Which are the five greatest predator cartridges of all time?

L

Landrum

New member
I'm sure this isn't an original question but I have not been here all that long so I thought I would ask.

Of course, answers to questions like this are purely subjective but that's what makes life interesting; differing opinions.

So, if you were going to list the 5 best rifle cartridges of all time for all types of predator hunting (no rimfires), which would they be?

Landrum
 
223, 243, 22-250, 22 hornet, 204- thats just going by what i always hear people talk about, now me on the other hand, i prefer 243 over all others unless its an ar in 223.
 
Id say stats will show in order 223, 222, 22 hornet, 22-250 and 17 rem. I personally like the 17 rem best. The 204 has not been out near long enough to even be thought of in this category.
 
I know I've been hunting predators long enough to know and have owned all of these calibers and the 204 is deserving to be at the top of this list.
 
Well my thoughts are that there probably has been more predators taken with the 22 cal and the 22 mag than all the above. But my list would be

22-250, 22-250, 22-250, 22-250 and 223
 
LA lights tennis shoes were popular in the 80s too. Did you sport that fad too???? I think plently of people would say the 218 bee, 219 zipper, etc were very popular if not more in their time. How many major manuf. do you see making them now??? Im not saying the 204 ruger isnt a good cartiage but how can you compare it to the others than have lasted 4-6 decades or longer??? Its a out right fact that you cannot!!!
 
Im not saying the 204 ruger isnt a good cartiage but how can you compare it to the others than have lasted 4-6 decades or longer??? Its a out right fact that you cannot!!!


Do you own a 204, I own two and have since they first came out
they will shoot with those other calibers any day. The 204 is here to stay!!!!!!!!
 
I know that all the familiar rounds will make the list but I'd like to see the .222 Rem be on the list more often than it probably will be even though I don't own one. Back in the old days before I was doing this the .222 was considered a fine and accurate round. Of course the coyotes were not as strong and educated as they are today. Back then plaid could substitue for camo if a person could sit still and a Tally Ho open reed could get a dog into within 500 yds. Things must have been much simpiler.
 
Times change.
40 years ago plaid or checkered worked great as camo. You don't hear much about it now even though it is better than 90% of the camo out there today.

Jack
 
Of the ones I've used the 22-250 spent about 30 years as a go to the woods coyote gun, the the 243 went for five years. I now shoot a 204 and with only 7 coyotes down I like the way it kills, but time will tell.

For me the top five are the 243, 22-250, 220 Swift, 223, and I'll throw in the 204, but that's only because I ran out of choices. That's what I've used mostly. Shot about every .224 chambered gun out there, but not enough kills to say which is better other than the above list. I'm not a hornet fan, but out here in Idaho we have lots of long shooting where guns that will do the 400 yard thing excel.

Nothing above kills as well as the 243 in my experience, no spin and nips and only two run off's in five years. All the rest just DRT.
 
Quote:
LA lights tennis shoes were popular in the 80s too. Did you sport that fad too???? I think plently of people would say the 218 bee, 219 zipper, etc were very popular if not more in their time. How many major manuf. do you see making them now??? Im not saying the 204 ruger isnt a good cartiage but how can you compare it to the others than have lasted 4-6 decades or longer??? Its a out right fact that you cannot!!!



I have to throw my hat in with BHLBAMA.
The question was, "of all time". The 204 appears to be an outstanding round, TODAY. But, it hasn't been around long enough to warrant entry to the list of cartridges "of all time". The guy who answered 22-250 about four times was probably very close to the truth.
Not having been a predator hunter all my life, I really don't what the five best rounds were, "of all time". But, I would bet the 204 wouldn't be on the list. Rounds like the two that BHLBAMA would be higher on the list by a wide margin than the 204. The 219 Donaldson Wasp would get lots of votes too, along with the 22 Hornet, the first of the hot 22 rounds back in the 1930's. One other thing, and that is, the 257 Roberts was THE ultimate long range varmint round of yesteryear. My Step dad, when he returned from WW II, had a custom 257 Roberts built as his first of many custom rifles built for long range predator and varmint hunting in Pennsylvania. It was an 11 pound rifle that shot extremely well and I saw him make some spectacular long range kills with it back then as a kid. He used a Unertl 8x target/varmint scope, and a set trigger.
I wish I could say with authority what were the five greatest predator cartridges of all time were, but I can't.
I'd have to wing it and say that the 22-250 is probably at the top of the heap, with the 22 Hornet, 218 Bee, 219 Zipper, 219 Donaldson, 223, 243, and 257 Roberts somewhere in the mix. I had my first of many 22-250's built in 1960, with 6 mm Remington custom built in 1968.

Martyn
 
Yeah, I'm with BHLBAMA also, 30 years ago the 222, 22-250 and 243 was used by almost every predator hunter I spoke to. Occassionally you would see the 223 but more often than not the 6mm Remington was out there smacking dogs regularly.

Though times have changed and now with greater numbers of predator hunters, the newer calibers are showing up in groves. Partly due to more publishings available to the reader and pushing new products, similar to camo. 40 years ago it was plaid, then it went to army camo, now it's Ghost Prairie, woodland this and shadow grass that. It all works but so does a Khaki shirt and a forest green pants.

It's really nothing to get excited about, the 223 will kill anything the 204 will, but that is not what is important to some. It's new and the mag writers say it's better and that is what sells.
 
As times change, so does the Technology. If the question " Of all Times" means current cartidges, then I think the .204 would fit into the group. If we are going just by past history, then Clubs, and Bows and arrows may need to be included in there too.. lol
 
I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the 25-20WCF.

Not that it would be on my list, but it sure was popular for quite a time 1890 through 1930 and the intro of the 22 Hornet. People of the day would certainly list it as "the Greatest." It was even still produced in fairly good numbers even until the mid '50's. That gives it almost 60 years of popularity.

The 60 years of life is what we are now seeing as longevity in the 22 Hornet and 22-250, but if we are listing of all time, yes, clubs and such win out; but they are not cartridges....the man asked for cartridges.

I also believe listing newer cartridges like the 204 is mis-guided. Time will tell. It would be like trying to say the current President is the "greatest of all time" even before his presidency is up. It will probably take the next generation of cartridges or weapons to judge the ones we use today.
 
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