Hardest chambering to give up?

[old303]

There's maybe an argument that the 5.56 and 6.5 and 7.62 bores are spaced about a millimetre apart and usefully different, while adding 6, 7, and 8 mm are splitting hairs at half-mm steps and could be skipped as we look for real differentiators.

I'm also seeing the occasional southpaw being persuaded by what can be found in an LH rifle, while those of us who shoot right (and for eye dominance too) may be taking the whole rifle world for granted.

And those of us into shopping, wheeling'n'dealing, and tinkering could usefully differentiate the ready-to-shoot safe from the sale-inventory and parts-to-build lockups and try not to let too much of the pile land on one side.

 

[Mik123]

I'm down to 22LR, 9MM, 223 Rem, 7.62x39, 6.5CM, 30-06 and 12 gauge. That's as about as far as I'll go in terms of downgrading. I'm set up to reload but I only shoot factory now and I like being able to find ammo, and do so at a reasonable price. I thought about changing the 6.5 CM to the same model in 308 but haven't done it yet.

 

[Ardent]

My bet is that you are too much of a restless tinkerer to get down to just .308 Win, even in multiple platforms, but I wish you well on the journey.

You’re likely right. I just need to build a gun and action from scratch rather than make customs that interest me on existing actions. I think the distractions and challenges going forward will be found mechanically rather than via the chambering / hand loading for wildcats.

 

[hoytcanon]

You’re likely right. I just need to build a gun and action from scratch rather than make customs that interest me on existing actions. I think the distractions and challenges going forward will be found mechanically rather than via the chambering / hand loading for wildcats.

I can see you doing exactly that... cool, but sounds exhausting... I am at the stage where I need to pep talk myself to walk upstairs to get my second cup of coffee in the morning.

 

[Milt Dale]

My first rifle was a 30 06 BSA that my dad bought new in 1952, He gave it to me, I gave it to my son, I replaced it with a Ruger Hawkeye in 30 06 then sold that one, since then I have lost count although I have enough rifles that I really don't need a 30 06, I still always seem to have a 30 06, presently a Husqvarna 1900 with a peep sight. I could just keep that one and sell the rest, come full circle.

 

[theshootist]

123

 

[looch]

Would be good for a smile if we knew how many of us have shared custody of some of the neat ones, I have a very funny story about how I acquired that 602 in a city far from home. Sitting in the wrong family’s living room under a nice bull elk on the fireplace and meeting the kids, waiting for the owner of the 602 to get home.

Turns out, that city’s planning spun me, I was on “Caribou Crescent” instead of “Caribou Close” or something. The fellow’s wife thought it sounded perfectly logical her husband would tell someone to come over for a rifle, after quite awhile it became clear the owner of that home didn’t have a .375 to sell. We had a good laugh, and I was redirected (quite late) to the actual owner’s home.

That's a good one.

I once purchased a TC Encore in 7-30 Waters from a guy that punched a polar bear in the nose (Wes Werbowy).

 

[257Roberts]

This has been a good read. I did a similar thing a few years ago.
I currently have the rimfires just for fun. The 243, 257, 270, 30-30 and a 308.
The 308s went a few years years ago but came back in 2020.
Reduced the 30-30s to a total of 2 from 5.
One really sweet 270 that has never seen the bush.
I have said I would never give up the 257s, any of the 3 I have and always looking for another one.
243s, 3 of them as well, one always seems to with me when I'm on a walkabout, and the # seems to haunt me. Wake up in the middle of the night and the clock says 243 that kind of haunting.

If it came down to it, I'm afraid it would be a 243 Winchester of some sort. It's easy to load and easy to shoot.

Having a hip replacement this past November and missing the deer hunt has made me think about things.
They say simplify before you die and I might just do that one day.

 

[Ridersfan]

I have a weird obsession with .451/.452 projectile guns. 45 acp (I don't own this & sure wish I did before the ban), 45 colt, 454 casull, 460 s&w (I don't own this & sure wish I did before the ban), 450 bushmaster... the Saskatchewan government a few years back made a 45 colt illegal for big game which sucked.... but I just seem stuck on this caliber for some reason... maybe because I've got thousands and thousands of cast & plated projectiles in varying grains lol
Regardless, if I had to thin to 1 caliber, then I'll bend the rules and stick with this projectile size that fits a few of my different caliber guns (9mm and 22lr are sure fun though, so no... I'm not going to slim down)

 

[SHELL SHUCKER]

I prefer the .452's as well, though I've had a fair pile of .458 dia bullet launchers over the years. My keeper rifles are in 45 acp, 45 Colt & 450 Bushmaster.
My 32-40 Win would be the hardest chambering to give up though.

 

[WhelanLad]

Cool post, a nice read..

 

[medvedqc]

I can’t give up the 338 wm despite the constant proselytizing of 9.3 crowd and that one 35 whelen load

without them you wont see the light ... just a matter of time. it is the time the 3 kings visited the Christ ...

 

[thymallus arcticus]

The journey from many guns to a few or even one is admirable (because it is challenging and requires critical thought) but I find the idea that the Walmart and Canadian Tire stock managers and their algorithms (and even the fickle whims of supply and demand) play a role in the caliber or chambering you shoot fundamentally wrong. There is the need to feed the guns but in a way the challenge and the effort require to feed your favourites is part of the fun too.

Recently I have been working with the 9.3x57 and 9.3x62 basically in the same model of gun. The 9.3x57 has a goofy oversized bore and requires me to swag down 375 bullets and turn 8mm cases into 9.3x57 cases while my 9.3x62 shoots the lights out with still pretty available factory ammo. I might sell my 9.3x62 because it holds no interest for me. As my primer supply falls to record lows, I have been cannibalism 9.3x62 rounds for primers to keep feeding the 9.3x57.

Practicality and guns are like oil and water for me....but to the OP, my hardest caliber to give up is 7x64 because I love my gun chambered for it (not because the eurotrash 280 Rem is anything too special).

 

[conor_90]

without them you wont see the light ... just a matter of time. it is the time the 3 kings visited the Christ ...

With ~400 275 grain speers, a sub moa load and rifle I’m way too fond of in 338 wm it will be a while.

I bought a 9.3x62 to take elk hunting but it had a poorly cut chamber and would not fire. It is BwanaDave’s 9.3x62 ZE* improved now.



* Zastava employee

 

[Ardent]

The journey from many guns to a few or even one is admirable (because it is challenging and requires critical thought) but I find the idea that the Walmart and Canadian Tire stock managers and their algorithms (and even the fickle whims of supply and demand) play a role in the caliber or chambering you shoot fundamentally wrong. There is the need to feed the guns but in a way the challenge and the effort require to feed your favourites is part of the fun too.

Recently I have been working with the 9.3x57 and 9.3x62 basically in the same model of gun. The 9.3x57 has a goofy oversized bore and requires me to swag down 375 bullets and turn 8mm cases into 9.3x57 cases while my 9.3x62 shoots the lights out with still pretty available factory ammo. I might sell my 9.3x62 because it holds no interest for me. As my primer supply falls to record lows, I have been cannibalism 9.3x62 rounds for primers to keep feeding the 9.3x57.

Practicality and guns are like oil and water for me....but to the OP, my hardest caliber to give up is 7x64 because I love my gun chambered for it (not because the eurotrash 280 Rem is anything too special).

I appreciated that post, and it resonated as I’ve done plenty of the same sort of fiddling, wildcatting, etc. Until recently planned my next build as a .318 Westley Richards, even collected the reamer, gauge, dies and a Walther barrel. The idea was to one by one skim 4 thou off the side of .338 monos on my lathe to enjoy a plethora of modern bullet options and not be reliant on Woodleighs. It didn’t even seem like much of a hassle to get something so interesting running with modernized bullets.

As life with three kids and a demanding career progresses rapidly towards the edge of madness and their hobbies flare and start to pull me in as well as a second class participant, I had to reevaluate the time sinks I could justify. I still love to ‘smith, and the mechanisms, lines, stocks interest me far more than the chamberings. A few chamberings hold special panache to me still… 7x57, the classic though oddly modern fast .25s, .375 H&H… Really that’s probably it, and the 7x57 only as its such a pleasure to shoot and is effective on game. And in this same time budgeting, I realized my target .308s, the guns I still shoot the most, do absolutely everything I’ve been doing with the .25, 7x57, and since I quit outfitting and African escapades the .375 offer me.

As recently 257Roberts himself said recently above… simplify before you die. That’s become a bit of my motto as of late even though I hope to begin a very long cartridge-boring stage of life. I’ve had a major reevaluation of what I enjoy, and what I spend my effort on since I retired from outfitting. This is not at all to say it’s the wisest path for everyone else, I know the fun that can be had tinkering better than most. For the current phase of life I find myself in, I still want to shoot with minimum fuss, hunt once a year for the freezer, and spend my time making the rifles interesting and keeping the chamberings dead simple to support this new path with the least time invested in the chambering itself.

If I had to have an honest talk with current myself in a time flux about where I suspect I’m going in the coming decades, I’d likely tell myself to keep a few, but make them make sense and ensure they support adventures. On a short list, it would be .308, .375… with a horribly painful divorce from .257. I want to spend some time living in Africa, and flying the arctic yet. Both those scream .308 / 7.62x51 and .375. They definitely don’t seem to say lathe turned .318 or wildcats to me sadly. Maybe I’ll get back there in retirement.

 

[GMC403]

6mm is a great do all, like the .257 in that respect. I should probably mention the .257 I struggle with shipping out for good is the .257 Roberts.

My first centerfire was a 30-30, had to sell it to help buy a house, but was able to buy it back after its cross country tour. It wont leave again.

I don’t think i’d be able to streamline to just one bore size, but if I had to, it would likely be the 30 cal. The hardest chambering for me to give up would be the 308 win, its vanilla, but it’s just too versatile.

My hunting lineup consists of a 257 Roberts, 308 win, and 35 Whelen, all stainless bolt actions. I feel this covers all my needs, but truth be told I usually just grab the 308.

 

[thymallus arcticus]

I appreciated that post, and it resonated as I’ve done plenty of the same sort of fiddling, wildcatting, etc. Until recently planned my next build as a .318 Westley Richards, even collected the reamer, gauge, dies and a Walther barrel. The idea was to one by one skim 4 thou off the side of .338 monos on my lathe to enjoy a plethora of modern bullet options and not be reliant on Woodleighs. It didn’t even seem like much of a hassle to get something so interesting running with modernized bullets.

As life with three kids and a demanding career progresses rapidly towards the edge of madness and their hobbies flare and start to pull me in as well as a second class participant, I had to reevaluate the time sinks I could justify. I still love to ‘smith, and the mechanisms, lines, stocks interest me far more than the chamberings. A few chamberings hold special panache to me still… 7x57, the classic though oddly modern fast .25s, .375 H&H… Really that’s probably it, and the 7x57 only as its such a pleasure to shoot and is effective on game. And in this same time budgeting, I realized my target .308s, the guns I still shoot the most, do absolutely everything I’ve been doing with the .25, 7x57, and since I quit outfitting and African escapades the .375 offer me.

As recently 257Roberts himself said recently above… simplify before you die. That’s become a bit of my motto as of late even though I hope to begin a very long cartridge-boring stage of life. I’ve had a major reevaluation of what I enjoy, and what I spend my effort on since I retired from outfitting. This is not at all to say it’s the wisest path for everyone else, I know the fun that can be had tinkering better than most. For the current phase of life I find myself in, I still want to shoot with minimum fuss, hunt once a year for the freezer, and spend my time making the rifles interesting and keeping the chamberings dead simple to support this new path with the least time invested in the chambering itself.

If I had to have an honest talk with current myself in a time flux about where I suspect I’m going in the coming decades, I’d likely tell myself to keep a few, but make them make sense and ensure they support adventures. On a short list, it would be .308, .375… with a horribly painful divorce from .257. I want to spend some time living in Africa, and flying the arctic yet. Both those scream .308 / 7.62x51 and .375. They definitely don’t seem to say lathe turned .318 or wildcats to me sadly. Maybe I’ll get back there in retirement.

I am not yet at the stage were my kids are sprouting there own interests and bringing me along for the ride but that shoe will drop eventually. However, I can appreciate the family/career (in particular the job at my stage in life) edging out all things guns; toys must fall to the way side if you're going to be a family man with a job that won't leave you beggard as an old man. Your quest to trim the fat is probably the right way to do it and maybe I will get there. At present, I use the gun/reloading as my "fortress of solitude" to help take the edge off the daily transition between career man to family man and, in that way, I justify my time spent with the toys. I might have even transitioned to buying new guns for the kids (257 Roberts and 25-06) or wife (6.5x57), etc.. Even the dog needs a new gun, right (side x side 12 gauge)? I kid, but I actually suspect we are on the same conveyer belt but you are bit ahead of me.

A .318 WR would have been cool as all get out but, as you point out, the other (and bigger) fun objectives need to mesh with gun habit too. ...perhaps retirement really will be where the gun nut phase goes wild.

 

[old303]

...

If I had to have an honest talk with current myself in a time flux about where I suspect I’m going in the coming decades, I’d likely tell myself to keep a few, but make them make sense and ensure they support adventures. On a short list, it would be .308, .375… with a horribly painful divorce from .257. I want to spend some time living in Africa, and flying the arctic yet. Both those scream .308 / 7.62x51 and .375. They definitely don’t seem to say lathe turned .318 or wildcats to me sadly. Maybe I’ll get back there in retirement.

It'd make sense to keep on the one hand the set of good-to-go rifles in common calibers to actually shoot, and on the other hand a project gun or two for happy evenings with the lathe.

 

[Brian46]

50bmg

 

[kayaker1]

As life with three kids and a demanding career progresses rapidly towards the edge of madness and their hobbies flare and start to pull me in as well as a second class participant, I had to reevaluate the time sinks I could justify. I still love to ‘smith, and the mechanisms, lines, stocks interest me far more than the chamberings. A few chamberings hold special panache to me still… 7x57, the classic though oddly modern fast .25s, .375 H&H… Really that’s probably it, and the 7x57 only as its such a pleasure to shoot and is effective on game. And in this same time budgeting, I realized my target .308s, the guns I still shoot the most, do absolutely everything I’ve been doing with the .25, 7x57, and since I quit outfitting and African escapades the .375 offer me.

As recently 257Roberts himself said recently above… simplify before you die. That’s become a bit of my motto as of late even though I hope to begin a very long cartridge-boring stage of life. I’ve had a major reevaluation of what I enjoy, and what I spend my effort on since I retired from outfitting. This is not at all to say it’s the wisest path for everyone else, I know the fun that can be had tinkering better than most. For the current phase of life I find myself in, I still want to shoot with minimum fuss, hunt once a year for the freezer, and spend my time making the rifles interesting and keeping the chamberings dead simple to support this new path with the least time invested in the chambering itself.

If I had to have an honest talk with current myself in a time flux about where I suspect I’m going in the coming decades, I’d likely tell myself to keep a few, but make them make sense and ensure they support adventures. On a short list, it would be .308, .375… with a horribly painful divorce from .257. I want to spend some time living in Africa, and flying the arctic yet. Both those scream .308 / 7.62x51 and .375. They definitely don’t seem to say lathe turned .318 or wildcats to me sadly. Maybe I’ll get back there in retirement.

Slightly diferent circumstances, but very similar thought process as you. I think you are being wise. Material simplcity, in my opinion, is almost never regrettable. I am becoming a fan of fewer guns, endevouring to ensure that they are mostly decent quality, useful, and being highly proficient with them.