What makes a complete rifle battery?

I have been exchanging emails with my nephew on what makes up a complete rifle battery. Lets define what we are attempting to assemble. That is "The rifle chamberings needed to hunt all the species of big game and varmints in North America".

Varmints will be prairie dogs, coyotes and anything legally hunted weighing less than 50 lbs. One might consider this is a big challenge. Actually it is not. If one wants to do it with as few rifles as possible, it can easily be done with as few as three rifles.

Let's break the task into categories. 1. Varmints, prairie dogs, "gophers" and coyotes. 2. medium size big game weighing from 100 to 500 lbs, 3. Big game weighing over 500 pounds which will include the only game animal I consider to possibly be dangerous. Here are my choices.

1. Varmints: This is easy, there are many cartridges that fill this category. My choice is the .223 but the .204 and the .22/250 are also great choices. I choose the .223 because there is an endless supply of brass cases available and it is cheap.

2. Medium size big game: Now things get interesting. This category will include the vast majority of the big game animals in North America and the conditions they are hunted. Included in this bracket are our native antelope, white tail deer, mule deer, mountain goats, all the species of mountain sheep, caribou, most black bears, mountain lions, wolves, feral hogs and whatever I have left out. I believe 90 percent of the cartridges you will find in our local sporting goods stores will be cartridges suited for this class of animals. The only thing that might make choosing the "best" cartridge for this category is the fact there are so many to choose from.

My choice is the .280 Remington or the .270 Winchester or the ever present .30/06. The .30/06 can fill this niche almost as well. The cartridges are also 100 percent perfect choices for all the animals in this category. Of course there are a dozen other ones that will fill the bill, it is just as well I do not have room to mention here. Too much is invested in these hunts to use a marginally capable cartridge.

3. Big Game: The last category might be even more interesting. This includes the elk, moose, interior grizzly bears and the Alaskan Coastal Brown (grizzly) bears.

The .300 magnums are the "smallest" cartridges I would place in this category. I will admit the .300 Mags may be "the best" elk cartridge. But we are talking about more than elk here.

Because the bears can be dangerous that puts them in a category by themselves. For this category there are also several choices. The .375 Mag is the most common one chosen for the coastal grizzly but in my opinion it is far "too much" for the other animals in this category.

Because of that I have chosen the .338 Win Mag. It is more than adequate for the big bears and isn't too much for elk or moose. Therefore it can be used here in the lower 48. There is a lot more that could be said but not enough space to do so.

There you have it - Category one: the .223; Category two: the .270, .280 or the .30/06 and Category three: the .338 Win Mag. With these, you can do it all.

Philip is a retired Air Force officer where he was an intelligence analyst. He is also a retired law enforcement officer. He has an undergrad degree in criminal justice as well as a master's that is heavily weighted in criminal justice. He has had, in his words, "a love affair" with firearms all his adult life. He also teaches concealed carry classes. Contact him at philipgintheswan@gmail.com