I am trying to decide on a caliber. I want a caliber mainly for use on mule deer and caribou. I want to have the ability to reach out and touch one if I have to. I am looking at having a Christensen arms rifle built. Would it be better to go with a 7STW, 300 ultra mag, or 338 edge?

Or I would even consider a 7.82 warbird.

I'd go 300 ultra mag. You do not need 338 power for the game listed.

quote:

Originally posted by coyote bait:
I am trying to decide on a caliber. I want a caliber mainly for use on mule deer and caribou. I want to have the ability to reach out and touch one if I have to. I am looking at having a Christensen arms rifle built. Would it be better to go with a 7STW, 300 ultra mag, or 338 edge?

A plain old 7mm RM will do anything you need to do.

times 2 on the 7 Rem Mag.

If you are hunting caribou in brown bear or griz country then I would go with a 300 Mag of some kind. I would shoot 180 Premium bullets, you would have to go a long way to better a Nosler Partition.

I have found them to be very accurate, expand well at a distance, and hold together up close.

Also they are not too expensive, so you can practice enough to get hard zeros at extended ranges.

big fan of the 7mm. bore. remington mag or some other large cased round would be my choice.
i can't see any real world advantage to going bigger given the idea of reaching out and touching something the size of mule deer and caribou, even elk for that matter. good bullets in 7mm. and a decent shot will get the job done before more bore size will.

You do your part and a .270 or 30-06 is all you need. roger

7mm STW with 140 gr bullet at 3500fps is my choice.

I have really mixed emotions and thoughts on this one. How much shooting experience you have in the field as opposed to shooting at the range bench could very well change my recommendations to you.

First, I doubt you are going to be hunting either mule deer or caribou in Brown Bear country very often, if at all. Second, as you live in Kansas, if you are going to be hunting Caribou, you will likely be somewhere that a licensed guide is required for you to hunt at all. He/she can take care of any Griz you run across which is potentially causing you trouble. Of course, you might be hunting both intentionally, in which case just to be sure I might recommend a .30 Mag with premium bullets too.

But, if you are talking just Mule Deer and/or Caribou, AND IF you have the field shooting experience to handle it truly well, I'd probably recommend something along the lines of a 7 m/m STW with really good premium monometal high B.C. bullets.

Sometimes a primo lone mule deer or the particular caribou you want may be a long way off. Particularly with Caribou moving with a migrating herd, there may be 20 to 100 or more caribou which MIGHT spook if you tried to move closer to a particular grand old double-shovel giant. Even though I don't think much of long range shooting at living creatures, not everyone shares my views, and sometimes it is really hard to turn down a shot at old Mr. Humongous.

If you don't have a lot of field shooting experience already, then I question how far you should realistically expect to reach out and touch anything which is alive and feels pain from a poorly placed shot.

In that instance I would recommend forgetting long range shots, and using a .280 Remington, 7 Mag, or .30-06 until you have more experience. Then you can always trade it in for something which will really dial long-distance for you.

I thank everyone for their answers. Since I am planning on forking out the dough for a Christensen rifle, I was wanting to make sure and get it in a caliber that I would use the most. My shooting ability is good. I was on the Kansas State Rifle Team for one year and have shot the M14 at targets 800 meters away with iron sights. I realize that is not live game. I have taken a whitetail doe with a BLR 243 with iron sights at a range of a little over 300 yards. I have hit a coyote on the run with an Ar-15 with iron sights at 700 yards and have witnesses to back it up. I was liking the 7mm STW. That way I can still use it on Kansas whitetail deer. If I need something for bear, I can always borrow a buddies 338 or my uncle's 338 ultra-mag. I didn't even think about antelope.

I'm a 7mm guy, so my choice would be a 284 Win, or a 7mm Rem mag. Either one will serve you.

Granted the 7 STW will do what you want but a 300 Wby will fill any of your needs and then some.

Ken....

I would get a .300 H&H. One of the most accurate .30 mags there is!

There's no caribou on earth that won't fall to a .270 Win. and a 150 gr. Partition at about 2930 fps. if you do your part. Ya don't need more. Bear in Fairbanks

The 270 Win will do what you need with class, but if you want more the 300 WBY is a versatile choice.

quote:

Originally posted by bartsche:
You do your part and a .270 or 30-06 is all you need. roger

Roger knows his stuff

quote:

Originally posted by rolltop:

quote:

Originally posted by bartsche:
You do your part and a .270 or 30-06 is all you need. roger

Roger knows his stuff

True....But where is the fun in that for a gun nut????

Of the rounds he listed, I'd use the 7 STW. If I was picking the rifle for me, I'd just use a 7mm rem mag.

.280 or a .280AI at most

30-06 or 338 win mag. downloaded.

quote:

Originally posted by Bear in Fairbanks:
There's no caribou on earth that won't fall to a .270 Win. and a 150 gr. Partition at about 2930 fps. if you do your part. Ya don't need more. Bear in Fairbanks

I agree, Bear. The only reason I would ever opt for more power for caribou (more speed, actually) would be for a flatter trajectory IF I was after a really remarkable trophy and had to reach a long, long way (and was capable skill-wise, of doing so.)

I honestly don't believe in long range shooting at game animals, but some folks do. For them, I want the best long range cartridge their skills can handle, for the sake of the animal being shot.

Quite true, a .270 is fully capable of any caribou and distance I'd ever shoot it at, but a little overkill won't hurt at short-to-medium ranges, whereas at truly long range it is hard to always have a fully flat enough trajectory.

That's one reason I mentioned mixed emotions to start with. I hate giving advice which might encourage too long a shot being taken, but on the other hand the long shot might be taken anyway, and I'd hate to not give advice about a good cartridge for it if the shooter is bent on doing it.

Nobody needs a magnum anything for deer or caribou, but if you want a magnum for stuff no bigger than that, a .264 would be great, a 7MM too. Neither of these species need a big rifle, a .270 is plenty.

I am sure that the 270 and the 30-06 would work fine, but I like new toys. Sure it's fun do drives dad's ole truck or car, but I want to drive something new, shiny and fast. It is nice to have something that no one else has. Take my 260 for instance. I am from a small town in North Central Kansas. Hardly anyone had heard of a 260. They have the 243, 270, 30-06, and 7 rem mag. I like to be a little different. Thanks to everyone for their input so far.

I feel ya. However, unlike the 260, most of the 300s are pretty common, but the 7 STW is still fairly rare. The 300 H&H, although not as fast as some of the newer 300s is not as common and exudes class. Lou

Why not try an "obsolete"cartridge?, I can reach 600yds on clays hanging on sticks with my Sako .270, but go way past that with the "obsolete" 7mm WSM

I have killed a few deer and elk here in Idaho with a 7STW. Only one over 300yds, but that elk was the reason I bought the big 7. It might be a bit more than you need, but "need" is not the issue. Buy what talks to you, and go happy. You could always have Christensen build you a two-barrel set, fit a 358STW while you're at it.

Rich

They do 2 barrel sets?

I favor 30cal. My 300RUM gives 3400fps with 180TSX so anything inside 450 yards is dead meat. Haven't had to try it farther yet. Of course you can load it down if you want and bullets are available from 100 to 220gr so anything is possible from ground squirrels to moose. But as previously posted a 270 would work.

On Christensen arms site, there seems to be a lot of people who are using the 300 RUM. Im just thinking that might be a little much for deer and antelope though.

quote:

Originally posted by N E 450 No2:
If you are hunting caribou in brown bear or griz country then I would go with a 300 Mag of some kind. I would shoot 180 Premium bullets, you would have to go a long way to better a Nosler Partition.

My thoughts are similar--
it ain't the caribou I worry about killing-

it's the bears--

having had incidents in the past-
I vote 300RUM or 338 Edge of the ones
listed by coyote bait.

(I shoot both 300RUM and a 338LM and recently sold my 7STW; and still own 270's and 06's etc )

is there something that a 300 mag (of some sort) with 180's will do that a 7mm. mag (of some sort) with 175's won't?

quote:

Originally posted by merlinron:
is there something that a 300 mag (of some sort) with 180's will do that a 7mm. mag (of some sort) with 175's won't?

You don't even need to go 175 gr. in the 7mm. The 7mm RM shines with the 160 gr. Partition.

How about a 7mm RUM. I have a 300 RUM and love it. Go with the RUM.

Let's say I get a 7STW. What kind of optic to I need to put on it? What brand and what power would best suit that caliber?

Lots of opinions on both


Leupold 4 to 14

Burris, Nightforce, March, Swarovski, Zeiss ,etc

( your Budget will dictate)

Lots of great bullets
Berger, Swift, Barnes, Nosler, etc

My 7STW liked the 168 and 180 Berger VLD huning bullets, and shot the TSX and Swift well.

True. I would say there is not much need to go any higher than 14X on a big game hunting rig. My RUM wears a VXIII in 3.5-10 and don't think it needs more.

From what I have been seeing in past posts, Leupold seems to be the main scope of choice. The next step up seems to be a Swarovski if you can afford it. I have always liked Burris, but from what i have read, they must not be as good as they used to be.

In reading the posts here, I want to throw out the 300 WSM round. I had a chance to shoot a rifle in that chambering that a shooting buddy has up here. I am thinking it may be THE perfect round for your needs. It's in between an '06 and a 300 Win Mag, so it doesn't belt the livin' crap out of you developing loads for it, with a well designed stock.

If you want to reach out and touch 'em, I would stay with the 300RUM or 30-378 Weatherby. I push a 180gr at 3400fps in the 300RUM and 3450 in the 30-378. I have a 7.82 Warbird but if you ever needed to find ammo you are out of luck. I use Burris scopes over Leupold primarily because they gather light better. I use Leupold dangerous game scopes on a couple of big bores since they have longer eye relief than Burris.