Did your cartridge make the list.
 

OK, heres one guys top 12 calibers of the 20'th century. With the number one caliber being ?
See if you can guess before reading the article. And be honest if you guess it.
It will make some of you guys very happy.

http://hunting.about.com/od/guns/l/aasttopriflecar.htm

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

Yep, I guessed the top one. Hard not to figure that out.
Two of mine made it on the top 10 list too, 270Win., and 308Win. :D

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

Zrex,

What about this comment..?

"6mm Remington (actually better than the .243),"

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

Thats debateable.
It has about a 150 fps more. but the .243 has the shorter case. it's a toss up, balistic wise, it is slightly better, but then theres the ammo availability issue. The .243 is the most inherent accurate rifles of all.
I was wondering why he says the .257 bob is better than both.
.

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

I am gonna guess the .30-06 and .30-30 are on the top.

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

OK, so the .30-30 didn't make a list, but my favorite was at the top!:D

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

7x57mm

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

The 30-30 probably would have made it but it was in the century before. 1895. It would have made the list because in its time it was quite a development and the first cartridge to be loaded with just smokless powder. This gives it a solid place in history. Just came to early for this line up. I have owned all but two. Never had the 458 WM or the 375 H&H although I have used the latter. My Uncle had one which I used when I hunted with him in Africa. I stand corrected, the 30-30 was the first sporting cartridge to go all smokless. The 30-40 krag in 1892 was the first Military smokless powder load for the U.S.

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

Yep, I knew that the cartridge of the century would have to be the 30-06!
While it is not my favorite, I've got to admit the '06 is tough to beat!
Two of my favorites made the list, the .308 and the 7MM RM. In a round-about way my 6MM Rem. made it into the list as a .243:D

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

I guess I don't agree with this list in its entirety. My big gripe is that he included the .220 Swift but omitted the .22-250. Sure, the .220 Swift is a smoking cartridge, but if velocity was the only thing that mattered, half the cartridges on that list wouldn't make the grade. There is a reason that there is a .22-250 in almost every serious rifleman's gunsafe, and it's because the .22-250 comes pretty darm close to the performance of the Swift, but does it with less powder, greater barrel life in a true, rimless, short action cartridge. The advantages of the .22-250 greatly outweigh the extra 200 fps you can squeeze out of the Swift.

This is another fine example of a good article twisted by writer bias. I think the sales numbers speak louder than on authors opinion in this case. The .22-250 falls easily in the top ten most popular cartridges in the world for both rifle and ammo sales.

Mike

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

would say 308 is the standard all other are messured, then maybe the 30-06

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

I would have to disagree with that. The .30-06 was around before the .308 was even a dream. It IS the standard by which all other cartridges are compared to. Before the .308 came out, there was nothing to compare another cartridge to, but the .30-06.

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

I felt the same way, he choose the .243 over the 6mil for this exact reasoning, why didnt he do it with the .22-250

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

I think the 220 swift made it because it came quite a bit earlier and 4000 fps at that time was a real big deal. There is no doubbt that the 22-250 left the Swift in the dust sales wise once it became known. Its a real perfprmer without a lot of the Swifts Bagage. The very best would be the 22-250 AI. It cures the only real problem for the 22-250. Short case life if loaded max. The 30-06 is no suprise. I am sure the 270 would have been second if only American hunting rifles were named. I don't how he did his picks and the 375 is sure a great cartridge however it has not been as widely used in this country as the 270.

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

Darn right. I too was looking for the .22-250 to be listed. Very proud of my Remington M700 BDL Custom Deluxe in .22-250 as it's dead-on-balls accurate.

Nice to see the 7mm rem mag there in the list.

Hello to the cities. Glad to be a member of the board.

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

30-06 would have been my pick for the top cartridge also.

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

4 of my favorites were on the list: 30-06,308,243, and 7mm rem mag

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

The 30-06 doesn't supprise me. I kind of thought the 7x57 Mauser would be up there though.

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

Keep in mind, these are Layne Simpson's pics. I don't think it's a list of the most popular in the USA, just his favorites.

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

I agree! One persons opinion, does not equal fact! Sales figures for guns and ammo, carry much more weight than opinions!

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

I enjoy Simpsons writing and while I don't always agree 100 percent with him, I think his list is pretty close to what I might have picked. There are many great cartridges and trying to cut them down to 12 picks is tough. He is a writer for a living and thus will stir some emotion. In his own words in some cases he picked popularity over merit. The 6MM Rem is a superior round to the 243 as he said however because it started out with the wrong twist rate, it lost the populatity battle. I also totally agree that the 257 Roberts and the 250 Savage are better deer rounds than the 6MM's but there again they are not as popular. The 25-06 is clearly superior as a deer round to the 6MM's and smaller 25's and thats one that would have been on my list. However what would I bump to keep it to a dozen? In my case the 6MMppc would have to go. This though it probably is the most accurate round ever developed and is well on its way to proving it.

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

It hardly matters whether someone's favorite cartridge "made the list". The list in question is not necessarily a list of the "best" cartridges overall - from a technical point of view. I am sure that the criteria centred on popularity...with some consideration of flexibility, accuracy, etc. (technical issues)....but, popularity probably given the most weight. So what.

The "best" cartridge is ALWAYS the one that fits an individual shooter's needs, does the job at hand, is most comfortable in use (for that particular shooter), is most accurate (again, for that particular shooter)...etc. I know not about others opinions on this, but I care nothing for the popularity of this or that cartridge. All I am concerned with is whether it is the "best" choice - for MY uses (and that includes the intangible consideration of whether I "like" the cartridge). That is why my current favorite is the 8mm Mauser. This cartridge will do anything the .30/06 will do (properly loaded)....and is, in terms of popularity, the ".30/06 of Europe". However, all I care about is that it works for me. I enjoy it, in part, because it is not so popular here. You see though, that eventhough this cartridge is the technical equal (in most all respects) of the .30/06...and eventhough it has been very popular in other parts of the world - more popular than the vaunted .30/06.... it did not receive even a mention, in the list.

The point of this is simply that, while enjoyable reading they may be, lists of "the greatest" cartridges serve little real purpose - other than providing interesting reading for enthusiasts of the shooting sport. They prove nothing. Whoopee.

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

Yeeaaa....Baby The old 30 nawt 6

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

You are right, it is tough to make a list like that, and please everyone! There are so many good calibers out there! It doesn't matter to me if mine is on someones "favorites" list or not! As long as someone is using enough gun to get the job done, its a good caliber!
Speaking of guns and authors, I like an article written a few years back, by J.R. Sunders, (I believe it was him!)
It was entitled "30-06, jack of all trades, master of none." He pegged my sentiments exactly! I have to say that the '06 IS the gun of the century, and if I owned one gun it WOULD be the '06! It does most all things well, but for specific purposes, you can usually find a better cartridge!

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

I was shocked the 7x57 did not make his list after all it is the mother of the modern cartridge and has taken more elephants than all the big magnums put together. The '06 is stiill the king after 100 years...the swift is the cartridge that the varmit guns are measured by, the 375 is the grandpa of the big magnums, the 243 set the table for the 6mm crowd as remington's big 7 did for the 7mm. The PPC doesn't belong and the 300 WBY mag?????.....nice round, however, just a 300 win mag on steroids....like all copycat weatherbys. The 308 is just a refined '06.....but the most accurate of them all.

My list would have included the 7x57, 6.5x55 and the .17rem and the ppc, the 2 other big mags would be gone and I would replace the wby with the win.

All in all a pretty decent evaluation. Regards, Rick.

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

I just dont understand your reasoning
The 6mil superior ? jeez guy it's a 150 fps faster, thats it!
But the .243 is more accurate. has a lot better selection of bullets, dont need to handload, hell you can put a descent load in the .243 and it will surpass the 6 mil. And how can you call the .250 savage better, it shoots a 100 gr bullet slower, has less energy, and drops faster ? WTF ?
Man I try and follow you when you say a bigger bullet is better but now the same size bullet which is traveling slower, has less energy, etc is also better ? WTF ? How can you say it's better ?
same with the .257, it has to be handloaded just to compare to the .243.
Dude you are biased big time!
And the 25-06, you aint gonna like it but it's the biggest overbore POS to be made.
Damn thing needs to be handloaded just to get any accuracy out of it, it has to have a 26" barrell to achieve those numbers too. The .243 is just as good in the killing department, with half as much powder, it's more accurate too. Compare both with 22" barrels and the .243 wins in the ballistics department too. The .243 off the shelf will shoot sub MOA with factory loads, everytime. I doubt any of the above will do that without handloading.

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

3 of mine made it 30-06 338 & 300 WBY

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

Only two of mine made it, but, then again, I really only use three rounds: the '06, the .308, and the "thutty-thutty."

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

Hey Muddy,
That's an odd combination [:-] Not knocking your choices, they're all really good ones, but I just found it odd, all yours' being 30cals. Sort of a velocity progression? What's next, the 300Win.Mag. or a 300H&H. How did you come to choose these three? No 7mms, no 270Win., or 243Win., etc. Just curious.:eek:

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

I reload everything. I don't buy ammo unless I absolutely have to. I owned the 6mm Remington, 243, 250 Savage, 257 Roberts 257 Weatherby and 25-06. The 25's have always done a much better job on deer for me. You can call my guns a POS if you choose, I won't stoop to your level. For me the 243 didn't work very well for deer so I retired it to varmits. It doesn't need my support since you have it on a pedestal. The 6MM worked fair. but I shot round nose bullets in that one. Always got 150-200 fps more velocity from the 6MM, more powder capacity. I never loaded it as hot as I could have. The 25's are my minimum for the Mule deer that I hunt. I am not partial to any of the calibers that I use. I just don't like the 243 for big game. I don't use it but you sure can. Nice little rifle.;)

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

Like i said , your biased.
99% of hunters dont reload.
The 250 and 257 bob are gone, and theres a reason for it.
As far as the weatherby, if i found one in the woods I would use it for fire wood. weatherby blows, never have I seen one shoot for crap.
james a deer wouldnt know the difference between a .243 or a 280 and everything in between. all these calibers are in the same class. want to talk superior then you have to move to a 30-06 a 7mag a 300 mag, now thats superior.

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

I still have my 25's they are not gone. I have reloaded everything since 1974. Not need to tell me how the calibers work on Mule deer I have used most all of them and I have seen it all first hand. Last Fall I shot four with the 25-06, two with the 308 and two with the 30-06. Year before I shot one with the 280, one with the 257 Roberts and one with the 250 Savage. Oh and one with the 50 caliber Muzzle loader. The year before I shot four with the 6.5x55. WE have a lot of Mule deer where I hunt. I could have bought 10 tags last year But just got eight. The whole family loves the meat. I am happy to bring it home. If I am biased its in favor of the eight or so rifles that I use all the time. And I am very biased against the 243 as a big game rifle. Won't deny that for a second. If I had to give them all up but one I wouild keep the 308 or the 6.5x55. Now those rifles drop deer. I gave up all the magnums. I had the 7MM Mag,300 Win Mag, 300 Weatherby Mag and the 338 and 416 Rem Mags.

I would have to keep my 7600 30-06 as well. Love my 7mm-08 and 45-70's too. Yup I must be Biased.:D With those and a few others like the 270, I don't need the little 24 for big game. The 243 is sure not up to taking on the 280 at anything.

Oh by the way if you find a 257 Weatherby in the woods, rather than burn it, the smarter thing might be to sell it. Thats just me though if you would rather burn it than get a few bucks for it, Light up.

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

James...it sounds like you need somebody to take a couple of them mulies out of yer hair :D I'll trade ya a couple of scrawny northern WV whitetails for em...lol.

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

Sounds like a pretty good trade. We sure have a lot of them these days. I don't know yet what the permit numbers will be like this year. I did my part to thin them out a bit.:D They have extended the season the last two years to reduce the doe herd.

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

yeah i was typing fast and didnt read my post before hittin post. should be reversed =)

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

Yes the .257 was standardized using IMR 3031, and a 100 grain round nose bullet, because they were the best combination at the time. Remington never changed the formula when Winchester came out with the .243. 20 years of draggin' their feet nearly killed the Bob (as you call it). Now they've got on board with the +P loading and made the .257 superior to any 6mm not wearing the Magnum monicker. Handloaders don't really care about what bullets are available in factory loads. [X(]

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

Thats for sure.:D

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

How could it not have been the top one.....I have yet to see a deer camp without one at least!!!

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

Still think all in all the 30-06 is and was the most popular for a all around cart. we will see. vangunsmith

RE: Did your cartridge make the list.
 

exactlywhat i was going to say. when i read the origional post i had an overwhelming idea that the 30-06 would be at the top. if it hadn't i would've been extremely surprised. personally i think it's the most practical and most versatile of any cartridge imo.