Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Cartridge you just won't own..................anyone?

any caliber based on the 308, any short or super short mag.

I like most of them. I can due without anything under .224 or over .375. Kind of like my taste in women, I don't like them too skinny or too fat.

RH

I didnt like the performance of it...lots of bark and for what?

Nothing under 22 in calibers, cartridges- 308 win based cases. A 260 rem. is the only one I may consider.

The pure varminting calibers don't do much for me, since I don't hunt 'em.

The RUM's seem a little absurd to me in general.

I just hate the 30-06 i know its a great round just not to my taste. I need something odd and hard to load for. it gives you a labor of love for the round.

I don't like long actions, or short mags. If I needed more than 358 cal, I'd go to 45-70.
I think 17M2, any 22 rimfire (not the magnum tho), the 204 Ruger, and most any 25, 30, 35, and 45 cals are all fine. Those between sizes seem odd and unneeded.
That said, I just traded a 300 Savage 99 for a 270 Ruger #1, so what do I know.

Hmmmm....

This is my opinion.

I like them all.

Why?

Well, I own a couple 204's, couple 223's, several 223 AI's, 220 Swift, 22/6mm AI, 6.5x55, 6.5x55 AI, 270, 7mm Rem Mag, 7.5x55, 30-06, 8mm Mauser, 300 Win Mag, & 338 RUM.

I have owned a 17 Rem as well.

The 204's are a lot of fun. Fast, retain more speed than 223's shooting the same weight of bullet, and make the P.D.'s flop. 223's are good as well....the 223 AI's are just that much better. Really like running a 55 gr bullet near 3600 fps with cheap bullets it really tears up P.D.'s and paper alike.

The 22/6mm AI is phenomenal at distance. Because this rifle was assembled at the end of last year, I have only begun to stretch this "half mile 22" out. 400 yard shots on P.D.'s provides 20 feet of air and 20 feet of distance with 75 gr AMax's.

I picked up the 220 Swift with the intentions of rebarrelling the receiver and nice stock into something else. By chance, it was a complete package - scope, brass, 2 sets of dies, and almost 500 55 gr bullets. So, I had to try it. All of the past stories were - love it or hate it. Was either a barrel burner or the best thing since sliced bread. Range trip yesterday provided that this particular caliber and rifle REALLY likes H4831. Will give it a go on P.D.'s this spring.

6.5x55 - if you have never shot or owned an M96/M96B, go find one. Very accurate round. I wish I bought a truckload of the original Swedish ammo when it was a $1.25 per 20 round box.

The 6.5x55 AI is the poor man's long range caliber. Successfully harvested a nice large doe in the late season hunt with 140 gr bullets. Will be using a different bullet this fall. Easily exceeds loading book velocities of the 6.5x284 and the AI neck should help throat erosion when compared to the 6.5x284. Lapua brass is plentiful and Redding dies are available off the shelf. Did I mention - NO recoil.

270 - I honestly HATED this round. Have shot over 20 different rifles in this caliber and EVERY one of them pounded me. (I am not a small guy either) Between the recoil and beating, I just hated it. Until, you guessed it, a very reasonable Rem 700 ADL arrived at the doorstep of my wallet (read that CHEAP!). I figured to try it one more time. After cleaning the closet dust off of this rifle, working up a load for it, installing a nice recoil pad, I found this rifle/caliber is quite accurate and, now, a pleasure to shoot. If anything is lacking, maybe a better selection of bullets.

7mm Rem Mag - never owned one until 4 months ago. Bought a Savage BVSS with the intention of rebarrelling. Made the mistake of shooting it. Recoil is less than the 270 with handloads and provided excellent accuracy. Sold the rifle, could not break this one up because it shot THAT good. I have another in the works. If there is a downfall of this caliber, it would be selection of .284 bullet variety. The weights are there, but not a lot of variety of flavors. Believe the Berger VLD's would be sublime in this caliber...about 145/165/175 grain.

7.5x55 - have shot the surplus ammo and handloads in the K31 (cannot load them too hot for the Swiss action), but this caliber/rifle is very accurate. Nothing like necking up 284 Win brass and having fun with steel plates at 300 yards with open sites.

30-06 - I lucked into purchasing an old 721 Remington off of this site. This one happens to be from the second year of production. After changing the stock to a modern 700 BDL, this rifle is VERY accurate. The twist rate in this barrel favors 168/175/178 grain bullets. Would not hesitate on a 5-600 yard shot with this rifle. The original stock, due to the drop comb, just pounds your shoulder because of the angle. The new style stock with the R3 recoil pad solved the sledgehammer.

8mm Mauser - again, if you don't own a K98, you have not lived. Again, wish I would have bought pallets of milsurp ammo. My particular K98 is somewhat of a family heirloom now. Handed down to me by my stepdad's dad, after he passed. Previous to him owning this rifle, somebody added a sporter stock and drilled the side of the receiver for a side mount scope. The scope is a 2.5 power Weaver. Not much optics, but it gets the job done. Believe this is somewhat of an overlooked round as well. Bullet selection for hunting is less than favorable as well...at least to let it stretch it's legs a bit.

300 Win Mag - yes, these can definitely kick as well. The Savage 112BTSS-S that I own is nice to shoot. Favors 180-208 gr bullets. Factory rifle delivers less than MOA on out to 1000 yards with ease...even in the wind.

338 RUM - I don't own this caliber, but built one for my shooting buddy. I thought...ugh...300 gr SMK, how could THAT be fun. Well, the muzzle brake is your friend. His description of the 300 gr SMK (sailing out the barrel at 2940 fps) is...."it is like they have a propeller on the back of them" - it is true. I have never seen a bullet ANCHOR a large deer at 900-1200 yards like this bullet.

About the only caliber that I have owned that I don't like, is the 17 Rem. Brass is expensive, bullet selection is the worst I have seen, and the wind kills this round in a hurry.

Of the rounds I don't particularly care for - 308. Most of the above calibers will far surpass this round in knock down power and deliver similar or better accuracy, especially at distance.

Of the ever growing collection of reloading manuals that I own, believe just about any caliber can be enjoyed, just need to find the right platform (that does not kick your shoulder), and some handloads that are tuned for your particular rifle AND you. The reloading manuals are quite informative, if nothing else, just looking at the pictures and the introductory information provided in the older reloading manuals.

There's quite a few that I have no interest in owning but only a few that honestly dont care for.
30-06, 325wsm, 338Fed, and any handgun cartridge in a rifle.

Never liked the sub-calibres much, the .17's, seems like they'd just be too finicky to load, hard to clean, special rods, prone to wind drift, fouling...

Ultramags... and Weatherbys.

I got no use for them. Nor do I have any love for them.

Poor Dumb Douche Adair.

338Ultra.



I guess I should dig out the 378Wby collage.(grin)

I have no use for anything under .243 since I don't hunt varmints. The .22 calibers with the exception of the .22LR could all disappear for all I care.
I also have no use for .30 caliber rounds. They are a compromise caliber if I ever saw one. If I could only have ONE rifle then a .30 cal might do but since I can have multiple rifles I'll choose calibers that are more ideally suited to the intended quarry.
The .35s do nothing for me either. Lousy game bullet selection compared to the .33s and boring cartridges.

I've been trying for a week to come up an answer to this...I can't. So, I'll have to take the post count and move on...rifle

The only caliber smaller than a .25 that I have any use for are the .22's.

Original post edited. Verbagage has been corrected.

Joseph

Lots of folks here dislike the .270. You're loss. That is one round I couldn't live without.

I have no desire to own a 7mm mag. I also don't like any WSM, WSSM, RUM, RSAUM, RCM or anything else newer like those. They just don't interest me.

After messing with many calibers and cartridges,I have no real use for anything anymore other than 270 Winchesters,7mm cartridges,(with a couple of 30/06's thrown in for good measure,but not really used much)and 375H&H(or Ruger,same thing).

If I were more of an accomplished "long range shooter",I could get into the distinct advantages of the 6.5's,the magnum 30's,and the large capacity 338's(which I think are among the best for very long range shooting of heavy game,or any game for that matter).But I can practice regularly at no greater than 600 yards,so what a cartridge does at 650-1000 yards is a moot point to me.

But I'm more interested in what I can accomplish within and under 500 yards with manageable recoil and rifle weight,and I know the 270 and 7 RM perform nicely at those distances if I do my part.

I'm not afraid of 30/06 or 375H&H length actions so the short magnums and the 308-length stuff leaves me breathless (with the sole exception of the 7/08 which I consider uncommonly good).The big 30's are fabulous but if recoil is to be kept at bay, the rifles are too heavy to lug around.

If I want a heavy bullet for moderate distances I would just reach for a 375;and with the availability of great, well-constructed lighter weight 375 bullets,things like the 338WM seem superfluous.I would have no use at all for a 338 Federal,the 308, the 243, or the 260.

The WSM's are good cartridges but I had all 8-10 of mine before the mechanical bugs of the rifles themselves were worked out,and came to dislike the rifles,more so than the cartridges.But they really offered nothing over the lightweight 7 mags and 300's I'd been building since the early 80's. I could get into a lather over a 7mmWSM,if I knew the rifle behaved itself mechanically.

This is anecdotal, but a friend came up from Long Island and showed me a couple of 235 gr 375 BarnesX bullets recovered from game.One was perfectly expanded,picture book,and smashed both shoulders of a big Eland at over 300 yards.The Eland died on the spot.The other bullet was from a kudu shot through heavy brush at 70 yards;it blew its' pedal and the base portion expanded.Both bullets did a good job.

He also had pics of a pile of Wildebeest,Zebra,Oryx,and smaller stuff killed quite dead with a 270 Winchester and 130 TSX.Some of it was killed by his 10 year old son.

I'm not suggesting that everyone shoot a 270 Winchester because that would be pretty boring,and bad for the gun business. But sometimes I wonder what all the fuss is about....

Never owned or had any desire to own any short mag, ultra-mag, etc.

Regardless of caliber, I consider anything with a belt to be absolutely useless. As such, I cannot see myself ever owning a rifle so chambered.