Limiting my cartridges

[Chas1]

I'd keep the 22, 243 & 12 gauge.

 

[Hand Skills]

...the 25.06 would be fine choice. The 25.06ai gains you a couple hundred fps if you need that.

Fixed it for ya

 

[DarryH]

I gave up that silly idea a long time ago. I have more calibers than I can list. I'll add more if they come my way. I don't seek them out, they find me!

 

[Louisiana Reloader]

I think I got it really bad, before the new one arrives, I'm already looking for the next… It's been an ongoing sickness all my life… Only accurate rifles are keepers though…

I hear you brother…..I can relate!

 

[Allen Lone wolf]

I would consider keeping all for those fine young boys to own one day and the grandchildren they give you. Now that I think about it you might should be adding a few more to the collection so you will have enough to go around! That's advice from personal experience. I'm about to give one of my granddaughters a custom 6.5 Creedmoor she has taken a real liking to. Good luck!

 

[Guhndawg]

Hey all,

I just joined the LRH community and have been really enjoying it - thank you everyone!

I am looking to downsize my collection and shoot fewer rifles more often. I'm not thinking about anything crazy, but have realized a lot of my cartridges significantly overlap and with the cost of ammo these days and limited time I'm going to sell some rifles and ammo and put the money into rifles, ammo, and shooting courses. So, what cartridges do you currently own that you could live without? I don't my mind having more than one rifle in some cartridges to serve different purposes, but plan to limit myself to what I and my family will realistically use.

I currently have a:

17HMR
22lr
223 rem
6.5 grendel
6.8 spc
243 win
6.5 creedmoor
7 RM
12 gauge

I'm planning on getting rid of the 243, 7RM, 6.8 SPC, and possibly the 223. Will probably end up keeping it, and if I can find some good gopher hunting country nearby get a really accurate varmint rifle.

I just added a Keystone Cricket in 22lr and a youth shotgun in 410 for teaching my boys. They love my 10/22's, but the length of pull is really too long for them at the moment.

I have a Gunwerks Nexus in 6.5 PRC and 300 PRC enroute which is the big impetus to sell some seldom used rifles and ammunition. Plus, I'd rather shoot than clean, maintain, store and organize rifles and ammo (I'm very particular about taking care of my things).

What would you get rid of? Do you have any cartridges that overlap too much to justify keeping both?

I have been doing the Sam thing for the same reason I just got rid of a .17-223, a 224 Valkyrie, a 243 and a 308.

 

[Grey Goast]

Hey all,

I just joined the LRH community and have been really enjoying it - thank you everyone!

I am looking to downsize my collection and shoot fewer rifles more often. I'm not thinking about anything crazy, but have realized a lot of my cartridges significantly overlap and with the cost of ammo these days and limited time I'm going to sell some rifles and ammo and put the money into rifles, ammo, and shooting courses. So, what cartridges do you currently own that you could live without? I don't my mind having more than one rifle in some cartridges to serve different purposes, but plan to limit myself to what I and my family will realistically use.

I currently have a:

17HMR
22lr
223 rem
6.5 grendel
6.8 spc
243 win
6.5 creedmoor
7 RM
12 gauge

I'm planning on getting rid of the 243, 7RM, 6.8 SPC, and possibly the 223. Will probably end up keeping it, and if I can find some good gopher hunting country nearby get a really accurate varmint rifle.

I just added a Keystone Cricket in 22lr and a youth shotgun in 410 for teaching my boys. They love my 10/22's, but the length of pull is really too long for them at the moment.

I have a Gunwerks Nexus in 6.5 PRC and 300 PRC enroute which is the big impetus to sell some seldom used rifles and ammunition. Plus, I'd rather shoot than clean, maintain, store and organize rifles and ammo (I'm very particular about taking care of my things).

What would you get rid of? Do you have any cartridges that overlap too much to justify keeping both?

If you have a used ruger 10-22 takedown model you plan on getting rid of I've been looking for one in good shape for an exsperiment im doing.

 

[Valley Fever]

I would definitely keep anything of a military caliber.

 

[Alibiiv]

Hey all,

I just joined the LRH community and have been really enjoying it - thank you everyone!

I am looking to downsize my collection and shoot fewer rifles more often. I'm not thinking about anything crazy, but have realized a lot of my cartridges significantly overlap and with the cost of ammo these days and limited time I'm going to sell some rifles and ammo and put the money into rifles, ammo, and shooting courses. So, what cartridges do you currently own that you could live without? I don't my mind having more than one rifle in some cartridges to serve different purposes, but plan to limit myself to what I and my family will realistically use.

I currently have a:

17HMR
22lr
223 rem
6.5 grendel
6.8 spc
243 win
6.5 creedmoor
7 RM
12 gauge

I'm planning on getting rid of the 243, 7RM, 6.8 SPC, and possibly the 223. Will probably end up keeping it, and if I can find some good gopher hunting country nearby get a really accurate varmint rifle.

I just added a Keystone Cricket in 22lr and a youth shotgun in 410 for teaching my boys. They love my 10/22's, but the length of pull is really too long for them at the moment.

I have a Gunwerks Nexus in 6.5 PRC and 300 PRC enroute which is the big impetus to sell some seldom used rifles and ammunition. Plus, I'd rather shoot than clean, maintain, store and organize rifles and ammo (I'm very particular about taking care of my things).

What would you get rid of? Do you have any cartridges that overlap too much to justify keeping both?

It would be helpful to know what type of hunting and shooting you do presently and I'm the future. Do you reload?

 

[MachV]

Been up and down this road a few times with the exeption that I dont have any boys to hand them down to.
If I could afford a 6k+ gun I sure wouldnt worry about selling anything from such a small collection with boys to hand them down to.

 

[kgarrett]

Welcome to the forum! We are always happy to have new members who love to shoot, love to share information about accuracy and reloading, and promote the sport of responsible shooting. Now to your post: I think it all depends on where you are financially and several other factors as if you want to keep all your gun collection or not. To your point, it costs money and time to reload several different calibers and shoot many different guns. I am of a little different opinion; however I greatly respect yours. I collect guns and once in a while I will do some "horse trading" if I have something I want to part with in order to get something new. I am jealous of your Gunwerks Nexus 6.5 PRC--OMG what a rifle! You will love that rifle and it is one fine piece of equipment. I just got a SAKO S20 Hunter with a thumbhole stock in 6.5 PRC and I cannot say enough about it. Although I'm sure it will not hang with the Gunwerks Nexus 6.5 PRC, I recently shot a 1/4 MOA group at 300 yards with factory Hornady Precision Hunter143gr ELD-X ammo at my gun club. I am in the process in working up reloads for that gun and quite frankly if I can match the accuracy of the Hornady Precision Hunter 143gr ELD-X and exceed the velocity--I will be stoked. Back to your point though about parting with some rifles and getting some new ones, if you reload I use a rule of thumb when considering how many reloading components to buy. Figure the useful life of your barrel (however many shots you think that will be). Let's take your 6.5 PRC for example and say you can get 800 shots out of that barrel. Now, let's figure on how much brass you think you might need for the useful life of the barrel. Many people will give some exaggerated number of times you can reload a case. Obviously it depends on many factors: how hot your loads are; if you anneal or not, etc., etc.,. To be safe and conservative, I use a rule of thumb (for my 6.5 PRC) of a case life of 4 because I do not anneal (not yet anyway). Take your barrel useful life of 800 rounds and divide by 4 and you need at least 200 pieces of brass. Now, me personally I overkill everything and usually buy more than I need because I have the mindset that in the future our reloading components and privileges will be in jeopardy (and that might be wrong but just my opinion). So I have 500 pieces of Lapua brass for my 6.5 PRC and when I shoot that barrel out I plan on getting another 6.5 PRC. Fortunately I have been very blessed and I have had the means to start buying and securing reloading components in large volumes since 2008 (I've been reloading since 1993 but only in recent years started really picking up components as they came available) and I have enough now to last a lifetime and pass along to my son-in-law and future generations in hopes that they will like to reload and enjoy shooting. So, I totally respect your decision to slim down some (and certainly to purchase the Gunwerks Nexus 6.5 and 300 PRC rifles--wow!) and wish you all the best. Hope my info was helpful and happy shooting and keep your groups tight!

Thanks for the welcome and the perspective! I'm still mulling over what to do and enjoy hearing everyone's thoughts. I've realized that I'm really not a collector, mostly a hunter and a shooter.

I'm very excited about the new rifle though it was (gulp) a big purchase. I hope and plan to get plenty of use out of it and pass it on one day if it lives up to expectations. Selling some lesser used rifles and ammo salves my conscience and would make it a far more reasonable purchase.. Sounds like that Sako is quite a shooter and a keeper for sure. I've a Tikka CTR 6.5 CM that is my 'precision gun' but it's not the shooter yours is! Love the feel of that action though.

I'm still trying to figure out how much I want and need to keep (and like most all I really need is a rimfire rifle, a big game rifle and a shotgun, but that's not much fun, is it?). Will see if I'm going to use up the ammo I've got or sell it off too. Probably a combination, I expect.

Will update the thread when I make some decisions. Very grateful to be able to have the small firearms collection I do and some time to enjoy using them. Spring is here!

Edit: nope, don't reload - at least not yet. Hunt rabbits, grouse, coyotes, and big game in Alberta. Mostly whitetail, but mule deer, elk, moose when I have enough points to get drawn or am hunting in one of the few zones where there is a general elk tag. Planning to go black bear hunting this spring for the first time. Took my first pronghorn last year.

 

[buzby]

On your list, I'd keep
22lr
223
6.5cm
12ga
All are cheap, easy to find/shoot, and will cover just about any situation

 

[300 Country]

I also condensed my calibers and cartridges about eight years ago and I am very happy that I did especially with the shortages that we have been dealing with the past few years. I cut pretty drastically but I now have lots of reloading components rather than being spread thin across multiple cartridges. I am essentially now just a one gun guy with my one being a .300 Win.
My short list of cartridges are:
.22LR
12 gauge
.300 Win.

 

[kgarrett]

I also condensed my calibers and cartridges about eight years ago and I am very happy that I did especially with the shortages that we have been dealing with the past few years. I cut pretty drastically but I now have lots of reloading components rather than being spread thin across multiple cartridges. I am essentially now just a one gun guy with my one being a .300 Win.
My short list of cartridges are:
.22LR
12 gauge
.300 Win.

That looks good. I'm not thinking anything as drastic.

Long term, I can see myself almost exclusively using

17HMR
6.5 PRC
300 PRC
12 gauge

And hanging onto

22LR
223
6.5 Grendel
6.5 Creedmoor
410

For teaching my boys/handing down to them and some specialty guns. Get into reloading, free up some cash and space. I like to shoot and I like to hunt. I've dabbled in a lot of types of shooting, but I think I'm going to focus on shooting my bolt actions. I could see myself shooting NRL hunter if that catches on here in Canada but otherwise being deadly with my hunting rifles and spending time in the outdoors with my boys is the priority.