OK, so I am a caliber odd-ball.....

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Hokkmike

Hokkmike

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Was cleaning my firearms and realized that my (small) collection was devoid of any of the typical, traditional, and popular calibers.

My deer rifle - 6.5x55 Not in widespread use but well regarded by many.

My plinker - .22 magnum which I understand has been largely supplanted by the .17 magnum.

My handgun - .32 magnum. I call it adequate and it is FUN to shoot. (thanks to many here for their advice on this one) Bought it from my LGS who had it in long term storage and bought it NIB!

My military - 8mm Mauser. Doesn't kick near as much as I figured it would.

(and I have the very ubiquitous 7.62x39 which IS a popular and well regarded caliber)

Each caliber has it place and I am happy with them. I guess that is what counts.

My FAVORITE of the above, of course, being the SWEDE...
 
I find myself shooting .32 H&R mag a lot. It's cheap to reload and my S&W Model 631 is a joy to shoot.

Also fired recently: 7.62x38R (Nagant) and 8x27R (Lebel revolver).
 
A lot of the "odd" caibers were long overlooked balisticaly.
For example, and my 3 favorites, The .220 Swift, .35 Whelen and 7mm Express.
Been makin and shootin all 3 for a long long long time.

A bit of unknown info for those of us old enough to know him..
Jack O'conner once said that, ( paraphrasing), the editors made me say that the .270 was my favorite, when in reality, it was the .280.
 
I had an old H&R revolver in .32S&W, shot pretty well for a snubbie and the recoil was SUPER light. I sold it and I regret it now.

The other odd-ball caliber firearm I have is the 8x56R M.95 Steyr Mannlicher, Suprisingly the recoil is less sever than my Mosin M38! I heard it was heavier recoiling, perhaps it was the Hornady ammo I shot...
 
Currently, my only oddball caliber is 6.5x50 Japanese for my Arisaka. That will be one of the first dies I get when I start reloading. It really is too bad there is no milsurp ammo for my Type 38. Smooth shooting, laser flat, accurate as any modern rifle, but factory ammo is few and far between, and not cheap.
 
My plinker - .22 magnum

My handgun - .32 magnum.
Click to expand...

I shoot both of these, as well as the .38 S&W (Not Spl), the .400 Corbon, and .222 Mag.

Yes, I also shoot other stuff like 32 ACP, 9MM, .38 Super, .38 Spl, 41 Mag, .44 Mag, .45 ACP, .45 Colt.
 
I shoot mostly 9MM ,45 ACP, .45 Colt, and 5.56, but I do have a couple of oddballs that I reload for, both French which tend to be odd in general. :)

My MAS 49/56 is in its original 7.5MM French caliber. I also have a S.A.C.M. 1935A pistol in .32 French Longue (7.65MM French).
 
I am a huge 10mm fan. Have several handguns in the caliber and am looking to get one of the Olympic Arms AR uppers in the same caliber once they are available again. Other than that my only somewhat odd caliber is .300 Rem Mag.

I usually try to stay with the more common calibers for ammo availability, but this latest shortage has me rethinking that plan...
 
I entered this club when I got a French 1935A pistol in 7.65mm French Long. Brass has to be made from .30 Carbine or .32 S&W Long brass, turned on a lathe. BUT, it is worth it, as the gun is just so sleek and nicely balanced. If I can figure a way to improve the sights, and tighten the slide and barrel a bit, it will make a great small varmint/groundhog gun.
 
OP, we seem to be opposite. I have almost all very common chamberings except for 357Sig and .257 Roberts. Neither of these is particularly rare, but they're uncommon enough that other shooters ask questions.
 
My rifles are in the "less common" but not oddball territory I believe.
1. 257 Roberts - an oldie but goodie.
2. 7mm-08 (X2) - this actually pretty common but not 30-06 style common
3. 30 TC - this works great for me. It is very accurate and my handloads with just good old BL-C(2) as a powder get 308 Win performance and that's plenty for what I need. The Hornady factory stuff with the proprietary powder can do better but they aren't publishing data for the 30 TC using Superperformance powder available to reloaders.

There is so much overlap in practical performance for the zillions of choices out there I think it's fun to take "the road less traveled" as long as it isn't leading to a swamp!

Dan
 
Primarily mainstream calibers in all of my handguns and long guns with one exception: my Springfield Armory Model 1898 in .30-40 Krag.
 
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