Which of my obsolete rifle calibers are most useful?

[GatorFarmer]

My collection of mutants, rebuilds and Franken guns leaves me with some no longer common chamberings. I find myself wondering how useful they are today.

Disclaimer - I have rifles in 30-06, 30-30, 308, 223, and 7.62x39 and 7.62x54R. The last of which is certainly old. Yet thanks to untold millions of Mosin -Nagants remains common. Plus my personal old 91/30 makes a nice hat rack.

That leaves those I wonder about:

A Krag sporter with and old Redfield receiver sight. The serial number dates it to 1897. Cut to carbine length I had it restored to good working status. But the old 30-40 Krag is now a seasonal loading. It is a bit hard to find and expensive. But it does have character.

A 303 Enfield that is part jungle carbine and part No4 mk1. The donor jungle carbine had a bent bbl. The donor No4 was literally forgotten under a wood pile in a garage before it was mine. The rear sight is wired on. But it works. Surplus ammo is dried up. I have some Prvi for it.

An old 6.5 mm Carcano carbine that is ex Italian army and then saw use by the Bavarian rural police. Short. Handy. Shrug. I do have plenty of clips and some ammo.

Another Carcano in 7.35 mm long ago sporterized and now...combatized. Originally it had a Fajen stock. That went to a different project. Now it has a modified sporterized stock from an old 91 long rifle. A date in 1937 is carved into the stock. It has a handguard from an Enfield. There is an SKS flash hider / muzzle brake on it. I have a fair number of clips and some 1939 dated ammo. Literally a one of a kind gun. Shoots nicely - dead on and no recoil. But ammo is extremely uncommon to say the least.
Oddly it is probably a good personal defense weapon.

 

[A10]

I like the Krag, then the .303. Just me, though......

 

[David LaPell]

The first gun I ever owned was a .303 Enfield and they can be quite a performer on game. Across the border not far from where I grew up they used to hunt bear and moose with the round with great successm however I have alwayshad a passion for the Krag but have yet to own one. It's on the list. If you handload, then your rounds will never be seasonal again.

 

[brucev]

Of the calibers you list, I'd choose the .30-40 Krag. It is a standard load that can be bought on-line year round. It is a .308 bore so if you handload for it, any normal .308 bullet will give very good results. As the normal twist is 1:10, you will be able to use bullets across the weight range from say 150 right on up to 220 grains. I had a nice sporterized Krag from about 1986-1988. It was a fine rifle. Wish I'd kept it. But of course, hindsight is always 20:20.

The .303 British is a round that will be with us until the end of time. The British used it in every climate and region of the world for generations with extremely good results. It's taken every game animal that walks the face of the earth. It is readily available ordered on-line. In local stores, availability would be hit or miss. In a rifle with a good clean bore that is properly headspaced, it will be very effective for hunting.

 

[Gaffer]

I am very partial to the .257 Roberts and own two of them. I have much of what is listed above as well, but like the Bob's a lot. They are not something I would try using for Brown bear, but certainly is enough for wnat Maine has in the way of big game.

 

[Sebago Son]

Chris,

If you want to sell (ot trade) that reciever sight on the Krag, drop me a line... I need one for a sporter I'm building.

Drew

 

[charlie sherrill]

Jr. killed two deer with his .303 Enfield last year. He and I have just about all the rifles you named and then some. We only have one scoped hunting rifle and that is single shot Handy Rifle in .35 Whelan for primitive weapon season. The rest of the time whenever we head out to the stand we pick up a different stock military rifle with open sights to hunt with. We've taken deer with the above mentioned Enfield, K98, 03A3, Mosin/Nagant (rifle and carbine), Carcano, and a few handguns.

 

[Andy Griffith]

I don't see anything in that list that is remotely obsolete.

For instance, Maynard cartridges, .44-100 Wesson, pinfire shotshells and .25-20 Stevens single shot...those are obsolete cartridges.