why does everybody hate uber magnums?

Status
Not open for further replies.
for me... the only "magnum" i was is the poor man's magnum, the 35 Whelen... it will kill ANYTHING i'd ever want to hunt, and if it wont, my 45-70 will...

I use a 243 and a 30-30 on deer. nothing more is needed. Dropped a buck this year at 78 yds with a 243. thats the LONGEST shot I've ever had to take, and it was comfortable to me.
 
"It happens...oh well the elk wins this year...it is called hunting not shooting. Just because a rifle has a longer shooting range doesn't mean the person has the skill or knowledge to do so successfully. Also, if it is 500 yards away and I can't get move another 200 yards closer maybe I should rethink my hunting strategies and tactics.

Additionally, I'm just happy to be out hunting with family and friends. You don't have to shoot something to have a good time."


Exactly , you beat me to it. Im not so blood thirsty as to shoot at a deer too far. I feel im a slightly better than average shot, Not amazing but pretty solid. I still dont like to take shots past 100 yards with my 32 winchester because further than that and there is a much better chance that i might miss the mark by a few inches. I can ring the gong at 200 yards with that rifle standing, but i can ring it better at 100 !
 
Sorry, haven't taken time to read any other post before putting my .02 cents in there (I rarely do this, but will now).

I'll tell you exactly what irks me about uber magnums. It's not the fact that they exist, because they do in fact have a use. What irks me is the macho mentality of "I need a magnum". I feel it's a form of compensation for a percieved inadequacy. I'm not saying that everyone who owns a magnum suffers from this, but it definately exists. Why else would someone subject themselves to heavy recoil and twice the price ammo to go tree stand hunting for bambi in the woods, where the longest shot will be under 100 yards. It happens. Often.

There are legit uses for magnums. If you're going to harvest a ram on the other side of the gorge from you, well a 7 mag will make that 700 yard shot easier and deliver more energy to the target. The truth is, though, that very few hunters have that level of skill or the time to develope it.

My practical reasons for being anti magnum is that I target shoot often. Magnums are simply more expensive to keep running. You're looking at ammo that's at least 50% more expensive (no I don't roll my own), and barrels having a throat life of 2 or 3000 rounds.



To sum it up, I'm not a hater of a magnum. You don't have to list your reasons for owning a magnum to me. If you seem intelligent, I will assume you have a good reason for owning one. If you seem very noobish to hunting and/or shooting, I will assume you have a magnum simply because it's a magnum and not out of a real need. BTW, this post comes from an owner of a 7mm magnum ;). I shoot .270 and below alot more these days
 
Smacking deer and squirrels with a .338 lapua is epic fun. Barely notice the recoil after a 5th of vodka. Why should i care if someone things its wrong? I'll go bag a whitetail with a .25 acp if i damnwell please.
 
cubesmoothie said:
Smacking deer and squirrels with a .338 lapua is epic fun. Barely notice the recoil after a 5th of vodka.
Click to expand...

Very classy of you. Yeeeesssss, go shoot squirrels with a big gun while you're DRUNK! That is not only stupid, but illegal in some places.:mad:
 
Like anything, they can be "mis-used" pretty easily.

I wish I had a nickel for every "hunter" I've talked with who thought that having a .300 RUM or some such similar chambered rifle automatically made them a long range marksman. Too many folks know next to nothing about exterior ballistics and terminal affects of their chosen bullet, yet they'll never admit it.

To the question "what about that animal that's just at the edge of your rifle's capability...the uber-magnums are made just for that"? Every cartridge and rifle has a "limit" to it's range, and folks tend to try stretching those ranges. In the case of the "uber-mags", their effective range can easily extend far beyond the capabilities of the shooter.

Which means naught if the shooter can actually use the rifle/cartridge/load combo to the limit, or is willing to limit themselves to their own abilities. Too many aren't, and most won't admit it fer nuthin'.

So, I don't "hate" the uber-magnums. What I dislike is the way they're used by some who are incompetent in their own abilities, won't admit it even to themselves, but think that using an "uber-mag" will somehow make them better equipped for long range shooting.

Most north american big game will be just as dead with a .308 as it will be with a 30/378 Wby with good shot placement from each out to 300 yards. The idea behind the "uber-mags" is to extend the effective range of the firearm, and to do that the shooter has to increase their own ability as well. If someone isn't willing to do that, there's no need for the bigger bang-stick.

I've done almost all of my big game hunting (30+ years worth) with either a .243 Win, .270 Win, or a 7mm Rem mag, and I've yet to feel limited with the effective range of any of them. A fefw friends tried to talk me into moving up to a 7mm RUM, and my question is a simple "Why?". The 7mm Rem Mag has done everything I needed on animals up to the size of elk and bison without a single hickup, so I have no need for more power, more recoil, more blast, and more cost in my shooting.

For those who use the big magnums, I'd suggest shooting out a barrel or two. If you haven't, then you probably don't have the experience to know long range exterior ballistics like you should.

To each their own within their capabilities, but I won't condone shooting past what a person's experience level allows, and the crazy thing is that those with the experience to do it usually don't have to.

Daryl
 
It's hazardous to be satirical on a forum.
Click to expand...

Especially when one is recalcitrant to the expertise of the deified masses.

But when asked, I tell it like I see it. I would ask no less from others if I asked their opinion.

It validifies the statement, "Be careful what you ask for."

Daryl
 
Wasn't referring to you Daryl.

Smacking deer and squirrels with a .338 lapua is epic fun. Barely notice the recoil after a 5th of vodka
Click to expand...


I guess even saying that satire is hazardous is hazardous.
 
Thanks Zero. I wasn't sure, but it could certainly have fit. My posts are usually intended in a general sense, but they're oft-times read as being pointed in ways that were not intended.

No offense intended to you, and certainly none taken by me from your post.

;)

Daryl
 
Some very good points has Ryanfromcanada made and a bunck of others. I dont think there are Mag haters, just folks who feel they are used when they could use something more suited for the sitituation. I do see alot of over calibered and under both ways. I had a mag once sold it because I sure did not need it. But the person who bought it needed it for what he was using it for. Thats why some folks have a few rifles which is a good idea if you can afford it, go with what you need, and works the best for you!
 
I've been reading a lot lately, and posting very little. But when a bunch of fellow shooters post one ignorant post after another on any given subject, here I go:

I'm talking about "haters" of most any caliber/gun combination. I don't get it, and never will. Obviously the word "ignorant" is considered inflammatory by most readers, but is certainly justified on this thread. The example I point to is post after post of some gomer "loving" his/her .22-250, .220 Swift, .25-06, 6.5-06, or any host of other popular calibers widely considered as "ballistic magnums", whether it's a misnomer or not, while certainly despising most all other choices many of the others may favor.

The thing I try to remember is shot placement, no matter what weapon I choose to go afield with. Haven't many of you killed animals with a bow and arrow? Then, of course we all know that kinetic energy is derived in many forms. Elephant guns are most certainly not necessary to render any lesser animal dead in most all cases.

Unlike my bow, I don't aim to shoot through the lungs and out the other side of barely any four-legged animal. I hunt thick brush in low mountain terrain most of the time. When I'm not bucking brush, I'm watching over creek or river bottom flats, or hunting in heavily-pressured woodlots with property lines, natural boundaries, or homes and other obstacles nearby. If you put a bullet behind the shoulder instead of right through the center of the bone, you'll be sad you did 99% of the time. I put 'em down hard, right there, right now--if I possibly can. If not, those other orange-capped "gomers" will be hauling my trophy out for me, or it will cetainly be otherwise lost.

To accomplish this, I most often shoot heavy bullets--some at high velocities, some not. The point is, I always aim to break those shoulders and send bullet and bone shards through the lungs and heart. Hopefully, the high hold will also provide a good path for spinal incapacitation. That's something I just don't trust to my .243, though I've taken a nice 6 pointer with it. I also had to chase it down the bank of a 30 foot wide creek to retrieve him. I'll pass on that task from now on. I took an ugly buck with my Marlin muzzleloader this year with the very same shot--zero tracking. It's not a magnum, but I knew that heavy slug wouldn't let me down.

Hold where you want and with whatever you want to shoot. Just do me one favor: the next time you see Guy Eastman flip the safety off on his MK V, don't call him a fool. I'd like to put down just one 200+" buck like he has all these years. I'd like to be carrying my dear old mag if I do.

-7-

goodside.jpg

badside.jpg
 
"Hold where you want and with whatever you want to shoot. Just do me one favor: the next time you see Guy Eastman flip the safety off on his MK V, don't call him a fool. I'd like to put down just one 200+" buck like he has all these years. I'd like to be carrying my dear old mag if I do."

Why do you need that mag, 30-06 will go through the shoulder everyime. we're talking 300 pound deer. I'm fortunate enough to live in an area that deer of this weight reside and a buddy of mine shot a 265 lb buck this season when i was with him , with a 30-06 center lung hit and guess what no tracking deer was lying just 10 feet away 60 yard shot.

but to each his own and good hunting
 
I don't hate the uber magnums but I agree with Slamfire
Me, I don't care for the recoil. And I don't care for the attitudes I have observed behind the uber magnums.
Click to expand...
More often than not it's the "better than thou" people who tote the magnums and well if your not shooting this or that well your just not capable like they are.
 
Last edited:
I've never heard of an Uber Magnum, is it Russian?:D

Mainly because I hate the added recoil for a few hndred FPS. When I hunt it's within 300 yards anyway, so the Mag is just a little much for the shoulder. I like my 44 mag pistol though. I'm more interest in the Pooper belcher magnum though, do they come in feather weight?
 
Last edited:
More often than not it's the "better than thou" people who tote the magnums and well if your not shooting this or that well your just not capable like they are.
Click to expand...

It's funny in a way, but I've been in some hunting camps where the "campfire talk" revolved around what everyone was hunting with, and almost without fail some are envied for their big magnums, and that's where the conversation heads.

But, most camps I've been in, I couldn't even tell you what others were using. It's generally a non-issue among experienced hunters. In these camps, the talk is usually about animal movement and habits, how to best hunt the area, and the best way to get an animal out if we get one down in one of the rougher areas.

And the basis of the conversation is invariably influenced by the experience of the participants. If I can tell you what another is using, I either helped them work up a load, sighted in with them, or someone's been braggin' on their mag.

Daryl
 
But, most camps I've been in, I couldn't even tell you what others were using. It's generally a non-issue among experienced hunters
Click to expand...


That's exactly right. I ask sometimes out of curiosity and that is the end of it. There are a few guys in our small club that I have been hunting with for ten years and I have no idea what they use.

As far as Montana elk hunts over the last 25 years or so I never remember any conversation involving hunters arguing about the merits or lack thereof of some cartridge.

It's a forum thing.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top