I can hear the anguished cries already. For the followers of those cartridges, this a reckoning, a “Say it ain’t so!” second. However that doesn’t make it any much less true: like Rodney Dangerfield, these cartridges don’t get no respect. However they need to. All are nonetheless accessible at on-line retailers and all are nonetheless simply efficient at the moment as they have been when launched.
cartridges with labels
.338 Win. Magazine.
As soon as the cartridge to make use of should you deliberate to hunt the world with only one rifle, it’s highly effective, flat-shooting, correct, and hard-hitting. However in a world awash with newer, even flatter-shooting rounds (just like the .338 Lapua), this graying cartridge is yesterday’s information, and its followers are ageing out of the game.
.338 Federal
This can be a balanced and succesful spherical that obtained misplaced within the combine with all the opposite cartridge introductions within the early 2000s. I’ve used it—loaded with the 210-grain AccuBond—on nearly each kind of North American sport, from antelope to moose and bear. It’s a sweetheart to shoot and a stone-cold sport killer. Federal and Savage try to breathe new life into it, so we’ll see if it will get a second probability.
READ NEXT: .338 Federal: The Finest Deer Cartridge You’ve By no means Tried
7×57 Mauser
This granddaddy of high-power rifle cartridges is thought largely as a historic footnote at the moment, however it nonetheless makes for a superb all-around big-game cartridge. Developed in 1892, six years earlier than Out of doors Life was based, it was a cutting-edge army spherical, and I doubt there’s any animal on the planet it hasn’t efficiently taken down. However solely a small minority of hunters nonetheless use it.
.257 Roberts
At one time, the .257 Roberts had all of it. It was a sizzling little quantity primarily based on one of the crucial revered cartridges of the time: the 7x57mm Mauser. However after the Thirties, it was now not the “it” woman, and misplaced the limelight to cartridges just like the .243 Win. It nonetheless has a small however devoted following amongst those that know that it’s a nice deer and antelope spherical. Reasonable ballistics additionally make it preferrred for brand spanking new shooters.
.25/06
One other quarter-bore within the Corridor of Disgrace, it is a necked-down .30/06. Hunters who attempt it find it irresistible, and for good cause. It delivers energy and velocity in an easy-to-shoot package deal. However as a .25 caliber spherical, it labors within the shadow of the .257 Weatherby and is essentially ignored. Sadly, it doesn’t appear that’s going to vary, and its long-term prospects will not be good. OL workers author and .25/06 fan thinks it might be essentially the most under-appreciated cartridge of all time.
.308 Win.
Don’t get me improper, plenty of shooters and hunters use the .308 Win. Besides, it doesn’t garner the respect it deserves. Stable, steady, and overshadowed by sexier newcomers, the .308 continues to be considered one of our premier looking rounds. It has average recoil, shoots moderately flat, delivers nice accuracy, and drops animals with authority.
READ NEXT: The Finest .308 Searching Rifles
