Hunting cartridges are in a wave. A decade it is speed, the next all long, sleek bullets and fast twist barrels. Meanwhile, another group of rounds continues to do the same low-class job, which is to put a well-built bullet where it belongs, without making every practice period a clinic of recoil management.
These picks are seldom the subject of conversation, and they appear in rifles which are carried at a hard rate and fired at actual positions in the field. All of them are based on practical engineering: case design that is efficient, common sense velocities, and bullet weights that allow the case to be reliable in accuracy and terminal performance.
1. .338 Federal
The .338 Federal is a short-acting thumper made by stretching a .308 Winchester case to a new size of.338 and it finds its adherents where there is a need to shoot a lot and a brush is an inch or two away. Average hunting bullets are 185225 grains, with a standard range of 200 grains, which is heavy enough to shoot a straight line, heavy enough in diameter to make a big wound track, and light enough to handle in convenient rifles.
In performance notes published by the cartridge its ability to propel a 200-grain bullet 2,700 fps at the end of the barrel places that bullet in that practical middle range between the speed needed to initiate a consistent expansion and the violence needed to be a magnum. The actual advantage is predictability: short action, efficient case, and a bullet that does not require extreme velocity to accomplish decisive work.
2. 7mm-08 Remington
Created of the same.308 parent case but necked down, the 7mm-08 Remington has always been an option with a shooit hunt it anywhere capability in deer-sized game and larger. The typical loads used at the factories are 120-140 grains bullets, but the general workable weight is between light 7mm pills and heavy hunting rounds. That range allows the hunter to adjust to the terrain, to where the terrain is lighter and flatter, where it allows the distance to be covered, to where the angles are tight and penetration is important.
The reason that the cartridge remains relevant is that it maintains low levels of recoil to prevent the flinch issues ensured by otherwise flawless combinations that plague such setups, particularly in light mountain rifles. It also goes well with some modern bullet designs where controlled-expansion bullets are preferred to spectacle.
3. .35 Whelen
The .35 Whelen is the archetypal bigger hole in a regular action, with only the slightest of makeshift: a .30-06 case necked up to.358. Its fame is based upon what the hunters are actually observing; straight-line penetration, good tissue damage, and solid work at ranges where most of the big game is shot. The Whelen does not follow the speed; instead, it relies on heavy-caliber ammunition and frontal diameter to make the consequences dull but in the most civilized sense.
That design is also useful at close ranges, where ultra-fast hits have the potential to subject bullet construction to stress and cause less predictable results. The bullet performance is the point of junction regarding any promise made by cartridge, and one technical reminder still puts it in its place: your bullet is the one and only point of contact between you and the game you hunt.
4. .280 Remington
The.280 Remington exists in a silent no man’s land between domestic names, yet the engineering rationale remains attractive: 7mm bullets in a.30 06 family case without descending into magnum recoil. That is important because 7mm bullets have wide useful selection to the hunters who are concerned about traffic, wind performance, and penetration. The highlight feature of the .280 is the availability of heavier bullets 7mm hunting bullets up to 175 grains which is more important than raw speed when sectional density and controlled expansion are more important than raw speed.
Practically, it is a cartridge that allows a hunter to run heavier bullets with the recoil tax remitted which turns practice into work. Its ceiling concerns not the case, but the possibility of the shooter to put the shot under pressure, and it is here that this cartridge is inclined to shine.
5. .257 Roberts (+P)
Even when the market passes, the .257 Roberts, or as he is known by many, Ol’ Bob, has a way of remaining of use. It was constructed on the principles of efficiency: light recoil, convenient velocity, and adequate downrange capability of deer and pronghorn at reasonable distances, based on the Mauser 7×57 case and heavier.257-inch bullets. It is also marked on the cartridge with a rare technical footnote: it is the only rifle cartridge to have the official addition of +P, making SAAMI maximum pressure 58,000 psi instead of 54,000 psi. Published notes in the +P form note 100-grain bullets hitting 3,000 fps, which can be used to understand why the Roberts frequently feels better in the field than it is supposed to.
It is still a cartridge that encourages playing it with good judgment and smart choice of bullets not to have the shooter punished. All these rounds do not win because they are trendy. They triumph over the task of easing shooting, and leave the construction of bullets and their behavior upon impact to take the weight. Once the emphasis remains on realistic range, controllable recoil, and the correct ammunition to the angle, such “quiet” cartridges begin to appear like leftovers and begin to look like clever engineering which never went out of fashion.
