Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Most underrated Rifle and caliber

I was going to say 7mm-08 or 338Fed. I understand why the Fed is fading but it hammers animals better than what its paper ballistics indicates. The fading of the 7mm-08 baffles me though. It is light recoiling, kills well and is big enough for elk.

The big problem for the 7mm-08 is the .308 Winchester--which is more available in a wide variety of factory loads and rifles, and kills just as well.

I have taken a bunch of big game with both, and witnessed a number of hunting partner doing the same. Have yet to be able to tell any difference.

In your estimation which is the best bullet for elk out of 7mm-08?

True about both. But one of the points I've made more than once during this thread is that 90% of hunters aren't handloaders. I don't think the average hunter underrates the .30-06. Instead it's underrated by handloaders, who often tend to prefer the latest/greatest/most "advanced" cartridge.

.30-06 factory ammo is still among the top sellers in the U.S., though probably .308 Winchester ammo probably beats its numbers.

Have also pointed out that the .308 is far more common among European hunters than the 8x57 these days--despite so many Americans still claiming the 8x57 is "the .30-06 of Europe."

The 30-30 in a Contender gets my vote. Considering the current bullets available, it is undeniably a viable 300-yard deer/hog cartridge, features a miserly appetite for powder and has minimal recoil.

The projectiles designed for the Blackout, when launched at 30-30 speeds, are what breathes new life into this ancient round when used in a single shot. The 110 and 120 grain Barnes TAC-TX and the 110 grain Hornady CX (formerly GMX) along with the Speer 150 grain Gold Dot Bonded/Blackout-AAC have served me extremely well.

The 120 grain Barnes runs at 2625 fps from a 24" Van Horn barrel, still retains over 1000 ft./lbs of energy at 300 yards and will expand to nearly .60 caliber at that distance. With a 200 yard zero, it's only about 9.5" low at 300. Old standbys still do the job, too. The 125 grain Ballistic and Accubond and even the 150 grain BT perform well at 30-30 speeds. If someone prefers a heavyweight, the 168 grain Nosler LRAB can be driven to 2300 fps with ease and -- since it was designed to expand down to 1300 fps -- opens quickly and rather wide at pedestrian 30-30 velocities. I haven't used that one on game, but it will turn a steel gong every which way but loose and leaves no doubt as to the impact.

If someone started another thread about overrated cartridges the ones listed would be the same ones listed in this thread about under rated cartridges.


It was also known as the deer wounding cartridge. Sometimes nostalgia causes us to see things through rose colored glasses.

Yes, all of those would qualify--in some ways.

But what I pointed out early in this thread is the reason many cartridges are "underrated" is that good factory ammo isn't easily available, or affordable. In the U.S. this particularly applies to three cartridges on your list: The 7x64 Brenneke, 7.65 Argentine, and 7.7x58 Arisaka. Have handloaded for all three, but none of them provide any ballistic advantage over the .270 Winchester or .308 Winchester, and many practical handicaps. So why should somebody choose one of them due their "great performing"?

Unless of course they're a rifle loony, which is common here.

Might also comment that the very first "modern" custom rifle I ever had built, as in one with an after-market stainless barrel, lay-up custom stock, and "blue-printed" bolt action, was a .280 Remington--put together around 1990 by the late Dave Gentry. Used it on a lot of big game for around a decade, including my biggest mule deer and one of my two biggest caribou. Could never tell any difference in its field performance and that of the .270 Winchester...but maybe some .280 fans can....