Buying your first rifle – Deciding on a calibre

**offroad junky** · 21-05-2016, 14:22

That .270 will take anything up to blesbuck and redhartebees easy. Kudu if you know where......

I would suggest to get the Burris Eliminator III scope 😉

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**TStone** · 21-05-2016, 17:04

Originally Posted by Dale SH

First and maybe only.
If you reload then 140 - 150 grain monos will kill all you want on the plains and 170 - 175 grain conventional bullets will kill anything else you may want in the bush.

Back in 1989 I bought a Musgrave K98 Light in 7x57, around 1994 it became my wife's rifle. With the exception of a blue wildebeest and a fallow deer shot with a .300 win mag and a warthog shot with a .416 rem mag she has shot everything she hunted since then with the 7x57. The list includes kudu and eland. Sometimes she even let me use it :)

**LLTHB** · 23-05-2016, 13:33

Hi to all and thank you to all the guys on the forum and the PMs that have helped me.

I will be going with 3 rifles.

For training I have a .22 or a "windbuks" in mind. This will be for training and practicing drills, practicing shot placement.

For the plains rifle, I think I am going .260 Remington or 6.5mm Creedmor. On this, I need to look into reloading issues - what is the easier round to work with, availability etc etc. Looks like the Creedmor is the better option. Will also want fluted or bull barrel so that I can cut thread for a suppressor.

Scope for this rifle I am looking at is 6 x 20-40 or 6 x 20-50. Want to able to see my holes in the target on the range at 200m.

For heavier game and bush work, perhaps the .300WinMag??? But have not made my final decision on this yet.

Really is so much to learn. An exciting challenge.

Again, thanks to all.

Have a good day and "gooi" input. We all learn from it.

Cheers.

**Tetelestai** · 23-05-2016, 14:41

LLTHB, the other folk already answered you in your other thread but that 300Win Mag for "heavy/bush work" isn't a good fit. I see you've since changed the 270 (where you were on a good track) to a 6.5. Nothing wrong with the 6.5 but I'm thinking you did it to avoid the similarities between the 270 and 300WM. I believe you've changed the wrong calibre.

If I were in your shoes, starting out again and thinking two rifles off the bat, I'd stick with the 270Win and change the 300Win Mag. Personally I'd prefer something slow and heavy for the bush so I'd look at a 375H&H or 9.3x62.

**QuQ** · 23-05-2016, 15:41

Absolutely agree with Tetelestai! A .270 and 9.3 / 375 combo is a real do it all combo. With a .22LR of course.

**Messor** · 23-05-2016, 15:51

Originally Posted by QuQ

Absolutely agree with Tetelestai! A .270 and 9.3 / 375 combo is a real do it all combo. With a .22LR of course.

A combo is the combination of a cartridge and ammo, get that right and there are no wrong combo's.
If you load a ballistic tip in a 30-06 or 9.3 then don't be surprised when a 300wm with a strong bullet performs much better up close.

I see people are saying a 300wm does not make sense, a 300wm is a cartridge, not a combo, load it with a strong 220gr bullet at a lower velocity and try and fault it at shorter ranges. The trick is you can download a 300wm but you cannot make a 308 perform like it on the plains when you need performance.

Things work like we use them, use it correctly all good, use it poorly then don't blame the tool.

Just saying.

**arthur007** · 23-05-2016, 16:17

Originally Posted by Messor

A combo is the combination of a cartridge and ammo, get that right and there are no wrong combo's.
If you load a ballistic tip in a 30-06 or 9.3 then don't be surprised when a 300wm with a strong bullet performs much better up close.

I see people are saying a 300wm does not make sense, a 300wm is a cartridge, not a combo, load it with a strong 220gr bullet at a lower velocity and try and fault it at shorter ranges. The trick is you can download a 300wm but you cannot make a 308 perform like it on the plains when you need performance.

Things work like we use them, use it correctly all good, use it poorly then don't blame the tool.

Just saying.

I strongly agree with Messor on getting the combination of a specific cartridge right with the correct bullet for a specific application. Up till now I have had to use my 300win mag for both long range plains and short range bushveld hunting. For the bushveld I used a 200gr bullet of strong construction and I loaded it down to around 2550fps. It worked well and I can honestly say that the meat damage was minimal.

**QuQ** · 23-05-2016, 16:28

Completely agree chaps. But if one was to standardize on one load for each rifle in the envisaged battery, then 300WM would not usually be the first choice as your go-to bush calibre. There are calibers better suited to that application.

**arthur007** · 23-05-2016, 16:31

Originally Posted by QuQ

Completely agree chaps. But if one was to standardize on one load for each rifle in the envisaged battery, then 300WM would not usually be the first choice as your go-to bush calibre. There are calibers better suited to that application.

I fully agree QuQ, thats why my 300win mag has now been standardised for plains game hunting and the 338win mag will become my go to bush calibre loaded with 250gr and heavier.

**Messor** · 23-05-2016, 16:38

Originally Posted by QuQ

Completely agree chaps. But if one was to standardize on one load for each rifle in the envisaged battery, then 300WM would not usually be the first choice as your go-to bush calibre. There are calibers better suited to that application.

Man, this concept does sound beautiful on paper, but as a firearm enthusiast I tell you it just doesn't work :)
Just like we don't really need a whole heap of rifles for hunting we don't need to mess with different bullets in them, but we do, almost all of us.

My point was if the OP says 300wm, we must say cool, and help him to use it properly.
Life is too short for the old 30-06 type answers.