If you could only have one.

[slim rem 7]

  hard to believe you left the other 06 [the original] off.. i mean the 08 is good but nothing will ever replace the 30 06.. buy ammo for a yr. then revise u list..
 for varmits just go light on the wt of the ld an you are close to speed of any other varmiter.. of your list the 7mm 08 would be close enuff to the same performance of the 30 06..  i guess
 you know on second thought i think the 25 06 with the best partition rd  i could find
  altho i really am a believer in one perfect rnd for any gun and stay with it..least thats the way its been for me.. you know your gun and the rnd.. you know exactly what to do at any distance,with that combination.. practice enuff at judging distance an just shoot an go haul it in.. i ll consider myself more accomplished than the thousand yd measured shooter when i can judge anything up to 400 without any machine to help..a work in progress..
 these are my goals fellas ,i realize others have thiers..still think the 30 06 is best all around..

[DalesCarpentry]

I have to say this is a hard decision. The 25-06 probably looks best on paper for my intended use but I like the idea of heavier bullets for deer. I am a big fan of the 308 family and am really leaning toward the 7MM-08. Dale

[kyelkhunter3006]

I'd got with the .260 myself.  In the 6.5mm bullet line, you can get light 85gr bombs up to heavy 160 grain freight trains.  The problem for me is the very limited availability of .260 factory ammo.  I don't reload at all.  I hardly have the time to just get and shoot, much less reload the ammo too.  (Wish I did!!)  Fabulous ballistic potential, low recoil, superb accuracy.  Liked others have stated, though, it wouldn't be a "shoot all day" gun like one of the .17, .20, or .22 centerfires.

My "Ultimate" deer/dog rifle in my mind has long been a Remington Model 7 in .260 with a stout 22"-23" barrel, something with a .675-.700 muzzle diameter and a magnum contour to the taper.  Fluted barrel, maybe, it looks cool, but wouldn't be an absolute must.  Slap it in a qualiity stock like a Bell & Carlson, McMillan, etc.  It wouldn't be light (for a M7), but it would be about as compact a bolt action as you can get. 

I'd put a set of quality detachable scope mounts on it, with 2 scopes.  One would be in the 2-7 or 3-9 range for deer and big game, the other would run 4.5-14 or a bit bigger for dogs.  Both would be the most compact scopes I could get to keep the rig balanced. 

Anything thing I hunt would be in extreme danger out to 400 yds, and I'm not going to shoot any big game past that (probably not even 300 yds, unless I was getting in a lot of practice beforehand).  A 140gr bullet of extreme sectional density at good velocity will drop anything from a moose on down for me.  I would not use it for big bears, unless it was a life threatening situation of last resort.

A lot of custom builders hold the capability of the .260 in high regard.  I once read an article in one of the tactical shooting magazines that quoted George Gardner (GA Precision Rifles) something like "friends don't let friends shoot .308's, when there's the .260 instead."  (I love the .308 too.)

[nilescoyote]

I would like one round that would be good for Groundhogs and Whitetail Deer. Which one of the ones listed would you choose? I would be shooting Groundhogs out to 500 yards and deer 400 yards and less. Thanks Dale

Dale a 260  would get my vote and I'd load 130gr berger vld's for the ground hogs and 130gr or 140gr vlds for deer....

[beemanbeme]

While I';m a 7-08 addict myself, I've killed a couple of WT's since coming to WV. One under 100yds and one at 250. I used 140 core lokts. Both were dead at the shot.  I know that's not a lot of data but I was impressed.  In the load books, you can load bullets as light as 85grs for 3300fps. That oughta put Ghog fur in the next postal zone.

[DalesCarpentry]

While I';m a 7-08 addict myself, I've killed a couple of WT's since coming to WV. One under 100yds and one at 250. I used 140 core lokts. Both were dead at the shot.  I know that's not a lot of data but I was impressed.  In the load books, you can load bullets as light as 85grs for 3300fps. That oughta put Ghog fur in the next postal zone.

Yea I had a 243 and shot a bunch of Groundhogs with it using Hornady 58 grain VMAX. The bullet was devastating to say the least. It would about cut them in half out to a couple hundred yards. I can only imagine what an 85 grain bullet would do to them. There is no such thing as over kill when it comes to Groundhogs. Dale