What are your preferances in calibers and bullet types for Caribou ?
Anyone of you guys used Ballistic Tips ? Or even Hornady�s SST�s ?

Regards

Never hunted Caribou.

But I'll give you my free advice anyways..........based on never even seeing one


Any caliber in the .270, .308, and 30.06 range will work fine. Of course, guns larger will to, as well as guns smaller in the right hands with premium loads, yada, yada, yada.( I gave you my three choices.)
Personally, I 'd go with heavy for caliber bullets. (meaning 180 gr in the .308 and 30.06)

I wouldn't choose as first choice the Bal Tip or SST's because I see no advantage of those over the Interlock for this type of hunt - - and I see a few potential disadvantages.


Now, hopefully someone with actual experience can chime in...........and AGREE!

make sure the one you shot is standing alone. my freind shot 2 with one bullet a few years ago.

I've hunted caribou here in B.C.; in the northeast corner of the province. Caribou are not hard to kill, so any rifle/cartridge combination that you use for deer should be fine - with two conditions. First, since most of the country is pretty open, the ranges tend to be long. Expect to shoot from 200 yards up to your limit. Therefore, a fairly flat-shooting gun is recommended, with @ least 2800 fps bullet velocity. Second, since a big bull can weigh up to 600 pounds, I would recommend a bullet a bit stouter than a BTip or an SST. If you hit bone in the shoulder of a big bull with a BTip, I don't know if it would penetrate for you. Better to be safer and shoot something a little stronger. It wouldn't have to be a premium; a Hornady Interlock or Rem Core-Lokt would do. I've used the 180-grain Nosler Partition in .30-06 @ 2800+ for my caribou, and it worked just fine.
Have fun on your hunt. The country's something to see.

Thanks for the inputs.
John, I will be hunting on my own turf for now (Iceland). Hope to be able to broaden my mind and possibly pay Canada a visit some day.

You are totally right in that the hunt takes place in open country with potentially long ranges. Last year I shot a bull at approx. 250m and some experience longer ranges due to lack of coverage.

The dilemma is that some claim to have used the BT�s with good success while others say theyre no good for hunting.

I will be using either a 270W or a 7mmRM or possibly a 308W or... No it�s going to be either of the first two mentioned.

I have been caressing the idea of using a 140gr BT for the 270 or a 162gr SST for the 7mm since both are known for accuracy and good ballistic characters.

Regards

GBF... I've killed six mature bull caribou with 140 ballistic tips in my .280 Rem.. Your .270 with the 140 BT will work just fine..


As one of the previous posters said, any bullet that works well on deer will perform well on caribou and the Nosler BT is one of the best bullets avaiable for deer sized game when used in standard chamberings such as the 270, .280, 30-06 or .308..

I suspect that many of the so called " bullet failures" that you hear about with Ballistic tips are the result of pushing them too fast at magnum velocities.. I've shot a couple of dozen head of game with them in my .280 from 40 yards to nearly 400 yards and I'm very happy with thier performance..
On broadside shots they usually exit, like most other game bullets...

I hit one bull caribou on the shoulder at around 300 yards and the bullet didn't exit, but it certainly dropped the animal like a rock...

Any reasonable cartridge/bullet combo will work until the range gets out there a ways.Then the premium bullets pays for itself. I have hunted north Quebec for quite a while. I have seen them killed with .243's and 375 H&H's. I tell the newbies that making good hits is much more important than what kind of rifle you bring. Caribou are easy to kill and do not carry lead well. The once-a-year Pennsylvannia deer hunters with their Remington 742's and Wal Mart Cor-loks do just fine. The guides kill trainloads of them with 30-30's and 303's. I use barnes 180XLC's in my 300mag or 165XLC's in my 308.Any premium bullet is money well spent and a wise decision.

Have to agree with Head Trauma. I've hunted caribou enough to see what works and what doesn't. In good hands, almost anything. In poor hands, nothing. Last year a friend and I killed 4 caribou with .25-06s just because we both had them. Bullets were the 117gr Sierra. This year, I'll be taking my new 6.5 WSM (a wildcat), and he'll be using a .338 WSM to also hunt bear. Will he need the .338 on caribou? Not hardly. Just take what you shoot accurately.

Homesteaders in the Brooks Range of Alaska use a lot of old mausers in 8x57. They also use american factory loads which are prety anemic. Caribou and the barren-lands by George Calef, printed by Firefly Books Ltd. 250 Sparks Avenue Willowdale, Ontario M2H 2S4 is a wonderfull book. I never shot one, but my native companion carried a .257 Roberts and thought me overgunned with a 7x57