Top 15 Most Popular Rifle Cartridges (2025 Edition)

I have been tracking the most popular rifle cartridges for the last several years, and it’s always fascinating to see what cartridges take off.

The only problem, is defining what “popular” means. There are many different ways of deciding what is popular, so I’ll list them separately.

Rifle Cartridge Popularity Ranked By Ammo Sales

In July 2025, I talked with some friends at the largest ammo distributors and retailers. About 70% of all ammo in the USA is distributed or sold by those companies. Here’s what they told me are the most popular cartridges.

1. 22LR
2. 223 Remington / 5.56
3. 6.5 Creedmoor
4. 308 Winchester
5. 7 PRC
6. 6.5 PRC
7. 300 Winchester Magnum
8. 270 Winchester
9. 243 Winchester
10. 30-06 Springfield
11. 7mm Rem Mag
12. 7mm-08 Remington
13. 300 PRC

Hottest Rifle Cartridges (Ranked by Google search volume)

According to Google search traffic, these are the top most-searched cartridges in the world right now. This is a good indicator of “what’s hot.” (Data updated February 13, 2024)

1. 22LR
2. 223 Remington
3. 6.5 Creedmoor
4. 6.5 PRC
5. 7mm PRC
6. 308 Winchester (7mm PRC gets 57% more search volume than 308!)
7. 7mm Remington Magnum
8. 450 Bushmaster
9. 30-06 Springfield
10. 300 Win Mag
11. 22-250 Remington
12. 7mm-08
13. 6.8 Western
14. 270 Winchester
15. 300 WSM
16. 300 PRC
17. 243 Winchester
18. 25-06

Favorite Hunting Cartridges (Voted by 880 Backfire Fans in 2025)

We recently surveyed 880 Backfire fans and asked a simple question: “What is your FAVORITE hunting cartridge?” Here are their responses. I was shocked by the huge overwhelming support for the 270 Winchester.

1. 270 Winchester – 20.1% of votes
2. 308 Win – 16.5% of votes
3. 30-06 – 9.8% of votes
4. 7mm-08 – 9.4% of votes
5. 243 Win – 7.1% of votes
6. 6.5 Creed – 5.4% of votes
7. 7 Mag – 4% of votes
8. 300 Win Mag – 3% of votes
9. 6.5 PRC – 2.8% of votes
10. 280AI – 2.1% of votes

Most Common Bolt-Action Rifle Chamberings

This method of determining what’s most popular is to look at current inventory of rifles at several different rifle retailers. Keep in mind this list (1) excludes rimfire cartridges, and (2) may show a very popular cartridge like 7mm PRC lower on this list because retailers can’t keep it in stock. Data updated as of November 2024.

1. 6.5 Creedmoor (13.49% of all rifles)
2. 7 PRC (11% of all rifles)
3. 308 Winchester (11.57% of all rifles)
4. 300 Winchester Magnum (7.01% of all rifles)
5. 6.5 PRC (5.7% of all rifles)
6. 243 Winchester (4.3% of all rifles)
7. 7mm Rem Mag (4.3% of all rifles)
8. 30-06 Springfield (3.5% of all rifles)
9. 270 Winchester (3.2% of all rifles)
10. 223 Remington (3.1% of all bolt-action rifles)
11. 7mm-08 Remington (Under 3% of all rifles)
12. 300 PRC (Under 3% of all rifles)
13. 22-250 Remington (Under 3% of all rifles)
14. 6mm Creedmoor (Under 2% of all rifles)
15. 6.8 Western (Under 2% of all rifles)
16. 300 WSM (Under 2% of all rifles)
17. 300 Weatherby Magnum (Under 2% of all rifles)
18. 338 Lapua (Under 1% of all rifles)
19. 280 Ackley Improved (Under 1% of all rifles)
20. 25-06 Remington (Under 1% of all rifles)

As you can see from this list, some of the newer designs aren’t ranked as high, because some legacy manufacturers haven’t updated their options to include newer chamberings like 300PRC.

Most Popular Hunting Cartridges in Custom Rifles

This list is a bit more anecdotal, but I spoke with more than 15 custom rifle makers and asked them what their customers are choosing most right now. Generally, custom rifle makers have customers who are willing to spend more for the latest-and-greatest, and they also generally load their own ammunition, so they are less concerned about ammo availability.

1. 7mm PRC
2. 6.5 PRC
3. 6.5 Creedmoor
4. 22 Creedmoor
5. 300 PRC
6. 300 Win Mag
7. 280 Ackley Improved
8. 7mm Rem Mag
9. 6 Creedmoor
10. 300 WSM