If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it reckons Brad Allen when it comes to the right hunting calibres
With the plethora of rifle cartridges on offer to hunters these days, you could be forgiven for the frustration caused by the myriad of choices, with the vast array of new cartridges constantly growing.
Many years ago, possibly the largest calibre most hunters might own was the ubiquitous .303 British. By today’s standards, the old .303 is no real powerhouse, but rightly or wrongly, it has taken every game animal, large and small, on the face of the planet.
Although maybe not ideal, in the hands of a competent marksman under perfect conditions, it can still take the largest game our continent has and do a fair job on most medium to large game in North America and the African continent too. That said, way back in the 1960s and 1970s, it was common for hunters here and in New Zealand to use the venerable little .222 Remington to regularly take game up to the size of red deer.
Since the 1960s, the availability of slightly larger cartridges more suited to the job have seen them gain in popularity. Two of the most notable are the .243 Winchester and the .308 Winchester. The truth is both of these brilliant cartridges have had a profound impact on hunters worldwide but especially in Australia. The .243 was a huge step up in power from the little .222 and immensely suited to hunting everything from rabbits to medium-size deer. My old Uncle Charlie used his Parker Hale .243 for many years to hunt red deer, mainly for meat to feed the family. He used 80gr bullets for meat animals, mostly hinds and spikers and 100gr bullets when he hunted the larger bodied stags during the rut. He always spoke highly of the calibre, regularly taking deer out past 300 yards with it, and he never felt under-gunned in the process.
On the other hand, the .308 is similar in ballistics to the old .303, with just a bit more power and available in a greater selection of rifles that are vastly more suitable for hunting than the old SMLE .303, with superior accuracy and ease of scope mounting.
Neither of these two cartridges can be considered overly powerful, but both are eminently suitable for hunting medium game, out to a reasonable range. About 300 yards should be the maximum distance over which most responsible hunters would or should take a shot, and then only under ideal conditions. Over the years, I’ve heard many fanciful stories from self-proclaimed experts of game they regularly take at 500-plus yards. It’s about that point in those conversations that I politely take my leave. I love to talk guns and hunting, but…
What’s changed in the intervening 50 years, I hear you ask? Well, very little in fact. The animals are identical, fallow and red deer and other medium game in general haven’t become any tougher, and the distances we take them at are still pretty much the same. The only thing that has changed is the selection of suitable hunting rifles and the availability of vastly more cartridges to do the business.
However, we have definitely moved away from basic ‘needs’, to ‘wants’ and there’s nothing wrong with that. If we only owned the guns and rifles that we needed, as opposed to the ones that we wanted, our gun safes would be much emptier and our shooting experiences would be far less fulfilling than they are right now.
That said, the world of cartridges is our ‘oyster’ and we should all take full advantage of that opportunity. What suits me may well not suit you, as I have a penchant for the older classic cartridges, even though many of the new crop of cartridges will do an equally admirable job on medium game in the right rifle, scope, calibre combination.
I’m often amused by the hype and hoopla that surrounds the release of some new hunting cartridges. Touted as the best thing since sliced bread, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but I digress. We’ve all heard it said, that ‘there’s nothing new under the sun’, and to a great extent, that’s true, especially with rifle cartridges.
The highly acclaimed 6.5 Creedmoor has been around now for a few years and has quite a following here and, in the US, with its ballistics indicating that it’s quite suitable for hunting most medium game. But, when we actually take a clinical look at the ballistics of the 6.5 Creedmoor, without all the hype, we can see that it doesn’t really do anything that the highly respected 6.5 Swedish can’t do and has been doing for well over 120 years.
The only unfortunate circumstance that precluded the old Swede from becoming more popular is the fact that it was mostly offered to the shooting public in the weaker (cock on closing) 1896 Mauser rifles. Had it instead been available in the great Mauser 98, its popularity would have been far greater than it is today and the new crop of 6.5s would have had a hard time dethroning it.
The .270 Winchester needs no introduction and since 1925 has been quietly going about its business without any fuss or fanfare, carving out its own niche as one of the most effective all-round hunting rifle cartridges of all time. More powerful than the .243 and on a par with the .308, the great .270 sits in the sweet spot of what a medium game hunting cartridge needs to be. Tolerable recoil, with ample bullet weight and speed, flat shooting, all in a relatively lightweight package.
The .30-06 is now 117 years young and still the medium to large game hunting cartridge that all others are measured by. Its recoil is by no means heavy, as my son Morgan can attest, as a Steyr .30-06 was his first hunting rifle at age 11 with which he has taken many deer and a bull buffalo in Arnhem Land. From bunnies to buff, the old ‘06’ can do it all and again without any fuss or fanfare. If the .270 is in the middle of the sweet spot of power, the .30-06 is probably sitting at the upper edge of that spot.
By now, you might have the impression that I am a fan of the older classic cartridges and there’s no doubt you’d be right. These are cartridges that have stood the test of time and that I’ve owned and enjoyed using throughout many years of hunting. Even though there is nothing new under the sun, I’m not opposed to trying new cartridges, provided that they can be had in rifles of suitable weight for the foot hunter.
My son Bill had a highly accurate Sako .300 WSM that he used on red and fallow deer and also on our African safari, taking a multitude of plains game with the one load -180gr Barnes TSX handloaded bullets. My nephew Frank and I successfully used a borrowed Tikka in the same calibre on a hunt for thars in New Zealand. Having only slightly more recoil than the .30-06 with the same bullets and about 300fps more muzzle velocity, I’m sure with well-placed shots, the animals could not have told the difference.
Sir Isaac Newton espoused that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, which in shooting speak with all else being equal, means lighter rifles, larger bullets and more velocity equates to heavier recoil. Even though I actually enjoy hunting big game (buffaloes) on the odd occasion with my CZ .416 Rigby (400gr bullets at 2500fps), I don’t really know anyone, including myself, who enjoys being pounded with excessive recoil without good reason.
Whether we are hunting deer in Australia or plains game in Africa, there are many rifles and calibres available that can do the job well without killing at both ends. Shot placement and projectile choice are every bit as important as our selection of calibre and cartridge. An accurate shot on a fallow buck with a 100gr Core-Lokt .243 will deliver a superior outcome to a poorly placed shot from any .300 Magnum and do it with much less recoil, resulting in a far more enjoyable hunting experience all round.
That said, if you have a larger calibre hunting rifle that you use regularly and shoot well by all means hunt with it. I know I’m guilty of doing just that, but I always gravitate back to my old Ruger .270 for the majority of my medium game hunting. Whatever rifle and calibre you choose to hunt with is your business alone and I would never suggest that you are wrong. Provided the cartridge has sufficient power for your application and you use appropriate bullets for the job at hand, you’re good to go.
However, I would advise new shooters and those (both male and female) of smaller stature, that they do not need to buy and use larger or fad calibres to achieve their objectives, with expensive and hard to find ammunition and components an added unfortunate side issue. For a more affordable and enjoyable hunting experience, consider some of the older more popular medium game cartridges. They have stood the test of time for one simple reason ‑ they work. Enjoy the hunt.