whats your least favorite commonly used cartridge?

[Tracy]

.40 S&W, 10mm and 5.56/.223.

.40 S&W , well that one's obvious.

10mm because so many people think it's an awesome powerhouse, when in reality the same pistol platform in .45 ACP with decent springs and full chamber support will eat its lunch, any day of the week.

.223 I don't actually hate, but for my purposes .222 is better. Especially for cast bullets.

[izzyjoe]

I can't understand why the 270 has gotten mentioned so many times! The only calibers I can't see useful, is the 5mm Remington, what a joke, and the 17 Mac 2 is a waste! Its really upsetting how many calibers cross over, and do the same thing. 22lr HV will come pretty close to the 22 mag, But I'd take the 22 mag over the LR, my poaching days dictate that! I for one am so grateful that we have the freedoms, and the rights to shoot, reload, and discuss such topics as this!

[rking22]

This thread certainly shows how different our preferences are! I suspect the dislike of the 270 is from the fact that it was portrayed to be the one and only just perfect everything else stinks, big game round. I personally have never had one and don't see that it is any different than 15 or 20 other cartridges from a practical standpoint. Any time you picked up an Outdoor Life or FS etc, in the 70s you were told if you don’t have a 270 you have a second class rifle. Folk get tire of that. Anything that needs that kind of constant hype becomes uninteresting. Glock comes to mind..and 1911s,( that should po 95% of the readers) .
Anyway I am glad we got lots of choices, cause we all are wired differently. I find a gun I like, then deal with whatever it’s chambered for. I rarely even notice bolts or autos so will be unlikely to ever own a 270.

[3leggedturtle]

It was 22 Hornet, but got rid of them, now it's the 17 HMR.

[375supermag]

Hi...
Probably my least favorite commonly used caliber is 9mm.
I own exactly two...a WWII German Luger bring back and a Helwan Brigadier that I bought from my son in law for $50 when he needed some cash.
I probably shoot a couple hundred rounds a year of 9mm through the Luger. I bought the Luger because I like historical military handguns and it was a really good deal.
I do have a 9mm barrel for my S&W M&P .40 cal but I haven't used it in a year or more. I only have that barrel because it was a gift.

Don't have much use for 20ga. shotguns either.
I own one but haven't shot it in at least 40 years or more.

As far as rifles, I have a decent cross section of calibers from .223 up through .30/06 and 7mmMag, including .243, .7x57, .308. Always looking for a nice wood stocked bolt action rifle in different caliber in that window to add to my collection. I like bolt action rifles at the range and for hunting.
With my damaged shoulders, I really shouldn't shoot anything more powerful than 7mmMag, so everything more powerful has no use to me.

[MT Chambers]

It was 22 Hornet, but got rid of them, now it's the 17 HMR.

I think maybe the reason for the hatred of the Hornet is because it wasn't a K-hornet.

[Redleg11b]

My personal opinion is that a lot of dislikes of cartridges is closely related to the platform they are fired in. A prime example being the 5.7x28 out of that junky pistol, 25ACP in cheap and tiny pocket pistols, etc.. I will admit that the 25ACP really has no practical advantage or place, but it is still a fun little cartridge to shoot. My least favorite cartridge that I have owned is the 25-06. I would rather have the versatility of the boring 30-06, despite not even needing anything in this class of cartridge. Short of varmint and wing shooting, all my hunting and range fun needs could be covered by a rifle in 357 or 45 Colt. Slow and lightweight cast bullets for small game up to heavy cast or JSP at max load for large game. There is no fun in that though.

[bmortell]

My personal opinion is that a lot of dislikes of cartridges is closely related to the platform they are fired in.

that is a valid reason in this context because my original question for the thread was "out of calibers that are commonly used in handguns and rifles and considering what there commonly used for, what one would you pick as your least favorite or usefull?" so its not completely about calibers themselves irrelevant of the guns

[Idaho45guy]

9mm.

The cases are tiny and a pain to handle when reloading. And despite trying a multitude of bullets and loads, I can only get my Glock G19 Gen 5 to group 1/8" better than the cheap Federal Brass 115gr FMJ I buy at WalMart for under $10 a box. I think the best group is around 1.5" at 25yds, which is good, but the hassle and expense of all that load experimentation was not worth it, IMHO.

Now, with .40 S&W, 10mm, and .45 Colt, I can get much, much better groups from my reloads vs. store bought.

[SSGOldfart]

22 lr, underpowered and costly. There is also the trash issue that virtually no one polices their brass.

I agree with 22LR

[429421Cowboy]

For rifle it's a toss up for me. .308 win or .25/06, with a runner up being .300 win mag. I'd possibly own a .308 if it was in something like a Savage 99. .25/06 doesnt quite shoot heavy enough bullets for my taste, and is too much in between the .257 Robert's and Weatherby. The .300 is the same, I'd rather either have my preferred 7mag with higher BC bullets and lower recoil, or a .338 win for heavier bullets and less sharp of a recoil impulse.
Handgun cartridges it's the. 40 S&W far and away.

[glaciers]

Handgun: 380, 9mm, 40, 10mm, and any cartridge that head spaces on the case mouth. Except the 45 ACP which works fine in my S&W six shooters with full moon clips.

Rifles: 270, any 7mm with the exception of the 7x57 (don't have one yet), any belted magnum except the 300 and the 375 H&H's, (well the 458 Win mag is OK), any and all of the worthless short magnums.
Rimless standard and rimmed cartridges, you can keep the rebated rimless cartridges.

[edward hogan]

Have to say the .270win was a great ctg for learning to handload. Would probably select a .280rem AI if was still in TX, but I'm not!

I got no use for the .17 or .20 cals, other than .177 pellet guns. Would love to own a .22 K Hornet, but don't really hunt any small game. While the .308win and .30-06 aren't terribly enticing, they do get Superb Barrel Life and an AI'd `06 is about ALL a guy is likely to ever need in the way of a rifle. But gee, I also own a .338-06AI'd rifle that is probably The Best All-Around rifle I own.

What don't I like? Cartridges which don't use standard boltface diameters... I no longer own any .590 super-magnums, and stuff like the Dakota ctgs which use .545 instead of .533 diameter are a turn-off. The 6.5x55 also has a non-standard boltface; although Win makes theirs .476"... I wish there was more standardization between rifle and handgun calibers, especially in .45cal.

One more thing that gets my Irish up, why the ctg designers go with longer cases for the .30mags rather than using the longer case for .338mags... The .300win and .300ruger are case in point, while the Weatherby 300 & .340 are identical except for neck diameter. I shoot a .338/300win and am very pleased with its performance. Kept it over the .338 Lapua, .338ultra mag, and the .340wby because the .338/300 allows a wide variance of load performance which the bigger cases are unable to do due to detonation risk.

I got no use for the bigger bores done on the AR-15 receiver. I load 77gr match bthp for my .223/5.56 purposes and what a great bullet! Also have a 73gr rn mold which I've really never gotten around to wringing out. For years, I debated going to a Grendel for AR-15 and other chamberings besides .308win for AR-10. But, being a handloader, there was no real practicallity for doing so.

Always fun to read about others experiences with their ctg choices. I'm one of those guys who never met a gun or ctg he didn't like...

[sharps4590]

6.5 CM, 30-06, 308 and 9mm. The first does absolutely nothing cartridges developed over 125 years ago were not already doing. Great marketing success. What's the next "latest, greatest, newest, bestest" that does nothing new? The middle two...lol!!!...they bounce over and under their parent cartridge and do nothing any more or better than the 8 x 57. I just never could warm up to the 9mm....357 either, for that matter. For me, anything on the AR platform is totally useless. I didn't like the M-16 in basic 48 years ago and my opinion hasn't changed.

Having said the above, all those I mentioned are good cartridges. Except for the 9mm and 8 X 57, none are actually original, first designs. They all borrow a lot from some preceding cartridge

[444ttd]

its the 223 for me. i'll take a 222 remington all day and twice on sunday. although i luv my 20 vartarg, i hate the bullets!!!!

[oldsalt444]

Probably 7.62x54R. The old military bolt guns beat the hell out of my shoulder. But I must say that every cartridge has its useful niche. This one seems to be in vintage military matches.

[jonp]

Now, it's the latest fad. The 6.5 Creedmoor. Can't think of anything it does that a 308 or even a 260 can't do not to mention my old favorite, 6.5 Swede. For over 95% of people out there, it doesn't do anything others can't but that doesn't mean I'm against it. Any new cartridges that get people shooting are good in my book but if someone can tell me something I can't do with a 6.5 Swede or 7mm Mauser that the Creedmoor can I'd like to hear it beside 1,000yrd target practice which most of us don't do anyways.
I'm also going to go in for all the belted ammo rounds. Can't see any need for them at all but the 300 H&H Mag is just so cool....

Then again, if you can't get it done with a 308 or 30-06 then you need more practice.

[jonp]

Probably 7.62x54R. The old military bolt guns beat the hell out of my shoulder. But I must say that every cartridge has its useful niche. This one seems to be in vintage military matches.

I actually shot a whitetail with one and some surplus ammo. That gun was not overly pleasant to shoot but it more than was up to the task.

[Eddie Southgate]

9mmP , .32 acp , .270 W, .308 , 30-06 ,7 mag ,.300 mag are some I have no use for .

[Idaho45guy]

Now, it's the latest fad. The 6.5 Creedmoor. Can't think of anything it does that a 308 or even a 260 can't do not to mention my old favorite, 6.5 Swede. For over 95% of people out there, it doesn't do anything others can't but that doesn't mean I'm against it. Any new cartridges that get people shooting are good in my book but if someone can tell me something I can't do with a 6.5 Swede or 7mm Mauser that the Creedmoor can I'd like to hear it beside 1,000yrd target practice which most of us don't do anyways.
I'm also going to go in for all the belted ammo rounds. Can't see any need for them at all but the 300 H&H Mag is just so cool....

Then again, if you can't get it done with a 308 or 30-06 then you need more practice.

Stopped by the only gun shop in the area and they had 17 different ammo selections for 6.5 Creedmoor and 18 for .308. It has definitely taken the market by storm around here. So, one distinct advantage it now has is ammo availability.

But, I thought you'd like these memes...

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