Hunting what? Should be a factor. I wouldn't hunt the Big 5 with my .22 Hornet, yet I wouldn't hunt small game with a .458 either. Looking back in time to the 1920-1950's era, northern arctic people relied on the .22 Hornet for their meat gun - mainly due to the lightweight of ammunition, yet they killed all manner of game. Ok, maybe sometimes one didn't come home from the hunt! When the .222 Remington came along, they upgraded to that. Nowadays in northern Alaska a rifle using the .223 or .22-250 is not uncommon, along with more current central fire cartridges being used.

The skill of the 'hunter' needs to be a factor; not the ability to shoot. So many of today's people taking to the woods, mountains or plains are shooters and not hunters. A friend who use to "live in the woods" in Montana used an original Marlin 1894 carbine in .32-20 for his deer and elk rifle - he made meat each season to fill his larder. Sometimes he used his big gun, a Marlin .30-30. He 'hunted' and most shots were not over 35-40 yards into the axis joint - DRT. I later upgraded his rifle to a .257 Roberts, which he has used since moving to Wyoming in 1983, with excellent success...so much so that he'll even take an 80-100 yard shot every now and then!

What is the perfect hunting cartridge? A question without a definitive answer, yet fun to discuss.

Charles Sheldon used for his hunting/collecting rifle a 6.5x53R/.256 Mannlicher chambered rifle. For museums and others he collected quantities of game in north America in vast amounts. It's believed he collected between 70 and 80 grizzlies with that rifle. 'If' memory serves me correctly, when he visited with Townsend Whelen in the mid-1950's, shooting standing/offhand at 200 yards, he was able to put 4 or 6(?) rounds into an 8 inch bullseye. He was a 'hunter' and knew his rifle's capabilities. Just saying...

waidmannshiel,
awanderingbear