Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game What cartridges have you retained loyalty to?

22LR 75 yrs
257 67 yrs
30-06 56 yrs
222 Rem52 yrs
7x57 51 yrs
45 Colt 61 yrs

Too many, but more rather than less hasn't been a problem.

Obviously .22lr for many years.
I'm a fan of both the 7mm-08 and 9.3x62mm

6.8spc, 260Rem,7-08, 280Rem,

I have a bunch already, but 22 Creedmoor is interesting. I dont know why, got a Tikka 1 in eight 22-250

300 win mag. First was a Browning A Bolt Medallion second was a Nosler M21. Neither really recoiled hard. The Browning had the BOSS on it and I put the non brake CRS on. The Nosler M21 has a great stock and doesn’t kick bad at all. 300 Win Mag because every time I’ve had a 30-06 I always wanted a little more horsepower for no apparent reason. Hits hard, shoots flat and behaves well.

1985: Shot my first deer in VA with a 7x57 Mauser, and "from my cold dead hands...."
2001: Shot my first Alaskan black bear with a .30-06, and "from my cold dead hands..."
Other calibers come and go, become favorites and wane over time. Those two will never leave. Still have both of those rifles too.

They are really a great pair of cartridges when you get to know them. Not much ground not covered by these 2.

22LR, all else is subject to change.

First two guns: Stevens #26 Crack Shot and a Jap 99 7.7. Still have both and occasionally load ten rounds for the Jap and shoot it. 6 MOA

Have Loyalty to a cartridge doesn't fit with my understanding of the word Loyalty.
Now I still use cartridges that I used in the 1960s, but "loyalty" is not a correct term. Maybe a phrase like "admiration of attributes" or even just the words "I like" would fit well, but not loyalty.

Some I started out with in the 60s that I still use are:
22 LR
300 Savage
30-06
270 Win.

If I push forward to the 70s I'd add
32-20
38 Special
44 mag
45 ACP
44 Special
357 mag
308 Win.
20 gauge
12 gauge.
375H&H
300H&H

And there are many more that I have used starting in the mid 70 up to now that I still use, but at least as many I used for some time and later sold and cannot say I have really missed them. So cartridges I love and use today are more because they are what a favored gun uses, and have no special magic. They just go to guns I really like. None are useless. But I like guns, and so many cartridges that I use are more because of the guns they fit. Like my 300 Savage and it's use in my Savage-99 or my 30-06 because I have 2 rifles I REALLY like that chamber it, a lever action M95 and an M1 Garand. Same with my 300 H&H. It's a classic Mauser and simply a beautiful classic rifle, but if it were a 30-06 or an 8X57 or a 9.3X62 I'd still love the rifle and simply use what ever it was chambered in.
You get the picture............................

Recommend you look up loyalty as an idiom. Quite the education on the use of the English language and word interpretations.

Having seen some of your thread responses before, you have used some wonderful cartridges, many of which will never become best sellers, but none the less, are great performers in the field and well proven over their life spans.

Unfortunately, our contemporary world is fickle and longing for drive through successes that never were. That's why the 70+ readership yawns at much of todays' new entries.

I am reminded of the Remington Seminar of 1978 where the 8mm Remington was introduced. After the presentation the Remington rep asked for questions and Elmer Keith responded with, "What is it good for?". We are seeing the same again with the new Federal 7mm Back Country. Introduced in a market saturated in 7mm cartridges with no rifles in store, no ammunition, no dies, cases or reloading information in a market already starved of primers.

This thread has more relevence today as we hold onto and retain loyalty to existing proven performers that have offered stability and consistency in their reliability. We trust them and have reached a point of expectation with them.
It is as simple as that. Thanks for contributing.

PS: I also agree with your reference to liking the rifle firstly, followed by the cartridge. It isn't stated enough.

Started with .270 40 yrs ago. Circled through a half dozen other calibers and am back to a pair of .270s. Rainy day (stainless with carbon) and sunny day (blued with wood).

Just beginning an experiment with a 6.5 Creedmoor.

I used to be loyal to the .270 Winchester until I found out it dropped big game in their tracks without recoil knocking me back to the Middle Ages. So now I'm loyal to the .270 Winchester for 51 years runnin'.

7mm Weatherby Magnum in a MK V since 1978.

308 Winchester, Remington 700 since 1978.

22LR, 243 Winchester, and 7mm-08. I have no need for anything else.

How many rounds have you put through the 7 Wby, roughly?

270 Win
7mm RM
30-06 Govt

308
7x57
6.5x06
222 Rem

22LR…60y