“belted cartridges”

There is something unique and romantic about the concept of a single-shot rifle. Especially if that rifle is the venerable Ruger No. 1.

There are a few times when a company gets a cartridge design right the first time around; Holland & Holland certainly got it right in 1925 with the .300 H&H Magnum.

Fitting the niche between the 6.5 PRC and .300 PRC, Hornady’s 7mm PRC cartridge delivers long, high-BC bullets in a long-action receiver, and temperature-stable, magnum speed propellants for consistent velocity and extended barrel life.

If you like to hunt North America’s biggest game, take a long look at the 33 Nosler; it puts an exclamation point at the end of the sentence.

Just about every case shape imaginable has been modified to hold both 7mm and .30-caliber bullets, but it was gunwriter Layne Simpson who saw a gap in the lineup: there was no 7mm cartridge based on a full-length .375 H&H case. In 1979, Simpson took the excellent 8mm Remington Magnum and necked it down to hold 7mm bullets, giving his wildcat the name “Shooting Times Westerner.”

A beltless non-rebated .30-caliber magnum rifle cartridge designed for extreme performance at long range, the .300 PRC is the product of years of tinkering by Hornady. It will handle almost any game in North America and is fully capable of doing double duty as a long-range target choice.

Let's take a closer look at five of the best lever-action rifle cartridges.

Each shooter’s recoil tolerance level is different, and some people appreciate flexibility over specific application, but these five cartridges will cleanly take any dangerous-game animal on earth.

One is a newbie and the other ranks among the most popular hunting cartridges sold to this day, but both have appreciable characteristics. Which cartridge is the better choice for the hunter? Here’s a detailed look at the pros and cons of each.