If someone were going to travel to europe are the popular american calibers like 270, 338wm etc. easy to find ammo for or would it be better for someone to stick to the metric calibers?

Where in europe?
certainly in the highlands of Scotland this gunshop in Tain has a wide range of ammunition available,the guy who runs it is also a shooter and very helpful,pretty sure if you were coming up this way and had any special requests,if he didn't stock a calibre,then he would know where to get some.

cheers Roebuck

http://www.rmacleod.co.uk/index2.htm

My local gunshops and Cortes Ingles (a Spanish department store similar to Nordstroms but they have a huge hunting department) have most American calibers, and almost all Euro calibers. Some are rare some are common.

270, 30-06, 9.3x62, 7x64, once you get past that your going to run into difficultys.

Where I'm at in Germany, the larger stores will have most of them, .270 is not that popular and may have to be ordered from smaller shops. If you want to be safe just bring a 30-06 and you'll find ammo readily available for it. If you have a 7 or 8x57, ammo is everywhere, Waidmannsheil, Dom.

no problem in Italy in the major towns, even if some problem can be on choice not too wide.

In the UK you should be able to get (deer legal)

243
25-06
270
308
30-06

The rest require specialists which are few and far between.

Jarrod
In Sweden you will find most of the American calibers. Most common brands are Norma, RWS, Lapua and Federal.

270 is not very popular in Sweden, but 308, 3006, 7mm rem, 300wm, 338win etc is no problem to find.

Cheers
/JOHAN

Most of the major gunshops in the UK can get all the main calibres available in factory loads from the main ammunition makers. e.g. Federal Cartridges are distributed in the UK by a company called GMK and they will hold stock of all the main Federal calibres. GMK will be able to send out ammunition to almost any UK gunshop within a day ot two. So if the gunshop doesn't have it in stock they will be able to get it pretty quick.

My gunsmith has on stock

243
308
30.06
300 win
375 H+H

Other ammo mostly possible within 3 days.

Very hard to find
35 Wheelen
416 Remington
7mm SAUM
and all WSSM ammo

Burkhard

In Norway you have almost the same situation as in Sweden.

The 30-06 has done military service here and is the most popular cartrigde, followed by the 308 win (STILL doing military service as the 7.62x51 standard assault rifle cartrigde - we`re the last country in NATO).

The 270 is almost unknown. The 22-250 and 243 are used by some hunters specializing in roedeer. But Norway has always been more west-oriented than Sweden and Denmark (due to our very large merchant fleet) so we dont have a lot of the continental cartrigdees either. For instance the 7x64, so popular in Germany, France and other continental countries, has almost no followers in Norway.
You will find a lot more of the US/UK cartrigdes in Norway than continental European ones.
One exception is the 9,3x62 - it is in much wider use than the 338 WinMag. And of course the old "union cartrigde" The 6,5x55, is the third most popular, not surprisingly, since it was designed in Norway and used in ww2.

In Germany the 30/06 has substituted the 7x64/7x65R as the most popular cartridge. The .308 is also very popular but the .338 is more difficult to find but not really necessary anyway.

Beware of former military calibers in France and, i guess, Belgium, not legal there.

A secondary question; which European countries (if any) ban military or former military calibers?

quote:

A secondary question; which European countries (if any) ban military or former military calibers?

France does ban them for hunting, but you can apply for a special permit for "class one" weapons so you can own them and shoot them at a range.

Here in Norway, I'm unsertain about the 270. Its quite regular, but not as much as 30-06, 308 Win, 6,5x55, 9,3x62. But I think most gunstores have a box or two of them on the shelf.
The 338 WinMag is common!

Here some american calibers are widely available, mainly 270W, 280Rem, 7RM, 308W, 30-06 and 300WM. I never saw anybody using the 338WM

Here in Iceland we mostly use American calibers ie,most 22s,243,most 7mm and 30 cals but anything bigger than 8mm you wont find here as they are not legal!

European cals are mostly 6,5mm,7mm and 8mm military carthridges!

Regards
Ben Iceland

Hello Sako, what are you hunting in Iceland? A Dís? Or drunken Hestamaður?

Bless, bless

Monastery-Forester

Icleand offers grouse, geese, reindeer, women and tourists roaming the wilderness

Cheers
/JOHAN

Hello Sako, where are you coming from? Akureyri, Sauðárkrókur?

Monastery-Forester
How com you know so many Icelandic words

Hello Solvi, I know some important words more, but... . Oh yes, some of my best friends are icelandic, and I know, that all icelandic HESTAMADUR are very, very dursty!! And I like these little, ugly icelandic wonderhorses! And I`m breeding these ugly horses from the island of fire and ice!

Monastery-Forester

quote:

Hello Sako, where are you coming from? Akureyri, Sauðárkrókur?

Youre close, i live in Húsavík, about 100km north of Akureyri!

quote:

Hello Sako, what are you hunting in Iceland? A Dís? Or drunken Hestamaður?

No just the norm, Seals,waterfowl,foxes and various other birds! Have shot a few horses thou but only sick and old ones for farmers!Dont like it!

Regards

Hello Sako, in Germany we don`t shoot horses, we love them, we are no kanniballs and no vikings . We hunt deers, stags and boars!

Not that i was hunting them or shooting them for fun, more like a favor to a few farmers over the years that had horses that needed to go to Valhalla!

Regards

Sako, that was a joke, I understood. One of my horses is born north of Akueyri, two are born in Skagafjördur. Iceland is a beautifull country!

quote:

One of my horses is born north of Akueyri, two are born in Skagafjördur. Iceland is a beautifull country!

Do you know the name of the farm/breeder north of Akureyri? I know quite a few of them here!

If you come to North Iceland let me know, if you want to hunt seals!

Regards

Hello Sako, name of the breeder is Páll Ãlfreðsson.
A good friend of mine is Tyri Þorðarson, member of the national riding team of Iceland and world champion in 1997. He is living in Germany and has a farm in the village where I`m living.