If there were only 12 rifle cartridges....

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1. 5.56
2. 30-30
3. 7.62x39
4. .308
5. 7.62x54r
6. 8mm Mauser
7. 30-06
8. 45-70
9. 50 bmg
Yeah. Just nine will do. Haha

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk
 
1: .22LR (Ubiquitous, quintessential... Perfection.)
2: .22-250 Rem (Ok, so it's mostly a filler.)
3: .223 Rem/5.56 NATO (AR Fodder)
4: 6.5-284 WIN (Do I need a reason?)
5: 7.62x39mm (Feeding all those AKs...)
6: .30 WCF (Hallowed, hoary, history.)
7: 7.62x54R (Millions of rifles can't all be wrong...)
8: .308 WIN/7.62x51 NATO (AR-10's, and M240's I'll never own.)
9: .30-'06 Springfield ( Unquestionable.)
10: .50 BMG (An entirely adequate and historical rifle round.)
11: 20x102mm (Along with the M61 Vulcan, will be the new minimum deer weapon by 2050.)
12: 40mm Bofors (Adding sound affects to 1940's air raids, and for irritating charging polar bears.)

:neener:
 
1-.22 LR - got a few, can't have too many
2-5.56x45mm - AR, will probably get a nice bolt action, too9
3-.243 Win - got a decent bolt action in this one
4-.308 Win - I own a K31. My life would be simpler if it were chambered in .308, but GP11 is neat ammunition. It's sure a ... unique cartridge, though. oddball.
5-.30-30 - would like one.
6-.50 muzzleloader
7-What more does a guy in Arizona need? I guess I could be happy with a .45-70, but I hardly need it.
 
Ol' Hawks sure likes his deer guns, don't he? Six or seven of the cartridges on his list are deer cartridges, more or less. Talk about redundancy.

If you can't kill it with a .22LR or a .30-06, you ain't in North America. Nice to have more options - makes it fun, sells lots of guns and ammo for the manufacturers, keeps all the little cubbyholes on your reloading bench full of things you can never find when you need them - but when you get right down to it, those two are all you need. I own plenty more than that myself, but that's a want, not a need.
 
I'm not going to own twelve different calibers. The ones I'd consider, if I don't already own them are as follows:

1) .22 LR
2) .223 or 22-250
3) .308
4) .300 Win Mag
5) 9.3 x 62 or .375 H&H
6) .416 (for grins and giggles)

1-4 meets my needs just fine. You could eliminate #3 but I do like the .308 for cheap practice ammo and recoil sensitive shooters. I doubt I could come up with six more calibers I desire.

BikerRN
 
If you can't kill it with a .22LR or a .30-06, you ain't in North America. Nice to have more options - makes it fun, sells lots of guns and ammo for the manufacturers, keeps all the little cubbyholes on your reloading bench full of things you can never find when you need them - but when you get right down to it, those two are all you need. I own plenty more than that myself, but that's a want, not a need
Click to expand...

While I agree that those two will do all your killin' needs (and really, we could drop the .22 LR if simply killing critters is everything), that doesn't mean other cartridges don't have useful purposes.

I think someone already drew the parallel that trying to fill every firearm need with one cartridge is akin to playing golf with only one iron. I submit that golfing with one iron would be easier. Trying to fill every firearm need with an '06 and a .22 LR would be like trying to build houses with a hatchet and a tape measure. It can be done, but not easily or efficiently.

Take those of us who hunt predators; Yeah, the '06 will kill a coyote or bobcat just fine, but then you've got a couple of nasty holes in your pelt. With my .17 Rem., a pinprick entrance and no exit, and they are DRT.

Varminting; Again, the '06 will certainly kill a praire rat or rockcuck, but that's a lot of recoil to tolerate, even with accelerators.

At the other end of the spectrum, we have big things with sharp teeth and bad attitudes. Yeah, a '30-06 will probably get the job done with proper bullet placement, but I personally would have a lot more confidence in my .375 Ultra with 3 tons of energy riding on a heavily constructed 300 gr. bullet to save my skin in the face of a pissed off Brown bear.

So again, while I agree with you to a point, I wouldn't go as far as to say that anything other than '06 is just a want, not a need.
 
DammitBoy - I started to add the 12-gauge and the .45 ACP as the other essential calibers, but this is Rifle Country. Although picking off crows with a .22 would be good sport.

MachIVShooter - I can see where you're coming from, and I agree up to a point too. A varmint cartridge is nice, and a big game cartridge is nice too - some might say they're essential - but I keep coming back to Bell and his .275 Rigby elephant guns. And I sure can't see why Hawks thinks you ought to have six or seven cartridges just for deer.

I reckon a man could go through life happily with the two cartridges I named - and I suspect that would fill the needs of most North American hunters - and if he added the two you named he'd never need another. One for small game. One for deer. One for varmints and predators. One for big game. Four altogether and you've got all the bases covered.

But it sure is fun to have that big toolbox full of stuff!
 
but I keep coming back to Bell and his .275 Rigby elephant guns.
Click to expand...
Bell got very, very, very close to the Elephants he took and shot them through the "ear" which on an Elephant is rather thin compared to the rest of the skull. Try that on a frontal head shot and you would be a greasy spot on the plains. One wrong step with his method and he'd have been an intersting side note rather than a often referenced "but he did it so I can too".
 
Gus, that's just exactly my point. You don't have to have a big thumping magnum cartridge, if your fieldcraft and marksmanship is good enough. Of course, it's nice to have both. If you're like me and don't have either, well, you'd better not be hunting elephants!
 
I just see Bell thrown around so much and some people actaully believe that doing something that dangerous is fine because he did it before them. I know I would never attempt that with anything less than a 375H&H, on my list :), and that would be the absolute minimum.
 
I am content with a .177 pellet rifle, a .22 lr, 12 ga o/u, and a .270 Win. Pretty much covers what I do and fits my budget.
 
Ol' Hawks sure likes his deer guns, don't he? Six or seven of the cartridges on his list are deer cartridges, more or less. Talk about redundancy.
Click to expand...

I was thinking that myself. He said his list wouldn't have much overlap, yet 2/3 of his list all the popular deer calibers between 223 & 308. He left out a ton of useful medium caliber rounds such as 8mm rounds (8x57, 8-06, 325WSM), 358 calibers and the venerable 375 H&H Mag. If there were to be only 12 rifle cartridges left on Earth tomorrow, the 375 H&H would have to be on the list.
 
Why 12? There's a lot of duplication of purpose and possibility in those original 12.
Lessee..
.22LR
.223 Remington
.30-06 Springfield
.375 H&H (or .416 Rigby).

That's all I'd need.
Pete
 
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Why would someone have a 30-06 and a 308 Winchester? Or a 280 Remington and a 7mm magnum?

If I was limited to any certain number of cartridges, I would try to be as versatile as possible.
 
Bell

About W.D.M. Bell:
Bell and his .275 Rigby elephant guns.
Click to expand...

In addition to getting "very, very close"....Bell was a remarkable shot. He used that same rifle to wingshoot birds along the Nile. He was so accurate that once a observer offered to buy the "shotgun" that Bell was using because it was so effective.
275 Rigby = 7X57 Mauser.
Pete
 
I am amazed at the number of calibers I actually shoot, owning only about a dozen rifles.

22
223
762x39
8mm Mauser
30-30
308
30-06
 
I think there have been two big omission froms the all the previous lists. But I am going to play 12 cartridge game too. *=long explanation at the end

1. 22lr
2. 223/5.56 AR
3. 22-250 - i like it even if the velocity has no good purpose
4. 6mm BR - only one previous taker for the BR and no PPC?
5. 257 roberts - covers anything a 243 can do with minimum recoil
6. 6.5-284 - *targets
7. 7.62x39 - for AKs and any other short range semi-automatic thumping
8. 308 - for longer range self-loading rifles
9. 8x57 - really wouldn't notice if my 30-06 rifle, brass, bullets, and dies became 8mm
10. 45-70 - for the luddites, or in case smokeless powder is out of stock
11. 458 win mag - * hunting
12. 14.5x115 - this is the big caliber, not 50 BMG * vehicles

* targets - sure 6.5-284 may burn barrels, and benchrest is only a treatment for compulsive reloading. (which I don't have) But it is really perfect for putting all ten rounds onto that tiny target way there, the past the 6mm BR targets.

* hunting - If 'you' were meant to hunt it, 'you' could kill it with a 30-06 or 8mm. For all the animals you aren't supposed to hunt, a 375 is not enough, and the 458 win mag fits into a standard length action.

* vehicles - it's a pitty the 14.5 can't become popular in the states. 14.5 is the real dividing line between rifles with solid projectiles and guns that should have explosive payload or high velocity sabots. 50 BMG isn't quite there. Tripods are the best recoil control devices.

It's like all of you forgot that benchrest and foreign countries exist.

Update to Brian Williams:
The gap between 22lr and 223 is all velocity because both cartridges can handle a 40 grain slug. the velocity gap between 22lr and the slowest rifle cartridge on these lists(45-70 at low pressure) is also at or near zero. The difference in kinetic energy is covered by all the pistol cartridges from 32 acp to 9mm to 7.62 tokarev to 357 mag and 44 mag.
 
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