For all of those out there who are waiting with bated breath for my philosophical viewpoint on this matter, let me state it as briefly as I can...
Cart-a-ges are like wimmins. They all be beautiful, no matter if they tall, short, fat, skinny, straight or curvy! They all do what they are intended for, some may do it a little faster or harder, but they all can get the job done though sometimes they may be outclassed. But that ain't they problem, it be yours! You know what party you're goin to, so you pick your date and dance with the one you brung!
Arguin' over cartages is like arguin over who brung the prettiest date. It don't solve nuthin but can be fun when you start discribein the respective attributes of the ones in question! Trouble is, boys fall in love and feel they got de-fend the honor of their date. So, when a (cyber) friend says "oh I guess she'll do right enuf, I just prefer one with a liittle more cushion for the recoil effect," our hero gets all bent outa shape and comes back with somethin like " she is darn sure better in the long haul then that ol' plow puller you been hangin with!" Now this normally lasts as until one of our boys tastes change or a new filly moves into town. Soons that happens poor old Mandy Marginal and Audrie Overkill, who been getting the job done for our boys for a long time are forgotten and new Miss Fancy Flashbang is all anybody can talk about. Kinda. Mandy and Audrie still get talked about, but usually in comparison with Fancy, and they usually come up way short...
Now this don't got nothin to do with ol' Granpa. He and Gerty Geterdone been together for 40 years and he don't even have an interest in a brief flirtation with any cartidge but, even if you was to lay a new rendition down in front of him, primed, ready and his for the takin.
There has to be a reasonable alternative that everyone should be able to understand. I believe I have come up with that alternative...
If I were to have to choose one 30 caliber it would probably be a 330WM, I can load it down to 30/30 levels if I have to.
If I were to have to choose one 45 caliber it would probably be a 450 Nitro Express, Same reason.
But here's the newsflash folk! I DON'T HAVE TO CHOOSE JUST ONE CARTRIDGE IN EACH CALIBER!!!!
In 30 cal I have at least one of: 30/30, .308, 30/06 & 300WM and I want a .300 Savage;
In 35 cal I have at least one of: 35 Rem, .358 Win, 35 Whelen and I would have a hard time turning down something like a cartridge based on the 8mm Rem Mag necked up to .35 cal.
I could go on, but let me sum all this up.
I am 62 years old. I have been acquiring guns since my first 22 when my age was measured in a single digit. I still try (military rifles excepted) to have no more then 1 rifle in any particular cartridge but I long ago abandoned my attempt at having no more then one of any make/model of rifle. But, when referring to a rifle I am still able to think of the rifle and the cartridge it is chambered for interchangeably. I have never disposed of a gun and not regretted it but that doesn't mean I am MARRIED to my guns, or more correctly, to any ONE of my guns! There is NO government imposed monogamy rule (yet) and, like monogamy, owning a single gun is a pitiful waste of manpower! I therefore have adopted the harem system so I can choose whatever... uh, companion, strikes my fancy at the particular time and for the particular purpose! And, although I could use a different rifle to kill each one of the 4 deer I try to put in the freezer each year and not live long enough to kill a deer with each one of my rifles, I am not adverse to adding a new attraction to my harem. Like the .338 Fed.
Gotta go, my wife-mate wants me to start on my honey-do list...
