What battery of rifles and calibers to hunt everything from varmints to elephants and also where you could have an adequate backup for anything if something were to happen to one of your rifles.
The minmum here and for all situations woods, open plains etc?

Please no wildcats etc. Just calibers that are easy to obtain ammo etc.

I don't want to shoot prairie dogs with a .375 H&H and I don't want to hunt elephants with a .22-250

Frankly I don't believe the cartridge you're asking for exists.

IMO it takes a minimum of three guns to cover varmints to Elephants.....something like a .223, something like a .30-06 and something like a .416 Rem Mag.

A .416 Rigby or Remington Magnum.

My question was asking what rifles and calibers plural. Not what single caliber

I'd suggest a three rifle battery...

A scoped 30-06...

A scoped .375 H&H (quick-detachable so could go to the irons if needed)...

A .458 or similar - with
iron sights.

These three will do it all and are widely available the world over.

quote:

Originally posted by Jarrod:
My question was asking what rifles and calibers plural. Not what single caliber

Oh, sorry. A .416 Rigby or Remington Magnum.

quote:

Originally posted by Jarrod:
My question was asking what rifles and calibers plural. Not what single caliber

You are correct.....I didn't read your post very well.....my apologies

In that case I'm going to break up the .30-06 and go with a four gun battery
.243 Win
.280 Rem
.375 H&H Mag
.416 RM

With these four guns you can do it all.....further if any one goes tits up you can still do it all.

Well I'd go for a small bore centerfire such as .223, 22-250 or anything similar for varmit shooting, in my case I have a .223.

In my mind the most important rifle is a true medium bore, somewhere between the .270 and a 30-06 in power, for whitetail, exotic deer, antelope, sheep, black bear, pigs etc.. In my case I wanted to make sure I covered this area really well so have .270, 7x57, 7x64, 300 Savage, .308 Win., 30-06 and 7.65 x 53.

A large medium bore also seems appropriate (Elk and whatnot) and I would not hesitate in picking the .338 Win. (mostly because that's what I have), but you could go with 8mm Mauser or the new 325 WSM. This will backup all the smaller bore guns and in a pinch I hear a couple of our board members have even taken buff with the .338 Win (with the right bullets of course)

Then a big bore anywhere from a .416 Rigby up to a 458 Lott (I've got a .458 Win to fill this requirement).

So there you have it, a simple battery of 12-14 rifles should cover most basic hunting needs and provide adequate backup.

That's the story I tell my wife and I'm sticking with it.

I could cover anything on this planet with 6 long guns.
.22rf
.243
.300 H&H
.416 Rem
50 cal. muzzle loader
12 ga. pump shotgun with screw in choke tubes

For back up through in my .375 and I am good to go. I have used it for shooting prairie dogs here in WY and it will certainly handle any big game in the US. In Africa they use them on buffalo. If I ever got to hunt elephant that would probably be a one trick pony and the .375 could handle that too.

105MM cannon: .50 BMG, .30 caliber M60, squad machine gun in .223, and a .22LR for plinking...



All, on a easy to move platform, the Abrahms tank..

G

The only caliber that would come close to fullfilling a one gun battery would be the .375. If you hand load, a .376 pistol ball behind 10 grains of unique will kill rodents to dog sized animals out to 75 yds. or so. The 235 grn at 2800 will kill varmits up to 500 lbs out to 500 yds or so. The 270 and 300 grns are for the rest of the lot, you have to decide which one.There is not another caliber that comes to mind that posesses the inherint versitility of the .375 H&H. Since you said rifles i would say a .223, .30-06 and .458. I picked theses calibers because of ammo availibilty. If you need ammo for you 30-378, you probably wont find it in some out of the way genral store,or tradeing hut in the middle of nowhere, but chances are they will have one of the above. Charlie

If I could own only two rifles, I'd go with my favorite 300 Win. Mag. for all-around use, plus my 416 Rem. Mag. for the big stuff that can fight back. This stubject is only as complicated as you want to make it.........

Jim Carmichel said it best, "There's no shortage of all-purpose rifles -- where are the all-purpose hunters?"

!!!!!!

AD

In the perfect world:
22LR
30-06
375
458 Lott or WIn.
All on the same type of action (obviously with different sizes of action) with the same trigger pull and safety location, similar scopes, stock configurations etc.

In the real world of my gun safe:
22LR
270
35 Whelen and a 9.3x62
All of which are a bit different, but similar enough not to cause confusion when in a hurry. Oh well...

375 H&H

If you mean one for everything then nothing is better than a 375 H&H for coyote to Elephant. it is not perfect for coyote hunting, and is deffinetly light for Ele, but will handle them all!

The way I read your question is two rifles, one to back the other! In that case, I would go for a 30-06, or one of the 30 mags, and a 375 H&H. A more practical battery would be a 243 Win, a 300 mag,bolts, and 450/400 double rifle.

My two gun battery for Africa, is usually a 375 H&H bolt FN Mauser, or Whitworth bolt rifle, and a double rifle of over 40 cal.

Today I'm thinking of useing a pair of double rifles, a scoped 9.3X74R S/S double rifle, and a express sighted 470NE S/S double rifle, to hunt it all. If the big gun breaks the little one will finish the hunt, and will work the other way but not as well!

If I read your post right, you need two rifles DG capable, so a .416 backed by a .375h&h. The .375 will also handle just about everything else, so a .260 or .25-06 for a varmint rifle just so you have the overlap for nonDG.

A pair of 300 Magnums

A few rifles to hunt the world over, there is a lot of overlap or "backup" in this list, and if I was hunting the world over you wouldn't catch me without the following:
- a hi power .177 air rifle.
- a .22LR sporter is mandatory for small game.
- a lightweight .270 Winchester for long range small game and medium game overlap.
- a .300 Winchester Magnum for medium game overlap and heavy, nondangerous game.
- A .338 Winchester Magum for heavy nondangerous game and thin-skinned dangerous game (bears!).
- A .375 H&H Magnum for thin-skinned dangerous game and thick-skinned dangerous game.
- A .404 Jeffery for thick-skinned dangerous game and "cool" factor, plus the 400gr.@2200fps is almost unbearable, the heaviest I can shoot.

You could probably do without the .338, though.

In Manitoba, however, all you really need is the .22LR, a light middleweight (.257 - .270 caliber) and a heavy middleweight (.284 - .338 caliber). Throw in a 12.ga shotgun and you can cover everything from squirrels, cottontails, ducks, geese, upland birds, deer, grey wolf, black bear, caribou, moose, and elk, which covers my needs nicely.

12 gauge
22 LR
223 Rem
30-06 Springfield
375 H&H

I am leaning towards

Discounting my .270 - my first gun and the only 1 that I wouldnt sell.

22lr - there is a law that you must have one.

30-06

9.3*62

Possibly a 404 - because I have read to much about them here..

quote:

Originally posted by Charles Mc Williams:
The only caliber that would come close to fullfilling a one gun battery would be the .375. If you hand load, a .376 pistol ball behind 10 grains of unique will kill rodents to dog sized animals out to 75 yds. or so. The 235 grn at 2800 will kill varmits up to 500 lbs out to 500 yds or so. The 270 and 300 grns are for the rest of the lot, you have to decide which one.There is not another caliber that comes to mind that posesses the inherint versitility of the .375 H&H. Since you said rifles i would say a .223, .30-06 and .458. I picked theses calibers because of ammo availibilty. If you need ammo for you 30-378, you probably wont find it in some out of the way genral store,or tradeing hut in the middle of nowhere, but chances are they will have one of the above. Charlie

Great minds think a like/

.223. 30-06, 375 H&H, and 458 LOTT. Then you can use 458 win mag, too.

G

Here are the rifles that I have that fit the bill:

A Walther K-22 in .22 rimfire

A .223 CZ that'll shoot .5" all day long for varmits

A Brno 7x57 (American game to Brown Bears and African plains game)

A synthetic stocked SS Winchester Model 70 in .300 WSM (rain gun and general beater)

A CZ .375 H&H when one gun is practicable for everything up to buffalo

A Searcy .470 Double for elephants

I've got lots of others, but I could live with just these.

9,3x62, 375 or 404 plus 2 RPG-7s as backup (they are little slower to reload in case you miss).

Absolute minimum:

Remington 5mm Rimfire
Winchester .32 Special
45/70

If you can afford/carry more, then you could add a couple more "in-between" calibers to round out the battery.

22 rimfire bolt action- you can target practice in the basement with CB longs.
varmint caliber of your choice.
300 H&H- same length as 416 but can be loaded to 30-06 levels.
416 Rem Mag- so both "heavy" rifles are the same action, same safety, same trigger pull, same iron sights, etc to minimize errors.

If you handload, there isn't much the .375 H&H won't do....or for that matter the .35 Whelen. Too heavy for some things and too light for others, but they will pretty much do it ALL!!!

for seven i'd do 22-250, 257 weatherby, 280 rem. 30-06, 375 h+h, 416 rigby, 450 rigby. all of these can back up the other up or down

for six take out the 280
for five take out the 257
for four take out the 416
for three 257, 375 450
for two 300 ultra mag 450 rigby
for one...375 weatherby

Here's my serious list for the very minimum battery to hunt worldwide (with reasonable usefullness; you obviously could get by with a shotgun and an elephant rifle).

Bolt action 17 HMR
6mmBR
.280
.416 Rigby
12 ga O/U

I think the new 17 rimfires have displaced the lowly 22 as a useful hunting (not plinking) cartridge. Accuracy is so much better on average they are not comparable and killing range much greater. The HMR is fine for small varmints at rimfire range. No 22 centerfire; they are too specialized and actually inferior to almost any 6mm varminter in the wind. The 6BR has the advantage of good wind ability plus the potential for extra power in hunting small 'big game", up to whitetail deer under good conditions.

The other two simply represent two cartridges which overlap in ability and cover all the large animals found on the planet. Any of a number of rifles from 280 up through 338WM could be substituted, as could 450/400, 404 etc for the 416, although I do think the 416 is a standout choice as opposed to the 280, which is great but replaceable.

If you want to expand the list by one more gun, replace the 416 with either a 338WM and a 470 double, or better yet a 9.3x74 double and a 470 double. That even gives you an emergency backup for the heaviest rifle, which I believe was one of the original criteria in the question.

Varmints to elephants could be handled pretty well (with factory ammunition!) with just a 243Win and 375H&H, might swap the 243Win for a 25/06 if I saw medium game as being more important than the varmints.
Cheers...
Con

22lr
223
300 win mag
416 rem mag
12 ga.

2 of each for backup purposes

22 LR semi-auto

270 Win in Rem 7600

416 Rem in Winnie mod 70.

The two I selected for my trip of a life time were 9.3x62 and .375HH. In a pinch they can both do the same thing and they are different calibers for those countries that won't let you use the same caliber two times.

If I didn't have a 9.3, I'd take a .375HH and .416Rem or Rigby or .375HH and .458Win. The latter combination would be limited to 200yds or less. Kudude

I would shoot a 6BR, a 300 Jarrett, and 458 Lott. I would polax everthing with those 3 guns!

.22 bolt action rifle with a 4X scope

.300 Winchester Mag. with a 2.5 X 8 scope

.375 H&H with a 1.75 X 6 scope in QD rings

Ruger 77 .22-250 4x12 Leupold
Winchester pre64 70 .300H&Hmag 3x9Leupold
Winchester 70 .375 H&H mag 2x7 Leupold
Browning 12 ga Citori Field
Browning 20 ga Citori Upland

My battery would consist of four rifles:
AS a matter of fact, this is my rifle battery!

1. .22 bolt action single shot, that way you
can shoot everything from CB caps to long
rifle ammo.

2. 7x57 Will handle anything from black bears
on down and all plains game in Africa. W.
Bell took many a elephant with this caliber.
Ammo is available everywhere.

3. 375 H&H The go anywhere do everything
caliber, ammo available everywhere.

4. 458 Lott When things get tough and up close
and personal, this will stop them in their
tracks. The Lott is becomming more and more
popular everwhere and if you do find yourself
somewhere where it is not available, you can
458 Winchester ammo, and it is available
everywhere.

All the center fire rifles would be a bolt action, and preferably of the same design so that they function the same.

Mauser Rifle

NRA Life Member
ATA Life Member

Everyday is a great day, some days are just better than others!

22lr,223,7mm-08,375 H&H mag, 500 nitro

Talk about a new member digging up an old topic - okay, I'll play since it's a slow snowy night and there's not much else going on.

.22 caliber single shot rifle
.223 Rem, semi-auto rifle
.308 Win, bolt action rifle
.338 WinMag, bolt action rifle
.458 Lott, bolt action rifle
12 gauge pump shotgun
.22 LR revolver
.44 mag double action revolver

Welcome to AR, Hunter white.

22 lr, 30-06, 338wm, 458 lott and a 12 ga shotgun

PRG -- Let God sort it out later.