It could still be a bit too early to tie one's star to the short magnums, but the author thinks they're here to stay. The ones that he'd bet on surviving are Winchester's. Shown here is the family portrait consisting of the .270, 7mm, .300 and the .325.

Going to the .25s now, I'd chuck the .25-20, .25-35 and .250 Savage--all of which are still being produced--as having lived way too long. The first two were designed for weak lever actions and the .250 Savage for the short magazine of the Savage 99 rifle. The only .25s I'd keep are the .257 Roberts and the .25-06 because they offer two distinct levels of performance within the caliber. I believe the Roberts makes a better deer cartridge than either the .243 or 6mm Rem., but that really shouldn't enter into it because it's not a good seller in any case. Nevertheless, I figure I'm entitled to one irrational, sentimental decision, and loading for the .257 would be it.

As for the .25 WSSM, I'd again hold off on it, for the same reasons articulated earlier for the two other members of this Super Short family. In fact, at least the .223 and .243 versions offer a slight velocity advantage over the .22-250 and .243 Win., respectively, but this one merely duplicates the 3,100 fps of the .25-06 pushing the same 100-grain bullet. The .25 WSSM, therefore, has to justify its existence solely on the fact that the rifles chambered for it are about one inch shorter than a rifle chambered for the .25-06. At this point, I'm not about to bet on its future success.

Including the .25-06 as the other round within the caliber seems like another no-brainer to me. It was one of the all-time great wildcats, and now, as a commercial round, it's one of the most perfectly suited to pronghorn hunting I can think of.

Graduating to the .26 caliber, as fine a deer cartridge as the classic 6.5x55 Swedish cartridge is, I'd exclude it from my caliber lineup, along with the almost-obsolete .264 Winchester Magnum. I'm not in business for sentiment; to keep good and/or classic cartridges like these alive when there's little market for either is bad business. I feel the same about the 6.5-284 Norma--a super cartridge but one that has to come a long way before it establishes itself as a viable commercial round.

My 6.5mm lineup would be slim indeed, consisting only of the .260 Remington; it will do anything the 6.5x55 can, and in a short-action rifle. I think it's one of the best whitetail cartridges ever conceived, as well as the perfect round for youngsters, those who are slight of build and the recoil conscious.