Thread: Whats your rifle of choice for stalking?

Originally Posted by Tahr

People seem to think the 6.5x55 is magic. Its not. But it is nice. Moderate recoil and noise are its advantages. But its best hand-loaded, and no matter what you do to it, it runs out of legs at around 350-400 yards and kills begin to be quite slow. Especially on large stags and bull Tahr. Its quite emphatic though out to about 280/300 yards.

I've owned a few and shot many animals at all sorts of ranges with them, and that is my experience.

In real life, its no better than the 308 or 708.

Looking back, the 308 takes a lot of beating. A T3 cut to 18" with a suppressor and firing 130 grn Barnes at 3k would have been adequate for every animal I have ever shot in my lifetime.

I agree with what you say and I also believe there actually is no magic caliber it is down to what you feel comfortable shooting caliber wise and the reality is it is all down to placing that shot in the right spot personally myself I feel very comfortable shooting 6.5x55, .270, .308 and 7mm08 hell my first kill was a 150 pound boar with a .243 which was my first rifle. and personally I have no need for a large cased rifle such as a magnum as I do not shoot any further than 300 meters off of a bi pod and no more than 100 - 200 meters unsupported. And if I did go back to a 6.5x55 I would reload for it again like I did with my last one to get around the anaemic factory loads.