Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters The 10 Most Overrated Cartridges

Great article! Almost as funny as Pat McManus

Kind of a silly article and mostly meaningless but about what I expect in most mainstream magazines. From the time I was about 15, I figured I knew as much as most gun writers and ten years later, I was sure I did. Fast forward another forty years though and it occurred to me, most of these guys probably shot way more than I did. While I was building rifles, they were shooting them and a lot of these writers were far from stupid. In some cases, it was plain, these writers could out shoot me on the best day I ever saw. So, with the wisdom maturity brings, I am much more tolerant of the fluff pieces and I know they are not always reflective of the writer's knowledge or experience. While the writers may not tell me anything I don't already know, they can often give me new perspective while providing some entertainment along the way. BTW, I'm a 7mm Weatherby fan too! GD

I’d like to sit down with DP and find out out how he really feels. I go for cutting witticisms.

Oh my...

Watch those toes.

Ha!

... especially #10.






GR

When a writer comes out and writes stupid stuff like he did, I make a mental note: Do not read any of his articles again.

However, there is a writer that writes lots of articles on Handloader and Rifle who came out with a rather stupid statement like Petzal did, that is making a statement about how one cartridge is better than another (when he didn't know that I have knowledge that is different regarding his very uninformed and "stupid" opinion). Clearly, he should have checked with me first before writing his uninformed article.

However, I may be one of the 1% who would like to read what is wrong with a certain rifle, pistol, scope, etc. - in particular a small manufacture's equipment that I have little knowledge.

I have my favorite rifles and no one better put them down, ha ha. But I try different manufacture's rifles, pistols, scopes etc. (AKA "stuff") and when I have read nothing but good things about such "stuff" and the equipment is unknown to me. Then I find that the "stuff" needs a lot of work right out of the box, won't feed cartridges, has the wrong twist, won't work well in low light, has parts that break - often or whatever. It is at that time, I wish a person who wrote about such "stuff" would have been more honest in his review.

And as several people pointed out -- 6.5 cartridge's suck!

Dave would have a ball here before he got tired of it. 😉. Probably the same day.

I can’t really categorize his obvious baiting as trolling. Gunwriters are, among other things, entertainers, and are paid to draw readers (and generate internet hits) because that’s the economics of publishing. It would appear that even though the baiting is obvious, fans of his picks are still annoyed. I stopped worrying about what others thought about my choices in cartridges and rifles long ago. Hell, I’ve got two .270s!

I liked this quote from the comments below the article.
"It's like every ridiculous old man comment I hear across the table at gun shows rolled into one comically ingenious piece. But I'm pretty sure this was meant to be published on the Onion's website."

I'll play:
1) 17 HMR - too much for squirrels and not enough ass for groundhogs

2) 223 Remington - The 221 Fireball and 222 Remington can do anything it can do with lighter bullets with less powder and recoil. It does not have enough power to throw the heavier bullets. At best it's a compromise.

3) 243 Winchester - It's never been a consistently accurate cartridge for me. I have owned several and could never keep one. It is the inferior to the 6mm Remington.


I hope I make Petzal proud.

I quit caring what gun writers had to say years ago. I don't understand the need for approval/agreement from a gun writer that many experienced hunters/shooters seem to crave.

I feel the same way about certain forum blowhards.

Not me i enjoy learning new and old things , i really enjoy learning some of the history of rifles and cartridges John Barsness post on 24 hr. campfire and writes in magazines. there are many other gun writers that are also great to read about too , even reloading can help a person .

Praise the Lord, I don't own even one on the list. But I did have 2 different 7mm RMs in the past. Couldn't justify the recoil for the benefit which for my purposes was negligible compared to .30-06 and .270W. He seems to be against sharp shouldered cartridges and I am also somewhat. I owned a 6.5 Creedmoor for a while and it was not smooth feeding in a Savage 16 while the 2 Savage 16 .308Ws I owned chambered up nicely.

I’ve always liked Petzal’s writing and wit.

Keeps it interesting.

Only watched it after reading the responses.


Have or would have several of those.
Can't say I feel he is too far off on his comments.


And such a list is bound to offend.



I could add the 270 and 45acp to the list.
Petzal uses both as good in his comparasons.
To hear some talk, the 270 is everything for everything.
And the 45 can stop a man just by being pointed.
If that isn't overrated, what is?

Notice, at no point did I state they weren't great rounds.
Just that it's common to pretend they are mystical.

CRS

Your last question and hypothesis is:

"Why does Petzal have to troll? Possibly when one does not have anything substantial to say and needs to generate traffic?"


Might it be that it's not D P who is trolling but Field & Stream ?
How strong is their readership? I suspect they need help!


Jerry

I agree JG. However, I 'never' bought 'one' box of Factory 7 RM ammo NOR have I shot 'one' round of Factory 7 RM
ammo. Also in 40 ish years NO ONE has asked me to chronograph 'one' round of Factory 7 RM ammo.

So comments pertaining to Factory 7 RM ammo 'might' be right. I don't know.

OTOH - I have graphed more 'handloads' for 7 RM than I can remember. A LOT.

Being a 'former' Hagel ite, I can tell you the 270 W (which I have & like) can't even catch the DUST of a good Handload
for the 7 RM.

Jerry

What I find interesting is how many hit this lure so hard.

That's partly because so many readers are easily lured, much like a stocked trout, but partly because Petzal's such an experienced angler he can hook even more experienced fish.

I like petzal