“6.5-284 norma”

Other than the feral hog, the whitetail deer covers more diverse types of terrain than any other game animal, leading hunters to have a wide variety of favorite cartridges. Additionally, whitetail hunters are perhaps the most fervent defenders and proponents of their chosen cartridges, which can range from the .22 Hornet to the .45-70 Government—not to mention the shotgun crowd. How do you even begin a "Top 5?"

Here are a handful of cartridges that have fallen out of favor with the general hunting public, but still worthy of your time afield.

In this age of ballistic superiority, where our projectiles more closely resemble the Apollo-era spacecraft, where the bullet continues to evolve in both shape and method of construction, the round nose projectile is often overlooked as if it were a relic of a bygone era. Don't let that fool you, though. The good, old-fashioned round nose bullet, which seems to have been passed over in the history of bullet evolution, is still a viable choice for many hunters.

Is this the be all, end all list? Here are Philip Massaro's top centerfire rifle cartridges of all time.

All the best camouflage, riflescopes and accoutrement pale in comparison to a bullet that will settle the score between you and a mammal that is equal parts claws, jaws and brawn.

Let the debate begin.

E.R. Shaw is a company in Pennsylvania that makes a huge number of rifle barrels in just about every configuration imaginable, including a lot of barrels for OEM use by some big-name gun makers. Odds are if you have a few rifles, you have one of Shaw’s barrels. What a lot of hunters don’t know is the company also builds rifles based on its Mark VII action to customers’ specifications.

As a hunting cartridge, the 6.5-284 Norma has been touted as one of the best for game animals up to the size of elk.

There have been many visionaries in the firearms industry—the John Brownings and the Peter Paul Mausers—but we firmly believe that if for nothing other than the .357 Mag. and .44 Mag., Elmer Keith deserves inclusion into that group. The .357 Magnum is a sound and useful design, one that will continue to be enjoyed by shooters and hunters alike for decades to come.