I like my 30-30. Can take any Deer or Black Bear in NY .

I would go with the 06. Even though you load your own ammo, sometimes on a hunting trip ammo gets lost and 06 ammo you can replace in any store that sells ammo. Some of the other calibers mentioned can be hard to find.
I say this because it happened to me in 1970. Dad and I went sheep, goat, moose and caribou hunting in BC. I was using a 270 Weatherby. Airline lost my luggage bag that had the ammo in it. Was lucky I had 4 shells inside the gun stock!! One shot each for the goat and stone sheep, never got a shot at moose or caribou.

Years ago I built a 22-250 on a Mauser 98 action. This spring I traded into a Tikka M595 in 22-250, it's one of the slickest guns I've ever had. I'm thinking very seriously about rebarreling the Mauser in 338-06. I like cartridges that are different

I like the more oddball stuff and would personally go for a 6.5 Gibbs. But if sense prevailed the 30-06 is about as good as it gets. I have settled on a couple of loads for it. One with 150 grain Partitions and the other with 200 grain Sierra game kings. The partitions are just north of 3000 ft/sec and flat enough shooting for most anything you want to take home for dinner and the heavy ones will stop even the non edible things. Easy to load for with a whole bunch of powders and bullets in different weights.

I could sure get by with my 243 for most things. Good shot selection is the determining factor

One of my best shooting guns is a Tikka 6.5 X 55 Swede. It's favorite ammo is the 140 gr Rem corelock. They kill a lot of moose in Europe with this caliber.

Yup it used to be my go to for most things when I was still on the other side of the pond .. from wild boar to goats and stag. It decked them all

I wouldnt be afraid to use my .308 on any big game animal in the lower 48.

.308
Mild recoil
Lots of bullet choicez
Elk out to 300 yards
Deer a little farther
Startex my kids with one and i still find myself pulling it out of the safe for hunts

Calibers?… 25 or .264 or .284 or. 308.
Cartridges?.....
25 would be a Roberts or a 06
264 would be 260 Remington up to 6.5–06 ( I built several 6.5-06 for several guys in Idaho when I lived there )
6.5x55 has taken millions of moose in Scandanavia too.
284 would be 7x57, 280 or 280AI or 7mm-08
308 would be 308 win up to 30-06
A magnum like 7mm or 300 isn’t necessary IMO and less likely to practice with since they are more punishment at the rear end
Practice leads to proficiency.

Just a Southern boy’s opinion, but I would buy more ammo and practice until I could hit a gnats eye at 200 yards every time the trigger is pulled. Proper shot placement on any North American game will drop them with any caliber from a .204 to a .50 cal. If an elephant can be brought down with a bow and arrow, surely a .243 could do it as well.

I’ll second this motion. 257 is my all time favorite. ‘06 or Bob, matters not.

The 280 is probably a very close second in my eye. If wanting to stick a little more mainstream, 270. I’d take it over the 30-06 any day of the week and twice on Sunday. But then, I loathe the 30-06. As for your rifle choice, Tikka is a great way to go.

I had a hard time convincing my wife there was no such thing as owning to many guns.

Canadian woman killed a record book brown bear with a 22 long rifle. Record stood for many years. I don't want to try it though.

243 is absolutely plenty of rifle for anything in N. America so long as the hunter knows his and the rifle's limitations.

Don't ever tell my wife I said that I don't want to start over with her saying you have enough guns, or traps, or knives, or anything else.

My grandad bought this 243 sako rifle new in the mid 60's. It is one of the prettiest rifles I own. I know he killed a few deer with it.

Very nice ^^^^

I like the 7mm shoots better than I can, prarie dogs to Elk

Built a few of those myself when it was a wildcat Now factory ammo is available from A-Square too.

Nice rifle Danny!

I’m a weatherby man dad has a .224 and .300 I have a 6.5x300 and .460 the .300 is a great round today I would get one with the muzzle break my 6.5 has one and it barely kicks compared to dads .300.