Cartridges that just make me smile

L

ligonierbill

New member
Watching, and sometimes joining, the caliber debates that are a staple of these Forums, I realized that there is not a single caliber I "hate". I may have no use for them, but I'd never admit that (I've rationalized some pretty strange rounds). But there are some rounds that just feel right to me, and I thought to throw out a few for discussion.

.32 S&W Long - TR equipped the NYC police with it. It's a popular target round, with high end autoloaders chambered for it. But I enjoy it in a S&W Regulation Police, the 'I' frame. Why pack a .22 revolver, when you can drop this in your pocket?

.38 Special - A great target round in the right revolver, like a Smith Model 14, and still a viable defensive round. A good 125 JHP goes just a little slower than a 9x19, but for a wheelgunner, what more do you need?

.41 Rem Mag - Usually generates a discussion, but for me it's a true hunting round that's comfortable to shoot from a standard (i.e., light weight) Blackhawk.

.22 K Hornet - There are plenty of 22's and 17's that compete. If I had another safe and a pile of money, I'd try them all. But this one works for me.

.243 Win - I'm new to this one, but it's growing on me. I will never give up my 6.5x55, but this 6 mm is better on varmints and every bit as good on deer. One hole groups from a $329.99 rifle (Ruger American) is hard to ignore.

.338 Win Mag - If it's too big for the .243, bring out the big guy, well, medium bore guy. Versatile, accurate, tremendous long range energy. Elmer would love it.

So, no autoloaders. Load 'em, shoot 'em, they're on my belt and in my nightstand. All business. Just don't make me smile.

No 30 caliber. I don't know why. I have a number of them, good shooters all. Maybe I'll change my mind.

So, what makes you smile? Oh, I should note that I put this here because, of course, I load everything I shoot. That's the real fun.
 
The following 4 are my favorites.

I am truly in love with the 30/06. Best at everything if you only got one. It really is the king of variety and can be adapted to any need. From dangerous game, to groundhogs, to long range shooting, the '06 will do it.

I really like the 35 Remington too. It really has only one purpose but, it does it well and comes in a handy, ergonomically perfect platform in the Marlin 336.

A 243 makes me grin big too. There are a lot of cartridges that are better suited to individual tasks but, there is not much the 243 can't do and, do well. Small in recoil and big on results.

44 mag. I like it a lot in both revolvers and carbine lever guns. Somewhat versatile for the revolver. But, more like the 35 Remington in that I shoot it full power for plinking to hunting with either gun.

I really like all my pistol calibers. But, the 4 calibers I own that just don't hit me as outstanding are 300 WSM, 308, 32 pistol, and 270.

If it goes bang, there isn't but so much dislike one can muster. I just love guns in general. God Bless
 
.444 Marlin
My wildcats.
Nearly any .22 rimfire.


As of late (last 6-7 years), I've had a fixation for .35 Whelen. As I worked toward building one to my taste (which didn't really happen, but that's another story...), I slowly collected a few other 'big boomers'. They all make me smile, ranging from the .35 Whelen, to .444 Marlin, to .475 Tremor (wildcat).

But there will always be a warm place in my heart for .270 Win....
 
38/357 so much versatility. I have been very pleased with accuracy out of my loads and find it hard to find a bad load. I also find it hard to leave the range when I still have ammo left I just love shooting it.

308 again, so much versatility. Once I get my stamp I will be shooting everything from suppressed subsonic loads to full power 180 gr hunting loads. It's easy to find accuracy nodes and there's so many components out there.

There are many more calibers that I love but these really do make me smile without fail. I know, nothing obscure, but they both have a reputation for accuracy, versatility, and a huge following with many options. I'm interested in getting into other calibers like 44 magnum and 300 blackout but funding is holding me back.
 
Here are my favorite calibers, the ones that make me smile the most.

I am a 357 mag fanatic, revolvers and a Marlin 1894CS. Fun, accurate, deadly when needed. Serious smile generator.

My Remington made Springfield 1903 in 30-06. Rings the steel with boring regularity. The 30-06 is as American as it gets and I love this round in anything.

My Ruger Vaquero in 45 Colt. From mild to wild it is a blast. I love the 45 Colt and what it can do. Up close and personal or out to the other end of the field. Even though it has the trajectory of a rainbow I love to try it at 200 yards and further. As an added plus, when you load it with a 300 gr lead flat nose bullet it looks cooler than the other side of the pillow.

And finally a BRNO VZ24 in 7X57 that I found in a gun store 26 years ago. It was literally wedged in a 55 gallon drum with 8X57 Mausers that didn't interest me. I pulled it out and the owner said "You don't want that one, it's only a 7 millimeter." $75 dollars later it was mine. Fast forward 20 years and my youngest son got me a Boyd's stock for it and rubbed several coats of TruOil into it. He also did a very nice cold blue with Oxpho Blue. I bought a mold for it from NOE and that rifle is phenomenally accurate. That one is special and I have learned that the 7X57 is one the best all around calibers out there. Almost as versatile as a 30-06 and just as much fun.
 
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In revolvers, well I have something and like everything from my 38's up thru my 454. I have just always been a wheel gun fan. In auto's I do have a 9mm, 10mm and 45 and my fav would be the 10mm, but I shoot the 45 more often.

In rifles, well I have something in each caliber from .223 up thru a .303 British, but the little Ruger Compact in .308 gets the most use. I just like how handy it is. That said my favorite would be the Rem 25-06 I passed over to my daughter. I hunted with it for close to 20yrs and it always did what I asked from 10 to 400+yds. Simply incredible accuracy and plenty of power to get what I used it for. I grew up in an '06 household and that was the staple for most of our family. I however started off with a .243 and used it from age 7 up through my early 30's. It will still get the job done but it is more of an heirloom for my grandson's now.
 
Mine's pretty simple actually:

45acp - Because everyone needs one and 1911's are still awesome lol.

.243win - It was my first deer rifle (Remington 788) that I used as a kid, still have it too.

.44mag - I love hunting with this round. I mean its loaded up hot/hard for hogs and cowboy action for plinking. I love to scare the pants off people when they hear my TrailBoss loads switch to my 300gr XTP's with a fair amount of 4227 pushing it out lol.

38/357 - How can you not like the GP100's, Six's, K frames, and lever guns in these rounds? It can be as low recoil as almost a .22 or hold on with both hands flame thrower.

.22lr - Like most people on here, I started with a hand-me-down Remington 550-A and killed truckload of squirrels with it. The .22 is still one of the standards when teaching children/young people the basics on shooting. And lets face, its more fun to try to make a .22lr more accurate @100yds than its centerfire larger cousins.

.270win - Its one of my go to deer rifles now that my grandfather and I spend a entire summer devolping a load that the rifle and I liked. The round doesn't mean as much to me as the days I got to spend shooting with my grandfather.

12ga - I'm kinda surprised no one has mentioned this. I love shooting skeet but I've been slacking off the last couple years. I still deer hunt with a shotgun just because its a family passtime.
 
32-20 because combined with a flat nosed cast bullet, it's a great little cartridge, and mostly because I like old single shot rifles. I have considered a revolver for this cartridge, and may get one some day. It is surprisingly good, gives good penetration, and very mild recoil.

32-40 really makes me smile. I have one chambered in a 1905 vintage Winchester High Wall schuetzen rifle, which for me right now is the finest firearm I have ever owned. The accuracy one can get with this rifle shooting cast bullets shouldn't be possible. The act of breach seating, using the same brass casing over and over, is just too much fun. To my way of thinking, the halcyon days of rifle shooting was the schuetzen era, with the likes of Dr. Hudson and H. Pope shooting offhand scores that I don't think even David Tubb could best, all with soft, cast, lead bullets and comparatively slow hammer fired rifles! -If you don't have a single shot rifle of some sort, you really don't know what you are missing!

357 magnum. Such a versatile cartridge. Easy to load for, and seems to give good accuracy regardless of charge weights in my lever rifle. I don't presently have a revolver chambered in this cartridge, but I'm working on it. Problem is, I don't know whether I want a SAA or a big Smith and Wesson. I'll probably end up with both.

44 magnum. Dad passed a year ago and I received his 3 screw Ruger revolver. I don't find recoil objectionable in this revolver, but it is a favorite of mine because I associate it with my dad.

45ACP. Shot in revolver or 1911, this cartridge has the distinction of everlasting brass. I have some I have reloaded well in excess of 20 time to where the headstamps are hardly legible. But it is a low pressure, fun cartridge which costs me less than 22 lr. these days. I load light plinking loads most of the time, and it is economical to shoot.

I cast bullets for all of these cartridges, and even that activity is far too much fun.

6.5x47 Lapua - Amazing little cartridge that will really reach out there and touch things without a lot of wear and tear on the barrel. I really should shoot it more often, but with jacketed bullets it gets expensive pretty quick to shoot it much.

308 Winchester. I have more than one rifle in this caliber, so I guess I must like it a whole lot. It is surprisingly effective, and easy to load for. My only shell shucker (semi auto) is chambered in this cartridge. Anything out to about 600 yards is in real trouble. I have shot it to 1000 yards in my high power days, but for me things start to fall apart at 800. Whether it is ammo or my not so good ability to read wind.

That's my list. :)
 
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30/06 First center fire rifle I ever fired, U.S. Army introduced me to this in the form of a M1 Garand in basic training at Fort Polk Louisiana..

.280Rem Picked this caliber up liked it and decided it was a keeper, deadly on deer size game, never had an opportunity to hunt Elk with it though..

.307Win good brush & timber rifle, I don't recall having to chase game after hitting them with this round, not many of these around, glad I have one..

.22RF I have this caliber covered with a Winchester Model 9422..

.45ACP Again thanks to the U.S. Army, first hand gun I ever fired..

.270Win Jack O'Connor and Outdoor life turned me on to this caliber, currently don't have one but maybe next year another Model 70!!

William
 
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All calibers make me smile. :) If I had to narrow it down to one, as many mentioned above, I would say my biggest smile would be with the .357 Magnum. From just handling the raw components to pulling the trigger, there is nothing I like more than loading and shooting the .357 Mag. There is just so much versatility in that one round, especially if using both revolver and carbine. It seems to hit the perfect balance of hard hitting without the recoil and cost of a rifle round.

Falling in second place for me would be the 9mm. I load and shoot both pistol and carbine with that round also.
 
.45ACP.... Nothing like the feel of a 1911, I have three of them. None are tempermental either.

.357 (.38sp), my first revolver was a snub 686. Just fell in love, so i had to pair with the Marlin 1894C. Now that is my dream combo (since added a 6" 686). There's quite a few things these two could get me through.

30/06... 'nuff said

I have so many calibers, and their accompanying guns. I like my HK USP40, but I don't get the same vibe that the .45 gives me. I've got the Marlin 1995SS in .44 Mag, but it's not the 1894 C in .357mag! I never regret owning the .44Mag, but after firing it several times, it's nice to put it away.

Now here's an oddball, it's more the gun than the cartridge to be honest with you, but the first gun I ever handled was the Walther PPK in .32ACP (7.65), James Bond's gun... My brother was a huge fan and bought it Pre-68. I still have the scar on my hand from the little sucker too! But, I've told him time and again, I'll buy it if you ever want to get rid of it. That's what led me to appreciate guns to this day.
 
My all time favorite is the .44 Magnum. I have been reloading it since '87 and own 5 guns chambered for it. I have reloaded it with 123 gr. balls over a bit of Bullseye to T-Rex killers with heavy loads of WC 820 under a 265 gr, RNFP. For several years I have been shooting with cast lead bullets exclusively in 3 revolvers, one single shot, and one levergun...:D
 
the #1 favorite is the tc encore in a 23" MGM barrel with a 444 marlin.

30-40 krag- 1898 spr. armory

44 rem mag- ruger super redhawk

6.5 creedmoor- tc encore

270 win- ruger #1

20 vartarg- tc encore
 
I have never met a Scotch I don't like and that includes even the cheapest single malts and that's the way I feel about all calibers.

FrankenMauser said it nicely about the 22LR.

Actually, I'm fascinated by the evolution of firearms, especially cartridges to the point where cartridges were completely self contained and someone figured out primers.
 
After 2 yrs of working-up reloads these two; center and right:

458-Reolads_071215.jpg




Finally got both the 450 Barnes Solid and the 450 Swift"A" to both shoot to the same point of aim at 50 yds:

458M798_092515_2Shots2loads.jpg




One of each in that 2 shot group measuring 1/16" CTC.

Yep - I smiled :)
 
.22WRF 1890 Winchester [1896]
.22Hornet #43 Winchester [1951]
.30WCF 1894 Winchester [1932]
7x57 / .275 Rigby custom on Springfield action
30.06 custom on Mauser Action
45/70 1885 Browning [had to be one youngster in the bunch]
and of course .22LR #67A & #69A Winchesters [1953/1939] #39A Marlin [1946]

38SPL S&W #10 2inch and a S&W PPC gun on #10 action [both from the 1970's]
45ACP Modified Springfield Armory MilSpec [from the mid 1990's]

I think there may be a syndrome developing here….. Hell.. I'm getting kinda vintage myself.
 
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