After witnessing the recent lively discussions regarding “underrated” and “overrated” cartridges, I found myself smiling as I recalled a t-shirt that I had back in Austin in the ‘70s. The front bore a simple message and one whose wisdom I’ve REALLY come to appreciate (but not always follow) over the years:

“Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig”.

So, no, I didn’t join either of the “over” or “under” discussions…largely because I find the notion of “rating” tenuous at best. Popularity is a measure that our species uses regularly and, on occasion, the bandwagon does get it right. More often, in my opinion, the masses are swayed by emotion and by VERY limited data sets. Add some slick marketing into the mix and it becomes no surprise to see a seller’s market for coal in Newcastle or Eskimos ordering ice on Amazon Prime.

My opinion (which, along with about $5 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbuck’s) is that there are NO (or at least very, very few) BAD cartridges. There are, however, an almost unlimited number of less-than-appropriate cartridge APPLICATIONS…and guess who’s responsible for those? Yeah, it sucks…but WE are.

The truth (or, to be fair, MY truth) is that the vast majority of cartridges perform wonderfully WITHIN THEIR DESIGN ENVELOPE. For us as hunters, that performance is the ability to reliably take our intended game at our intended ranges. A particular cartridge may work wonderfully in one application yet fail miserably in another. Shot placement, bullet selection and terminal impact velocity have FAR more to do with success than the delivery system (the cartridge itself) and those variables are controlled entirely by US.

After perusing the lists of both “under” and “over” rated cartridges from both threads, I found that I’d happily go deer hunting with most any of ‘em…within their performance windows. Sure, a couple I wouldn’t want to push much past 100 yards but I can accept that. I can also accept that, for the VAST majority of hunters, a measured 400 yard shot (under field expedient conditions) is a heckuva long poke. Which leaves a couple dozen or so cartridges perfectly capable of taking deer within those ranges. Choose what you want to hunt with, become competent with it, select an adequate bullet and go huntin’!

End of transmission.

Mark

Nuf said!!!

Agree.

I was writing a response to the over rated post but didn't finish and had to take care of something. While my response wasn't nearly as eloquently stated it was similar