Least Favorite Cartridge

[bigswede]

.243 Win. here. What irritates me most is this round is a main choice for a first rifle for a beginner. I feel it's more for an experienced shooter not a novice. New hunters don't always place their shots well, often due to excitement and bigger bullets can make up for a marginal hit. If nothing else a bigger hole gives you a better chance of a blood trail.

YMMV

I agree with your statement, this doesn't only happen with the 243 either.  Youngsters and beginners get handed rifles that are marginal and most grown men wouldn't shoot game animals with them.  And no, I'm not saying if you shoot a 243 or similar that you are not a man

[wackmaster]

For me its that DAMD 30/ 06!!!! Iv'e own several and just cant see any good use for it! Ya I know the most versital, The one that can do it all, no recoile,God him self would hunt with one.  I SAY BULL crap!

[Swampman]

Those who criticize the .30-06 have never experienced it's magic.  When I see someone in camp with a .30-06 I know he's experienced, not easily swayed, & someone to ride the river with.

[Dixie Dude]

.243 would be my least.  Had one about 30 years ago, didn't like it.  For a young persons first deer gun, it should be a 30-30, 35 Rem, or a 44 mag.  Also, small caliber center fire pistol cartridges, smaller than 38 special, or at the very least 380. 

[SHOOTALL]

My son shot his first rifle deer with a SKS .

[Dixie Dude]

SKS is very good, short stock, hardly any kick, and hits like a 30-30 as far as energy.

[SHOOTALL]

And you couldn't hurt it with rough handling .

[smong2000]

I hate the .358 winchester    I will probably love it someday when I get a load figured out for my BLR, but it has given me fits reloading for it.  Velocities are always exaggerated, very easy to get hi pressure signs, heavy bullets need to be seated so deep the case capacity suffers.   Never had problems like that with .243, 7-08, 308, 30-06, 270.... Should have gotten a .35 Rem or .35 Whelen if I needed a .35 or a .308 if I just wanted the BLR. 

[bearmgc]

But the fascination that many have with the .358, would make it easy for you to sell or trade for something else you'd like to try. I had a BLR in 7mag for many years that was sub moa with factory federals. I loved that BLR, but needed to pare down calibers. Maybe you could try another BLR in another fascinating caliber. Maybe I'm a lazy person, but a cartridge that gives me trouble goes down the road. Years ago, I really wanted to like the 7-08, but it gave me fits and inconsistant groups, despite everything I tried. It was a Savage.  I pared down to .270 and 30-06 in bolt actions. Life has been simple again now for many years. I like simple.

[mrbigtexan]

.25 auto, talk about a waste!

[Empty Quiver]

.17 rimfires, I see very little use for them. Explode a squirrel or wound a coyote, plenty of other rounds available for those purposes. The .25 and .32 autos are useless in this day and age.  I'm not sure that I ever would have said to myself "sure wish I had one of those .25 autos instead of this ball bat". I hate the idea that anyone I love would have to defend themselves with either.

Short mags are redundant by nearly any standard, but I suppose I don't hate them. I do hate hearing that a 30-06 will take any game on the North American continent, usually accompanied with a sarcastic remark about whatever chambering they are comparing it too.

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

Least favorite, easy 308 win. on one side the .300 Sav. was a nicer caliber on the  other an o6.. the only reason I like a .308 is to take the barrel off and make something worthwhile.........

[securitysix]

.17 rimfires, I see very little use for them. Explode a squirrel or wound a coyote, plenty of other rounds available for those purposes. The .25 and .32 autos are useless in this day and age.  I'm not sure that I ever would have said to myself "sure wish I had one of those .25 autos instead of this ball bat". I hate the idea that anyone I love would have to defend themselves with either.

Short mags are redundant by nearly any standard, but I suppose I don't hate them. I do hate hearing that a 30-06 will take any game on the North American continent, usually accompanied with a sarcastic remark about whatever chambering they are comparing it too.

I was about to jump in and defend the .17 until I went back and saw "rimfires" there at the end.  Can't figure those out myself.  The cheap ammo is the same price as .22 Mag, and I can't figure out what they'll do that a .22 LR or .22 Magnum won't.

I'll +1 the comment on the .25, too.  I knew a guy who accidentally shot himself in the leg with a .25 while trying to clear a jam.  He drove himself to the hospital.

[351 power]

swampman i always get a laugh from you. thanks

[AtlLaw]

Well, cart-a-ges is like wimmins... I love 'em all!     And I like going back and playing with one I haven't used in a while.  Um, cartages that is!   

But I have to say the cartridge I love the least is the .243.     I still have one, but I'd probably never use it again if it weren't for the fact that it is in a rifle I dearly love!  My Browning Low Wall.  Accurate also!   

[45-70.gov]

any thing  that duplicates  the  308 winchester [or NATO]
 but   is  not  a  308 winchester [or NATO]

what  is  the  point!!

[bigswede]

I'll +1 the comment on the .25, too.  I knew a guy who accidentally shot himself in the leg with a .25 while trying to clear a jam.  He drove himself to the hospital.
[/quote]

Thats + 2.  When my father in law was in the navy did the same thing and shot himself in the thigh.  After they fixed his leg he was put in the physch ward under suicide watch. 

[S.S.]

never met a cartridge I did not like . Met some shooters
I did not like trying to get a cartridge to do something
it was never meant to do though!
As for the .25 Auto. ..Worked a shooting once where a guy had taken
the window AC unit out and was climbing through the window,
Old Gal in the house fired one shot from her equally old baby browning.
Found the intruder still hanging out the window with one wound
in the elbow and grave yard dead! Must have scared him to death!
And disrespecting the 7x57 is blasphemy in my book .
One of the top 5 cartridges ever to come from the mind of man!
.22 LR---.45 Auto---.30-30 Win---7mm Mauser----6.5x55 Swede.

[45-70.gov]

for  many years  i just  had to have a 25-06

never  shot  one....just  all  the paper  balistics  told me it was perfect

then  i  finaly  got  one3 years  ago

been to the range  a few  times
it shoots  ok
i  got  all  i need  to reload for  it
several  different  slugs to  try
it just sits in  the  safe
[attlaw  would call this a one night stand]

the  old  308   always goes  out

[JW/OK]

243 Winchester, too much for varmints - not enough for deer!

[bigswede]

Well scrolling through the posts on this thread I would have to say the .243 and the 30-06 are the most common least favorite cartridges.  Thanks for all the replies, and keep em coming.

[Dixie Dude]

I think some of the 30-06 remarks were just sarcastic.  Like one back that said it keeps him from buying other calibers.  But like someone said, 243 is to small for deer for a beginning hunter, and too large for varmit.  The 243 for deer is kind of like the 308 for Brown bear or a large moose.  It will do the job, but you better have good shot placement. 

[mannyrock]

  I hate the .257 Roberts.  It is one of the most over-rated cartridges in the world, and I get sick to death of reading about it.  If it were even one-half as good as people pretend it to be, then every big game hunter would one one, but clearly they don't.  Hit a big heavy shoulder bone, or a hip bone, and you've got a running wounded animal.  Make a clean shot through the lungs, and it will kill the game OK, but certainly no better than the lowly .243.   And, with the advent of the 6.5 Swede, they are worthless.

 

[AtlLaw]

I hate the .257 Roberts....no better than the lowly .243.

What!!    No better then a 243!   

I don't much care for the 243, but everybody know's I have an abiding fondness for the quarter bores and the 6.5's!  How can you even compare them, and especially the Roberts, to the 243!?  I mean, gee wizz!  The 257 has a .014 larger bullet diameter for crying out loud!     And the 6.5 mm is only .007 larger then the 25 cal.   Which makes the 25 cal a six point two and a half!!     Doesn't frontal area mean anything to you!?   

No better then the 243 indeed!   

 

[IOWA DON]

I was 14 years old and reading a lot of gun magazines. One author said how a .243 was about as good as a .270, only he compared the best .243 load to the worste round-nose .270 ammo. being young I was a sucker and got a .243 with the wages made from a summer of lifting hay bales. Also, I got one with a 20-inch barrel (a Savage Model 99) and the same author was for short barrels. I think his name was Byran Dalrimple. Anayway, a friend a few years older had a .30-06 and I told him how much flatter a trejectory the .243 had than his '06. However when we actually tested them at my dad's farm at 400 yards when sighted in for 200 yards his '06 had much less drop at 400 yards. The next summer I got a 7mm Weatherby and it actually shot as flat as advertised. The .243 Winchester is the caliber I most dislike.

[45-70.gov]

if this   keeps up

243 may become a banned  word  here

[Mt_Sourdough]

I hate every cartridge smaller than my 444 and I hate everything bigger than my 444 .  I have some tolerance for my 30-06 that rests next to it.  Oh, of course there is always room in my heart for 22 LR .
  Everything else is a horrible waste of money and material.  
 

  All in good humor of course.

[Oldshooter]

the 30-06 gotta hate a cartridge that could make 3/4 of my rifles unneccessary 

Gotta love it! great post!

[jedman]

  For me it would be the 30 carbine, I dont like cartridges that headspace on the mouth and it just doesnt have a niche , It really doesnt do anything very well.    Jedman

[kombi1976]

I'm not sure I actually hate particular cartridges, it's the pillocks who hype them up that deserve to be strung up with piano wire.
For hype the 243 stands high.
It's a decent round, providing you use it right, but there is an expression here in Australia called "a Pope gun", in other words God's choice, and it's adherrants mean a Rem 700 243 Win with a Leupold 3-9x40.
Remingtons are ok, if you like spending money on upgrades, and Leupold make good optics, but why that makes a rifle that is perfection itself is beyond me.
Worst still is the presumption by said adherrants that anyone who thinks anything else is just as effective is beneath contempt.
So 243 annoys me a LOT.
As for the '06 and those who reckon it's the most flexible round in the world, s it at all possible that the reason '06 became so flexible was because ammo and bullet producers dedicated their time and efforts to 30 cal at the detriment of all others with the possible exception of .224 cal?
Same applies to 308 Win and, to a lesser extent, 30-30 and 300 Win Mag.
But how ever us regular hunters would like to look at such flexibility more people gut shoot and wound game with 30-06 every year.
Why? Ammo's cheap as are rifles and if you use 1 pack of white box ammo a year and never zero your rifle I'm betting those deer are more likely to have an appendectomy than a heart or lung dissection.
So flexible as the 30-06 maybe it probably is more misused than any other cal......with the possible exception of 30-30.
But to return to the point it's not the cartridge I hate some much as the moron claiming it's a panacea.
I won't name names but one Aussie writer recently said 7mm-08 was good for Asiatic buffalo because he'd shot some with it.
I happen to think 7mm-08 is fine but I think you can make your own conclusions on the wisdom of publishing that.....