Oh, man, I just got back from the range. Got this bad boy sighted in. Hey Ryan, I'm ready for our hunting trip dude. We're hunting deer. Oh man. I'll grab the .223. What is going on everyone? Alec, coming to you from Classic Firearms, and today we're here to talk about various hunting calibers. Seeing the intro, Ryan crushed my dreams and we're not going to be able to go hunting with the FM Ballista rifle. I wouldn't recommend it, it's very heavy, but you could definitely go hunting with a 3.38, which we will talk about here in a little bit. But today we're going to be discussing what some of the different hunting calibers are. What might be best for you if you're looking to get into the hunting game or if you're an experienced hunter and you've been doing this for a very, very long time. You can go ahead and jump down in the comment section below, maybe help someone out that's looking to purchase maybe their first firearm.

.223 Remington

So without further ado, we're going to start it off. Kind of go small to big. What I would consider a great entry level hunting caliber, or if you're looking to do just any kind of general hunting, it's going to be the .223. I would like to give a shout out to the 22LR, but we don't have any because we're in Ammogedon 2021. So make sure you are subscribed to the Ammo Alerts, QR code here, and text "VIDEO" to the number down below to make sure you are subscribed so that you can be ready for your coming hunting season. Anyways, enough about that. Let's talk about the .223. So .223 is a very, very common round. Obviously it's used for the military and it's been used as a hunting caliber for a very, very long time. It's a small, fast, little speedy boy, typically runs down from 40 grains up to 77 grains. If you go 80 grains, it's about the high end, you might have to do some modification to your platform, but I digress. The .223 is great. One, it's incredibly light and most of the firearms that chamber this round are very light as well. And there's a couple of different options that you can use. So I've got a Knights SR-15 back here. This is chambered in that .223/5.56 Something like this might be great if you're going to go hunting dogs. And when I say dogs, I mean coyotes, not your neighbor's pet that barks a lot. Don't do that. But the .223/5.56 in this configuration is awesome. Like I said, if you were in a State that allows you to carry more than 10 rounds, this is definitely a good option for you hunting coyotes or hogs or anything of that nature in the semi auto platform. Hogs maybe would go with a heavier grain, but with coyotes, I know Hornady has a 45 grain V-Max or something like that, so it's all good. .223 is also in bolt action platforms. Again, we didn't have one here because you guys are buying everything, which we love. So again, that is the .223.

Knights Armament SR15

7.62x39 & .300 Blackout

Now we're going to step it up a little bit to the 7.62. So we talked about the .223, we're going to be moving it up a little bit. I know a lot of you guys are going to hate me down in the comment section, but I'm going to rope .762 and .300 Blackout together because I think they're very comparable. What I have here is a Zastava ZPAP M70. This is obviously an AK variant. You could easily hunt with an AK variant all day. I know a lot of my friends do, again for pig hunting or anything like that. If you are in a state that can have high capacity mags, then that's fine. You're going to have a great time pig hunting. The AK platform is very modular. You could throw lights, NVG assets on here if you want to do that to go hunting at night. But again, 7.62 or .300 Blackout, are again both in the AK and the AR platform and bolt action as well. One thing particular about 7.62 or .300 Blackout, but the heavier grains are going to be subsonic. You know, your 220 grains for your .300 blackout, and then typically anything over 130 to 140 for your 7.62x39. They hit very, very hard. They have a lot of terminal energy when they ever they get on target. So again, the 7.62 or the .300 Blackout, I think is going to be a great option for hogs, wild animals, things like that and deer as well within, I would say a hundred yards. So that's the 7.62x39 and the .300 Blackout. Now let's step it up to something a little bit bigger in 30 cal, the .308.

Zastava Arms ZPAP M70

.308

All right, guys. So continuing on with 30 caliber. So we've talked about 7.62x35 or .300 Blackout. We talked about 7.62x39. Now we're going to be moving on to 7.62x51 or most commonly referred to as .308. I would say that a .308 rifle is probably one of the most popular hunting calibers in the hunting community. Either that or .30-06, again, Ammogedon 2021, we did not have any .30-06 here to show you guys so we're just going to be continuing on with the .308. This guy right here is the M14 rifle and this probably wouldn't be the most ideal hunting rifle to take out in the woods with you, but you could easily do it. You can throw a scope on here. It is incredibly lightweight and you have a decent capacity for your rounds. So the .308 is a very, very good rifle platform and cartridge. It's very proven, especially with hunting and it has a lot more terminal energy downrange, again, kind of comparing the smaller 22 calibers to the 30 calibers, you want to make sure you're getting clean and ethical kills if you're hunting game. That is the most important. I think we owe that to animals when we are hunting. So if you're going to be taking those longer shots or you just want to make sure that you are getting a good ethical kill, .308 or .30-06 is definitely going to be your go-to for that.

M14

6.5 Creedmoor

So without further ado, we are going to talk about the great debate and that is .308 versus 6.5 CREEDMOOR. The comment section is getting ready to be screaming out of control. If you are a .65 fan, boy, go ahead and get in there and let everyone know that you have a 6.5 CREEDMORE rifle and why it's better than a .308. I'm just kidding. My personal opinion. I still like .308. I think it's great cartridge, but let's talk about them a little bit. So this is a SAVAGE rifle. Again, this is more typical of a hunting rifle in the bolt action. This one's left-handed because I'm left-handed. I was born different, don't hate me. But the 6.5 CREEDMOOR came out and made it's entrance into the market a couple of years ago, and when it did, it came with a fury. The 6.5 CREEDMOOR and the .308 are very, very comparable. Obviously a little bit smaller. However, your 6.5 CREEDMOOR, which is this guy right here, is going to be moving a lot faster than the .308 However, there are downsides to that as well. Even though it is a faster bullet, it doesn't have that terminal energy or knock down power that people talk about, but it does have a very, very high ballistic coefficient. It shoots very flat and it shoots very fast. So if you are hunting smaller animals, deer, everything down below, and you're going to be taking distance shots, I would probably recommend the 6.5 CREEDMOOR. Not only is that round going to get there a little bit faster, but it's a little bit lighter and again, shoots flatter. If you're going to be shooting bigger animals, deer and up, I would definitely recommend the . .308. Again, you're going to have more terminal transfer of energy to the animal that you're shooting at. And I think it's going to lend itself more to that situation. So again, let me know down in the comments section down below, whether you prefer 6.5 CREEDMOOR .308 and we'll discuss.

FN Scar 20s 6.5 Creedmoor

.300 Win Mag

All right, so we're going to move on to you Western hunters out there, and we're going to be talking about the .300 Winchester Magnum. And I think a perfect example of a rifle for that is the PROOF Research Elevation MTR, which stands for Mountain Tactical Rifle. This thing is ridiculously lightweight, if you're wondering how I can just do this with it. I'm not as strong as I look and this thing only weighs seven pounds. So PROOF Research is widely widely known for making incredible lightweight rifles and accurate rifles as well. This particular model is chambered in .300 Winchester Magnum. You've got that PROOF Research carbon wrapped barrel, so that lends to the light weightedness of it, if you want to call it that. This also has the threaded barrel on there as well. So if you want to throw on a suppressor, you can definitely do that. MOA rail up here is perfect for mounting your optic or anything like that. And this action is just silky smooth guys. I can't even. I wish I could let you feel it, but on camera, this thing is just absolutely butter. And again, nice comfortable pistol grip down here. And then the stock is elevated as well so you can get a nice cheek weld. Again, this thing is incredibly light. Comes with a Timmy trigger and detachable mag. I mean just what more could you really want as a Western hunter, especially if you're going to be packing out game or hiking or anything like that? I know I kick myself every year when I go out west hunting, and I'm hiking and my legs are just absolutely killing me. But with that being said, the .300 Winchester Magnum is an absolute powerhouse of a cartridge. It's going to be bigger than that .30-06 or that .762*51 or .308 or anything else that we've talked about at this point. However, out in the Western big game, most shots typically occur over 300 yards. There can definitely be less than that, but typically it's going to be over 300 yards. Again, if you're hunting elk, mule deer, mountain ram, or anything like that, you're going to be taking some pretty far shots. So not only do you want a cartridge, that's going to get you there, you also want to make sure that that cartridge, once it gets there has the terminal energy to effectively take down that game. So the .300 Winchester Magnum is an absolutely perfect round for that. Some other Magnum rounds that we'll just give an honorable mention to are the .280 Ackley. I know a lot of Western hunters really like that round or the seven millimeter Remington Magnum. Those are all phenomenal rounds. So again, if you're going to be hunting big game out west, or if you're going to be shooting a really long distance, again, that .300 Winchester Magnum is going to be the way to go. And I can assure you if you're going to be hiking miles, you're going to want something lightweight like this PROOF Research MTR. This thing is absolutely incredible.

Proof Research Elevation MTR

Roundoff

We've talked about several hunting calibers today and what might be good for you, or if you're an experienced hunter looking to get into a new caliber, what that might be. So we talked about the .300 Winchester Magnum. Again, a great caliber for your western game hunters, or if you're going to be shooting long range. The .308 and the 6.5 CREEDMOOR , again, kind of the great debate or hotly debated topic. Another great caliber choice for pretty much generally anywhere in America or outside. The .308 or 6.5 CREEDMOOR will effectively take down your target. And we talked about .762x39 as well, or .762x35 for your .300 Blackout guys. Again, another phenomenal hunting cartridge would definitely get it done. And then last but not least, we talked about the little guy, the .223 all the way down to your .22 calibers, which are awesome. However, you cannot get any of this ammo unless you are subscribed to our Ammo Alerts. On a serious note though, make sure you guys are subscribed to the Ammo Alerts. Again, hunting season is right around the corner. I know it's only the start of the year right now, but I'm not for sure when this ammo crisis or Ammogedon is going to be ending, so make sure you are signed up for those texts alerts. But again, the .223, let's talk about our current giveaway, which is the NOVESKE RECON rifle, which is chambered in .223/5.56. It features everything that you need from your cue cherry bomb, all the way to your Huey, Red Dot, the Fostex Echo trigger, which is a fan favorite, the Sylvan Arms folding stock adapter, and the Savior equipment bag and that Guard Dog body armor. This is an awesome, awesome giveaway guys. And you're going to want to make sure you go to classicfirearms.com to get your entries in for that bad boy. And again, code word for this guy is RECON, R-E-C-O-N for all my Navy guys that can't spell out there. So let me know down in the comment section below what your favorite hunting caliber is, where you're hunting at, what you're getting into. And let's just talk some shop. Again, guys, thank you for coming to classicfirearms.com. God bless. And we'll see you next time. Shop All Long Guns
Shop All Rifles