Favorite Rifle Cartridge Just Because…

marksman13

marksman13

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Surely I’m not the only person on THR who has a cartridge they love for no real reason. For me, it’s the 6.5x55. I have a couple rifles chambered in the x55 and I can’t explain exactly why I like it so much. I don’t reload, so it is nothing more than an expensive, long-action 6.5 Creedmoor for me. I guess it’s just nostalgia, but I really like that round and I’ve accumulated nearly as much 6.5x55 ammo as I have anything else, including 22 LR even though I rarely shoot the two rifles I have outside of hunting season.

So, let’s hear it. Who else has a rifle cartridge they love for no real reason?
 
256 Winchester Magnum

Thankfully I reload… and reloading started with .256. At 12 yr old dad brought out the Lee whackamole .256 loader and an old Captain Ds cup full of brass. Wish I was making the cup part up. We went to buy bullets primers and powder, and when we got home I learned the basics and made 50 rounds. Those rounds were practice shooting for my first year deer hunting. I have been hooked on reloading, on .256, and on oddball guns and cartridges ever since. There are other “better” rounds for everything because .256 really isn’t very good for much of any purpose, but I love it. It’s great for groundhogs. Inside 200 yards there is nothing better. I don’t hunt groundhogs though.
 
marksman13 said:
Surely I’m not the only person on THR who has a cartridge they love for no real reason. For me, it’s the 6.5x55. I have a couple rifles chambered in the x55 and I can’t explain exactly why I like it so much. I don’t reload, so it is nothing more than an expensive, long-action 6.5 Creedmoor for me. I guess it’s just nostalgia, but I really like that round and I’ve accumulated nearly as much 6.5x55 ammo as I have anything else, including 22 LR even though I rarely shoot the two rifles I have outside of hunting season. So, let’s hear it. Who else has a rifle cartridge they love for no real reason?
Click to expand...

I came really close to owning a 6.5X55. I found a used Model 70 featherweight barrel on eBay and I ran the bid up to $165 in the last minutes thinking it was mine but someone who was smarter than me outbid me in the last few seconds. It would have cost me $120 to get the barrel installed and I would have literally ran to the gunsmith with the barrel in hand. Such as life. I'll probably never have one but it was a good try. I will keep watching for a good buy..
 
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35 Rem and 350 Legend. I think they are near clones ballistically, but it is way easier to find ammo and components for the latter. They can be downloaded to 38 special ballistics for plinking/small game, or dialled up to big game loads and everything in between. Efficient, cheap to load, and not enough recoil to make me wince.
 
Of the 5 different cartridges I shoot (not counting .22LR) I guess I like 6.5 Grendel the most. It's the little cartridge that could. It's very accurate and has great legs, and not terribly expensive to reload. It could probably be even better in a single shot bolt gun, but I shoot it from an AR style rifle that I built about ten years ago. I suppose it might possibly be the rifle as much as the cartridge that I like.

.308 Winchester would be my second choice.
 
45-70 is for sure my favorite . rainbow trajectory , takes a lot of lead, hurts your shoulder. Perfect. I just love the thump of that old cartridge and that anything made of flesh and bone can easily be shot clear through (if you know how to aim it ). It's so easy to load and cases last a long time. To me, it's top notch but to others it's antiquated nonsense .
 
Obturation said:
45-70 is for sure my favorite . rainbow trajectory , takes a lot of lead, hurts your shoulder. Perfect. I just love the thump of that old cartridge and that anything made of flesh and bone can easily be shot clear through (if you know how to aim it ). It's so easy to load and cases last a long time. To me, it's top notch but to others it's antiquated nonsense .
Click to expand...
I think for a rolling block/falling block or lever action period-style rifle, that would be my first choice in a rifle cartridge.
 
The .280 Ross, the first commercial cartridge to achieve 3,000 FPS, in 1907, pre-dating the 250-3000 by either three or eight years, depending on who's inaccurate gun writer article you read. It was the original 7mm Magnum. It was advertised as 145 gr. "copper tubed, expanding bullet" @ 3145 FPS. It was also advertised as "It anchors anything it hits.." Uhhh... not Really! It didn't work too well on charging lions...ask Mr. Grey... ( Wait a minute...you can't, he was killed by a charging Lion which his .280 Ross rifle failed to stop. )

But it is a good hunting round for appropriate game...( not charging lions. ) It can , with modern powders, fall just short of 7mm Remington Mag ballistics.
 
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