Five Classic Cartridges that are Great for Big Game

When I began work as a gun writer there was an unwritten mandate that you should never, ever criticize the .30-06 Springfield. It was America’s favorite hunting round, a cartridge that had served dutifully in two world wars and accounted for untold thousands of heads of game. If you wrote about the ’06 unfavorably, we were told, you’d be run out of the business and labeled a heretic.

My, how times have changed. The .30-06 has become a punching bag compared to the hot new hunting cartridges on the market like the 6.5 Creedmoor, the 7mm Backcountry and the various PRC cartridges. But big game isn’t any tougher today than it was fifty years ago when the .30-06 was king, and the ’06 accounted for a lot of animals. You can certainly make a point that the new high-BC cartridges outperform the old stalwarts at extended ranges, say 500 yards and beyond. But if you keep shots under a quarter-mile (which is a darn good idea unless you are extremely proficient and practiced with your rifle) then you’re likely to notice little or no difference whatever between classic cartridges and modern rounds. There have been very few times I’ve taken a shot over 400 yards in the field. Sure, I can ring steel at 1,000 yards off the bench, but under field conditions with uneven ground and an animal on the move I know that shots at that distance are unethical.

Before you ditch your ’06 or .270 in favor of a new rifle let me assure you that you can enjoy a long and fruitful hunting career sticking with cartridges that were decades ago. In fact, the average age of the cartridges on this list is 109 years—a testament to the staying power of these popular cartridges Here’s a look at five of our favorite classic hunting rounds.

.270 Winchester (Release Date: 1925)

The .270, which turns a hundred years old in 2025, was a rather odd addition to the Winchester lineup. It utilized a .277-inch bullet, a rather odd choice, but the .270 has nevertheless earned a stellar reputation and won the hearts of many hunters. Without question the .270 benefitted from the writings of Jack O’Connor, but this cartridge didn’t need a champion to prove that it was a capable hunting round. The .270 stands on its own merit.

The .270 compares well against the harder-kicking 7mm mags. Hornady’s 145-grain ELD-X .270 Winchester load drops about an inch more than the company’s 162-grain ELD-X 7mm Rem Mag load at 400 yards when both rounds are zeroed at 200 yards. The 7mm carries about 360 more foot-pounds of energy at 400, but at the cost of around 20% more recoil and substantial muzzle blast. Under field conditions my experience is that the two rounds perform similarly. My last experience with the .270 was an Oklahoma whitetail hunt and—no surprise—the .270 tipped an old buck over at 300 yards without issue. For everything from Coues deer to elk the .270 is a great option, and it’s a round most shooters can handle effectively.

.30-06 Springfield (Release Date: 1906)

There’s no need to guild the lily. The .30-06 has been with us for well over a century and, until relatively recently, it had accounted for more Boone & Crockett record book animals than any other single round. New and used rifles are widely available, ’06 ammo is on stores shelves from Texas to Tanzania, and there are reams of reloading data for this versatile old cartridge.

To be fair, the .30-06’s jack-of-all-trades means that, under specific conditions, other cartridges are better suited for the game and conditions. The ’06 is really more than you need for whitetails and is light for the great bears. However, it hits hard, shoots relatively flat (Nosler’s 165-grain AccuBond .30-06 loads drops 20-inches at 400 yards when zeroed at 200—about an inch more than the .270 Hornady load listed above) and recoil is manageable for most shooters.

I’ve hunted a wide range of game with the .30-06, but let me give just one example of the round’s versatility. On a South African safari with Benelli I hunted game ranging from springbok, which are lighter than whitetails, up to roan antelope with the .30-06 and every animal was taken with a single shot at ranges from 55 to 310-yards. The late outdoor writer Mark Hampton shot a tremendous eland bull that had to weigh very close to a ton with his Benelli Lupo ’06, and the animal was down within a few steps. That type of versatility is the reason this classic round will never die.

.300 Winchester Magnum (Release Date: 1963)

By the standards of the other geezer cartridges on this list the .300 Win Mag is a youngster, but there’s no way to assemble a list of classic hunting cartridges and ignore the venerable .300. It’s a product of the Magnum Era when belted cartridges were king, and despite its age it’s still popular for long-range shooting and hunting. Recoil is stout, sure (about 25 foot-pounds compared to 20 foot-pounds for the .30-06 depending on rifle weight) but the .300 Win Mag is not overly abusive. It’s also flat-shooting and hard-hitting. Federal’s 200-grain Terminal Ascent load with a muzzle velocity of 2,810 shoots almost as flat as the aforementioned 165-grain .30-06 load, and the .300 Mag carries over a ton of muzzle energy to almost 500 yards. There are also lots of rifles and ammunition available. At last check MidwayUSA stocked almost a hundred different .300 Win Mag loads.

Though it’s more than you need for whitetails the .300 is not grossly overpowered for North America’s favorite big game animal. It is probably as close to a perfect elk and moose cartridge as exists, combining excellent power and flat trajectory with moderate recoil from a sporter-weight rifle. And while the .375 H&H Magnum is considered “the” African cartridge the .300 Win Mag is probably the most popular cartridge for the full range of African plains game. Every rifle I’ve rented on safari has been a .300 which speaks to the versatility of the cartridge and the faith that African PHs place in it. It’s relatively light for the great bears, but it’s effective if you choose your bullets wisely and place them where they need to go. If I could own just one rifle to hunt the world it would be the .300 Winchester Magnum.

.375 H&H Magnum (Release Date: 1912)

The .375 is the go-to dangerous game cartridge the world over. It could be argued that the newer .375 Ruger, which fits in a standard action and beats the H&H’s ballistics, is a better choice for dangerous game, but the overwhelming popularity of the .375 and its long track record speak for themselves.

The .375 doesn’t boggle the mind with its ballistic output. Barnes’ VOR-TX .375 H&H Mag load pushes a monometal bullet from the muzzle at a modest 2,540 feet per second. That round produces a substantial 4,300 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle, but by 500-yards the .300 Win Mag listed above has caught up to the .375’s energy numbers. However, for big, heavy game at modest ranges there’s simply nothing like a .375. I used the Barnes load to hunt hogs with a .375 H&H and-no shock--it flattened them. I also used that same load on my Mozambican cape buffalo a few years ago and had very good results. I also shot hartebeest, zebra, and kudu in Namibia with the cartridge, all of which were one-shot kills without excessive meat damage. The zebra was taken at 270-yards, which isn’t a long shot by most standards, but zebra are tough, heavy animals and it is proof that the .375 can reach out when the need arises.

.375 H&H ammunition isn’t as widely available as some other cartridge son this list, but there are still plenty of option from major manufacturers. Bullet weights average between 250 and 300-grains, but despite its impressive stopping power the .375 doesn’t produce horrifying recoil when chambered in heavy (8.5-pounds and up) rifles. Ammunition isn’t cheap, either, but compared to true big bores like the .416 Rigby or—gulp--.470 Nitro Express the .375 is relatively affordable to shoot.

Technically considered a “medium heavy” by British standards, the .375 H&H is an excellent all-around cartridge for large African game up to and including cape buffalo. In North America its use is more limited, but for elk, moose, and big bears it’s good medicine. On a hunt for North Carolina coastal black bears (which sometimes top 600 pounds) the guides carried .375s. Their reasoning? The H&H simply “shuts down” a bear with the right shot.

.45-70 Government (Release Date: 1873)

The .45-70 has been around so long that it uses blackpowder nomenclature (a.45-grain bullet with 70-grains of powder), but the cartridge has seen a sort of resurgence since laws in eastern states began allowing straight-wall cartridges for hunting whitetail deer. It is also a superb hog round, and unlike some other cartridges there’s no need to worry that a big pig will come into range and you’ll be under gunned. For black bear over bait or hounds it’s still one of the most versatile and effective rounds, producing substantial stopping power for even the biggest bruins.

By modern standards the .45-70 ballistics seem anemic. Winchester 300-grain Super-X soft-point loads manages just 1,880 fps from the muzzle, and when you sight that load in at 100 yards it drops more than a foot at 200-yards. However, I’ve shot a black bear and a whitetail with this round at less than 100 yards and both fell where they stood with very little meat damage to either animal.

The .45-70 has been chambered in single-shots and even double guns, but it is primarily a lever-action cartridge. Marlin, Henry, Winchester, and now Smith & Wesson offer .45-70 lever guns for sale, and modern .45-70s offer lots of nice add-ons like optic rails, QD cups, and threaded muzzles. Standard-weight .45-70 rifles don’t produce abusive recoil (it’s more of a shove than a stab), though they may be a handful for small-statured or new shooters. However, a .45-70 with a suppressor adds muzzle weight that makes these guns fun to shoot for just about anyone.

---