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

50 years: 22 LR (Marlin 39a)
48 years: 30-30 (Marlin 336a)
35 years: 30-06 (JC Higgins model 50)

Ruger #1 custom 257 Weatherby mag around 25 years nicer bucks mostly and antelope
22 LR smaller critters
22 mag 40 years critters
220 Swift 20 years for coyotes
22 K-Hornet 15 years critters
6 BR paper targets 20 years

The longest has been the .30-30, used it since 1970 and it has probably accounted for more than half the deer I've killed. Lot of memories attached to it, plus it just plain works. I use a .308 a lot, but for practical reasons, though I like that chambering quite a bit. Been using it since late 80s/early 90s, but in different rifles.

The .30-30 is the same one I bought in 1970, only additions have been sling mounts and a Williams receiver sight.

This is thought provoking.
Remaining loyal to a particular cartridge first conjured up the question if that meant in spite of performance. With that in mind, I couldn't think of any that were a letdown.

I started shooting rimfire at five years old, and still do on occasion, still own my first centerfire, a .30-30 though I rarely hunt with it now as the sights aren't clear anymore.

I aquired a .223 & .30-06 in high school and still have them, and shoot them. The .223 has killed a pile of coyotes. I have a few others that are probably considered fud guns at this point, but with the modern bullets, and powders available, they still work incredibly well. The .22-250 and .257R are among these, for everything varmints to medium game.

53 years with the 270W. Still have that particular rifle, along with four other 270’s…….🤔

.357 Mag 50 years
.270 Win 46 years
.45ACP 32 years
.44 Mag 28 years

Everyone has had a .22 since they could walk...

30-06-- 40-some years. It was my first deer cartridge, and despite my wanderings elsewhere, it's still the brightest star in my firmament.

I didn't bring an '06 to deer camp this past season. I had too many new projects. I ate tag soup, so basically the same battery is going out with me this year. I've had years where I didn't take a deer with an '06, but I at least had it along to camp and hunted with it.

30-06 is still the 800 lb gorilla in my gun cabinet. When I go there, the question is always, "Why not the '06?"

.270 Winchester since 1973……had dozens of others and if I would have only stuck with that one instead of searching for the “perfect” cartridge all these years I could have gone on A LOT of hunts!!

Since then really only two others - 250-3000 since 1984 and the .260 Remington since 1996.

Penndog

Got my first 30-06 in 1977. It's been a staple ever since. I've had as many as 4, down to 2 now. A few .308's followed shortly there after. It has been my go to in recent years.

Interesting thread, it's easy to list the hunting rifle chamberings based on the years; then I thought about what I have in the safe today and of these what actively gets used.

> 40 years or more = 222/223/220 Swift/257 Roberts or AI/270 WCF/30-30 WCF/308 WCF/30-06 and 338 Win.

> 30 years or more =348 WCF/35 Whelen/9.3x62mm/375 H&H/405 WCF/416 Rigby/404 Jeffery/458 Win and 458 Lott.

> 25 years or more = 6.5x55mm/7mm-08 and 7x64mm.

Interesting note, of all the medium and large bore rifles that I've owned, only a 358 WCF and my 35 Whelens and a 9.3x62mm remain.

StarchedCover

22LR - 40 yrs
243 - 30 yrs
30-06 - 20 yrs

308 Winchester, 44 years. 7mm-08, 34 years. 222 Remington, about as long, and I love the 270 Winchester. I currently own three. Can't remember when I got my first one.

The rifle in my safe now that I have had the longest is a 7mm rem mag. I purchased it in 1997 and it just sits in the safe mostly, did kill an elk with it in 1998. Next longest owned is a 338-06 purchased around 2002.

I have owned the 30-06 off and on since 1966. I have owned 4 of them but the 2 I have now are fairly new to me early 1950's JC Higgins Model 50s.

I guess i would have to say I am most loyal to the 30-06.

The .375 H&H or the .375 AI ……my “only” hunting rifle cartridge since 1982….. Prior to that, the .308 Win., from 1966 into 1982.

If the 22 rimfire is added to the mix……continually since 1960! memtb

7mm Rem Mag. Been shooting it since I was 13 and I am 61 now.
375 H&H. Been shooting it since I was 21.
6.5x55 Swede. Been shooting it since I was 25.
20 gauge. Been shooting it since I was 9
410. Been shooting it since I was 6.
22 LR. Been shooting it since I was 4.

Rounds that are quickly becoming favorites in the last 10 years: 9.3x62 and 308 Win.

.270 60yrs

30-06

Over the years I have owned hundreds of different rifle and cartridges and hunted with them, but the two that remain are two I started with , the .303 British, and the .222 Remington.
The bullets I use have changed mind you, and my main big game gun is a custom built rig as opposed to my old No.4MK1*, and although I ave chnged scopes on it, the .222 is still the Anschutz 54 I first got in the 60's, ad it is still killing very well.
Cat

I started with a .22 LR, 12 gauge, and .30-30 in the 1970's. I added a .30-06 in the early '80's and though there have been many others through the years, those four remain staples to this day.

I started with a 22LR in 1973, deer hunting in 78 with a 250 savage, and bought a 308 in 1988. Still have all three. My first shotgun was a Mossberg bolt action 20 ga. Both of my sons started with that and I will be handing it down to my grandkids when they are old enough.