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Even if you ignore the behemoths – the .458 Lott, Weatherby’s super-charged .416, Remington’s heaviest Ultra Mags and big-bore British Express cartridges from Norma – a shooter can go daffy trying to finger twenty cartridges as “best.” To reduce the angst, I’ve not listed cartridges pre-dating the .30-06. So you won’t see the .30-30 or 9.3x62, the 6.5x55, 7x57 or 8x57, the .30-40 Krag or .303 British – early smokeless rounds with distinguished records on game. In parentheses you’ll find close ballistic matches, also-rans for reasons as trivial as chronology. Had the .280 beaten the .270 to market, it probably would have claimed the spotlight. Given more space, I’d add the .260 Remington, .340 Weatherby, .358 Norma….

Honestly, though, the first quarter of the twentieth century produced all the cartridges most of us need!

Loads listed are representative of those I like; the best load for any specific application may differ. Here, then, in kind of ascending order:

.22-250 REMINGTON

Now over seventy years old, the .22-250 remains hugely popular – not only among shooters who wreak havoc in prairie dog towns, but among coyote hunters and, particularly in Texas, deer hunters. The .22-250 has weathered competition from other fast-stepping .22s: the .220 Swift, .225 Winchester, .224 Weatherby and .223 WSSM. None has come close to unseating it.