Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters What cartridge do you dislike the most?

Black dogs bark at night...


The chair is against the wall....

The bicycle is on the kickstand.

Right at the present it would be 00 buckshot shotshell ammo. It seems every store has plenty of that but no hunting loads. I mean it isn't just the little 5 packs which s/b a lifetime supply for any civilian but it's 25 round boxes bundled into 100rd pks. I know , I know the tactical guys are buying it by the bushel for when the zombies attack but it galls me that the mfg. can't stop long enough to produce some hunting ammo. All those jokers do with that is stand about 15ft back from the target butt and shoot down the backstop like some bad dude breaching a door. Idiots. Sorry rant off.

As a friend said one time... "I like them all, just I like some better than others..."

I own a lot of different calibers and enjoy playing with them all at the reload bench... but never have owned a 308 for some reason... .. and no real motivation to get one...

however I do love the 243, 260 and 7/08.... Hmmmmmmmmm??

Now, speaking as someone with nearly a half-century of gun looniness under his belt, I don't get the animosity found here on this board toward the .270. I don't own one and may never own one, but that's merely a twist of fate than a purposeful avoidance. What's wrong with it? I have witnessed .270 shooters slaying piles of game animals in my life and never doubted its efficiency.

I suspect it's all in jest, but after reading some vehement thoughts on the cartridge, I wonder...

Seafire,

The .308-based rounds seem to be most popular among hunters who don't like much recoil--and the older I get the less I like getting kicked! Have owned and hunted rifles chambered for all of 'em at one time or another, but right now just have a .243, two .308's and a .358, which seem to cover the spectrum pretty well.

I find this statement reflects my own experience with the .308 and its offspring.

I know shooters that just cannot tolerate the .30-06 but can shoot the heck out of the .308. In identical rifles, both built on long actions, using factory loads of same bullet weight, the shooters just did not like the '06 and their groups sizes reflect this. Switch to the .308 and groups sizes shrunk. The irony is that of the pair, in this case, the .30-06 was the more accurate rifle. I can definitely notice a difference in recoil between the two but not enough to adversely affect my shooting ability. Others may well have a lower threshold.

I will say, the one cartridge I did hate was the .44-40. That is until Lee came out with the factory Crimp die. Now it is no more difficult to load for than say the .44 magnum. My S&W 544 thanks Lee as it now sees actual field time.

Be sure to drink your Ovaltine?

OMG - Hot Dogs, Apple pie, and people who don't like a 308? To like a 308 is to know a 308!

The big Nitro Express rounds were a fine solution for their day, but their propellant is gone, likely to never return; they are not so easy to load without cordite. Their modern equivalents don't have the romance, but they do the job today with less fuss.

The cartridges with large cases relative to the bore area are a pain in the ears and the shoulder; I can easily do without them.

Other than those, all are fine by me, but I prefer the older designs, like the .30-40 and .25-35, etc. -- anything designed before about WW-I.

I'm note sure why the fuss over the .308 family. They are all rather efficient jobs, designed for modern propellants. Were I in the market for a bolt gun, I'd be looking for one of those.

As to The Question: The cartridge I've disliked the most in shooting was the 7 Rem Mag. It may just have been the stock design on my rifle, though.

303...odd?

.300 Blackout. What a wuss of a cartridge and all these young punk-azzed Tacti-Cool guys think it is some kind of giant slayer.

Or VANILLA ice cream. It's a flavor but.....



there are several that tastes better.



Seriously, I owned a Ruger 77 UL, sweet rifle, short, light, and handled better than a 94/336 and not as heavy. I found it to be a great woods rifle and capable of decent range.

That was one of the first ULs and had a 20" bll. I was able to get 2900 fps w/150 gr. bullets with accuracy.

I could live w/another 308 IN THAT CONFIGURATION, otherwise if it's comparable to most S A bolts, I'll pass.

re: Black dogs: (septin' Rommel when he's told not to)

re: chair: (that somethin' you picked up from Travis ta' keep ya' from tippin' over when you've had a few too many?)

This has been a fun thread so far.

Haven't owned one (yet) but don't see how anyone could hate the 7x57. That would be as bad as hating the 6.5x55

I find it a bit odd that the .308 is so often mentioned as a disliked cartridge. I find the .308 to be perhaps the most "perfect" medium game round. Very near .30-06 ballistics (which is....and should be ....the standard) in a cartridge short enough to be usable in almost any action type possible.

I know it is a bit "dull" and unexciting, and I also know many build it up to be more than it is.....but I just can't truely dislike the .308 even if I'm not fired up by it. Then again.....I don't personally like the .270 even though it is a great cartridge.

The red is fearly touching if one could be touched,sighned un touchable.grin

That idea has some MERIT.

Like .277, or 6.5, or .257 R, or even 6mm (.243).








Been thinkin bout it, yep I like .277X57 the most. I'd call it the 270 J W!

Better than black dogs with a pluggad orfice. I guess...

Hey John! I gotta question for you et. al.

What better way to familiarize yourself with a new rifle and/or cartridge than to ACTUALLY hunt with it?

Hunting a .300 or 7RM or 8RM etc. is the BEST way to use the rifle/cartridge in preparation for another/bigger game animal and a trip for said game! IMO hunting a new/different rifle/cartridge is MUCH better than just bench or target shooting.

Sometimes we need to reverse and lift our heads to perceive that someone else just might have a GOOD reason for using a rifle/cartridge larger than necessary for specific hunting.

I've even read 'on the Internet' of rifle nuts shooting Prairie Dogs with Magnum cartridges.

I also read on the 'NET' of someone not KNOWING to push his safety lever forward TWICE before pulling the trigger! That could have been avoided if actually hunting a new rifle had happened instead of just practice shooting.

Do ya think that MIGHT be a good idea?

Just something to think about.

Speaking of odd-ball calibers.......where the hell did the .277" bore size come from anyway. Seems (at the time) that the 7mm (.284) would have made more sense....and would likely have been just as successful. At least it would have prevented that stupid .280/7mm Express nonsense.