Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters The ten most perfect cartridges

1) .17 Mach 2
2) .22 LR*

3) .223 Rem.*
4) .270 Win.*
5) .35 Rem.
6) .375 H&H

7) 9x19MM*
8) .44 Mag.
9) .45 Auto
10) .45 Colt*

I don't know about perfect, but these evidently are the ten that beat out all the others that I've used over the years. These are the ones that I would really miss if I couldn't have them.
* The five I couldn't be without.

17 HMR
22 LR
22 Magnum
223/556
6MM Creed
6.5 PRC (Sorry Creedpuff, you simply can't measure up)
338 Federal
9MM
44 Magnum
12 Gauge

lots of good thoughts and answers > here`s my thought

1. 22 L.R.
2. 22 Hornet
3. 223/556
4. 220 Swift
5. 257 Weatherby Mag.
6. 30-06
7.375 H&H
8.12 GAUGE
9. 38/357
10.410 i kill critters all year long with a 22 L.R., 22 Hornet and my 220 Swift , and for protection > 38/357, 410 derringer , these 5 are always close, i understand not many use a
220 SWIFT too or a 410 derringer .

1. 22 L.R.
2. 222 Rem
3. 250 Savage
4. 6.5 Swede
5. 30 WCF
6. 9.3 x 62
7. 16 Gauge
8. 45 Colt
9. 45-70 Govt
10. Hand grenade

For The Yukon


1) 22LR
2) 30-06... of course.... or 308 if you love the Savage 99,
3) 348 Winchester..designed to have 30-06 ballistics as the universal lever cartridge
4) 280 AI (like a 7mm Rem Mag with much greater efficiency) The Ultimate Sheep and caribou cartridge
5) 9.3x62 ( Bison Worthy)
6) 358 Norma Magnum...... Same expansion ratio as a 30-06 but with more bullet weight for bears, and bison and it also knocks the hell out of moose
7) 17 HMR (for visiting relatives in Saskatchewan and hunting gophers)
8) 243 or 25-06 For my kids when they were smaller.
9) 358 Win/375 Win/45-70 or 450 Marlin.... for a camp gun
10) 300 Win Mag.... when ranges get stupid.

1. 22 L.R.
2. 222 Rem
3. 6.5 Swede
4. 300 Savage
5. 35 Whelem or 338 Federal...you pick
6. 38 Special
7. 16 Gauge
8. 45 Colt
9. 45-70 Govt
10. 44-77 Sharps

These cover all my uses

22 LR
22 WM
6mm Rm OR 6.5X55
7mm RM
30-06

9mm Para
40 S-W

Edit: 12 ga Added
I have others but could live without them and lose no sleep.


** surprising even to me that the 270 W isn't in my list ** I like and use one but it actually fills a gap.

Jerry

I'm not sure what folks mean by "perfect." From the responses, it really seems more like "favorite." Perfect? I'd think there would be a lot more quantitative responses. However, I'm perfectly happy to treat this as a beauty contest.

I started off my shooting career with 3 chamberings:

22 LR
30-06
12 GA

Since I molded my own shooting and hunting experience around those 3, they would be a the top of my list. I had others available to me (like 16 GA and 22 WRF that I really never warmed up to)

To this I added:
357 MAG -- just so I'd have a pistol to shoot
223 REM -- I got tired of nailing groundhogs with a 30-06

. . . and a few more not really relevant to the discussion.

OK. There's half the list. It was about then (roughly 2000) that I started hanging out at shooters.com and later at the 24hourcampfire. The dam burst. I started trying all sorts of new stuff. Here it is, 20 years later, and there have been very few that I found that I really could add to the favorites list.

45 ACP

308WIN-- I download mine to 300 Savage levels.

9mmX19 -- I was a latecomer to 9mm. I like it because it's cheap

35 Whelen -- I had a decade-long love affair with my Whelenizer (Rem 7600). Yes it killed deer (a lot of 'em too), but I finally got tired of all the recoil.

7mm-08 -- This is my new favorite. I just started loading and shooting it in 2020.

Any 10 will work,but you can`t get ammo,casings and bullets for many even in non hoarding times.I go with:
22LR
17HMR
223
243
7MM08
30 30
308
270WSM
20 Ga.
12 Ga

1. .22 RF
2. .22 Hornet
3. .257 Roberts
4. 7x57
5. .30-30
6. .38-55
7. .416 Rigby
8. .44 mag
9. .45-70
10. 20 Ga

.22 Long
My father explained this to me when I was a kid, He grew up on a homestead in central Montana, and said Longs were just as good as Long Rifles, since they were just as long--and cost less, important during the Depression.

.218 Bee.
The Bee beats the .22 Hornet by 100 fps with the same bullets, which many rifle loonies know makes a vast difference.

6mm Lee-Navy.
Those who don't believe this have obviously never shot a 6LN. It was the first fast-twist 6mm!

6.5x54 Kurx Mauser.
This beat the 6.5x54 Mannlicher-Schoenauer by 100 fps. (See .218 Bee.)

B-29
The greatest wildcat ever invented--and only .29 caliber wildcat, which beat the 6.35 Carcano by well over 100 fps.

.33 WCF
Winchester's first .338 was far more shootable than its second .338, due to far less recoil, and flatter-shooting than the .348 WCF.

9.3 Barsness-Sisk
Duplicates the velocities of the 9.3x62, but in a short bolt action, which as many rifle loonies know is superior to a long bolt action.

.405 WCF
Which is why its so wildly popular today.

7.62 Nagant
Few acknowledge this, but the 7.62 hits well out of its weight-class, due to the sealed-cylinder design of the Russian M1895 revolver.

16-gauge
There was never any need for the 20 or 12 gauge after the 16 appeared.

I know all this due to having owned guns for all these rounds, though the B-29 was owned only in my mind.

Half a box of 30-06.....

.22LR for obvious reasons

.223 for varmints

30-06 for North American big game

.375 H&H for large game up to and including bull elephant

12 gauge for obvious reasons

28 gauge, the sports car of shotguns (no gap between 1`2 and 28 for 20 or 16)

.357

9mm maybe for defense

1. .22 LR
2. .22 K-Hornet
3. R2 Lovell
4. .250-3000
5. 6.5x55
6. .30-30
7. 16 gauge
8. .30-06
9. .38 Special
10. .45ACP

If a 243 isn't good enough for an experienced hunter why is it good for kids and women?

Kids and women only shoot small fragile deer. Experienced hunters shoot the ones with really thick skin. Notice how the 270 isn’t mentioned.

Eileen asked a well-known gun writer exactly that a number of years ago, in a different way: "Why do men need bigger cartridges than women and kids to kill the same animals?" He didn't really have an answer--and in fact got a little grumpy.

.22LR
223Rem
243Win
7mm-08Rem
30-06Spfld
338Fed
375H&H
20ga
9mm
45ACP

Whether these are the perfect 10 for everyone, I do not know BUT they are the perfect 10 for me.

Hm.

22 long rifle
222
223
22-250
243
25-06
270
6.5x55
257 Roberts
20 gauge

If I can't kill it with a 270 I probably don't want to risk pissing it off lol

Same thing can probably be said for off the rack RAR’s vs. a high priced custom.