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

I think he's definitely talking factory ammo...and eloquently trolling 7mmRM shooters. The main advantage IMO is with the 175. Good handloaded 270 130s and 150s are right up there on it, the 160+...not so much.

THIS>>>>>>

I scrolled through looking for this..............

That was my first, why it was not on the list................

I think we answered the ultimate question of "Why would Petzal write such an article?

Well, there are 6 pages of responses (and more to come). THAT'S why the article was written. People read it, and have opinions (supporting or refuting it). I wonder how many issues were sold? Petzal did his job. The advertisers don't mind one bit.

There are 6 pages of emotive responses. Petzal hit a homerun, whether trolling or not.

It worked.


His next column? "10 cartridges we can do without"
Month after that? "10 most over looked cartridges"
Month after that? "10 most hyped cartridges."
Month after that? "What if there could be only 10 cartridge chamberings? What would they be?

I'll probably read them, and the resultant threads about them on the 'fire, then oil my 30-06 JC Higgins FN m-98 model 50, " the most under-rated rifle."

I guess you need to define 'overrated'..........

I can't ever remember reading or hearing of the 'awesomeness' or the 'over' rating of near half of the cartridges on his list....................

I didn't think the article was executed well, but if all of those cartridges disappeared tomorrow likely I wouldn't notice.

I’ve always found him entertaining and hilarious at times.

MD you are correct on elk & Afk . .but I will never do ether . I was referring to what you learn on your own instead of depending on somebody doing it for you . kind of like being book smart with no common sense

Looks like a do-over of a Richard Mann article…..

Petzal has a edginess to he writing...I like that.
I our region, I remember the hype associated with the 7mm & .264 after they were launched
I hunted with client hunters and friends with both rounds, we took many bull elk alongside the .270 and 30/06. They worked similarly.....identically.
David is just Jerking your chain a tad.
Myself, I don't care for the short/fats in a repeating rifle
There, I jerked the chain ....just a little

We're born knowing. At least we're supposed to be. That's one of my main takeaways from my time on here

We all know something, and yet no one knows everything.
That's why schools exist. That's why various books, magazines and web sites exist. It's called both education and entertainment.
It's never a good idea to figure something out on your own. That's why death and dismemberment occur. You can watch AFV for entertainment from folks who like to figure things out on their own.

I have not read his article!

I have seen other writers writing this type of BS and it diminishes my opinion of the writer. While I admit reading this kind of writing in the past, I just don't care if the writer thinks a 243 is better than a 6mm, a 270 is better than a 280 or a 308 is as good as a 30-06 or even -- gasp -- better. After 60+ years of shooting said cartridges I'm pretty set in my ways and what cartridges I like, thank you.

I feel different if the writer is writing about powders, bullets, scopes, reloading equipment etc. and gives reasons or examples why the writer feels that way. I wish I knew all the powders that are not sensitive to temperature change for instance - I have found some powders that are horrible in this category and I don't want to keep making that observation. I like reading how different bullets act on big game. Which scopes have failed and which scopes are the best bang for the buck.

Powder, bullets scopes change, quite a bit. cartridges pretty much have not made a big change. Sure there are new cartridges, but it's my opinion that many of these new cartridges are quite similar to cartridges we have had for the last half century or in many cases century.

The shallowness of some folks shows through when someone offers an opinion that is not the same as their own. Dem/Comms do it as a matter of policy, but even conservatives can get angry because someone disagrees with their choices. When a dem/com has an opinion, and someone disagrees, they try to find a way to force the other person to change and if that can't be done they insult them and try to discredit them.

Can we think of anything less honorable or stupider then insulting a man because he likes a gun or a cartridge you don't?

As for me, I have very strongly held opinions about what bullets work well and which ones don't and how they pair up with certain cartridge cases. I hold these opinions form over 1/2 a century of hunting and guiding hunters. But the real truth is that I don't care at all what someone else uses, as long as I don't have to be the one to do the tracking if the animal runs off. Speak of all the details you like, but the real truth is that large game can be and has been killed with sticks since before guns were invented.

I for one most often use "less then the best weapon" to kill my game because I like those kind of guns more for hunting. My game is still dead, I am still eating well, and I fill about 85%-90% of my tags. The years I don't fill a tag are fairly rare and if I hunt with a flintlock rifle in regular rifle season, and I still have full or nearly full freezers at home I don't really care all that much if I don't fill the tag. If the freezers are below 1/2 I will put away my flinter or my iron sighted guns and get out a scoped 270, 8X57 9.3 or a 375.

Is a flintlock 62 cal rifle, 44 mag handgun, 357 handgun, or 9.3X57 rifle "over-rated"? How about iron sighted 300 Savage rifle, iron sighted 6.5X54 M/S, iron sighted 270 lever action?

The honest answers for me are "I don't know" and "I don't care"

Neither did the deer, elk antelope or bears.

When asked what I know and what I have seen since about 1964 in my hunting I tell people. If they take my advice that's ok, and if they don't that's ok with me too. I made a lot of mistakes using bullets that were not so good for a lot of years and I learned what works and what doesn't, but if others want to make their own mistakes and learn the same way I did that perfectly ok with me.

It's not a religion to me so I don't care if it is to anyone else.

Another job well done, DP! 😄

If you want to stir the pot, call someone's favorite cartridge "overrated." Only way he could've improved the article was to name the top 20.

Part of his job is to get people thinking. He did that well!

Opinions and @$$holes. Everyone has one.

He is one guy Id like to listen to around a fire. A sense of humour makes the world interesting.

The biggest "tell": that the article is tongue-in-cheek is this line, which prompted an out-loud chuckle from me:



So tell me Dave, just what game animal is the .30-06 too underpowered to take that you've deemed the .325 WSM adequate, but any .338" diameter caliber too much? That .03" gap is mighty wide indeed. Enquiring minds want to know.

Also, the .325 WSM so obscure that I'm not sure anyone has rated it in any way, over or under...

Something tells me Dave Petzal is reading this thread (among others and the 18 comments beneath the article on F&S.com), laughing, with a high sense of success.

I can't blame him, at all.