Hardest chambering to give up?

Ardent said:
I hear ya 100%, my only shotgun gauge is now 12 as well and I’m going there, .308 and 12ga, plus rimfire. I do debate if a painful program to convert everything to .257 Roberts has any merit. But I know it doesn’t… that other era’s call is strong, and I just plain like shooting .257 so much. Feels like forgetting a gal once and for all that was pretty great.
Click to expand...

257 bob sure does have merit, I got down to one bore and one cartridge that I can feed factory if I stock up (which I have). I don't reload but have been saving all the brass, have a good bucket full so far, maybe I'll grab some components in near future as well just in case retirement brings me time to take up the new challenge and develop a load. If you boil your list down even further, add in barrel life requirements, recoil (watch in scope), and maybe a couple other categories, truly minimize (or maximize efficiency) you might get to the bob? I had a bit of a struggle giving up the 270 win but was adamant that I'd be into 21st century developed cartridge for max efficiency factory (reload optional). You can shoot same amount of powder as 30-30 but 21st century 6.5mm 123gr bullet triples effective range on game and will plink all day to 800 if that's long enough for you and pretty sure you won't be able to wear the barrel out, and a case that's surely to be available a long time (7.62x39). You're still attached. So the only angle you haven't really debated is any of the 21st century options for possible fit as in time their ammo's will be far more frequent on shelves and eventually few of the 20th cartridges will be. Sort of future proofing for my kids. ;) I see you wanting to love to shoot and hunt the 30-30 but you're not likely to deal with the trade offs with existing knowledge of modern ballistics, could be a short ride...if true you can get down to your .257 easier. ;) Great post, we will all do this 'phase' a little differently.
 
Back in the late 60's I shot my first two moose with a 243... and now having gone through many calibers over 50 years + have gone back to a .243 as my only center fire rifle.
 
I got rid of pretty much all my hunting riflrs except for my Leeper built .Ruger in .303
I do have a drilling 16x16/9.3x72R as well, but it is a bird gun first and a hunting rifle second.
My .303 will do anything asked of it.
Cat
 
Hmm, have a few rifles so not much to give up :D Probably my 6.5 zastava and 7.62x39. Took quite a while to find a LH swede, and I bought both rifle so a extremely good price so the replacement of them would probably be impossible.
 
i do not think about the chambering but the combo savage lever action take down and 300 savage are never to leave me and for a good reason: it saved my bacon while stuck in the norh and few occasions while i was guiding in northern quebec.

a few years ago i will have said the 375 ruger but it is gone for good now ... keeping the 9.3s very good for here and still useful in africa if i ever go back ...
 
I have essentially given up on my 8mm Rem Mag. Too snappy for enjoyable bench shooting. So I have reasoned it must be too big for what I hunt here
 
Former train of thought for me was cartridges were 'species specific' so picked a velocity of 2700 and built a collection around bullet weights that fit for each, matched to a species
25, 26, 28, 30, 32, 35 to 37, one for wt, md, bb, elk, moose, gb, bison
nonsense, but made for fun collecting

now its almost reduced down to an assortment of .30 cals in various configurations for various uses
change is good
 
I have a "hunting" few rifles. Don't plan on getting rid of any just yet. I haven't hunted whitetail for two years now, but I shoot some of my centrefire rifles in the spring, summer fall. Rimfire I can shoot year round, as we have a nice indoor range about two and a half blocks from my house.

How can I cut back when my wife bought me a nice 8x57 Zastava last Christmas and I bought a nice CZ 557 8x57 this Christmas. I have quite a few milsurps in the pile, but they will stay. It seems I can only think through about two sentences into "cutting back', then my mind goes blank.
 
2506 and 458wm are my 2 favorites. 4570 and 9.3x62 and close behind. If I had to choose 1 it would be 2506 as I live in a caliber restricted area. If it wasn't for that I'd go 458wm. I primarily archery hunt deer and when I go north I hunt thick woods for bear and possibly moose someday. To be honest a 50cal inline muzzleloader would do for all my hunting with a rifle and a 12ga shotgun could do everything for me but I like choice so I'll likely never narrow it down much below what I have now.

I much prefer the 25 over the 30 and as for supplies. Buy in bulk and stock pile. Once you find the load your rifles like it's easy to stay stocked. Online order as it comes available online
 
I too have done a lot of recent mental gymnastics around this. I haven’t had the huge collections that some guys have, but I have had fair share of different set ups and chambering’s. Currently down to 4 bolt centrefires, and one .357 lever.

I have a.308 Kimber Montana that I love, so it is staying for now, at least until I get a ram (it’s a joy to tote, and accurate).

This year I got my first ever 6mm – a 6 Creedmoor and I am really enjoying that combination of low recoil, flat trajectory but legitimate big game capabilities (also legal in AB). I haven’t really wrung it out on game. I did shoot a cow moose but it was a close brain shot, so not really indicative of capabilities, but I can’t see how a 95gr LRX at 3080fps MV isn’t going to work wonderfully on deer, and even bigger with careful shots, if I need to. If a .243 with a 85gr TSX is good, this is in good company.

I have been thinking that a 6CM with 55-110gr bullets, and .308 with a premium 130-150gr bullet does anything I need to as a hunter in Alberta.

I also have a very accurate T3 6.5x55 and like the cartridge as much as I like .308. Irony is, I very seldom take it hunting as my main choice. It sits in the safe or goes along for a spare. Could I live without it? Sure I could.

I also have a .223 that is fun to shoot and gets out a few days each winter to call coyotes when they become as issue on an acquaintance’s sheep farm. The 6mm could easily handle the coyotes too. Lately I wonder why I need an extra range toy. The 6mm is so pleasant to shoot. Sure, it will wash out a barrel much sooner than a .223, but new barrel every few years is fine.

If I could one have one it would be a 6.5x55, 6.5PRC, 6.5-.284 or a 7mm-08. However with two I am thinking lately that a good quality 6mm CM and my .308 Montana will serve me well from the range, to coyotes, to big game.

Truth be told, I normally shoot 2 big game animals per year, some years 3. This year 1. I am not like my old friends in SA managing game who shoot dozens a year, or English game deer managers doing the same. Marksmanship training can be a .22lr game, with .22PRS matches for sport.

It’s a tough decision, but I am attracted to the idea of having just a couple of good quality hunting rifles and being really competent with them…. It’s not that I am losing interest, far from it, I just find the efficiency the efficacy of a couple of rifles that I like, to be simpler and very enjoyable. I have friends who own a number of hunting rifles, but mostly just take the same one every year. Most rifles never leave the safe for years.
 
Last edited:
I reject the idea, but to play along I'd go 8x57 and get a 98k, an open sighted Brno 22F and a scoped Brno 21H. One set of components and dies, done.

The 30WCF isn't anything to tie yourself to. I've almost always had one and have an ammo can full of reloads on range brass (500 rounds?), put 1000 bullets in the back of the closet and just about any midrange powder will do.

The smaller 22's are just too practical and easy to shoot, bullets can still be had for 12-20 cents and they sip powder. And they have enough bark that the kids don't get bore like with the 22 LR.
 
Gatehouse said:
This sounds like a fools errand. :)
Click to expand...

A dozen years ago, I would have whole heartedly agreed with you. :d While outfitting I only used 10mm, 7x57, .30-30, .375 and 12 ga. That was already a full gear range down shift at speed. Much of the stuff I’ve sold recently came from before that era, and wasn’t touched through it.

Now that busy time for guns is past, I had to reevaluate what makes sense. 7x57 and .308 are ballistic twins, but I can get the .308 in everything from a black rifle to a Johann Fanzoj. .30-30 is just a sibling that doesn’t leave, but a welcome one, and shares its bore with the .308 in a pinch. .375 I know we both have a dear affinity for, but it was more than I needed in all but a half dozen scenarios in the last 20 years. And I don’t put myself in those situations for work or play anymore.

10mm I can’t sell even if I wanted to, but as a sidearm it’s great. 12 gauge speaks for itself. So by not too much distillation… .308 is solidified as the mainstay of the battery, the One Round To Rule Them All in this guy’s safe :dancingbanana:
 
Lived 51 years in Alberta so had many rifles for different game from gophers to Moose. Now live in Quebec because of life and there is deer and the odd raccoon and such. But I also have many many more calibers. Hard to grab a 22mag when when my 22s are right there also. I finally used a 30-30 for a deer after 50 years of owning one. So now I can't really hunt much period now so what to do is a real head banger.
 
As a target shooter I find I keep coming back to .22LR because it lets you take a challenging shot at relatively short range (not a lot of opportunity to wring out a rifle to longer distances in Southern Ontario) and then it's not a strenuous hike to go change targets. At greater distances 6.5 Creedmoor fills the bill, great rifles and ammunition aren't hard to find in this caliber, it was developed with modern ballistic science, and it's good past the distance I've been able to push it.

.308 and .223 are great calibers, well developed by the military and available in great quantity because of them, but they get insufficient love because they're the absolute neutral vanilla of ammunition and I think we each want to find our own niche caliber hoping it's somehow a wee bit better and develop our unique character as a shooter around that. The .22LR and 6.5 CM get a bit of the too-popular vibe too.

For me, .45 Colt is that logically-unjustifiable niche that I love unreasonably having been much younger when it was one of my first centrefires. And as a Canadian, the .303 British is too wrapped up in our lore not to be a collector with one of those to bring out to the range and sense the history as the venerable Lee Enfield still speaks today.

Meanwhile, I'm seeing a lot of hunters here arguing about what's best, and the kicker is that with so many different animals and hunting regulations and likely engagement distances across our vast land you're all right for where you are even as you disagree.

But if one rifle had to do everything, then a scoped 6.5 CM with a varied diet of long-range target, hunting, and plinking bullets could well be it.
 
That’s a sage post, old303. I debated 6.5CM as my steady, bulk FMJ is available from S&B and it’s actually damn fine long range target fodder. I’ve never been a 6.5 guy, and that’s due to my affinity for you know who, Ms. Roberts. But I couldn’t ignore the ballistics, and availability. It’s certainly reached critical mass and was on my shortlist.

I did a points analysis on chamberings as I’m a geek and for my purposes the .308 got 99, the 6.5CM 88, and the .257 Roberts 71.
 
giphy.gif
 
If I had to, I could write off everything between .224 and .308 as long as the .224 was a 22/250 and the .308 was one of the magnums ( The Win is the logical choice). That's coming from a big 7mm fan. After that, a 458 (probably a Lott) and a 375 (probably an H&H, but a Weatherby wouldn't be out of the running) to split the difference; when splitting the difference is a valid choice.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom