List your favourite underrated cartridges
- Thread starter BlackRam
- Start date
- Location
- West coast of Vancouver Island
.256 Newton
About 30% are saying 30-06 or something equally common. Is that an underrated cartridge? No, it's your personal favorite.
A 243 is an underrated cartridge as 50% believe it's underpowered...a 30-06 is originally designed as an anti-personnel / anti-material cartridge, it ain't underrated... unless you are shooting at lightly armored vehicles.
Just saying...show some imagination Guys.
A 243 is an underrated cartridge as 50% believe it's underpowered...a 30-06 is originally designed as an anti-personnel / anti-material cartridge, it ain't underrated... unless you are shooting at lightly armored vehicles.
Just saying...show some imagination Guys.
The problem on this thread is one of definition... the word "underrated" can use some defining and context. There are some historically popular cartridges that are indeed underrated in 2019. Perhaps "Black Ram" can provide a definition... such as; "underrated in the sense of being dismissed by gun counter personnel in 2019." Etc....
We all know that the .30-30 and .45-70 have killed millions of big game animals for over a century, but I think that they definitely qualify as underrated in 2019 at the average gun counter and in hunting camp/fireplace discussions... particularly with the "under 40" crowd.
I'll have to say the 303 British. I have one in a 1910 Ross that has been rebarrelled
because the original was toast. I love this chambering in this platform. It is a rimmed
308 Winchester, so it's performance does not leave anything to be desired. Dave.
because the original was toast. I love this chambering in this platform. It is a rimmed
308 Winchester, so it's performance does not leave anything to be desired. Dave.
pete dobinson
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Courtenay BC.
Yup... under appreciated due to the fact that they are so common, and common because they are good.
Very underrated by some is the 6.5 Creed.
Has plenty of positive attributes- low recoil, excellent performance for it's size, has a very well thought out case design, fills the same niche in hunting situations as many older cartridges like 308 270, 6.5x55, 243 etc. With the USA military announcing their adoption of the Creed, it's only going to become more popular.
Yet many people make disparaging remarks about it. Underrated indeed.
Has plenty of positive attributes- low recoil, excellent performance for it's size, has a very well thought out case design, fills the same niche in hunting situations as many older cartridges like 308 270, 6.5x55, 243 etc. With the USA military announcing their adoption of the Creed, it's only going to become more popular.
Yet many people make disparaging remarks about it. Underrated indeed.
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Well, if we are jumping on the "popular cartridges are underrated" bandwagon, why not ?
Johnn Peterson
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Chemainus B.C.
Well put and one I have that I would place in that very distinguished group of cartridges is the 44-40. I have one in an old and well used Marlin 1894 that has made its way through years of 'family' members to me. Over some of those early years, it accounted for quite a number of Moose, Deer and Black Bear. Going over some of the family history, that old Marlin has proven itself on Moose in far more instances than all the rest I have used on Moose that I have in my safe. I take it to the range on occasion, just to scare the spiders out of the barrel and 'reminisce' using some light cast bullet loads. In addition, should 'things' get serious, I still have a couple of boxes of old Dominion factory ammo. I see another 'range day' with it coming, soon. 
nowarningshot
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
7x57, 308 norma, 264 win mag, 375 rum.
Well, to say that this topic has been an interesting debate of such a subjective topic of the definition of "underrated" would be an understatement, to say the least!
To me, personally, I think of underrated cartridges as those that perform beyond their paper ballistic numbers in their performance and effectiveness on game in the field. Many cartridges can be deemed underrated, when compared to the newest whizzbang of the day, dependent upon the given point in time.
As found in the dictionary, it is to "underestimate the extent, value, or importance of (someone or something)".
Many have put forth the idea that today's time tested and proven cartridges, such as the 30-30, 270, 30-06, etc. are underrated. And perhaps they are.
It would be a matter of individual perspective.
As each of us have entered this past time at different points in time, whether it be during the smokeless powder era, Magnum craze, the Ultramag craze, the short, fat craze or the Creedmoor craze, we have been either subjected to the bigger, heavier school of thought of Elmer Keith, the lighter, faster school of thought of Jack O'Connor and Roy Weatherby, or the more efficient case design of the PPC/WSM school of thought, and so on.
I am almost certain that many shooters/hunters of bygone eras had the same types of thoughts and conversations that we are sharing today, when smokeless powders came into being, when the 6.5's became one of the most common international choices of militaries around the world before/during/after the World War I (please forgive me if some of my timelines are not historically accurate, I am not a historian, these are just illustrations of the point being presented), or in the various decades since as metallurgical, ballistic and technological advances came into being, and still continue to advance.
It would appear the one constant is change, over time. And that change appears to be the definition of what is now underrated today as compared to what it once was. Not the fact that the cycle is repeating itself in that we have newer cartridges for comparison to older ones.
It is an ongoing debate that will never cease as we each have our own favourites that we will champion against those of others. Great conversations to be had between friends enjoying time together around the hunting campfire!
To me, personally, I think of underrated cartridges as those that perform beyond their paper ballistic numbers in their performance and effectiveness on game in the field. Many cartridges can be deemed underrated, when compared to the newest whizzbang of the day, dependent upon the given point in time.
As found in the dictionary, it is to "underestimate the extent, value, or importance of (someone or something)".
Many have put forth the idea that today's time tested and proven cartridges, such as the 30-30, 270, 30-06, etc. are underrated. And perhaps they are.
It would be a matter of individual perspective.
As each of us have entered this past time at different points in time, whether it be during the smokeless powder era, Magnum craze, the Ultramag craze, the short, fat craze or the Creedmoor craze, we have been either subjected to the bigger, heavier school of thought of Elmer Keith, the lighter, faster school of thought of Jack O'Connor and Roy Weatherby, or the more efficient case design of the PPC/WSM school of thought, and so on.
I am almost certain that many shooters/hunters of bygone eras had the same types of thoughts and conversations that we are sharing today, when smokeless powders came into being, when the 6.5's became one of the most common international choices of militaries around the world before/during/after the World War I (please forgive me if some of my timelines are not historically accurate, I am not a historian, these are just illustrations of the point being presented), or in the various decades since as metallurgical, ballistic and technological advances came into being, and still continue to advance.
It would appear the one constant is change, over time. And that change appears to be the definition of what is now underrated today as compared to what it once was. Not the fact that the cycle is repeating itself in that we have newer cartridges for comparison to older ones.
It is an ongoing debate that will never cease as we each have our own favourites that we will champion against those of others. Great conversations to be had between friends enjoying time together around the hunting campfire!
RJ
Johnn Peterson
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Chemainus B.C.
Good choices. 7x57, my favorite for here on the 'wet' coast of Vancouver Island. And, 308 Norma Mag, my favorite 30 cal magnum.
