“ackley”

New hunting rounds come and go, but some manage to stand the test of time. Here’s a look at five cartridges that are simply too good to go away.

Grand old cartridges like the .30-06 Sprg. and the .270 Win. still kill game just as well as they ever have, but many of the new cartridges out-perform them, especially at extended ranges. Here are a few reasons why.

Christensen Arms announces its new bolt-action Traverse, a lightweight precision hunting rifle built for the backcountry.

Weatherby, Inc. has expanded its bolt-action lineup with the Mark V Hunter, boasting a freshly designed polymer stock that echoes the lines of the Backcountry 2.0 family.

These five cartridges are seeing renewed interest from deer hunters thanks to new hunting laws and improved ballistic performance. 

The .17 Hornet, son of the classic .22 Hornet, is a well-balanced design. Sharing the rimmed design of the parent case, it feeds nicely in a bolt-action repeating rifle, provides pinpoint accuracy and minimal recoil, and checks all the boxes for varmint hunting.

Based upon the success of the initial developments, Hornady has added nine new calibers to its Precision Hunter line.

The X-Bolt Pro McMillan is a beautiful rifle, perfectly suited to all-around Western hunting. Our test model was incredibly consistent and stable, and we would confidently carry it into the field anywhere from the moose swamps of Alaska to the Coues-deer deserts of Arizona.

Relatively unknown outside of true metallic cartridge aficionados, the .250-3000 Savage Improved strikes the ideal balance between downrange performance and perceived recoil. That’s only the beginning, too.