Its hard to say what the most popular caliber is. Do you go by rifle sales, ammo sales, or reloading die sales?
I always thought the best way would be to go with new rifle sales from each manufacturer over a 5-10 year period.
Its hard to say what the most popular caliber is. Do you go by rifle sales, ammo sales, or reloading die sales?
With a 30-06 I don't think it would have made a difference, but with a 35 whelen loaded with 250s I think it would have made a difference IMO
I always thought the best way would be to go with new rifle sales from each manufacturer over a 5-10 year period.

Its hard to say what the most popular caliber is. Do you go by rifle sales, ammo sales, or reloading die sales?
Do they make anything for men chambered in .270?
I would bet that the most popular centerfire caliber in North America, is .308". Given that it includes the 30-30, 308winchester, and the 30-06, I don't see any centerfire caliber that could possibly be more popular.
I myself have absolutely no use for any cartridge that uses .277" bullets.
You are of course right, but I have story to tell....
About 20 years ago I read in newspaper about hunter from Kelowna, B.C. being killed by grizzly bear.
I think many of us in B.C. remember this unfortunate accident.
He was suprised (stalked?) and had only shot once his 270Win rifle killing the bear but was mauled by grizzly anyway.
Both were found dead some time latter.
I allways kept asking myself; would hunter be still allive today if instead his 270Win he had say 30-06Spr or 35Whelen in his hands?
This is not to start "best bear defence caliber" but simple yes or not for an answer would do.
us southern boys shoot a 270 because it is the biggest cal we are aloud to shoot nothing to do with good old jack .we can get away with one gun to cover are small game and a once a year trip north .works for a lot of us Dutch
The trouble with that is rifles last forever, and even if few new ones of a certain caliber are being sold if could be because everyone already has two. I don't know the last time someone bought a brand new .303 British, but the ammo still seems to keep moving. Another factor is new calibers show up well because there are more people that don't have one.
Factory ammo sales don't work well, because a small percentage of people with .223s buying bulk can skew the results. Then there's the argument that people with expensive ammo tend to handload. That makes sense from a dollar point of view.
Handloading die sales do tend to indicate that someone is shooting a caliber, but although it doesn't seem likely to a bunch of gun nuts most people don't reload. Also, those who shoot less expensive factory ammo may be less likely to think its worthwhile.
You can go by what most of the people you know own, but most of us have more guns than they can take hunting as it is. If someone has 20 different hunting calibers he probably uses a couple of those hard and the rest idle. That could be because he likes a couple rifles more than the others and the caliber doesn't matter much at all. He probably loads for all of them, doesn't buy factory ammo for any of them, and if he needs another he probably orders a barrel. Which brings us to reamer sales.
Reamer sales could be broken down to sales to gunsmiths and sales to owners. The gunsmiths will tend to buy what they use the most, and the enthusiast will tend to buy the oddballs. He is less likely to buy the common ones because the gunsmith already has those, but a typical gunsmith has access to the reamers of his best customers who in turn buy most of the reamers.
Someday someone will develop an algorithm that will calculate the popularity based on all the factors, but it will likely turn out the magnum deer hunters that might shoot an elk will use 7mms, and magnum elk hunters who shoot deer will end up with a 300. Non magnum shooters in each class will split along the 270 and 30-06 lines. Short action and non bolt guys cling to their .308s but they won't go anywhere. In the meantime the deer hunters that dream about Alaska but don't go will get .338s and those that dream about Africa and don't go will buy .375s. While all this is going on, thousands of people that do go will do it with a .300 because the money is on the line and they suddenly cant remember why smaller was supposed to be better.
Popularity is a funny thing. I remember some girls who were "popular" but they were seldom best and never keepers except for those that didn't know better.![]()
One of the best open country mule deer cartridges there is.I just recently picked up a .270 Winchester bolt gun on the EE but haven't had the opportunity to shoot it yet. I'm just wonderin" what your thoughts are on this iconic caliber?


I believe that the 30-06, 270 and 308 are rated as number 2,3,4 as the most purchased/popular cartridge in North America,...............anyone care to take a guess at the number #1 most popular cartridge?............pretty elementary. OP, your choice is most sound.
Its hard to say what the most popular caliber is. Do you go by rifle sales, ammo sales, or reloading die sales?




























