what are your rounds of choice?

For years and years I have had all different calibers of rifles and shotguns. Given my hectic work schedule and limited time for 'fun'. I have since paired down lots of my other calibers to just a handful. For pistols, it is 9mm and 22 LR. For rifles it is 223/5.56, 308/7.62 and 22 lr. LOts of reasons but main one is those are easily obtainable ammo wise and well they all just work well. How about you, anyone else simplified things this way?

Me . I used to have lots of different calibers , of hand guns and rifles as well as different shotguns.

In the last several years I've gone down to a .22 , a .357 , and a .40 in my handgun choices. mainly because of the reloading costs. My shotgun choices were easy , a.410 for small game , and a 12 gauge for home defense and turkey hunting , and recently ( thanks to ScottyB ) some duck hunting.

My rifle choices wound up being a .22 , a .243 , a 7mm08 , a .270 , a 30/30 , a 30/06 , a .308 , and a 25/06.

no main reason why , but after some selling off and trading around a bit , that's what I've wound up with.

bryguy said:

For years and years I have had all different calibers of rifles and shotguns. Given my hectic work schedule and limited time for 'fun'. I have since paired down lots of my other calibers to just a handful. For pistols, it is 9mm and 22 LR. For rifles it is 223/5.56, 308/7.62 and 22 lr. LOts of reasons but main one is those are easily obtainable ammo wise and well they all just work well. How about you, anyone else simplified things this way?

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Great choices. Add in a wheelgun with a 4" barrel chambered in .357/.38 and a reliable 12ga you have about everything covered.

<>< Fish

Hunting Rifles - 22lr; 243; 30-06; 30-30; and a 7mm mag. Hunt mostly with the 06 and 7 mag these days. Little boy shoots the 243 but I like it a lot

Handguns - 22lr; 38 special revolver, 357 mag; and 40 S&W for carry guns

Shot guns - 410; 20; 12 - nothing special in them.

I try to keep my handguns limited to cut down on the different types of ammo. I don't really know why I thought I needed the 7 mag to deer hunt with, but I got it and I like it.

Buddies give me junk about having all different stuff but it's been fine so far... I like options.

The only things I shoot "a lot" are standard cals like 22, 9mm, 40, and 223. Keep lots of those around.

The rest are hunting guns and I don't really keep over 200 of each...

Pistols: 22, 380, 9mm, 40S&W, 45acp , and 44mag. (mix of play guns, carry guns, and hunting guns)
Shotguns: An auto 20, auto 12, and O/U 12. (each have their purpose and are used as such)
Rifles: 9mm, 17hmr, 22, 223, 6.8 SPC, 308, 30/06, 300wm. (again, each have their purpose, with the 223 getting the most range time)

Last year, killed deer with the 6.8 (x2), the 308, the 300, and the 44mag. Plus 2 hogs with the 40 and one with the 6.8.

Really don't "need" any more rifles, lol. But, I do want to get a 458 SOCOM upper for the AR to hunt with. Waiting on some options to come back in stock... That with a 1/6/28 scope would be a heck of a woods gun.

I know it's not part of this discussion, but I have REALLY become partial to hunting with the AR rifles. Just so quick, light, handy that it's hard for me to "want" to carry my bolt guns sometimes...

Handguns- 9mm, I have a .38 and a .380, but 9mm is far and away my favorite handgun round.

Rifles- .22LR, -06, .260, 5.56, and .300BLK

Assorted shotguns.

Only handgun I have right now is a 38 special but I’m looking to add a 9mm soon.

A pump and a semi auto 12ga plus a semi auto 20ga cover everything I need to do with a shotgun.

I have more rifles though, a 30-30, a lever action and a bolt action 308, a 270, 30-06, and a 22LR. All of the center fires see about equal use with a little edge to the 270.

I ask this because I paired everything down to the rounds I mentioned due to what I perceive as a coming scarcity and also with the view that in case something were to go down, there are literally billions and billions of rounds of these particular calibers. I also believe that there will be a push soon to limit reloading components. Maybe it’s my tinfoil hat being a bit to tight but I would rather have and not need versus need and not have.


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My rounds of choice are the most common and least expensive.

Just stock up on lead, bullet molds, primers, BP and smokless.

With that and a few basic tools you can load anything.

Tested some loads from my AR pistol one time. Rcbs bullet mold lead cast and BP
It worked, would not want to get hit with it. Can be loaded very easy with hand loader.

3006, 3030 will work better. 4570 even better and only basic tools needed.

Don't have several rifles in various chamberings but still have dies, brass, bullets and loaded ammo. Not sizing down but will pick up more bullet molds for my handguns/rifles/shotguns. As a reloader and bullet caster I don't pay retail

CD

I like my not so norm calibers, my .308 and .338 Marlin Express are my got to hunting rifles. I have a 38-55 and 45-70 for my shtf guns, because they were made to shoot BP and cast. Got plenty of brass, primers, powder and bullets for my rifles.

The main calibers I shoot are .308 Win, .45 ACP and .22LR. That said I do have my father in law's old .270 Win, a 5.56/.223 (obviously an AR) and just bought a 9mm pistol to double as a boat gun for dispatching wild fish (cobia) and protection when offshore and for my wife to shoot on occasion. For shotguns I have the spectrum covered with guns in .410, 28, 20, 16 and 12 gauges for various uses...love my wing shooting!

I have a bunch of oddball stuff, I like the out of the ordinary. Between my Dad and myself we have about 81 different cartridges we load for, if I haven’t forgotten any.

Some we load regularly, some we load up 100- 200 and they last for a couple years.


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I have paired handgun down to .38, .357 magnum and .40sw. I do have a luger in 9mm but don't really shoot it.

With rifles I am trying to standardize. 308 projectiles with 300 BO, .30 carbine, 30 30, .308 win, 3006 and 300 wsm. I can bulk up on projectiles and some of the gun powders are dual use. I find brass the cheapest cost in the long run because I get 8 to 12 (or more) loadings out of it.

My .270 winchester is the exception. It was my first deer rifle and I'm not getting rid of it. She is a tack driver and deer slayer. I also have some milsurp Mausers in 8mm also 6.5 swede that are not shot a whole lot.

If you are a well stocked hand loader shortages aren't as big a deal.

Like I said, I have paired everything down to 22 rf, 223/5.56, 308 for rifles and 9mm for handguns. I also handload but only do for the 308s we have. 223/5.56 is getting cheap enough now it does not make much sense to reload.

I'm working towards downsizing like that too.

I have owned, and still own, a lot of various calibers. But I would have to say I enjoy shooting a 204 Ruger than most any other caliber.