GUN CHOICE

I'll be hunting Whitetails in Georgia and Elk in Washington State.

Is there a rifle which can serve for both types of hunting?

Sure. A .30-06 or .308 bolt action will serve just fine, with appropriate loads. 150 grain bullets for deer, 165 or 180 grain for elk. Some people just shoot 165 grain for everything.

The .30-06 has a little more power, but not much. The .308 will let you use a short action, which is really nice, and has a well deserved reputation as an accurate cartridge. Either one will serve you well. If we were going hunting together and had one of each, I would let you take your pick and be perfectly happy using the other one.

An elk is a hard animal to bring down, but that doesn't mean an ultra magnum will do you any good. Shot placement is critical. If you hit the heart or lung of an elk with a .308, you will bring it down. If you shoot it in the ass with an ultra magnum, you will either lose the animal or be chasing it up and down mountains all day.

A marlin guide gun or a 308 carbine will work for both. I have a Ruger RSI in 308 and would take it on both hunts in a heartbeat.

Larry is right about his advice. Sounds like it came right out of my elk camp. I would add the .270 to the list. I prefer it as the all 'round cartridge with a 140, or 150 grain bullet. Any larger, and they seem not to be stable in flight. The recoil is medium, and it is a bit flatter shooting on the plains.

I've been hunting in WA state for the last 15 years and I mainly use my 30.06 for deer,elk,bear, and cougar. I use .165gr BTSP for deer and cougar. And .180gr bronze tip for elk and bear good luck

Jeez, there's a multitude of rifles that will serve you well for both types of hunting. I'd suggest looking at a bolt action rifle in .270, .308, 30-06, or 7mm Mag. These are all fine calibers with readily available ammunition at just about any outlet.

Saidlin, If I could only own one rifle it would be a 30-06. It is an amazingly versatile rifle and if you do your own reloading the versatile increases. With a harder bullet like the Barnes XTP you can raise the velocity of the 165 grain up to just under 3000 FPS which is a great round for heavier bodied animals like elk or pigs. It will work on the deer as well but standard velocities in the 2300-2550 fps work well on deer also. We have found that pushing the softer bullets at the higher velocities to gain the range for some of those long shots results in serious bullet degradation upon impact with heavier bodied animals. I watched a 150 grain Spear completely destroyed in the shoulder of a pig on a 100 yard shot. My friend fired that round out of a 300 Mag and it was traveling 3300 fps. It never penetrated the body cavity. I killed that wounded pig with the Barnes round at over 400 yards and the bullet track was over 20'. With a 30-06 and the right bullet you can effectively hunt any fur bearer in North America. Bill

A 3006 will not push a 165 grain bullet anywhere close to 3000 fps. It won't even push 150 at that speed. Want to see a grown man cry. Let him shoot his 'trusty' '06 over a chronograph!!

Just about any 165 grain factory load will do 2800 fps., and if someone wanted to tinker with hand loads, I would believe 3000. Factory 150 grain loads do better than 2900 fps., and with a fast barrel would do 3000 with no modification.

The '06 is a hot round.

Standard factory 150 and 165 grain loads are well under 3000 fps (I haven't tried the new 'light magnums' etc.), but this velocity is easily reached (and verified by chronograph) for 150 grain 30-06 reloads. My Speer (1979), Nosler (no. 3), Sierra (2nd ed), and Hornady (3rd ed) reloading manuals all have recipes for loads over 3000fps for the 150s. Hornady (no. 3) has 3 recipes for 150s at 3100fps and 2 for 165s at 3000fps in their 22 inch barrel Model 70 test rifle. I've not reloaded 165s, but have reloaded 150s to 3000fps as verified by chronograph.

Irv, I thought the phrase 'you can raise' made it clear that these are not factory loads but rather are 'hand' loads But the velocities are within the maximums loading data. Bill