"Best" parent cartridge/family of cartridges

Which is the best of the bunch for North American hunting/shooting and why?


  • Total voters
    74
do any of these cartridges derived from the 8x57 (308, 30-06, et al) do anything that it can't?

i really like the 7x57 for it's latina flavour.

and the mannlicher-schoenauer 1910 in 9.5x57 is an interesting piece.
 
I went with .308 narrowly edging out the '06 family.

The idea of a stiff accurate short action receiver with normally inherant accuracey makes the difference. :D Not a good choice for the largest of game and that's where the 06 family kicks in. Mind you I don't own yet but love the H and H group too 8)
 
todbartell said:
308 case. not much you can't do with a 243 for varmints, a 308 for general purpose, or a 358 Win for big stuff, within common hunting ranges. :wink:

I went with the 375H&H family because I like to be prepared for the "less common" ranges. :wink:
 
280 - I should quaify that a bit. Whereever I read that it would have been
pertaining more to wildcats than over the counter stuff. I'll have to see if I can
find the article. Remember the 284 case has been around since the early 60's
and is of the right size to either resize up or down..
 
Id say that a properly loaded 30-06 or .270 Winchester could reliably take all north american game including large coastal grizzlies or even a polar bear. With the larger solidly constructed bullets like a 180gr 30-06 A-frame, or a .270 150gr soft-point you get penetration that approximates that of many of the classic big-game cartridges.
The key is the proper load selection as your run-of-the-mill 150gr 30-06 JHP or 130gr .270 PSP generally fragment and are more suited to medium-sized game where penetration in excess of 18" isnt required.
So not much need for a family of cartridges when one cartridge would do all the work, right up from varminting with light polymer-tips to Whitetails with medium-wt hollow-points to Bears or Bison with heavy-wt A-frames.
One cartridge, either .270 or 30-06.
 
I like the 223rem...giving way to the 221 rem fireball...then to the 7mm whisper on to the 300 whisper.

Only cause it holds a genuine interest to me.

Peckerwood
 
I can't believe I'm doing this, but for North America, and only on this premise, I voted the 30-06 group. :roll:
Personally I find the 25-06, 270 and the old 30-06 pretty boring propositions but the 280 Rem, 338-06 and 35 Whelen are brilliant rounds. :wink:
And no one can deny that the 30-06 and 270 were the rounds until the 1960s saw magnums more easily available.
In modern terms the 280 has more to offer for the reloader and I personally like 7mm better.
However if you were asking what my favourite rounds were it would have to go to the Mauser rounds. :D
It cost me a real pang to vote for the 30-06, especially since the 7x57 was the case that inspired the '06. :(
 
Catnthehat said:
Actually, the 308 is nothing more than a shortened '06 when you get down to it.
So, the '06 class shoud really win.
Cat
And the '06 is just an augmented 7x57 so it should really win. :wink:

kevin.303 said:
being an aussie i figured you would have voted for the off shoots of the .303 British.
Well, I hate to seem like a traitor but the question was the best Nth American game cartridge family.
Based on that I really had to choose the '06. :(
They're good performers, the ammo is easy to get and there's almost nothing you can't take down with them, although I'd hesitate taking on a brown or grizzly bear, even with a 338-06 or Whelen.
I do really like the 280 and the 338-06 on paper. :wink:
I'd already own a H&R 280 Handirifle if I could afford one.
Besides, apart from the 303/25 and the 6mm Musgrave(the Sth African .303/243) which to be frank are good but not amazing, the .303 isn't known for it's stellar-quality offspring. :|
But I really am sick of US cartridges by and large. :roll:
They keep killing off the good ones like the 257 Roberts & 250 Savage, and eventually the 8mm Rem Mag & 280 will also go the way of the buffalo. :?
I like Euro and British ones better any day of the week.
Give me a 303 Epps, 7x57, 8x57 and a 416 Rigby and I'll be SET. :mrgreen:

*BTW: Point Of Order - how could the 8mm Rem Mag be left out of the 375 H&H list?? :?
 
how could the 8mm Rem Mag be left out of the 375 H&H list??

Lots of stuff was left off. The 8mm RM is not popular at all in N. America, that's why I put the .338 in.
 
catnthehatt said:
Gibbs505 said:
Has to be the 375! Just look at the off spring.

By contrast the 30.06 line is very limited!
Actually, the 308 is nothing more than a shortened '06 when you get down to it.
So, the '06 class shoud really win.
Cat

The class of cartridge's goes from the 224 weaterby through to the 458 lott. Much more extensive then thouse on the 8mm head, which really has a lot of usless duplication in it!
 
peckerwood, remember that the 223 is a developement of the 222 rem which is the true parent of the group which now has spawned the 204 ruger as well plus a whole bunch in between...
 
I went with the 06 family, excellent cartrages for big game, 25-06 for deer and smaller critters, 270 for deer and slightly larger critters, 30-06 for moose, elk, bear, and the larger 338-06, 35 for anything bigger, big moose and Grizz, and perhaps the odd saskatch or two :lol:
 
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