Q: What calibre would you recommend for shooting pigs andgoats? I’ve decided that I’m going to buy just one rifle which will see me out.What is your favourite all around calibre for feral animals? Being lefthandedmy options are limited, but I can get by with a right-handed rifle if it has nocheekpiece on the stock. The choices are Ruger, CZ or Kimber. The Kimber comeswith pillars and is glass bedded, so I don’t mind paying more for it. TheKimber Classic Stainless Select comes in .243, 7mm-08, .308 and .25-06.
Which calibre would you choose? How do Kimber rifles comparewith Ruger and CZ? Can you suggest a good bullet and weight for the rifle? Howshould I sight it in? How does the .204 Ruger compare with the .223 Remington?Finally, what is your favourite calibre of all time if you could only own onerifle? What brand of rifle and what scope and mounts would you put on it?
Adam Flood
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A: In my opinion the best all-around calibre for the animalsyou are hunting is the .25-06 with 100gn bullets. Shooting heavy 115gn and120gn bullets it also makes a very effective deer rifle.
Qualitywise, the Kimber is better than the CZ and Ruger.Kimbers are factory bedded and superbly accurate. For your purposes the factoryload driving a 100gn bullet at 3230fps is ideal, and either a 115gn bullet at3000fps or a 120 grainer at 2990fps will handle a deer should you happen to runinto one.
The .25-06 is very flat shooting. If you sight in to landthe 100gn bullet 62mm high at 100 metres it should be zeroed at 250 metres anddrop about 150mm at 300.
The .204 Ruger is a longer ranging varmint cartridge thanthe .223 Remington. It drives a 40gn bullet at 3900fps and shoots a lot flatterthan the .223. Recoil is so mild that the rifle hardly shifts when you shootit, allowing you to see what happens when the bullet hits the target.
I suppose that if I was limited to just one rifle and had tochoose a favourite cartridge, it would be the .270 Weatherby Magnum. My rifleis a Winchester Model 70 that was rechambered from .270 Winchester. It isnicely balanced with a 3-9×40 Zeiss Conquest scope in Leupold Q/R rings.
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