Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Are we gravitating toward smaller calibers/cartridges?

Seems to me over the last 10 years or so it been the trend. Guys hunting deer with 223's, elk with 243's ect.
What's your opinion are we using lighter calibers than in the past to hunt North American game with?

While we have far better bullets than in the past.. I think the majority of hunters still use more traditional calibers.. I like fooling with many calibers and often use the smaller ones for hunting big game, but when the chance could arise that I could spot a truly big buck, I will have one of my big game rifles in hand..

Agreed on bullets, but they've been very good for handloaders since the Partition. Premium bullets in factory are more recent.

Two new things are the wider spread prosperity to own and use several rifles and a change in hunting methods.

A generation or two ago it was pretty typical for even rather serious hunters to use single medium / big game rifle, and one for everything needs to be weighted toward the bigger game.

Feeders, cameras, food lots, and farm and ranch hunting have made some hunting be done in a much more controlled environment, allowing those hunting in it to not have to choose enough cartridge for the worst case scenario or even the best case of a mixed bag on the same hunt.

Very true.. I am sure all of these things have caused the surge in smaller weapons.. Maybe the shift from hunting public lands to private lands as you indicate is really an important factor..

A couple of random thoughts....

1) Better bullets so you can use smaller calibers

2) The average age of hunters going up, who have less tolerance for recoil

3) The trend toward ultralight rifles, which bump the shooter more given the same cartridge

Honestly, maybe it's a regional thing, but in deer and elk camps here mostly the guys still have 270, 30-06, 300WM and 7RM's, with an occasional 25-06, 308, or 338. Been the same for the last 35 years of my hunting.

Hunting deer with 223s is unethical and illegal in most places.


Isn't it?


And I would never use a .243 on elk.


More than a couple of times�...

Du to the glorification availed to people due to youtube videos - stunt shooters like ingwe abound now.

If I remember correctly, gravitational attraction is based upon mass, so I don't see how that would be possible.

Nothing new, my grandfather killed quit a few elk with a 243.

I see more of a trend towards people thinking they need more.

I don't know if it's a recent trend or just since people have learned that everything you hear on the internet isn't true. I seem to remember stories of all kinds of game taken with what some consider small, 243,257 Roberts, 257 Weatherby, calibers way back when they were first introduced.

When I was growing up folks in this part weren't too concerned about game regulations. Lots of people used the 22 LR for deer and were very successful, especially with the semi autos. They used them because they were poor people and only owned a 22 LR and a single barrel 12 ga for everything. They shot whatever presented itself with whatever they had handy. You see the same things with Eskimo people who shoot even polar bears with light calibers. I bet the 30/30 has killed more Elk historically than any other caliber.

It seems that when I first got on the web, the arm chair hunters all said you needed at least a 30-06 for deer and a 300 WM for Elk. Truth be told, I think the old hunters knew more about shot placement and tracking and were less concerned than we are today about DRT shots.

I have some smaller centerfires but have yet to kill anything with them. I've actually been moving toward bigger calibers lately.

R.H. I have know many of these guys who were truly poor and shot deer with .22's and shotguns.. If you talk to them long enough the number of cripples that were left to die a slow death is sicking.. They were interested in free food, not sport.. A couple I know are completely without conscience for an animals suffering.. In is common knowledge that the Eskimos shot bears with Hornets, but if they crippled a couple, well that was not a problem there were more.. These stories of old timers shooting game with smaller calibers were quite true.. BUT they were far better than the calibers they had during blackpowder days.. We seem to forget, yes they used .30-30's on elk, because a .30-30 shot flatter and was easier to hit with than a .44-40.. And it had more power also..

It's the new fad like 50mm scopes were in the 90's.

I wasn't advocating it, just speaking historically. I'm saying I don't think we are moving toward smaller calibers historically. I do however think the 223 and 243 are plenty for deer.

I agree, but the number of deer in some states and the conditions under which they are shot are also an important part of this move.. We have deer in places that had no deer years ago.. Plus shooting over food plots, private hunting grounds, long seasons are now pretty common.. Hunters in some areas can afford to be selective.. On public ground I might see a huge mulie or whitetail once in four or five years if that often.. I sure want something more than a .223..
Over the years, I hunted a lot in W. Va. At that time deer were thick as flees... They hunted over bait, or orchards.. It was not a matter of shooting a deer but which shall I select.. Big bucks were seldom seen.. I used .22's there quite often, and effectively.. I believe those are common conditions for many of todays hunters.. Nothing wrong with it.. But conditions under which I hunt in Wy. are far different.. I want more gun there, especially if there is a chance I will spot a big buck..

I suppose a great deal depends on the area you hunt and the guys you hunt with and or course what your hunting!
Ive been mostly hunting elk and mule deer,
when I started out theres zero question the 30/06 was the gold standard in our camp,but for several years in the 1980s the 7mm rem mag and 300 win mag had a strong following, but over the last 10-12 years I see more guys with the 35 whelen , 358 win and 30/06 than anything else Ive used a 340wby and a 375 H&H, mostly because I own and completely trust them, and see zero reason to change.
what has changed, is that I don,t hear story's of guys making long distance shots, as if its some huge accomplishment, but rather story,s of off hand shots made from under 30- 50 yards , with pride in getting in close first and placing the shot precisely

I rarely grab anything larger than 25 caliber to deer hunt with anymore. I have larger calibers, but I enjoy shooting the smaller calibers and feel more comfortable with them since I practice with them more. And I have proven to myself that even 22 calibers will kill our small whitetails, so why bother getting knocked around by the big guns?

I could hunt deer for the rest of my life with a 223AI and never feel handicapped.

In its day, the 30-30 was a smaller cartridge than most other of that era, but was an almost immediate success.

Most of the people who I have hunted with have used cartridges that exceeded the level necessary to kill the game hunted, but most of those people weren't the sort to practice and improve their shooting skills, so they were probably hoping that a larger more powerful cartridge would be a means by which to offset their lack of shooting/hunting skills. It usually didn't, but they shot up a few deer and punched a few tags.

Or so it seems to me.

Jeff

My buddy has his Grama's old Elk rifle, a Savage 99 in 250-3000. We use bigger guns.