What do you think is the most overrated handgun/rifle cartridge?

[38-45 Special]

NOTE: This thread is NOT designed to start controversy or drama, it's simply a question of opinion.

Since I made a thread a while back asking what you guys felt were the most underrated handgun/rifle cartridges, I figured I'd see what everybody's opinions were on overrated cartridges. As the note above implies, this isn't a dig at anybody or an attempt to start trouble, nor is it an opening of a door to badmouth peoples' choice in firearms/ammunition. What I mean by overrated is along the lines of how certain cartridges are made out to be (by a lot of their users) more powerful, efficient, etc than they actually are. While I understand this is the case with almost ALL cartridges to some extent or another, there's no denying that some cartridges have more of a "cult following" (for the lack of a better term) than others.

 

[Blue Brick]

40 S&W and 10mm.

 

[Ed Ames]

It’s a toss-up between .223, 9mm, and .45acp. I’ll throw in .40 as well. Basically anything in common military or police use over the past 50 years. So many “my daddy told me” stories repeated as fact. Hang out in a gun store or forum long enough and you’ll hear claims about all of them. “Knock you down if it hits you pinky,” “tumble from your foot to your heart”, and so on.

 

[DocRock]

223/9mm

Ubiquitous, underpowered, overrated. Their only virtue being that they are cheap.

 

[jeepnik]

5.56. Bad idea from the start. But I guess enough folks got paid enough to make it happen. No matter how many had to pay the real price.

 

[LoonWulf]

.308 or .300aac, not sure which......

9mm.......

All of these are based on personal bias, SPECIFICALLY because they do nothing special for ME, and because i can think of cartridges that do something/most things better than each.
Dosent mean they arnt good cartridges, just that they generalize and dont fit a niche I have a desire for.

Im honestly tempted to toss the .30-06 in also, but I like that one so meh.

 

[troy fairweather]

6.5 cm
9mm
unHonorable mention 300blk.

 

[rayatphonix]

300 blackout

 

[rskent]

I have to go with 300blk.


I have to disagree with 10mm. I’m not a hunter, but I have a few friends that are. They seem to love the 10mm.

I also have to disagree with .223. My use is primarily as a target round. I think it’s fantastic. Very accurate and at the same time easy to shoot well. A High-power match is typically 58 or 88 rounds.

 

[Ed Ames]

I have to disagree with...

As I read the original post, the question isn’t “which cartridges are more popular than they should be,” but more like, “which cartridges are most routinely overstated in their capabilities.”

So for example you could have a round like .223 that people constantly brag about how amazing it is for all sorts of things ranging from target shooting to blowing up elephants, and a round like .222 that is very similar but almost never gets any upsell. It isn’t that .223 is bad, but it’s not as exceptional as the enthusiasts believe.

It generally takes ignorance and authority to really get something to be truly overrated. Take a bunch of 18 year olds who have never touched a gun before, hand them a gun, give them a lecture about how deadly it is, let them go build myths and trade rumors about it for a few months, then tell those people they are gun experts, repeat for 20+ years, and you are guaranteed to have everything about that gun be overrated. That doesn’t makes it bad, it just means you need to take everything anyone says about it with a huge grain of salt.

 

[FFGColorado]

5.7...

 

[Dunross]

Changed my mind. Carry on.

 

[Legionnaire]

I'll take a different tack and say .30-06. It is a great cartridge. However, it has been surpassed by many cartridges, including the .308. There are more powerful, more efficient, flatter shooting, and arguably more accurate cartridges out there. Yet it is still trotted out as THE North American hunting cartridge, and "no collection is complete without one ... or more." It is indeed a great, historic cartridge that is now overrated. I would under no circumstances recommend it to someone who was getting into hunting as there are better options. I'll go further and say I can think of no application for which .30-06 is the best option.

 

[Obturation]

9mm is over rated to the extreme.

"Modern bullet technology has put it on par with larger caliber rounds" - that's false or misleading at best. Hasn't that tech been applied to the larger cartridges as well? Of course.
"Larger diameter projectiles are pointless, shot placement is king" - then use a 380 acp, it's the same thing. "But 380 acp is underpowered and likely won't expand and if it does it'll under penetrate" - then start out with a larger projectile and you in effect begin with a bullet similar in diameter to an expanded 9mm. A 380 acp fmj will fully penetrate a human so the only benefit to driving it faster in a 9mm is to cause it to expand if using a HP. But without proper placement the expansion is for nothing so we're back to placement which somewhat removes the requirement for expansion. Round and round we go.
A rant, I know. But the 9mm para is a homely little spud of a round with no use in my arsenal. A 380 has less blast and recoil, a bigger bullet has a slightly better chance of hitting something important. Expansion isn't guaranteed in any caliber at any speed, if you want a bigger hole use a bigger bullet. If you think (as most of us do) placement is most important then the speed or diameter is irrelevant as long as it's got enough velocity to fully penetrate. 9mm is by my reasoning - utterly useless.

 

[Jessesky]

Any big bore AR cartridge

 

[Speedo66]

The .223, by means of the AR. Before the AR became popular, or was even invented, everyone knew .22 caliber rounds were under powered for deer sized animals.

The AR era begins, and now everyone has one. They get to assemble them like Tinkertoys, building many just because it's so easy, cheap, and fun.

Now they become fanboys for the round, too. It's accurate, it's powerful, it's deadly, it's the best round out there. Economy of scale makes it cheap also.

Now they're dragging these ugly bits of plastic and aluminum out into the woods. Hey, I shot a deer and it died, so it's a great deer round.

Never was, never will be. Hunters always chose cartridges powerful enough that allowed for a little extra insurance. The .223 is just barely enough, making it a poor choice in my opinion.

A pinpoint shot with a .22LR will kill a deer, that doesn't make it a good deer cartridge. Same for the over rated .223.

Yes, I understand there may be differing opinions...... lol

 

[entropy]

.30-30, for the same reasons Leigonnaire chose .30-06, plus it is less versatile.

Hey, I shot a deer and it died, so it's a great deer round.

That statement could be used for, or against, any cartridge. And it would only be one person's opinion, as stated.

 

[JERRY]

when used out of their purpose all rounds are over-rated because that is where they usually get the bad press of failing. .45acp, great round, not so for granny, Sally or Jr. maybe. .223/5.56, great round for Charlie, but not for Bambi. 10mm, great round for King Kong, not for Godzilla. and the list goes on and people will toss in their opinion based on nothing that can be vetted here.

 

[Slamfire]

All Weatherby rounds:

Practice is not needed, with a Weatherby, it does not matter where you hit them, the wallop will do the rest!



With your Weatherby, you can shoot at animals so far away, the most likely outcome is a miss, or a wound that makes the animal die a suffering death!

 

[Zerodefect]

9mm

Sheesh, the ''it's as good as all the other auto and revolver rounds'', is getting old. ''But, but, muh modern ammo!'' No thanks, I'm still grabbing my 40 or 45 most of the time. My 9mm and 380 will have to wait until bathing suit season.

 

[Texas10mm]

Overrated rifle cartridge has to be the 223/5.56x45

Overrated handgun cartridge is the 9mm. I love the 9mm for gun games. It's cheap, it's accurate, it doesn't aggravate my arthritis. Other than that it's worthless.

300 Blackout is awesome in it's designed role. Big heavy subsonic bullets in the AR platform. It's also a blast to shoot supers in a 10" pistol. Cheap to feed, runs cast bullets well, accurate enough.

 

[.308 Norma]

Any and all big game hunting rounds some hunters claim to be great "brush busters."
Any and all big game hunting rounds some hunters claim will "knock 'em down every time."
Any and all big game hunting rounds some hunters claim don't "ruin as much meat as ______."
Any and all big game hunting rounds some hunters claim they "can find in gas stations in case they forget and leave their ammo at home when they go hunting."
And finally, the 30-30. Not because the 30-30 is a bad round in it's place (I have one, and have used it effectively for mule deer), but just because there are so many deer hunters, particularly back east and down south, that sing high praises about the 30-30, yet that have never had the chance to hunt deer in places where they can see, much less shoot deer, any farther away than about a hundred yards.

 

[Lycidas Janwor]

...the good news is there's so much choice out there when it comes to available options. Not sure I can really pick an ammo that is overrated or even underrated...

 

[walterelm]

.45 ACP

 

[jhb]

10mm in standard factory loads that are pretty much just .40s&w powered.

9mmx19 in all forms, is becoming over rated lately. people seem to act as if it's a magic bullet that will do more than it can.