What’s your favorite cartridge?

[big johnson]

280 AI rifles INC built in Cedar City UT. 338 RUM when I need to feel young again 300 whinny is my pickup gun on the ranch, does it all !

 

[Mike Matteson]

Hard to pick a favorite now but these have been at different times.
300WM
7RM
280 REM.
Current deer cartridge rotation:
30.06 AI
280 AI
338/280 AI
Favorite all time deer rifle and cartridge for Whitetail in Georgia was a Remington 700 Mountain Rifle in .375 H&H. My hand loads with 260 grain Partitions. "Was" because I sold it like a fool.

You think that a bigger rifle was needed? A poor little whitetail with 260gr bullet. He*l there are people shooting elk with 22/250 or so.

 

[257PhilBob]

6mm Creedmoor, 257 Bob, 6.5x55, 280 Rem, 280 AI, 7x57, 358 Norma Mag love 'em all!

 

[Fit4pain]

I have really enjoyed the 6.5PRC but the 6 ARC has been so much. Not only at the range but deer hunting as well. I would 6 ARC is my new favorite.

 

[Playtimefun]

Really liked the 6.5 PRC then picked up a 6.5 Rem Mag. Impossible to tell the difference when looking at a target!!!

 

[WYO300RUM]

For deer and elk, my trusty old 300 Win Mag. For coyotes, my 22-250. I have a 6.5 PRC I love to shoot, but it hasn't earned my trust for shooting deer or elk yet. Hopefully this year on a big old muley.

I'm with you on the 300 WM and 22-250. Don't be afraid to use your 6.5 PRC on deer ! It's awesome on deer and lope. I've whacked 7 bucks and around 10 whitetail does with it. You do your part and they are DRT. I haven't used on elk yet. Just me. Have a load with 156 Berger I was going to use on bull elk in Az. Last year. I changed my mind and took my 300 WM and the heavy Beast 300 RUM in case I had a loooonnng shot.

 

[WYO300RUM]

 

[memtb]

To dgp3006: lol…if you ever have to trail a whitetail after being shot with a 375 H&H Mag it shouldn't be very far…that is a cannon. Nice list of good cartridges you have there.

When I reached puberty, and saved for over a year, at 14 I bought my first centerfire rifle. I bought a .308 Win. ……as big game hunting rifles started at 30 caliber!

At 19, I started casting bullets for my .308, and used it for offseason plinking, shooting snakes, turtles and armadillos. In the fall, before deer season started…..I retired my 22 rimfire and used my .308 for squirrel hunting!

I've found that a .375 H&H is perfect for deer ….though it's not the greatest cartridge for shots beyond 400 or so yards! That's the reason we have AI's, Weatherby's, ect. memtb

 

[Hummer70]

No 1 is 30.06, No. 2 is 308
No 3 is 6.5 Creedmoor

 

[WYO300RUM]

I've been a huge fan of the 7rem mag for decades. I have only 2 of them, one is my Ruger M77 mark II, which has been a great rifle. Aesthetically, I think it's one of the prettiest Mauser style actions ever made, the stainless bolt with the traditional blued action just looks beautiful in my opinion, and it's always been very accurate. My newest is a Tikka Roughtech which is just a pleasure to shoot, and it's a hammer. Both rifles have dropped everything I've hit with them.

My newest crush is my Savage model 12 LRP that I rebarreled with a Carbon 6 chambered in 6mm Creedmoor. This is a new cartridge for me, and so far, I'm floored by the precision of this thing. Love it.

I have a Ruger Mk ll stainless that I've had for many years . It likes Berger 168 w/72.0 grs. Retumbo/ Fed 215M.

 

[bubbaonpc]

If I can only have one rifle for hunting, it would be the 7-08

 

[Rcritch]

Boy, this thread has really taken me down a long, memory lane. In my 60+ years of adulthood I've owned and shot well over a dozen different centerfire firearms, so many .22 rimfires that I lost count decades ago, though to my surprise I can only remember having owned a single .22WMR. I do suffer somewhat from Old Timer's Disease so I know I'll be overlooking a few in saying that the list definitely includes the following:

.22 LR, .22 WMR, .218 Bee, .223 Rem., .25-20 Win., .257 Roberts, .25-06, .270 Win., 7mm-08 Rem., .308 Win., 8x57mm, .35 Rem., .348 Win., .350 Rem. Mag. and a .416 Rem. Mag.

I'm also a little bit surprised in being able to only remember having owned just two of the centerfire chamberings in more than a single firearm, having had two each of the .308 & .348.

Like so many others responding to this thread I simply can't pick a single favorite but I can assign one or two of those cartridges as my favorites in the following categories:

.22LR & 25-20 for rabbits.
.218 Bee & .223 for varmints.
.257 Roberts & 7mm-08 for deer.
.270 Win. & .350 Rem. Mag. for elk.
.308 for target shooting.
.416 Rem. Mag. for caribou.
(The .416 won out only because it was the best I had for bear protection which, fortunately, we wound up not needing.)

 

[Spikefrb]

I absolutely love the 378 Weatherby but for every day shooting the 243W & 6mmRem
What's yours?

1 gun?
Anytime?
Anywhere?
Any thing?
.375 H&H...
hands down... without question.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

While I wouldn't say that the 45-70 was my "favorite" cartridge, when I look back over my photo albums, the ol' 45-70 was used to harvest an awful lot of whitetails, pigs, bear and a bull moose. With a bullet selection that runs from about 250gr to 500gr (lighter & heavier are available) there's a lot to like about this old cartridge.

The Newfoundland bear in my avatar was taken with a Speer 400gr JFP. One and done!