Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Australia Cartridge Popularity Oz / NZ

Just finishing up a vacation to Oz and New Zealand. Both are incredible places in their own regard.

Talked to a few hunters and gun shops in NZ and was told that .270 Win and 7mm Mag were the two most common hunting rounds but that the 7mm-08 was the new king. The .308, .243 and .223 are still popular there but not what they where 10-20 years ago.

I took stag and ram outside Dunedin with a borrowed Tikka T3 in 300WSM. A couple of pleasant experiences and outcomes there on that hunt but will save that for another day.

During a conversation at a store in Wanaka; the owner mentioned that Kiwis don't favor the old metrics and named the 6.5x55 and 7x57 as all but dead there. He also mentioned that the 30-06 was dying off as new gun sales rarely included the aforementioned. Any truth to that or just one guy's opinions?

I have read that .308 and .223 are THE cartridges of Australia and the .243 is a popular choice as well.

Any of you guys care to chime in. I am fully aware that they are different countries with different game but are there similar preferences between the two?

That would be about right. I'd also add the .30/30. These are the ones, with .22LR and 12 ga, that you'd expect to get ammo for just about anywhere, even out in the sticks. The .270 would be pretty popular too, and the .22/250.

Yep, I'd say 308 and 223 would be the most popular cartridges, and the 243 is quite popular too. Ironically I don't own a single rifle chambered in any of those cartridges.

Bearing in mind that the South Island of NZ has generally more open mountain top and open valley terrain requiring longer shots to the general mixture of bush and open hunting of the North Island.

In the SI the .270 and 7mm RM are very popular and in the NI the .223, .243, 6.5x55, 7mm/08, .308, .270 and 7mm RM. The 7mm/08 and .308 would be the most popular of those in the NI. The 30/06 seems to have lost some popularity in recent years.

Here are a couple of popular NZ hunting websites:

http://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co.nz/forum.php

http://www.fishnhunt.co.nz/forum/YaBB.cgi

I talked to a couple of fellow rifle loonies while I in Australia and was told the 25/303 was a popular wildcat. The one gun magazine I picked up there had an article about reloading it as well.

Do you guys find that to be that case that its a pretty common wildcat? Or were they just yanking my chain?

That would've been in Oz not NZ I take it. Never seen a 25/303 here in NZ.

It was a popular one, and factory loaded (Riverbrand and Super Ammunition Co.) so not a wildcat, but its peak was maybe 50 years ago. You wouldn't see so many now, and factory ammo stopped in about the 80s.

FWIW there were a number of cartridges on the .303 case which were popular in the post WWII period, including .303/.22 (full length and shortened), .303/.243 and .303/.270, as well as the .303/.25 which was the most popular. There were huge numbers of .303s, mostly SMLEs, sold off cheaply after the war and after they were replaced in military service, and these were sporterised and often rebarreled to make cheap (and effective) sporters.

I would of thought the 303 would have been more popular. I also remember reading about the 25/303 and others. I think the article hinged around hunting Roozs.

Been hunting in Australia now for a year, living in Western Australia, relocated from South Africa. Had a big re-think on my caliber preference, and it has changed having relocated down under.

I took a different approach dealing with the caliber confusion in my head, by looking at bullet weight and speed requirement first and working my way backwards. I'm utterly convinced that a 120g projectile at aprox 3000fps is the golden mean for most ossie game.

In Africa it will have to be a projectile of at least 150-170g at aprox 2800fps. The 223 is to Australia what the 243 is to Africa namely marginal for medium/big game. There is definitely a competent bunch in the minority that can consistently hunt effectively with these 2 calibers in these respective countries, but the avg hunter will need to take enough gun.

Probably a reason for the popularity of the 7mm-08 and others like it. I prefer the 6.5x55 AI

Ausralia is pretty much like the US when it comes to rifle chamberings, cartridges like 7mm/08, 270, 308, 243, 223, 30/06, 17MHR, 30/30 and 22LR are all very common. 270WSM, 300WSM, 300WM, 45/70, 260 and 338WM are quite common too - just not as common as the first group I mentioned.

Cartridges like 303/25 might have been common in the 50's and 60's but they're virtually non existant now. In fact, I don't know anyone that owns one or know who has ever owned one.

In recent years the 17HMR has become a very popular cartridge in Australia, especially for those chasing foxes, rabbits or hares.

I borrowed a .300 Win Mag when I hunted the south island, but could have chose a 270 if I chose to.

Those were the big game rifles my guide owned. The .270 and a .22 I used for bunnies and 'possums had a can on it. Kind of neat to play with.

What is popular here will also vary a bit according to local conditions. For example, in Victoria the popular game species include sambar deer, one of the biggest of the deer species, often found in thick cover, and as a result some of the bigger calibres are popular there (people use anything up to .458 for hunting them). Equally in the NT, where there are buffalo and camels and donkeys (surprisingly hard to kill) but not so much in the way of small game, you might tend to see more bigger calibres than small ones.

There are also situations like that of WA, where the State police apparently have very strong views about what you should have, and the power to enforce them, unlike other states where you can more or less buy whatever calibre you please, and as many as you please.

FWIW, like AussieLad, I own no rifles in .223, .243 or .308, but lots of people do.

We hunt sambar deer over hounds most weekends ,April til oct
30-06 and .35 whelen seem most popular in the houd crews

I would have to say that the least popular calibre would be 8mm (0.323) - just too many similar cartridges in 30cal available.

According to both the records of my local range, what I have read on ammo sales and also personal observation, the most popular big game cartridges in New Zealand are the 308 (by a good margin) followed by the .270 and the 7mm08.

Then coming in third group at the back of the field would be the .243, .30/30 and the odd 7mm Rem mAg.
Others like the 6.5x55 are common in old sportered military rifles, as are the 7x57 and 8x57. There are a bunch of SKS's around so the 7.62x39 counts too.

The .30/06 really does trail very far behind, in fact you will have trouble selling one even in a nice popular rifle.

The .303's have really all just finally got too old, and with new rifles being cheaper than ever before, the .303's are fading out of use for hunting, being left mostly for military collectors and the odd bloke still using grandad's rifle.

Running alongside all of these is the .223, which is very popular for small game and deer also. Ammo sales wise, .223 is the biggest selling centrefire round in the country.

In the last ten years with the internet becoming more pervasive there has been a lot of interest drummed up from watching what is going on in the states, and so long range shooting has become popular, and just in the last three or four years the AR15's have got more popular too, despite the fact they cost the earth here.

Sako's are still the most popular higher end rifle and very common but I am seeing more and more Blaser and Mauser rifles around which you hardly ever used to see.
Of the middle of the road rifles, the Tikka T3 has been a big seller because of it's association with Sako.

How big of a caliber is needed to put down a camel? How hard is it to get a permit to hunt them? I've eaten the meat a couple of times and it's not bad. I actually had a camel skewer in Perth three days ago. I still prefer kangaroo.

I've hunted camels twice, the most recent was July this year. I've seen them shot with a 416Rigby, 350Rem mag, 338Fed, 7mm Mauser and the results are, IMO, indistinguishable between all of those cartridges. I will probably be using an 8x57 running 200gr ABs on the next trip.
On the last trip we both used 7x57s and took a heart/lung shots first to slow/stop them and then a shot to the back of the head. That technique worked very well, where multiply shots to the heart/lung area doesn't have an immediate effect of putting them on the ground.

There is no permit required to hunt them, they're feral animals and usually not liked by landowners due to their destructive effects on fencing.

The meat? we will be taking extra refrigeration and butchering equipment on our next trip, we both really like it so more meat will be coming home with us.

was reading a Aussie hunting forum awhile back......seems someone went to the trouble of removing the backstraps off one of the big bastards once and has since decided it is well worth the effort as its pretty good eats....

You don't hear of hunters eating Camel too often. I must say, just thought of it doesn't sound too enticing.

I've had it. Good stuff I thought. It reminded me of veal.

A bloke I've hunted with has been involved in helping some TOs in the Territory to develop a market for it.