10 Most Underrated Cartridges and Why? 

I spent the first 50 years of my life in Alaska. When I was a young man in my 20’s, I chose the 25-06 for sheep and goats and had a lightweight, custom rifle built. I loved the gun so much that not only did I take many dall sheep and mountain goats with it but used it to take caribou, black bear, several moose and even a grizzy. I spent alot of time with that gun, it’s one of my best friends and most prized possession.

Thank you for showing the 220 Swift and the 25-06. I've shot bench rest for 20 years, and learned everything from my Dad. He shot bench rest since the early 60's, and absolutely swore by the 220 Swift. He also taught me how to reload. We went on many trips to Nebraska & South Dakota for prairie dogs. The 220 Swift is still the velocity king. Nothing shoots flatter. The 25-06 is my favorite deer hunting rifle, for many of the same reasons. Flat shooting, and velocity kills.

A handloaded 257 Roberts Ackley is probably the best midsized deer cartridge on earth.

.35 Remington ... almost ideal for white tail hunting in the northeast woods.

The 25-06 is an outstanding flat shooting deer and antelope cartridge.

My two favorite deer cartridges are the 25-06 and the 250 Savage. I load 120 bullets with 49 grains of IMR4350 in the 25-06. They chronograph between 2850 and 2900 out of my model 700. I load 35 grains of H4895 behind a 100 grain bullet in my 250 Savage. They chronograph at 2900 out of my Ruger 77. Most of the game I have killed have been with these 2 rifles.

The 25-06 is definitely underrated. I think the 35 Whelan deserves mentioning as well. The 9.3 is still quite popular in Europe and Africa, so I wouldn't consider it underrated from a global perspective. The 250 Savage and 257 Roberts are great cartridges for the average hunter. Probably why the 7mm-08 is do popular. The 7mm Mauser is nearly identical, and a great cartridge. I personally like the 8mm Mauser, which is similar to the 30-06 with modern handloads, with a bit of novelty. Great video! BTW, my 222 Sako and .221 Fireball Savage rifle are definitely underrated.

I have always wanted a .257 Roberts since I first read about it as a kid.

The 222 rem is a great little cartridge, I have one that used to be my Father’s that he used doing roo shooting for his profession of work with his brother when they were younger that used a 243 and they said that he would get anything the 243 would get the only advantage his brother had was the longer shots and heart and lung for the bigger game with the 243 , they said 1st you will get anything with a head shot every time and is the most ethical way and takes more skill , you will always be presented with a shot and if not then and only then you go for the heart and lung shot but don’t get lazy and remember always first the head , great video and thank you .

As an older collector/shooter, there are many great cartridges on this list. My first woodchuck rifle was chambered in .222. It was a tackdriver without any customization. I still own and am deeply enamored with the .480 Ruger. It will take on [and handle] anything that gets in my way while enabling me to still practice with it. Finally, I am also a fan of the 6.5 × 55 mm. As the narrator stated, it will handle a Moose or Elk and do so without breaking your shoulder. Great choices!

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I go to the range at least weekly and shoot almost all these calibers. The only one I never owned was the Ruger. In my senior years (been shooting and reloading for over 50 years) I sold the 404 Jeffery since I no longer wish to inflict pain onto myself. The 250 Sav. is long gone as well. (I do still have my 1899TD in 303 Savage though.) I shoot 222 Rem, 257 Rbt's, 6.5x55 and 30-06 constantly and soon to start up again with the 7x57 along with my 7x61 Sharpe and Hart. I have both heavy barreled guns and sporters in all the calibers. Nothing in reality has come along to replace them. Most new calibers are just companies trying to sell more stuff.

6.5X55, 7X57 and 8X57 are favorites at my house. I have taken deer with all 3. No complaints.

I think the 257 Wby is a unbelievable round. Totally underrated... taken everything from fox, yotes, bobcat, hogs, whitetail, antelope, mule deer, and lastly elk... it's a MK5 RC and the most accurate non-custom I own shooting either the Barnes TSX and TTSX. There's a reason it was Roy's favorite!! My favorite as well...

25-06 is the only cartridge my uncle and dad use for any deer hunts

I got a 6.5 swede military surplus over 100yrs old now, absolute machine its so accurate still i want a sporter now

In bear country, I would still choose the .44 Magnum over .480 Ruger. You can get .44 Magnum cartridges everywhere if you need more ammo.

i can't praise the 6,5x55 enough. It is awesome both for hunting and target shooting. Lapua Mega 10.1gr is great for deer hunting. If i can only own 1 rifle it will be chambered in 6.5 Swede.

The 25-06 is definitely underrated. It's one of the best deer cartridges out there. Fast and flat shooting without all the recoil. Feed it a well made 120 gr bullet and it will also penetrate very well. I've also always thought the 6mm Rem as a great cartridge. But being based off the 7x57 you're limited on actions with the bolt face to accommodate it these days. To me it's a better cartridge than the 243.

Boy, I love my 6.5x55 and 7x57 mausers..they are sweet shooters!

My first centre-fire rifle was a surplus Chilean Mauser in 7x57; I've spent a lot of years regretting trading it.

It saddens me greatly to see the 25-06 listed among these has beens. There is no sweeter shooting cartridge that will bring down elk:than my beloved quarter-ought-six. I would dearly love to re-barrel my M77 Ruger with a 1 in 7.5 twist barrel and reload with 140 grain high BC bullets. Check out Ron Spomer on this idea. He likes it a lot.

Love 257, very common out plains.

Finally, we agree on almost every round you mention. Way to go on this one. Awesome

Id also like to mention that as a native Pennsylvanian I shot my very first whitetail with a 6.5x55 swedish.

I'm so glad to see the 25 06 and 257 Roberts on this list. My experience with both has been nothing but positive. An old timer I knew called the 257 Roberts "The perfect whitetail rifle" in his opinion. The 25 06 is perfect for hunting anything from woodchucks to large deer. It's also a tight shooter on a bench.

I have a Ruger M77 in .243, and I absolutely love it, I understand why it's so popular and why .25 and .26 caliber cartridges were and are still popular with cartridges like the 6.5 Creedmoor. Something with little recoil but retaining stopping power is practically, or is unbeatable.

I use the 9,3x62 from fox up to red deer or 100 kg heavy hogs with outstanding performance and great results. For me one of the best cartridges in the world.

I have a 220 swift. And a 25-06 both amazing rounds I swear by them

OMG the stock on that rifle at 9:23 is absolutely gorgeous!! Beautiful quality walnut combined with exceptional quality chequering.....And that lovely case hardening colour play.....THAT is one hell of a nice rifle!

Love my 220 Swift. Would love to see some factory backing.

6.5x55 the OG of the 6.5 hype. Handloading will get you +3000fps with 120gr pills. Fantastic medium sized game round, and many a Caribou/Moose sized game fall to it year after year.

The 6.5X55 is very much alive and kicking in Scandinavia. My sons and their hunting buddies have had their 30-06/ 308/ 8x57 rifles converted with a barrel change setup, and now prefer 6.5x55 for even moose hunting. This year, among 5 hunters, there was one 308Win, and four 6.5x55 rifles in use. With the latest Norma Bondstrike hunting cartridge, you have 2000 J energy as far down range as 375 m. They took 3 moose this season, 2 of them with 6.5, using 120 grain copper bullets, however at moderate range. And all were single shot kills. Also, the 6.5x55 are in use by tens of thousands of competition rifle shooters in Scandinavia, so I think the Creedmore will have a really hard time competing in the european market, despite all the hype. The 260Rem has been around for quite some time, without much of a success.

I bought a Ruger 77 new in 2005 in 25-06, I have not touched my 30-06 or 300 win mag since ! Love it !

9,3 x 62 is in Hungary a "Gold Standard " for Red Deer hunting. I have a Blaser R8 and Use the Brenneke TOG 16 g/247 grs and a lot of Times it takes only one shot. Dont Try to Overreach with it and it will serve you well. Here we barely shoot over 300 meters and untill 200 just point and click....

Well done! I rarely agree as much with ANY top 10 list as I do with this. Many of the outstanding 57mm cartridges have fallen victim to the fact that they fit so well into an intermediate action which most manufacturers simply no longer make, so most look to the short or long cases and medium length has become the step child. But they are very well balanced! For instance, I am in the process of rechambering my 260 Rem to a 6.5x57. I find the 260 to be a little anemic, and a 6.5-06 or 6.5/284 are known barrel burners. But right in the middle are the old Mauser X57 cases. A little more pepper, but not too much. Bigger bores are a little different and you nailed those too. Nice to finally see some love for the forgotten quarter bores as well! Big thumbs up!

When I saw the title of the video my first thought was the 25-06. Great flat shooting cartridge and a good choice for big game.

I own 2 of them and wouldn't trade them for anything. First is a tang safety Ruger M77 in 25/06 that my dad bought me in 1982 when I was in High school. Put lots of venison on the ground and still do. Second is a Ruger No. 1 in 9.3X62. Love this rifle and round.

Have a Kimber hunter in 257 Robert's. Great gun, very accurate.

TY!! From what I have learned in past 60 yrs, you did a good job. Pointed out/ cleared up coupla misconceptions. Added coupla things I didn't know/ hadn't heard. And intoduced coupla calibers I had not dealt with. Seems to be good info. TY!

Seeing two of my favorite cartage's on this hurts 25-06 and 8mm Mauser.

I am happy to say I was able to grab a 25-06 and a 1916 6.5 swede (sadly someone sporterized it) just need to figure out what scopes to get on them.

I like the 6.5 x 55 Swedish Mauser

Great video! For me the .222 & .25-06 are my favorites. You can't go wrong with either.

I absolutely! Love the 25-06. But hate the price of the 25-06 factory rounds..

I've been shooting a .25-06 for 6 years or so now and it's my go-to for deer. Wish I'd have found this caliber earlier in my 35 years of deer hunting. Definitely underrated in my part of the southeast US. People think they need a .300 win mag around here to kill a deer for some unknown reason.

I bought my first 25-06 in the mid 70's , Savage bolt gun about 2 years ago I dug it out of the safe and had it restocked by bell & Carlson.ive killed everything from Armidillo to Elk with it , it's my go to for everything in the lower 48 besides grizzly

Just love Savage model 99's The 250/3000 is a great caliber. I have two in 300 savage. Great deer round. My favorite caliber is my 257 Roberts in my 1982 Winchester model 70 featherweight xtr from 1982. Drops deer and is super sweet shooter. My other favorite caliber is my 264 win mag. 👍

The 25-06 is truly a 500 yd Varmint and deer round, and the 250-3000 Savage is hard to beat as well. The 6.5 swedish Mauser is the main rifle used to hunt down moose with in Sweden and surrounding countries.

There are a lot of cartridges that owe their existence to the .404 Jeffrey. EVERY Winchester Short Magnum, the .300 Remington Ultra Magnum, and hence all the standardized Nosler cartridges all are wildcats of the .404.

Have a Remington 25-06 model 700 bdl. Have had it for years. Shoot 117 gr game king handloads in it love that rifle

I have hunted whitetail in TX for 30 years with a .250 Savage. Just put a .257 Roberts barrel on my T/C Encore for this season. Looking forward to seeing how it does.

25-06 is an awesome cartridge. I can push an 85 grain Nosler bullet 3600 fps and easily reach out to a quarter mile for woodchucks. A 120 grain bullet will suffice for deer sized game, but the 100 grain partition bullet is for just about anything up to 400 pounds. The recoil is easily managed making it a good choice for ladies. It's all about velocity and premium bullets.

Between my dad and I, we've taken a lot of deer with both .257 Roberts and 7*57. I like 7*57 for hog hunting as well.

7X57 has been my go to round for 27 years, taking 43 one shot deer. I decided there's nothing big enough in Arkansas to Demand 30-06, never looked back. 20 ft to 330+ yards, they just go to sleep. I think a lot 'outdated' cartridges are more realistic than some of the newer ones.

The 222 was never under rated. Not known to a lot of younger shooters, due to the emergence of the 223. But still never under rated

Absolutely love my 220 Swift. Plenty of deer on down to groundhogs have been dispatched with this rifle and as for deer I NEVER had find any of them as they dropped on the spot.

The 6.5 swede and 7mm mauser are fantastic rounds the hype around short actions are missing out, these two work very well in the bushveld with heavier bullets. Modest velocity prevents meat damage and penetration is exceptionally good even with conventional bullets

The 6.5x55 is the most used caliber in Sweden still, and the 9.3x62 is really common as well, nos as common as the 308 but still really common 😅

Fully agree. Love my 9,3x62...but it's still very common in Europe and especially Germany. It is sad to see all this great catridges in this list. I also strongly recommend to try the 243. A very nice shooter.

Nice! I appreciate the Variety of rounds you chose from the .220 Swift to the .404 Jeffery!

The first 2 cartridges on the list are my 2 favorite rounds of all time. Still load and shoot them. Many a whitetail dropped by my '25.

Love the 220 Swift, seeing my son knock over whatever the crosshairs are on gives my the best kick I could ever get!!! I also own a BRNO Fox Mod 2 in .222 very sweet rifle.

Admirable selection!

Can't believe you left out the .303 Brit. - kills anything! Loads from 125gn to 215gn. Handloading gives even better result than factory in a No4 rifle.

Proud owner of a 25-06. Love it. I can "reach out" and touch a deer real fast.

Any gun Will kill it's all about bullet placement and knowing the limits of you and your gun. Love the 270; 2506;3006. Have all three sometimes it's to choose which one to take. Have taken several elk with the 2506..

I haven’t had the opportunity to shoot the 6.5 x 55 but I am eager to do so I’ve heard nothing but praise about it being an excellent soft shooting flat shooting bullet. I’ve been keeping my eye open for the right rifle to go with it and look forward to the day of owning one.

Good video. Good topic. I have long thought that the .25-06 Rem. is probably the perfect cartridge for plains game of medium size, especially Pronghorn Antelope in Wyoming type places. The .250-3000 Savage and a Model 99 Savage would be wunnerful, wunnerful to have, but I would need a rich relative in the family tree to get one. Some gun writer guy in about 2005 - 2008 did a write-up about the Model 99 Savage and lamenting it's death. {Sad indeed}. Since then the price of M99's have gone sky high. 😪 The .220 Swift is an interesting cartridge to read about. It was born in 1935. I have some copies of "American Rifleman" magazine in the 1930's and it certainly did get many good reviews and the AR staff actually invited hunters to write in and vote/review the .220 Swift. W.D.M. Bell used it kill Stag in Scotland. One shot where the neck meets the head, deer fell over DEAD. Several other folks mentioned one shot kills with the .220 Swift. Normally I would be utterly against using a .22 caliber bullet on a deer sized animal due to the probability of wounding, not killing the critter. From all the reports I read,,,, the bullet is going sooooooo fasssssst that it "freezes" { for lack of a better word } the liquid in the animal. Critter is immobilized and falls over. The word(s) might be "Hydrostatic shock" maybe. I'm NOT a science guy. Later on, some other gun writer penned a derogatory article and bad-mouthed the .220 Swift. Then the sheep/writers in "Gunville" agreed with that guy. { Amazing how one guy says something about something, and for some reason, the opinion tide reverses. 😒 } The .220 Swift lost it's popularity. Another problem it had was it was only made in Winchester brand rifles Stateside. FN in Belgium made some.

Pretty much any old cartridge is underrated. You basically tweak a few variables to create a new cartridge. And everything new is mostly just a tweaked older cartridge. I always opt for the older original cartridge over the sexy new one since it would be able to do what I need at my skill and be a lot cheaper and widely available. Of course if I was into reloading this would be a completely different story.

I would add the 8x57 as very overlooked, and underrated

I had a .222 Rem it was awesome. Finding ammo was a pain.

Love the 7x57mm Mauser and have two Rifles, so chambered.

A pet peeve of mine is that you hear about a new cartridge you are interested in, and look for a rifle but cannot find one, and even try and order one but none are available, and one day you hear, “it has been discontinued because people just didn’t buy it”!! WE COULDN’T FIND ONE TO BUY!!! What is up with that???

I'm surprised the 300 savage wasn't mentioned. Another round I absolutely love.

My favorite for squirrel hunting is the .45-70 Govt. in my Marlin. Such a great cartridge. You pop one of them rascals with this cartridge and there is not much left but a bushy little piece of tail! You all take good care out there now you hear.

My Father used a .250 Savage in Winchester Model 54 bolt gun with peep sights for hunting deer many years ago. He shot a lot of deer and thought nothing of neck shots at 125 yards. He could really shoot a rifle like no one I have ever seen since. He once shot four bucks in one day, all neck shots.

Great picks 👌👍✌️

I'm in love with the 6.8 spc . A little sad to not see it here

Great list!

I have a .270 Win., and a 7x57 Mauser (among others), and wouldn't be afraid to use either on anything short of the big Browns and Grizzlies. I would want something with a bit more punch idealy, but in a pinch...

I still hunt with a 25-06 it was the first bolt action I bought it’s perfect on whitetail

Great picks all really cool cartridges.

I have a 6.5x55 military rifle that was sporterised beautifully that is the sweetest shooter I own. Awesome accuracy,solid ballistics and a real pleasure to use. I reload ammo for it and have developed loads for a wide verity of bullet weights. If you find one get it.

9.3x62mm Bock is a fairly popular cartridge in Europe (Hungary as well). There is an other fairly popular 9.3mm cartridge, the 9.3x64mm Brenneke, with about 1000Joule more muzzle energy and considerably more kick on the shoulder.

Cool video nd I love my Ruger .480 too

I have a 1903 Carl Gustav . 6.5 x55 so amazing

I'm really surprised not to see the 300 H & H on here In my opinion that is one of the most Underrated cartridges out there... Otherwise great video Looking forward to what comes next

Great choices. .222, 6.5x55, 7x57 and 9.3x62 are my favourites

Factory ballistics for the7 x 57 are limited by some if the old rifles for which it was chambered. In a modern rifle with modern powdersc the 140gr loads can reach 3000fps with no pressure signs, and about 2800 for 150gr. which have excellent BCs.... Most 7x57 rifles are long throated for the old heavy military bullets, so this helps to keep pressures down too. My favourite rifle back in the day (over 40 years ago) was Brno (CZ) ZKK600 with a single set trigger in 7 x 57..... with top loads and 139gr Hornadys it was a MoA rifle if the loose nut on the butt did her job... 🙂

Well done video! I have used several of these and agree with you on the modern performance in an old cartridge. Marketing is to blame. Many new shooters have never compared the ballistics of these to the latest darlings of media hype.

Walker developed the 50x also. Have 40xs in 222 220 swift and 308.

I have a 220 swift,250 savage and 6.5 x 55,all fantastic,never give them up.

I bought my first centerfire rifle in 72’. A Rem 788 in .222 Rem. Highly modified now I still have. It spoiled me for accuracy. The following year I bought a Ruger 77 in 7x57. Love that caliber. 7-08’s weren’t commercially available quite yet and I traded in my Browning A5 20 gauge mag for the 7x57. Nice easy shooting caliber that doesn’t thump you like a 270. I had a 244 barrel made for it and swapped out barrels if I was going meat hunting with the 7x57. Then in early 90’s Remington came out with their Mountain Rifle in 7x57 and I picked one up and the 6mm/244 Shilen stayed on the Ruger action from then on. I’m surprised you didn’t have the 6mm on your list. The 244 wouldn’t stabilize the heavier bullets like the 243 Win but that same cartridge with a faster twist the 6mm could and doesn’t give up anything on the 243. Had I been ten years younger I’d be shooting a 7-08’ and a 243. I also shoot 17Rem, 22-250 and a 204 my only modern cartridge. nice video. the 7x57 in the Ruger action, glass stock and Canjar trigger shot 1.75" groups at 300 yards in a stiff wind using Speer 145 SPBT & I4350 powder. awesome. 😊

Good article. I would add the .300 SAV. My pet catridge is the 7x57. 139/140 gr bullets at 2900 fps in modern Ruger and Win XTR Mod 70 from a cartidge designed in 1892. The only real catridge (excluding bullets) advancement has been to turn up the pressure.

Very well grouped list the first half sounded like a listing of my personal favorite cartridges, i would only make 2 addendums to the listing first being the .244/6mm remington the second being the .264 win mag

Let's not forget the .300 Holland & Holland Magnum.

The .222 Remington was a "new" cartridge, it was not based on any other cartridge. It's children are the .223, (aka the .222 Special), .221 Fireball, maybe the Whisper .300, the .300 Blackout, and so on.

I reckon the .22 rimfire is the most underated cartridge ever. I've shot pigs to 100 kg, wild goat's, dingoes and roos with one

I think that the .260 Remington is under rated. Nearly perfect deer cartridge.

What about the 6 mm Rem?