Cheap, readily available, versatile enough, lots of reloading options, and guns designed for it are usually lighter shorter and handier. I don't understand what makes a cartridge ###y or exotic to some of you guys. If the 308 is granny panties and the missionary position I'll take it. I don't have time tinker and eff around within the slightest nuances/margins of this hobby. I read some of the sh*t that some of you get up to and I'm amazed at the amount of free time you can devote to utterly irrelevant stuff. With a wife, kid, dog, demanding job I'm just happy to get shooting once in a while and if a new rifle can't shoot well with a few different bullet combinations/loads it will be gone. I'd never own a picky rifle long enough to figure what it liked, forget that sh*t. Some shooters/hunters I meet have been divorced numerous times, live in squalor, have zero life beyond their basement and the gun range. Maybe that's the level of commitment required to start seeing caliber as "###y"
Patrick
There are many levels that a hunter/firearms enthusiast can exist on. Some like yourself view firearms more along the line of a tool........if it isn't functioning as it is supposed to do get rid of it and get the correct one. There is nothing wrong with this approach and this level of involvement in the game. Others of us have a much deeper interest in the science of the sport and what makes one rifle accurate and another identical one not shoot as well. I can tell you one can be obsessed with this branch of science and not have to live in squalor, I am and I don't.......won't get into the divorce thing though. I have had a very busy and interesting life beyond my obsession with firearms, so it is possible to not spend your life in the basement and still feed the obsession.
Sometimes I envy people like you who have an interest and exercise this interest in a much more casual demeanor than what I can seem to manage. Being retired now I should have more time to devote to my hobby/obsession but I bought 34 acres instead and now I must divide my time between my guns and maintenance of the property and house and shop and on...and on...and on. Apparently I'm still too busy to spend the amount of time I would like to spend at it, but I do get to spend a fair bit.
I have had an insatiable desire to learn about everything ballistic and sporting firearm related since I was old enough to say "gun". It is not genetic as my father was borderline anti gun, it just is what it is. All this may be irrelevant sh!t to you and doesn't mesh well with your lifestyle.......it just is what it is.
I know guys who can quote you the score from every NHL/NFL/CFL/NBA game for the last 5 years and maybe 10 and who scored the winning goal/touchdown whatever. Now I consider this to be absolutely irrelevant drivel, what has been learned, what value is it ? But they still have to know it for whatever reason. You want to talk about a waste of valuable time, watching all those games on TV every week and talking incessantly with their buddies about it........not for me. I could be spending that time shooting, hunting, reloading, gunsmithing, flying, working on my '55 Bel Aire, building new counter tops, cleaning my shop, riding my horses..........point is we are all busy, what you choose to do with your free time is entirely up to you.
I also managed to raise 2 families during my working years and for a significant portion of that I was a single parent.........while owning and running 2 businesses with up to 10 employees. It's all in how you prioritize your time and how efficient you choose to function.