What makes one brass bottle filled with nitrocellulose particles and expelling a projectile of a certain diameter and weight boring while another brass bottle of slightly different dimensions filled with the same basic nitrocellulose compound (and more or less combustion deterrent) is exciting? Especially when the variance in dimensions is measured in fractions of an inch or tiny fractions of an ounce.

Is is exciting because ammo is unavailable outside of the five largest metropolitan areas of the world? Is it due to unexplored internal ballistic territory? �Nobody else has one? Is it boring simply because "everybody has one"? Everybody has pants (well, the males do, I'm hoping), do you wear a skirt just because everybody else wears pants? Or is it boring because that particular combination of shape and capacity has been around for 50 or more years?

Not taking much of a side in this (I've learned not to go out on a limb in these forums as someone will inevitably try to look up my skirt . But as someone who enjoys most anything that goes bang, from the .22 LR through the various .458 stuff (never shot anything larger yet) in single shots through full-auto mechanisms, I�m just curious how folks define �boring� versus �un-boring�?

The reason I don't like the 30-06 is the same reason I like chocolate ice cream over vanilla, or the colour green over yellow.

It's just what I like better. The 30-06 IS boring becasue everyone has one. But I don't think the .270, .223, 22LR 7 RM or .45 ACP are boring, but they are just as common...

[ 03-17-2003, 22:55: Message edited by: Gatehouse ]

Why? I suppose because FAST is interesting, and BIG BULLETS are interesting, and shooting the fleas of a prairy dog's head is interesting.
Super duper bullets are interesting, and imported brass is interesting, and making your own brass is interesting.

A cartridge like the 308, which does nothing except shoot ordinary, inexpensive bullets at ordinary speeds and kill all manner of animals and targets? Well that's just boring! JMO, Dutch.

30-06 is "boring." It's like an asshole, everyone has one.

I find the 30-06 and .308 boring for the reason that I first used them 30 years ago for years and got bored with reloading and shooting them. Been there, done that, and moved on to something else.

I like all rifle and pistol cartridges but I like some more than others. The 30/06 is one of the first cartridges I became familar with. It of course was the primary battle cartridge of the US of A for about 50 years and that was in the hey day of the infantry rifle.

I got thousands of free 30/06 ammo from the DCM and shot it off practicing like they wanted me to do. The 30/06 is an historic cartridge and holds it's head proud as the choice of the land and of the free. No other cartridge can come close as to it's popularity or winning record on the battlefield either.

I have three 30/06 rifles and I reach for one on a regular basis.

Long live the king of cartridges.

I don't think of any cartridge as boring. However, I guess I would admit the 30-06 is if I think about it in that way.

However, if I could have only one rifle for North America for the rest of my life it would be a 7.5 lb. w/scope and loaded, bolt action 30-06.

Jerry

i wear pants, but i don't find them intersting. i don't go out of my way to go to a 'pants show' and i don't look into that latest designs of pants. They serve the purpose of not being arrested on indecent exposure charges. I can't do that with a gun and i can't do that with a cartridge.

as for cartridges, i'm always more intersted to hear about things such as a .577 snider or a .240 Cobra, etc. because of it's relative rarity and the fact that i can't open any reloading book and find a load for it

On the other hand, loading for rounds like the .30/06/.270/.308 tend to be more like cookbook reloading. You can find the right recipe almost anywhere, and i find little use in discussing something that can easily be found in any reloading book, if you een want to bother reloading (since ammo availability makes it unecessary).

still, this wouldn't stop me from owning a 308 or a 7mm rem mag. i don't find them interesting, but i don't abhor the notion of their existance either, I just don't get all excited over them.

Everyone I know has a 300 WM or a 7mm RM. (yawn) One mans boring is another mans twinkle in the eye.

Funny, but I think the ultra-fat-short-long-belted-beltless-sharp-shouldered-super-sizzle-cartridges are "boring" (or at least predictable) and am currently putting together an all-purpose 30-06... a stainless M70 fwt with a 2x7 Leupold on top stocked in fiberglass. Having started my big game hunting life with the 06' I've come back around to it as a bit of a reaction, I suppose, to all the BS I read on these forums. I'll be using the 06' for everything here in Montana to prove, if only to myslef, that it's as good as several generation's worth of hunter's have said it is.

BA

I find results exciting. And my .30-06 has always had what it takes when I did my bit and also used appropriate ammo.

If exciting is doing more talking than shooting I guess the BS marketing hype will make other perhaps just as able calibres "more" exciting.

Boring = rifle and cartridge that cannot give you repeat accuracy.

Exciting = rifle and cartridge that allows you to repeatedly place your shot with consistent accuracy.

My favorite = an exciting "8MM or More"

Jim:

I don't know the answer to your question. But, when you figure it out, let me know. Maybe it could help explain why my feelings about the .243 WCF border on the negative, yet I have this recurring desire to acquire a 6mm Rem.

At any rate, an attempt to apply objective reasoning to this subjective issue won't get us anywhere. It's just like women and music...it's whatever hits you in that spot that only you can feel.

RSY

Well Jim in Idaho, when you write the book, "Psychology of the Hunter/Shooter", let me know, i'll buy a copy. You know come to think of it that could go best seller on you. HMMMM

You pose an interesting question. I don't know why, but I don't usually enjoy shooting the gentle smaller catridges. Logic says I should because they kick less and cost less to load for but I don't. I really enjoy shooting the magnums up to and including the .458 Win Mag. Right now I am having a real good time making a 7 mm Ultra shoot extremely small groups with 150 Sciroccos at unbelievable velocities . If I stay true to form I will take it hunting next year and then move on to something else. I rarely use the same rifle or caliber two seasons in a row anymore. So many rifles and calibers-so little time. I still shoot my 30-06 a lot and with 180 bullets it would probably kill anything I will ever want to kill but what a bore that would be. Contrary to many on this forum, I have found the Ultra Mags to be really interesting catridges and top performers.

Maybe it's not so much that the .270, .30-06, .308, etc. are boring, just not different. All of my uncles, cousins & their friends own a .270 or .30-06. When I started hunting & shooting & since I handload, why not something different? So for me instead of:
.270 .280
7rem mag 7mm Dakota
.30-06 .338-06
.338win mag .338x74keith
.416rem. mag .404 jeffery
I think you see the trend. I also like hunting w/ a single shot while others use bolt or semi-auto or pumps. Why not something different?

It seems like with everything I do I strive not to be a member of the ant farm - actually I was born that way - I don't have to try. I will never buy a minivan, subdivisions make me depressed and I will never own a 30-06 because .... it's just like owning one of the minivans that are parked all over the subdivision I live in. If I owned a tutty-odd-six I would not need another gun and I would miss out on one of lifes real pleasures - cruising the gun shops or the net and spending my money on another gun or related product and putting it together and testing it out. Now my son is not a gun nut - but he is a hunting fool - and for him a 30-06 is all there is or ever will be - go figure.