Perfect Rifle Cartridge for Big Game? |

Is there a perfect rifle cartridge for big game? Great Campfire fodder sure to keep you up at night.

Big Game Cartridges are purchased and used for many different reasons, thus for some big game animals, they are better and sometimes… they are not.

The distances we encounter and hunt big game like deer, bear, and moose as well a bullet shape and construction play a large part of a big game cartridge. And whether the game you are hunting can be dangerous, like a brown or grizzly bear.

I believe the vast majority are deer hunters like myself , who, on occasion hunt bear, wild boar, elk, moose and such.

Many cartridges were originally designed as a target cartridge like the recent 6.5 Creedmoor. The .308 Winchester and 30-06 Springfield were designed as a cartridge used in battle in WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam, later valuably used as a target round and hunting round.

It was the ballistics data experts and students that realized that surplus ammo was used inexpensively for both target and hunting. Most were of spitzer bullet design for longer range.

Later post WWII hunters learned that a round nose bullet at shorter ranges inside of 200 or so yards were like the hammer-of-thor thus dropping game pronto. Lever guns like the 30-30 and 35 Winchester as well as the 45-70 cannot use pointed tip bullets and were terrific game stoppers.

Today many hunters like long range hunting and go west or south to prairies and bean fields thus spitzers are the bullet of choice for 300 to 800 yards or more.

Or some believe the use of light copper spitzer bullets at high velocities of over 3200fps with 100% retained weight to deliver hydrostatic shock and a lights out punch to game like black bear at close range.

Here in New Hampshire, most game like deer, bear and moose are harvested at around 40 to 50 yards or so. Spitzers are not necessary here but if you do not reload or hand-load, then spitzers are what you will find on store shelves these days.

Bore sizes like .22, 6mm/.243, 6.5mm, 7mm, .308, .338 and .375, 416, 45, and 50 caliber are common but are used on certain game for reasons of killing capacity(aka energy delivered) and distances encountered. Yes, I missed a dozen other less common calibers, but you get the idea.

The key to any big game cartridge really is the bullet and its construction, like bonded, A-frame or copper for the task desired. Coupled with this, and equally important is sectional density. It is the ratio of bullet weight (M) to the square of bullet diameter and is very important for penetration. (SD= M/D²). If you are a student of ballistics and killing power the following website will add to your knowledge for winter reading.

https://www.chuckhawks.com/sd.htm

So in the end, if you know distances to deer for example and the terrain and forest type you are hunting them you can gear your rifle cartridge and bullet to the game, thus making it more ideal.

You guessed it, there is no perfect big game cartridge. To maximize your cartridge, include the size of game, terrain, distance, bullet construction including sectional density in your calculations. Below is another website for your winter reading.

http://www.chuckhawks.com/rifle_bullet_killing_power.htm

Good Hunting!