If you could pick only one cartridge for all NA game except the big bears...

[gohring3006]

Not a matter that if a magnum is needed or not. It what people prefer to use as their personal cartridge.
I can cut down a tree with a Ax, but prefer a chainsaw...

 

[jbruehl]

I would pick the 30-06. Good for long range or up close and works on big bear too. Ammunition is always available and has multiple choices

 

[MudRunner2005]

I too am surprised the 7mmrm hasn't received more votes, I have 2 and love them also a 300win mag that I love but not sure how it would do on buffalo. That was my reasoning for the 45-70.

It got my vote. Always will get my vote as the best all-around cartridge for NA game.

Been using one for 15 years, and will probably always use one for deer hunting. I've had about 5 of them over the years, and will always have one in my safe...Same goes for .308 Win, .25-06 AI, and 7mm STW. Only cartridge I could see swapping to down the road, might be a .280 AI. Nearly the same performance, with less powder. I've wanted a .280 AI for almost as long as I've been shooting the 7mmRM...Just haven't built one yet. Thinking I'll probably go lightweight with a Proof barrel for an accurate lightweight deer rifle. Thinking about swapping the barrel on my custom A-Bolt II 7mmRM for a Proof as well, I just have to get the funds up. It's hard to justify pulling one apart when it shoots as good as it does.

 

[Dgd6mm]

The .300 WM remains my go to chambering for antelope to elk size game up to 1K yards. Loaded it with 215 Berger and you're golden.

Why? Not fancy but it rocks!

Got my vote.

 

[mgs]

6.5x55 or 280AI........both way under rated!

 

[300 Driver]

Very true, but even our Native Americans chose firearms when they were available.

 

[harfman99]

For me it would be the 284 win. With the 180 hybrid at 2850 there isn't anything that would remain standing​ inside 1000. It is the round I hunt with and used in competition love it. It is a confidence thing knowing that when the trigger is squeezed where you have it pointed is where that bullet is going to be.

 

[jpope02]

It would be a 6.5 Rem Mag. Been shooting one for 50 + years. Built 20+ custom 6.5 RM rifles. Never had one yet that doesn't shoot sub MOA. Taken deer, Elk, moose. caribou, black bear, feral hogs, antelope, aoudad sheep, goats and a multitude of varmints with this cal. Present rifle, Tikka t3 with Scheilen hand lapped 25" match bbl. Using Berger 140g VLD-hunting 57.5gr RL 23 rolling out at 3130 fps.. Groups 5 shots .20-.30" with a stock Tikka trigger and stock!! I shoot 600, 800 & 1000 yard steel weekly. Make my brass necking down 350 Remington Mag cases. What's not to Love if I have only 1 choice!

 

[bpcrshooter]

Buffalo have been killed for centuries with pointed sticks and a couple hundred years with black powder. I don't think it takes a magnum to do the job.

are you saying the 45-70 is a magnum??

 

[sendero72]

I'll stick with my 7 mag here in the southeast. Good beyond 1000 yds for our deer.

Jim

 

[bpjohnston]

Well, if it were the only cartridge to shoot until my dying days, and you to take reloading out of the equation, the ole' 30-06 would probably be it. The recoil wouldn't be too much for a 70-80 year-old and the ammo is just about as available as anything out there, and in the widest variety of bullet weights and manufacturers. If I could choose one no matter what, I would probably go with the 300 RUM. Hurts to shoot, but you really can't argue with the performance. Long range, short range, bear, elk, moose, deer--it will kill anything the NA continent has to offer.

 

[NorsemanAlaska]

Been an interesting thread to read....I'd like to interject a point of view here if everyone doesn't mind. Here in Alaska there are some Native Alaska folks that might say the .22 is the best round, even for bear. Particularly out in Bristol Bay on the Naknek and Kvichak Rivers. Years ago when I used to commercial salmon fish during the summer in Bristol Bay I'd visit with elders and they'd tell stories. Basically they'd sit on a bluff over looking the river. When they spotted a bear swimming across they'd get in their skiff, motor up beside the bear and put a .22 round in its ear. They claimed to have done the same thing with caribou and moose. Ammo was expensive and hard to get out to the villages even back then so they adapted and made it work. Guess that might be called "short range shooting"....

 

[baret1967]

6.5 X 55 it will take out every known animal in North America. I'm not sure there are exceptions with a modern hunting rifle (not my 1900 Swede it only likes the 120 grain banes 140 & 160 grain SP Hornady 1/2 inch group with all three to 300 yards) you can use light bullets 100 grains for small varmits/ game or 160 grain round nose for the bruin you all seem worried about. I have shot deer at 300 yards plus and they drop. Scandinavians still hunt moose with the cartridge. The 6.5 X 55 has been used for over 100 years for long range target shooting with some awesome results. That's mine!!!
I also own the 6.5 Grendel and have shot 2or3 6.5 Creedmors very accurate and a pleasure to shoot

 

[jeff 300]

Simple 338 EDGE 300gr