As hunters, we all strive to deliver a lethal blow to our intended quarry, resulting in a quick, clean, and ethical death. This is accomplished when your diligent practice equates to a precisely placed shot through vital organs with an adequate caliber, cartridge and bullet combination. Sounds simple enough, right? In theory, yes. However, determining a killer combination, especially when seeking the input of fellow hunters, often results in heated debates and a barrage of opinions. Obviously, just because it works on thin-skinned whitetails does not mean it will have the same effectiveness on your journey West in pursuit of the mighty wapiti. Do your own homework, lean into the science of ballistics and, when seeking opinions, seek out those with extensive field experience.

Caliber

Choosing a capable and effective caliber should be the easiest decision of the three variables for your personalized killer combination. Similar to boxing, calibers can be easily designated into three weight classes when preparing for your next big game hunt, each featuring a series of pros, cons and capabilities.

In my opinion, lightweight calibers would start with a 224 on up to a 257. The wide variety of cartridges flinging these lightweight caliber bullets excel in the deer woods as well as the wide-open prairies of the West that pronghorn call home.

Midweight calibers span across a wide swath of cartridges beginning with the 264 (often referred to as the 6.5mm) through the 277 and top out with the myriad of 284 cartridges available. With the correct bullet selection (more on this later), these midweight calibers often hit above their weight class, regularly taking down even the biggest of ungulates while still excelling in the deer woods.

Heavyweight calibers, in terms of practical hunting rifles outside the dangerous game realm, start with your 308 and encompass a wide range of heavy-hitting cartridges on up through the 375. These magnum calibers offer hunters the ability to take down the largest of ungulates and predators with authority, firing heavy projectiles at impressive speeds, creating serious knock-down power at extreme distances. Overkill for smaller animals such as pronghorn and whitetails? Maybe. But is there actually such thing as overkill?

Cartridge

Diving into cartridge design and determining the “best” for the task at hand is a sticky rabbit hole inundated with boisterous opinions. Cartridge selection also has a generational aspect to consider with our grandfathers sticking to their beloved and very capable “old-school” cartridges that have proved themselves over the decades, while the younger generations are more apt to lean into the modern advancements of newly developed and optimized cartridge designs. Taking the same approach, let’s break down some of the more common cartridges within each weight class and take a bird’s eye view snapshot of their advantages and disadvantages.

The venerable 223 Rem, while capable of killing thin-skinned game, would not fall under what I would consider an ideal deer hunting cartridge, though some would debate this. If hell-bent on hunting with a 224 caliber, look seriously at the newly released Hornady 22 ARC cartridge. I personally know several people that successfully hunted pronghorn last fall with the 22 ARC with zero reservations, shooting handloaded 80 grain ELD-X loads. Popular and capable lightweight big game cartridges include the 243 Win, 6mm Creedmoor, 6 ARC, 25–06 and 257 Roberts. Well-constructed bullets, between 75 and 115 grains, fired from these cartridges are sufficient for taking down whitetail deer and pronghorn at reasonable distances.

Some of the most popular (with good reason) cartridges, both new and old, fall within the midweight division. They are widely versatile on a wide range of game, many are inherently accurate, produce manageable felt recoil and provide shooters a massive selection of bullet weight and construction possibilities to excel across most hunting endeavors.

Midweight cartridges start with the ever popular 6.5 Creedmoor and 6.5 PRC and carry on through the 270 Win and the plethora of 284 cartridges. The 7mm Rem Mag has reigned over this class for decades but the tide has undoubtedly begun to shift in recent years with the introduction of the extremely capable and versatile 7mm PRC. Outside of the massive bears of the north, there is nothing in North America that a hunter can’t bring down quickly and cleanly with a midweight cartridge firing a properly constructed bullet.

The heavyweight class encompasses a wide range of cartridges beginning with the 308 Win and running through to the 375 Ruger. What these cartridges often lack in muzzle velocity is more than made up for by the massive hunks of lead and copper fired through them and impacting their intended target with unfathomable energy.

The 300 Win Mag unquestionably wins the popularity contest in this division but there are many other hard-hitting cartridges that should not be forgotten including the 300 PRC, 300 WSM, 30–06, 338 Win Mag and 338 Lapua just to name a few. The use of any of these cartridges, given proper bullet selection, will take down anything in North America as well as thrive on the Dark Continent in pursuit of even the biggest plains game such as eland, waterbuck, roan and sable. Just last year three of my good friends all killed grizzly bears in Alaska with their 300 PRC’s firing Hornady 190 grain CX bullets.

Bullet

If you have read the article this far, you have heard reference to “proper bullet selection” many times. This subject warrants a deep dive of its own but from the surface, know that bullet selection is the most important decision in your killing combination. Fortunately, Hornady has been making superior bullets for 75 years and has something to help you excel wherever your pursuits take you.

For thin-skinned game such as whitetail deer and pronghorn, a wide selection of bullets will suffice regardless of cartridge selection. Lean towards bullets such as Hornady SST (Super Shock Tip) or ELD-X (Extremely Low Drag — eXpanding) that not only deliver ample penetration due to their lead core and InterLock design but also provide massive wound channels due to their ability to expand and initiate devastating internal trauma upon impact.

Jumping up to larger game, such as elk and moose, requires a mind shift in both cartridge and bullet selection. Yes, I fully recognize that smaller cartridges kill elk every year, but just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. On elk, especially if you prefer shooting smaller cartridges with lighter bullets, think long and hard about switching to a monometal projectile such as the deadly Hornady CX (Copper alloy eXpanding). Doing so dramatically increases bullet penetration, especially when encountering dense bone and muscle, and can make the difference between perforating one lung or two.

With that said, if you are shooting a heavier projectile north of 160 grains, I wouldn’t hesitate to shoot the ELD-X or CX directly through the shoulders of a rut-frenzied bull. I have personally witnessed them both, fired from mid and heavyweight cartridges, take down dozens of big mature bulls as well as a smorgasbord of plains game in Africa. Many of which we recovered the expanded projectile just underneath the skin on the offside shoulder. In terms of terminal performance, we can’t ask for much more than that.

On the rare occasion that one gets to hunt dangerous game, Hornady makes bullets for that too, maximizing performance when an extra six-inches of penetration can mean the difference between life and death.

Regardless of your killer combination, be sure it is built for the task at hand, know its limitations and stay well inside them. Doing so will result in quick, ethical kills that we all strive for and the animals we pursue deserve.