68th Annual Original Missoula Gun & Antique Show

450 Tables $70./ea. Hilton Garden Inn and Conference Center

Aug 4 (10am-6pm), Aug 5 (9am-6pm), Aug 6 (9am-3pm)

Contact: Hayes Otoupalik 406-549-4817 hayesotoupalik@aol.com

.30-06 Springfield

The parent cartridge to the .270 Winchester is itself a good hunting round.

You can use .30-06 to harvest many medium and large game animals. Sabot loads are available for varmint hunting, and bullet weight can reach 220 gr for the heaviest animals.

The main problem with .30-06 is that it’s not as efficient of a round.

The 6.5 Cartridge of Your Choice

6.5mm rifles exploded in popularity once the 6.5 Creedmoor caught on, but 6.5 has been a go-to round for hunters for over a hundred years.

In Europe, 6.5x55mm Swedish is one of the most popular hunting cartridges. It’s less popular in America but still available on many shelves.

6.5 Creedmoor was designed as a long-range target round but is also a celebrated hunting round. It’s based on the .308 case to be used in short-action rifles.

My favorite 6.5mm caliber round is the .260 Remington, specifically the .260 Rem Ackley Improved. It’s just a tad more efficient than 6.5 Creedmoor, though not as well supported commercially.

These 6.5mm cartridges have similar capabilities and are just a bit less powerful than the .270 Winchester. You lose out on the ability to harvest grizzlies and moose but perhaps gain superior extreme-range capability...

Special mention to the 6.5 Grendel...

However, Grendel’s case is much shorter than any other cartridge I’m mentioning here. This cuts down its capability to hunt black bears and smaller animals, so it’s not a true all-around hunting caliber.

7mm Remington Magnum

This round can be considered to be the .270 Winchester on steroids.

It’s bigger in every respect while maintaining similar velocities and ballistic coefficients.

This cuts off the low end of harvestable animals, so please don’t take a 7mm Rem Mag coyote hunting. There may not be any fur left.

However, you’ll get enough extra power for more confidence against the biggest mammals while staying tame enough for whitetail and blacktail deer.

You need to load a heavier bullet to match the sectional density and ballistic coefficient of a .270 bullet, which will cost you muzzle velocity. This cuts your effective range short and loses you the advantage of .270’s generous maximum point-blank range.

Overall, .30-06 Springfield is a good choice for hunting almost any animal.

I just prefer my hunting ammo to be more efficient.

.308 Winchester

A bit shorter than .30-06, .308 is practically as effective as the longer cartridge for most use cases.

But it suffers the same ballistic problems as .30-06 because of its larger caliber, without the advantage of the heavy 220 gr bullets.

On the other hand, .308 Win fits in short-action rifles and cheap surplus ammo is available. You can put more practice .308 downrange than any other all-purpose hunting caliber, translating to better shot placement in the field.

In fact, I sometimes recommend .308 as the perfect full-power general-purpose caliber.

But if hunting is the only thing on your mind, I’d still recommend .270 Winchester.

Conclusion

No one caliber can ethically harvest every huntable animal in North America.

However, if you’re willing to leave off small game such as foxes and rabbits, the .270 Winchester gets you darn close.

It’s a powerful caliber that maintains its kinetic energy at long ranges. With the right bullet selection, you can use it to take down a large bear or a small deer.

If you want to choose one hunting rifle while maximizing the variety of game species you can hunt, I recommend buying a rifle chambered in .270 Winchester.