Trooper
Shooter
The 6.5mm will do just as well.
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Best all around rifle caliber
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The 6.5mm will do just as well.
Oh, no question about it. The best caliber is the .458" bore diameter. A .470" groove diameter is about right. That lets you load rifle bullets as they drop from commonly available molds. As far as the best twist to use, I recommend 24". Plenty fast to stabilize bullets to hunt with and also has utility with patched round ball loaded light for small game. With 80 grains of FFg and a 420 grain soft lead round nose loaded with punched card wads and lanolin-olive oil-beeswax lube it is the same as a 45-70 but without the brass, doesn't lead the bore and shoots nice groups with the peep sight. Being plain soft lead a hollow point would be pointless (no pun intended).
You can argue about ballistic coefficient and may be right but the -06 is available in throw weights from 55-220 grains which makes its versatility on the NA continent rather unequaled. So, while the 6.5 may do just as well it only does so if you can find the ammo to fulfill that. -06 you can find anywhere in NA.
Moorephine
Plinker
I would prefer .223 to 17 in my opinion, little bit more sauce behind it than the 17 but still small enough to not turn critters into a red mist
.....Old School Alert!!
Google. "Jack O'Connor, .270 Winchester"
Jack was an outdoor writer back in the day.
I grew up in the 60's and 70's- JAck O wrote for Outdoor Life magazine. His favorite do-all caliber was .270 Winchester. It seemed like there was always an article about how versatile it was for all types of game.
BUT, for around here in Indiana .223 would be good. Easy to find ammo, etc. Not crazy loud either.
I started with a 22-250 in a Remington Model 788. Weaver K-6 scope. Wish I still had it... Many Greene County groundhogs went to the big bean field in the sky!
Google. "Jack O'Connor, .270 Winchester"
Jack was an outdoor writer back in the day.
I grew up in the 60's and 70's- JAck O wrote for Outdoor Life magazine. His favorite do-all caliber was .270 Winchester. It seemed like there was always an article about how versatile it was for all types of game.
BUT, for around here in Indiana .223 would be good. Easy to find ammo, etc. Not crazy loud either.
I started with a 22-250 in a Remington Model 788. Weaver K-6 scope. Wish I still had it... Many Greene County groundhogs went to the big bean field in the sky!
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YoungMilsurpGuy
Sharpshooter
7.62x39mm for anything 150 yards and in. Cheap, good stopping power, reliable, and reasonably accurate in a well built gun.
Such interesting responses.
With such little info given by the OP there are no right or wrong answers. With no regard as to location, type of use (hunting, target, personal protection in a SHTF situation) the opinions have been all over the board. Ammo availability will be a concern if it is a SHTF situation.
As the OP had bolt gun in his post I will assume that we are looking at hunting possibly even for food. My all round in a bolt gun due to bullet range goes to the 30.06. With ranges from 55 to 220 grains it will work for game from ground hogs up to the largest bears. While not my favorite choice for large bears it is a good compromise gun, and ammo is always available.
With such little info given by the OP there are no right or wrong answers. With no regard as to location, type of use (hunting, target, personal protection in a SHTF situation) the opinions have been all over the board. Ammo availability will be a concern if it is a SHTF situation.
As the OP had bolt gun in his post I will assume that we are looking at hunting possibly even for food. My all round in a bolt gun due to bullet range goes to the 30.06. With ranges from 55 to 220 grains it will work for game from ground hogs up to the largest bears. While not my favorite choice for large bears it is a good compromise gun, and ammo is always available.
Ive got a Winchester Model 70 feather weight ultra classic in 6.5x55. It has taken everything from Elk to prairie dogs. With Norma 180's it dropped a royal bull elk in its tracks. I also commonly loaded it with 90 grain pills that were excellent on prairie dogs and coyotes. I also own a 308, 30-06 and 45-70. They all do exceptionally well but that 6.5 is just magic on big game.
From what the OP posted I would say he is looking for something to shoot groundhogs, informal target. He was asking about the 17 HMR and 223. He has said nothing about big game hunting or using it for self defense. Though the military uses there version of the 223 for killing people.
I would say that the 223 fills his bill or he could just pick up a good rim fire 22. The problem with the 22 now is that the ammo for it is hard to come by at this time. If it was me at this time I would go with the 223. Now days there are a lot of choices in 223 rifles. I would go with one of the savages that has the wood stock. I think it's called the Trophy Hunter. They have it in 223, it is light, no flex in the stock and the one I shot was very accurate. They come with iron sights though you can add a scope. It sounds like a good fit for just about any one looking for a all around rifle. I hope that helped. Oh, you should be able to pick one up for less than $600.
I would say that the 223 fills his bill or he could just pick up a good rim fire 22. The problem with the 22 now is that the ammo for it is hard to come by at this time. If it was me at this time I would go with the 223. Now days there are a lot of choices in 223 rifles. I would go with one of the savages that has the wood stock. I think it's called the Trophy Hunter. They have it in 223, it is light, no flex in the stock and the one I shot was very accurate. They come with iron sights though you can add a scope. It sounds like a good fit for just about any one looking for a all around rifle. I hope that helped. Oh, you should be able to pick one up for less than $600.
Regardless of the intent of the question it's an interesting query with a bazillion answers. Perhaps by perusing the potential answers he/she might come up with a better solution to the question asked. A .22 cal weapon is only viable against .22 cal opponents. The gov can justify what it buys another bazillion ways just to make their decisions valid...doesn't mean they are.
And why would you? Gotta get em all.
Trooper
Shooter
The way I read the question it was THE best caliber overall. That would be 6.5mm. It does EVERYTHING! It is a varmint round, it takes big game and it will give as much energy at 1000m as the .308 does with the felt recoil of the .223! There is no need to own any other round.
The 6.5x55 Swede is the reference standard (40 gn. at 2500 fps) The .260 Rem (6.5x51), the 6.5 Creedmoor or the 6.5x47 Laupa perform equally well with 40 gn. bullets. They will out perform the .308 in most cases. The 6.5mm Grendel works well in the M4/M16 platform but does not fully have the power of the 6.5x55 round. If we had a 6.5x45 cartridge it would replace both the 5.56x45 and 7.62x51 for the military. There is little need for us to have two rounds. Using the 6.5mm in a carbine gives the soldier a powerful round for CQC and using a 20 inch barrel allows the same round to do designated marksman (long range) shots. Again the 6.5mm is the perfect caliber. There is no need for any other caliber with one exception.
The exception is the the magnum rounds as any caliber under 7mm that is pushed over 3000 fps will burn out barrels. The .338 (8.59mm) rounds have similar BC as the 6.5mm (over .600) allowing the .338 LM (8.59x70) or the .338 NM (8.59x64) to have the effective power of the .50 cal without the recoil. Thus the military is looking to replace the 7.62x51 in the GPMG (M240) with the .338 NM thus allowing a lighter platform that performs as well as the M2.
Again for most what we do, the 6.5mm does it all.
Trooper I like the 6.5. I think it is a great round and hope that the military picks it up as their new round. With that said I don't want it for hunting bear or other large game. I want something larger, like a 358 Winchester or bigger.
As far as the 338 replacing the 50 BMG. I don't see how you are going to get any where near the same results out of a 338 that you get with a 50 BMG. First off you have the size of the rouond then the weight of the round. Yes the 338 can be pushed faster. That is just because it is much lighter and smaller.
I understand that you can carry more, but isn't that idea what got us stuck with the 5.56? Some one makes a 40 that competes with the 50 that moves even faster than the 50 and only gives up 100gr of bullet weight. Then that is why it is faster, it's smaller and lighter than the 50. No making things faster with out giving up something. Now you could reduce the size of bullet and put it in the same case and push it faster, but it would eat up barrels faster than the 220 swift goes through them. So yes you can reduce the size of the case and reduce the size of the bullet and reduce the weight of the bullet. It will move faster, but there is no way it is going to do the same thing as the 50, because it is missing all those things. Before the fifty ever had the specialty rounds it was known for is ability to take things out. Like a building, plains and armored vehicles and such. I can't see a 338 doing that.
As far as the 338 replacing the 50 BMG. I don't see how you are going to get any where near the same results out of a 338 that you get with a 50 BMG. First off you have the size of the rouond then the weight of the round. Yes the 338 can be pushed faster. That is just because it is much lighter and smaller.
I understand that you can carry more, but isn't that idea what got us stuck with the 5.56? Some one makes a 40 that competes with the 50 that moves even faster than the 50 and only gives up 100gr of bullet weight. Then that is why it is faster, it's smaller and lighter than the 50. No making things faster with out giving up something. Now you could reduce the size of bullet and put it in the same case and push it faster, but it would eat up barrels faster than the 220 swift goes through them. So yes you can reduce the size of the case and reduce the size of the bullet and reduce the weight of the bullet. It will move faster, but there is no way it is going to do the same thing as the 50, because it is missing all those things. Before the fifty ever had the specialty rounds it was known for is ability to take things out. Like a building, plains and armored vehicles and such. I can't see a 338 doing that.
