What is a Large Caliber Firearm and Why Do I Need One?

By Jeff Wood

Norma ammo claimed this beautiful Red Hartebeest at almost 385 yards with one clean shot. (Photo: Stan Pate/Guns.com)
Have you ever heard the term big bore? Is a .300 Winchester Magnum your idea of a big cartridge? Well, you may be surprised to find out that the ole .300 Win Mag is pretty puny compared to the library of large caliber firearms.
What is a Large Caliber?
Most people nowadays would consider large caliber to be anything over .30 or perhaps .33 caliber — the caliber, of course, being the diameter of the firearm’s bore. This is not to be confused with the cartridge size. For example, a 30-30 is a.30 caliber bore diameter, but so is a .308 Winchester as is the aforementioned .300 Win Mag. While they all share the same bore diameter and bullet sizes, they are certainly not the same thing.
The modern firearms market is full of many large-caliber weapons and ammo. (Photo: Jeff Wood/Guns.com)
Generations past were accustomed to using large-caliber firearms, more so than we do today. The .45-70 GOV was an extremely popular rifle cartridge for hunting at one point, shooting heavy bullets weighing in at 300- and 400-grains. Alternatively, today, we hunt the same animals with

Source: Guns.com