Trying to look at this from another direction. There are simply to many cartridges that overlap. How about calibre's?
Rimfires- I have a beautiful mod 62 win and seldom use it. Same with my other rimfires. Scratch them.
22 CF- I love the 222 Rem and the 22 Hornet but the reality is that whatever they will do, a 24 or 25 will do better. Except for doing things quietly. Gotta have some type of 22 CF that's fairly quiet.
24- I've had several and have one now but not sure why. Oh yea, it was a gift! For varmits several 22's are much quieter and for preditors the 25's will shoot most the same bullets faster and will add heavier bullets for game. scratch the 24's.
25- This is in my view the first truely dual purpose caliber. Bullets from 75 to 120+ grs make it suitable for everything from sage rats to large deer. and the question of violence is mute when you consider that you could have a 25 in anything from a 250-3000 to the weatherby.
26, 27, 28- I think these are the truely versitle big game cartridges. With most the standard cartridges there are inexpensive cup and core bullets that will work on any game you might want to use one on. In the magnum versions there are premium bullets and heavy weight bullets that I would bet my life on anywhere in North America.
30- Can only be described as versitle, jack of all trades and master of none. The praise we drop on the 30-06 is great. But it seems it's a lot more than needed for deer and minimual for elk and larger. But it will handle all of them. But then so will a 22 mag! There is of course the 300 mags which are powerhouses with heavy bullets but the best thing about them in my opinion is their ability to handle long 200 gr bullets.
For woods cartridges, the 30-30 and 300 sav and 308 Win have a great following but I believ that is based more on the rifles they come in that any magic in the cartridges themselves. There is absolutely nothing any of them will do that several 26. a 27 and several 28 cal's won't do as well.
The need for a dangerious game gun, 338 and above , in North America, is more fad and myth than any reality. The vast majority of people will never hunt dangerious game, will be hunting with a guide with a stopping rifle or will find dangerious game so expensive that adding a new gun for it is the cheapest part of the whole trip! The best dangerious game gun will be one that shoots a heavy strong bullet at moderate, 2500fps, and up velocity, that the user shoots well.
So I think that the rifle battery could be easiely trimmed down.
A 22 CF I'd go for the 222 Rem
a 25. I'd like to have a 250-3000 or a 257 Roberts here.
26, 27, 28 Could be a real toss up here. I am very particial to the 6.5x55 and the 7x57 and 280 Rem. I could live with anyone of them
gotta have a shotgun and my favorite gauge is the 16
Handguns seem popular so I'll go with a 357 framed gun that I can fire 38's in also. I shoot mostly cast bullet's in mine. Actually I can't remember the last box of jacketed bullets I bought. All I shoot is cast!
