasks."

 

Exactly, ONE rifle will not solve all the issues out there, for instance, which ONE rifle stops the pigeons in the warehouse or the Boar in the forest?

 

Totally pointless thread!

 

Why didn't you just ask...

 

"What is your favourite calibre, or which do you think is the most versatile calibre?"

Different questions answer to the ops question 308 win

Answer to your if world wide 375 h&h is most versatile uk a 6.5 probably 260 or 25/06. Favourite 404 Jeffery for world wide favourite for UK 275 rigby.

 

So maybe you read it wrong or got out of the wrong side of bed.

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Sorry but it seems a daft question to me.

 

As you say....... "several rifles usually end up in the cabinets for reasons of suitability, practicality and best suited to specific tasks."

 

Exactly, ONE rifle will not solve all the issues out there, for instance, which ONE rifle stops the pigeons in the warehouse or the Boar in the forest?

 

Totally pointless thread!

 

Why didn't you just ask...

 

"What is your favourite calibre, or which do you think is the most versatile calibre?"

Technically an air rifle would cover pigeons and boar.

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I bought my .308 on the grounds of versatility and I'd buy another tomorrow if I still had a use for it.

 

On the other hand, if it's only a question of what calibre / cartridge without any consideration of how easy (or expensive) it might be to feed, I'd probably stick with .30 cal but go with the .300 Weatherby.

 

I'm not saying it would knock over a charging elephant, but it has the capacity to shoot everything from 110gr through to the 240gr bullets at decent velocity, can be downloaded to .308 velocities pretty easily, and I've always fancied a Mark V... :)

Edited by neutron619
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7x57 I think, although I am prone to changing my mind so my wife says :-) I am not too worried about flattening a fox if need be with a 175grainer. Dead is dead.

In fact the question should have been what weight bullet would you choose if you only had one choice and therefore what rifle calibre would you choose to throw it and why.

 

I have answered the questions already.

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It's not a pointless question although I do think we make a lot more than we need to out of rifle cartridge choice for hunting. If you're a target shooter then it makes a big difference, but at the ranges most people take animals it's all much of a muchness (provided you've chosen the right bullet construction of course).

 

I'd love to try a .275 rigby one day but the boring old .308 will do it all, so that's what I have.

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Interesting replies gents, thanks. Quite a mix of cals in amongst that lot, and an interesting observation that "what bullet" should be the question. My take on that is terminal ballistics determine the choice of bullet AND the firearm AND the chambering, but its the rifles we choose to shoot and grow to have most confidence in as all rounders that we'd probably gravitate to if forced to make one choice. I was expecting a majority of .243's and 30 cals but some interesting examples of other rifles like the 6mm BR which is lovely to shoot and super accurate.

 

In terms of one rifle make, well everyone has their favourites but I'm really fond of the ubiquitous Tikka T3 rifles because they're nicely made and they all shoot so well out of the box (great triggers too).

 

My apologies Dekers, I was having a bad day as I've just lost my dog who I was very fond of.

Edited by Savhmr
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.222? i'm really liking mine at the moment, tried several centre fires over the years and this one seems just right. I've no need for a large calibre rifle.

 

 

plus 1!!

 

In a theoretical world where you are only allow one calibre I’m also assuming all legislation is relaxed as well. My 222 would be my number 1 choice. Light enough to use for small game and perfectly capable, with a good marksman, to take big game also. As my Great Uncle used to say the 222 is the perfect gamekeeper rifle.

Edited by zipdog
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Yup, I do like the T3 and have one in the ubiquitous .243 cal. Have the T3 Hunter, so at least I have some woodwork instead of that awful bloody plastic thing that the later T3s have.

 

 

One of mine wears a GRS stock and the other's a Tikka Tac A1 so no plastic stock involved thankfully! To be fair, Tikka synthetics aren't too bad and make good utility hunting stocks.

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Interesting replies gents, thanks. Quite a mix of cals in amongst that lot, and an interesting observation that "what bullet" should be the question. My take on that is terminal ballistics determine the choice of bullet AND the firearm AND the chambering, but its the rifles we choose to shoot and grow to have most confidence in as all rounders that we'd probably gravitate to if forced to make one choice. I was expecting a majority of .243's and 30 cals but some interesting examples of other rifles like the 6mm BR which is lovely to shoot and super accurate.

 

In terms of one rifle make, well everyone has their favourites but I'm really fond of the ubiquitous Tikka T3 rifles because they're nicely made and they all shoot so well out of the box (great triggers too).

 

My apologies Dekers, I was having a bad day as I've just lost my dog who I was very fond of.

 

Perhaps it wasn't my finest moment!

 

ATB! :good:

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Yup, I do like the T3 and have one in the ubiquitous .243 cal. Have the T3 Hunter, so at least I have some woodwork instead of that awful bloody plastic thing that the later T3s have.

 

Not quite sure where this thread is gong now but my .223 is a T3 Lite and its great now, but it took pretty much 2 years to get it that way changing many things several times!

 

Following my experience with that I bought a .243 T3 Hunter and had to do nothing with it except shoot it.

 

Cracking bit of kit straight out of the box!

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Entering into the spirit. But I still want to split it into rimfire and centrefire.

 

A .22lr!

From sub sonic to just over 200ft lb, plus the option of caps, shorts etc! Very versatile. Despite what many will say it was a close run thing with the HMR, and I still rate the WMR as VERY useful!

 

A 243!

Similar reasons to the .22lr. Incredible range of ammo types and power, very versatile and capable of stopping anything in this country, although I concede it is not be my first choice on Boar!

Edited by Dekers
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.50 cal Barrett it will kill anything you want. As they say dead is dead, you want to shoot a fox thats stood behind a tree no problem shoot it through the tree. Cost of reloading a bit higher than normal.

 

One caliber depends on what your range of qaurry is. For some .243 others no less than .308 for wild boar and big Reds.

Edited by figgy
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It's not a pointless question although I do think we make a lot more than we need to out of rifle cartridge choice for hunting. If you're a target shooter then it makes a big difference, but at the ranges most people take animals it's all much of a muchness (provided you've chosen the right bullet construction of course).

 

I'd love to try a .275 rigby one day but the boring old .308 will do it all, so that's what I have.

Isn't the 275 Rigby simply a 7x57 Mauser ? I will stand corrected..........

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.308

 

Shoots anything and plentiful supply of ammo.

 

Bit heavy on the rabbits, though.

 

Indeed, if the question was which 2, Id say .308 and .17 hmr which is what Ive whittled my cabinet down to after having had just about everything else.

 

Thats the thing, Im down to a 6.5 and rimfires.. my 243 is going as its gathering dust.. I mite stick with a 6.5x55 and my 22lr and leave it at that.

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