Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Your least diverse caliber?

I live in Ohio and own a Ruger no1 in 458win mag. Only reason I bought it was the price was to good not to. It’s nice to pullout and let everyone take a couple shots down range when my buddy’s get together.

9x57 and .404 Jeffery.

That caliber can be very versatile also. No reason on God's Green Earth to shoot full house loads all the time. In fact, well, I won't say how I feel about that folderol. Load up a sack full of .45 Colt-level loads and enjoy a day of shooting. Load up some .45-70 level loads for deer/elk hunting, and a fistful of rip snorters for the occasional Cape buffalo or elephant. Easy peasy.

Handloaders make silk purses out of sows ears.

A .375 Winchester carbine I hunt with is arguably one of the"least versatile" cartridges I hunt with. I found that loading three 36 caliber round balls over 7 grains of pistol powder in the .375 makes a fine grouse load to 20 yards. You can also use a bullet hollow pointer to open up the front end of these big flat slab bullets and initiate a little better expansion at lower velocities.

I'm no gunwriter, either, but the 38-55 is one of my favorites. Like Ole 270, I load it for a variety of uses, including Cowboy steel. The handloader has more options than offered by factory ammo, which is almost always the case for any cartridge I can think of just off the top of my head.

What rifle loonies like or want has no relationship to versatility, cost or logic. Curiosity is a blessing and a curse and a wonderful way to learn and have fun. Live with it.

Anybody want to sell an old Marlin lever in 25-20 or 32-20?

I agree. It's funny that only a minority of reloaders will consider loading a cartridge down. Especially, as you point out, when loading cast bullets. Of course, that goes for jacketed bullets too.

I've noticed that most guys ride the ragged edge of pressure in order to generate as much velocity as they can. It's oxymoronic really. Reloaders can load for a range of power levels with any cartridge, yet most work to squeeze all they can from their brass. That "full on" approach is baffling to me.

I wonder why that is?

450NE 3.25"

Cast bullets don't churn my butter.


Jerry

Diversity??? We don’t need no stinkin’ diversity.

6ppc and 30BR

416 Rigby and Remington. 458 Win Lott Watts

I agree. Never made a lot of sense to me either. Though, I haven’t done so in a while.....I have shot a lot of cast bullets at around 1400 fps, from my .375 AI. Performance is very similar to the 38 - 55 Win. Works great on smaller varmints, coyotes down through prairie dogs. Works good squirrels, rabbits, and even grouse....provided you “ head shoot “ them ! I wouldn’t hesitate to use them on deer/antelope, provided the shots were close and I could carefully place the bullet!

I’ve shot far more light loads through my 44 Mag., than the “hot” stuff! memtb

I would say a 243. Yeah, it can be hellagood for a youth or light antelope or deer rifle. Or an awesome, low volume varminter. But not in the same rifle. One demands light and short. The other long and heavy. And both are pretty specialized.

I’m sure the gun writers of the past wrote volumes on the virtues of the “25 ACP”. LOL

348 Win

They didn't because tiny pocket autos were stigmatized before concealed carry was legitimized.

They didn’t write about 25 ACP’s because they sucked a$$. They sucked in 1930 and they still do. This post asked for the least diverse caliber. I believe that the 25 acp would win that contest. Some people also argue that gay couples should be able to adopt children.

I have to admit to being one who has always loaded for the highest available MV in my revolvers and rifles. 30-06 with a 190 gr Hornady btsp at 2800 fps? No problem with a case full of H4831.

But then I am just as likely to be loading 125s at 2200 fps using SR4759, or 110 gr Sierra varminters at 2200 fps over 4198 or 3031 in the same brass.

I experiment as much or more with light recoil loads for the kids and grandkids as I do with maximum loads for the adults to hunt with.

My least versatile —- 8 mm Rem Mag

Jerry

I too have a hankering for a 38-55, and I even bought a 30-30 donor rifle back last winter.

I have to agree, the more I research the 38-55, I see more walls than windows. Sorry, gnoahhh. I have to disagree. I'm thinking of this 38-55 as Ohio-compliant whitetail deer rifle. There just aren't that many jacketed bullets for this chambering, and although there are quite a few cast bullet options, I find that they're all on the heavy side for whitetail. I know-- that's my tastes, but I'm used to playing in the 30-06 kind of sandbox where the bullet choices are overwhelming.

Yes, there are least-versatile choices, especially if you look at the reverse. What is the most versatile chambering?

Take 30-06: I had grafs.com up a little while ago-- over 400 bullet choices. You can go from a 100 grain plinker to a 250 grain match bullet. You've got bullets for varminting, plinking, big game hunting and dx shooting.

So bullet choice is a big component of a chambering's versatility.

Then you've got rifle offerings. Everyone offers a rifle in 30-06. Every type of action is covered. Every conceivable barrel length and twist is covered.

38-55? You've got levers and single-shots. Sure you could custom-build it into anything, but you have to ask yourself why? What's practical?

Case capacity is a factor. 38-55/375 WIN is on the Ohio-compliant list, because it has a limited case capacity. Nobody will be able to drive a bullet all THAT fast as a result. 30-06? Dang! Think of what a 30-06 can't do, and it's an impressively small list.


I just got done hunting a season with a Ruger Model 44 in Kentucky. I fell into the Model 44 after acquiring the donor rifle for the 38-55 build. Having used it to take a buck, I'm seeing that this may be my designated Ohio deer rifle. It dropped a buck at 80 yards and did so without muss or fuss. I daresay the 38-55 project would not have done any better. As a result, I may hold off on the 38-55 build.