Five Top Hunting Cartridges For The 21st Century
BY Herschel Smith
6 years ago
Federal’s brainchild was released at the 2018 SHOT Show, and made some serious waves among both long-range shooters and hunters who love the .22 centerfires. Designed to give supersonic flight out past 1,300 yards—the .22 Nosler will drive the high B.C. 90-grain Sierra MatchKing to 2700 fps—the .224 Valkyrie gives true long-range performance with very little recoil. I spent some time with it on the range, and could watch my own vapor trails to nearly 900 yards. But it’s not just a target gun; the 90-grain Federal Fusion load gives deer hunters who like the .22s a perfectly viable deer cartridge, nipping at the heels of the 6mm’s performance. The 60-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip load—at 3300 fps—will most certainly create the ‘red most’ varmint hunters love. A fast twist rate and high B.C. bullets are all the rage these days, and the .224 Valkyrie epitomizes that formula.
This is an odd-sounding paragraph. It’s difficult to tell whether he thinks he is discussing the 24 Valkyrie or the .22 Nosler, or both. That one sentence needs some serious editing work.
Anyway, the 224 Valkyrie gets more attention, as does the 6.5 Creedmoor, and he also discusses the .28 Nosler.
Announced at the 2015 SHOT Show, the .28 Nosler was the second in a series of proprietary cartridges from Nosler based on the .404 Jeffery, and designed to fit in a long-action receiver. A true magnum—even without the moniker—the .28 Nosler will better the velocities of the 7mm Remington Ultra Magnum by almost 100 fps, driving the heavy 175-grain bullets to 3140 fps. The .28 Nosler gives a shooter a blend of horsepower and tolerable recoil, which can handle nearly all North American game, and makes a good choice for longer shots at African plains game. It shoots flat, and the Nosler 175-grain AccuBond Long Range bullet is a perfect mate to the big case. If I owned a 7mm magnum—I’ve fallen under the spell of the .300 Winchester Magnum for decades—it’d be a .28 Nosler; the design maximizes the long-action receiver for the 7mm bore diameter.
Once again, I find that this entire paragraph needs serious editing work. It’s surprising they let this one go through. Regardless, the .28 Nosler seems like a beast of a round.
Still, I suspect it will be a very long time before any cartridge replaces the venerable 270 Win for white tail deer hunting. It remains the most used cartridge in America for that purpose.
On November 11, 2018 at 11:20 pm, BRVTVS said:
I automatically assume such articles are written with an eye towards pleasing advertisers looking to hype the latest cartridge flavor of the month than any objective truth. I think this list is much closer to the truth: https://www.chuckhawks.com/best_selling_rifle_cartridges.htm
On November 12, 2018 at 9:37 am, Bram said:
If I wanted to shoot a really hard to find and expensive caliber, there are already plenty of choices from Weatherby.
On November 12, 2018 at 9:45 am, WalkingHorse said:
My favorite for deer is my 6.5×55 Carl Gustav mauser, manufactured in 1921. I also like my mid-90’s Marlin 336 in 30WCF. Deer don’t require all that much killing to do the job.
On November 12, 2018 at 10:41 am, Ray said:
.22LR. Twelve gauge shotgun. 30-30. 30.06. 45-70. .45 LC. .45ACP . 9MM(for the sub compact carry) . That list covers any thing I might want to kill in all of North America.
On November 12, 2018 at 5:40 pm, Georgiaboy61 said:
@ Herschel
Re: “Still, I suspect it will be a very long time before any cartridge replaces the venerable 270 Win for white tail deer hunting. It remains the most used cartridge in America for that purpose.”
For very good reason, the 270 Winchester and its parent cartridge, the 30-06 (and 30-03 before it), remain amongst the most-popular centerfire rifle cartridges in North America.
Given the wide choice of bullets available for it – by manufacturer, bullet weight, type and intended purpose – the versatility of the venerable 270 is indeed tough to top. Which makes its failure to catch on as a competition and precision round all the more mysterious.
Today, very few manufacturers even offer match-grade bullets for reloading into the 270 and none of whom I am aware offer a factory-produced precision load, although plenty of the hunting offerings would probably do well in that role.
Today, purpose-designed short-action cartridges like the 6.5 and 6mm Creedmoor are all the rage; there aren’t too many competitors who miss having the long-action .277 as a competition cartridge. Back in the old days, though, it would have – could have – provided an excellent alternative to the 30-06 as a precision service rifle cartridge, thanks to its high-velocity, flat-shooting characteristics.
One would think that a match-grade 130-140-grain BTHP or similar bullet might have made a splash at the national matches (if it was permitted under the rules at Camp Perry).
Other than having some old Lake City match-grade .270 brass – a tantalizing suggestion that someone had thought of this – I have no evidence whatsoever that the 270 was ever used as a precision competition rifle cartridge.
As for the continued popularity of the .270, we can probably safely assume that somewhere, Jack O’Connor is smiling.