What currently available FACTORY cartridge(s) do you


1) Like the least?

2) Have the least use for?

Those aren't the same question asked two different ways.

One can despise a cartidge for design, market, "tradition" reasons, or because of something else, but still see it as useful in at least some situations.

Or, he can also really like a cartridge, but just personally have no real use for it whatsoever.

So, which ones would you pick as your most disliked and least useful?

And why?

I guess my own most disliked cartridge is really a pair of them...the 223 and .243 WSSMs. To me, they are ugly, needless repeats of previous similar performers, and most of all just an insulting marketing attempt to sell more rifles under the guise of something "new".


Least useful is a lot harder for me to choose.

I think, though I'd probably end up choosing the .17 Remington. 20-to-30 grain bullets don't fill a lot of needs for my shooting, regardless of velocity.

But, if I am going to use a bullet somewhere around 25 grains weight, I sure don't need it in some hot-rod over-bore case. I have some uses for the .17 Ackley Hornet on some varmints, but if I want something travelling 4,000 fps or so to reach way out and touch something, I'd much prefer a .220 Swift or some other round with at least twice the .17 Remington's bullet weight.

How about you guys?

quote:

1) Like the least?

All of the weatherby cartridges.......just plain overpriced...

quote:

2) Have the least use for?

The .220 Swift....a lot of powder burned for very little extra velocity

most magnums as they offer very little over their counterparts using the .30-06 case...

No use for a .375 H&H or anything bigger than that.
Dislike the marginally designed .260 rifles and cartridge; short mag, neck and throat. They could have done better. The 7-08 falls in the same category . roger

7MM Rem Mag most disliked.
Yes I know it is very capable, a real killer but
(there's always a big but)
It is the most OVER hyped cartridge and typically ( not always) is the the one that real amatuers relate their long distance kill shots with.
I can't tell you how many times I've heard people tell me about their 7-8 and 900 yard elk kills with a a 7 Mag and when I ask "wow what was your holdover on that shot" they invariably reply "I held dead on".
I've heard numerous times that " at that distance with a 7 mag the bullet is still rising".
For that reason this cartridge is the most despised cartridge for me. (least liked).

I have no use for the 17 Rem. and also anything larger than a .458 I guess I don't get it for either of them.
Your opinions may vary this opinion is mine!

I have never liked the 7mm Remington Mag, the 308 or any of the WSM's.

I have a 308 but can find no real use for it. It seems I have it bracketed by many other rifles better suited for any job the 308 might be applied to. I have always found the 308 adequate as a deer rifle and my wife has even taken elk with it but it is one of those uninspiring rounds that are bettered easily by so many others.

The 7RM earned my dislike after having two hunting partners who placed more value on velocity than meat damage. It seemed they wanted the lightest bullets going as fast as they could possibly get them going and cared little for the resulting loss of meat. I realize proper bullet selection would reduce meat damage but first impressions can be hard to shake.

My strength has never failed me to the point that I couldn't make a long action bolt rifle work just fine. IMHO the WSM's were a great marketing ploy but completely unnecessary.

I have never liked the 243, although I had a 6mm I loved. We are funny sorts on occasion. In the same vein I have never been enamored of the 22-250 but idolize the Swift. I cannot warm up to the 7-08 but the 7X57 fires me up. Go figure.

The 338 is a great round and at one time I swooned for one. I have no desire or use for one now, I would lean more toward a 340 Weatherby or a 358 Norma were I to go the mid size magnum route.

Mart

1. 454 Casull, mean spirited, and nasty natured. I, know, I,m a wimp. It just does,nt seem to be a warm and cuddly sorta round.
2. Kind of a toss up between the 30 TC, or the 338 Marlin Express. Nothin personal, just don,t see a lot of reason for the existence of either one.

1. 7mm Rem Mag, cuz everyone who owns one just "knows" it is a magnum and they are playing with the big boys.


2. No use for a 243 Win.

Yes Snell and I have had campfire talks the same as this

The 7 RM is the most over rated and I have never warmed up to it and have owned 2

It's mystic holds pure majical power in the eyes of some and solves all problems with range
as most people at our local Walmart will tell you around deer season "if I can see um I can kill um"

7 RM it's magic

[/QUOTE] Like the least?[/QUOTE]

.243 followed closely by the 30-06.

[/QUOTE]Have the least use for? [/QUOTE]

.223 and any of the short mags/super short mags/ultra mags.

This seems to have devolved into a bash 7ymag thread. While a big 7 is not my first choice as my go-to rifle, I have shot one quite a bit and I like the cartridge. Was it over-hyped? Seems to have been but that doesn't keep it from being a very capable, versitile cartridge. I think the problem is that many folks bought the 7 thinking it would make them capable of things beyond their abilities. Kinda like the magic bullets you hear about today. I think Weatherby seems to have been the first notable gun loonie that proposed that if you put a belt on a cartridge and drive a light for calibre at warp speed, you didn't need to know how to estimate range nor figure trajectory. Hell, you didn't even have to know how to shoot as any hit was sufficient to bring the game to bag. 'Cause of that thar kenetic energy, don'tchaknow.

IMO, the most worthless cartridge is the .243.

No use for a 264 Win. Just a loud 270 in performance.

Any WSM cartridge....Almost as good as the great cartridges they try to emulate, but made shorter so they introduce feeding issues where there weren't any before.

Beeman beat me to it, the 243 is the most worthless cartridge

The next most useless is, as Biebs said, any WSM or WSSM cartridge.

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:
I think, though I'd probably end up choosing the .17 Remington. 20-to-30 grain bullets don't fill a lot of needs for my shooting, regardless of velocity.

17 Remington has a purpose for maintaining pelt quality.

1) Like the least? :

The 7mm-08. Any of the .25, .277 and .284 cartridges have low recoil and are all very shootable. I really see no need for such a puny case in such a small caliber. Especially when a person can shoot the 280 Rem. or 7mm Rem. Mag

2) Have the least use for? :

The 30-06. My choices are basically a 7mm bullet for deer and a .338 or larger for elk and moose. The 30-06 is a great cartridge it just falls in the .30 calibers that I don't shoot.

Dislike non Weatherby magnums, most are newer and do not perform as well.
Like about everything , it gives reason to buy new guns

As I sit where I'm typing, I cas one of the headline banners on a copy of SHOOTING TIMES that says, "40 years with the world's most popular magnum." S I looked and yup, it was the 7MM Rem. mag. and round I have absolutely no use for. There isn't a damn think it will do any better than my .300 Win. Mag. will do so why bother?
There's just way too many I don't like to even try and name a particular one so I won't.
What do I like best? probably my .35 Whelen with my 7x57 and .308 Win. running a tight second place. Unlike some I even like the 30-06.
Paul B.

There are a great number of successful rounds that I dislike.

I really dislike short neck straight bodied cases and any round with a sorry throat design.

Top of the heap are

.243 and the .300 Win Mag.

The .243 is just a big varmint rifle
and the .300 is just an in betweener.
If I want a belted magnum it needs to be a .338.

Least liked would be the AIs. I just can't see the point of all the work and expence, and time. that said, anyone got a 6.5-06AI for sale?
No use for would have to be the 300 Bee. It among my favorites and I will always own at least one, but unless I take up hunting hippos or volkswagons I just don't have a use for all the horses. (they do kill deer but not as good as a 243, cause you gotta get em just the right amount of dead.)

Like the least: 30-06

Least use for: Anything bigger then my 7mm-08

quote:

Originally posted by ar corey:

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:
I think, though I'd probably end up choosing the .17 Remington. 20-to-30 grain bullets don't fill a lot of needs for my shooting, regardless of velocity.

17 Remington has a purpose for maintaining pelt quality.

I didn't ask for folks to disagree with others' choices. I wanted to know opinions as to most disliked and least useful for the individual posters, not to force folks to justify their choices.

I, personally, have NO use for the .17 Remington. Others may have legitimate use for it. I DO NOT.

22Hornet.....had one and it shot great and was fun but I had no use for it

i like em all .. but of the least liked .. .270 .. it does NOTHING the 7x62 didn't do 20 years earlier.. with the 7x64 having better bullet selection.. and i have them both.. so yeah.. there's that

in all seriousness, i do have a special place in my heart for the 22 mag ... havent seen a single gun in 22mag that wouldn't be better in 22 LR

.308win.

.243Win..neither fowl & fish.

quote:

I didn't ask for folks to disagree with others' choices.

Lloyd...no disagreements? You do remember what website you're on, don't you? :-)

1. 7mm Rem Mag. I own one but it just sits in the safe
2. 270 Win. To many cartridges with bigger and smaller bores outperform it.

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:

quote:

I didn't ask for folks to disagree with others' choices.

Lloyd...no disagreements? You do remember what website you're on, don't you? :-)

Good point, Biebs

I really was, though, hoping that if we could all just list our choices, that information might prove interesting and maybe even useful to others...and might give us a few surprises along the way.

I know that I am already surprised (and better informed) by seeing the number of folks who have picked the .270, .30-06, and 7 m/m magnum as either a disliked or not useful cartridge for them. Never would have occured to me that so many would feel that way.

But on thinking about it, I can see where they are coming from, even if their choices aren't anything like my own.

If we accept their opinions are truly representing their feelings or their uses, and don't argue with them about it, I hope we will get lots of folks responding who would not even post if they thought they were offering themselves up as contestants in a pissing contest, or would have to defend their feelings.

Civil discurse is sometimes more productive than heated debate.

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:
I know that I am already surprised (and better informed) by seeing the number of folks who have picked the .270, .30-06, and 7 m/m magnum as either a disliked or not useful cartridge for them. Never would have occured to me that so many would feel that way.

But on thinking about it, I can see where they are coming from, even if their choices aren't anything like my own.

If we accept their opinions are truly representing their feelings or their uses, and don't argue with them about it, I hope we will get lots of folks responding who would not even post if they thought they were offering themselves up as contestants in a pissing contest, or would have to defend their feelings.

Civil discurse is sometimes more productive than heated debate.

I'm also surprised that I agree with so many and disagree with so many.

Just to be contrary, one of my favorite cartridges is the 243 Win. I shoot it at 1,000 yards for F class, shoot deer and antelope at medium range, whack coyotes at long range and prairie dogs at longer ranges.

Any of the WSSM's, WSM's and please add to that the most spectacuarlly redundant useless group of carteidges ever to hit the market.

The RCM line of rounds.

1) Like the least?

I have loathed the .270 Win for years. Not because it is incapable, but because it doesn't perform at the levels the hype has created, and many start out with it and believe it to be a majic wand.

2) Have the least use for?

This list is getting bigger as there are so many underwhelming new ones. The one that I have had no interest in is the 7.62x39. It is nothing over the old .30-30 Win power wise, and were it not chambered in automatics there'd be no point.

Sounds to me like most posters are skirting the 2 questions.

I believe that bullet placement is more important than caliber.

Just a short detour on the OT track in a way. The outfitter I hunt elk with in western Colorado told me many years ago, that he had seen more elk shot and lost with a 7mm Rem Mag than any other caliber. His take on the matter dealt with hunters buying into the hype and then not taking time to work with the gun and loads to accurate;ly put shots where they needed to go. Pardon the detour. I had a 7 mag for several years, just happen to like my 300 Weatherby better so the 7 went bye bye.

I think it was Capstick that said the same thing about Weatherbys and first time Safari goers in Africa. A newbie, reading the "lightning in a bottle, never fail regardless of the distance nor conditions" post about some of the cartridges in here, could make the same mistake about any cartridge.

quote:

the 243 is the most worthless cartridge

This thought deserves another few minutes.....

In fact the .243 is a marvelous varminter and doubles very nicely as a deer/pronghorn cartridge.

I've witnessed both and am dearly impressed.

Dislike would be the short mags.
Useless to me would be anything smaller than .22 or larger than .35.

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:
.....

I really was, though, hoping that if we could all just list our choices, that information might prove interesting and maybe even useful to others...and might give us a few surprises along the way.

AC,

So...What you have now is a list of opinions.

Going to stores and list the ammo they stock and turn over the most.

Then you'll have a list of facts!

quote:

Originally posted by RaySendero:


AC,

So...What you have now is a list of opinions.

Going to stores and list the ammo they stock and turn over the most.

Then you'll have a list of facts!

Not necessarily. What I will then have is a list of what are the fads in the particular areas in which those stores are located. Or perhaps which cartridges are most popular for particular game or target hooting sports dominant in that area. It may even simply represent the effectiveness of the selling job done by the local wholesale reps to the stores.

Anyway, what I was after is individual opinions about what folks HERE like least and have the least use for. And that is still what I am seeking in THIS thread.

And just out of curiosity, which stores in your area would have identified the dislike shown in this thread for the .270, .30-06, and 7 m/m Rem Mag?

quote:

Originally posted by ztreh:
Sounds to me like most posters are skirting the 2 questions.

Yes, it appears that just answering the questions isn't enough for some posters. They have to show their knowledge by "correcting" the opinions (feelings) of others.

But aside from their failures to adhere to the topic, I have gotten a lot of what I was looking for from those who did answer the questions...how a lot of individuals feel about the cartridges available out there.

Least liked: anything smaller than .22 caliber just doesn't make sense to me.
Least use for: anything bigger than a .45 cal. centerfire. Pistol or rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:
What currently available FACTORY cartridge(s) do you
1) Like the least?

7x57,...why?..because 7mm08 has better range of factory loadings- and can be properly housed in a sweet little SR-KurzM98- while still easily offering the same performance that made the .275Rigby famous[140@2800mv].. typically built on the stdM98.

Mauser chambered shorter sporting rounds like 6.5x54 and 8x51 in its Kurz rifles,
- but unfortunately no similarly short 7mm version.