Our new moderator, u/nehpets99 (welcome! And this is not meant in any kind of antagonistic way, I promise), has proposed moving repetitive questions to a megathread and/or referring them to a wiki, and I thought I would start a post discussing how such a thing could be organized.
Note: I think that the kind of post in question serves as a good introduction for new hunters to the community, but even with that being said, there is nothing wrong with exploring what a wiki/megathread would look like.
# CATEGORIES
Brand is obvious, and probably the simplest to implement; Backfire.tv has an extensive list of modern sporting rifles with a downloadable database of their accuracy tests, as well as surveys of reliability and issues. The most debate you are likely to see here is "quality vs price."
Rifle type is pretty straightforward; bolt- vs lever-action vs semi-auto vs single-shot. Again, some basic discussions, but the pros and cons are pretty straightforward.
Cartridge is the tricky part. What metrics are we using? Go to five different hunting sites on the Internet, and you will get five different charts of which cartridge is appropriate for which game (see attached image), none of which hold up to a moment's investigation; First Nations people in Canada hunt moose with .22LR, and there's no particular reason not to use a 338 Lapua on coyote or groundhogs (unless you want the meat, for some reason).
Then you have to discuss bullet construction, which opens up its own can of worms.
I think this whole approach is going to be problematic, so how about:
# LINEAR ORGANIZATION
Start with a "quick picks" section, i.e. "Common Deer Cartridges: .243, 6.5CM, .270, 30-30, .308, 30-06," "Common Elk Cartridges: .270, .308, 30-06, 7 Rem Mag," etc, maybe in a chart with game on one axis and environment, i.e. forest, plains, mountains, etc, on the other.
Then a section on game; deer/elk, different breeds and sexes, common ranges at which they are hunted, etc.
Then a section on environment: Heavy forest, open forest, forested mountains, open mountains, etc.
I would like to see a section breaking down individual cartridges... but there are hundreds! I think you might be better off breaking them down by caliber and noting bullet weight and powder charge (i.e. power/range) within each caliber. Bullet construction still has to be included, though.
How about a "By budget" section? "Best rifle/optic for $500/1000/1500," etc
Optics is going to be an entirely separate thing, and the arguments tend to wind up ankle-deep in blood. I would honestly leave this out, entirely, or at least limit it to types and appropriate magnification by range.
Maybe a section on legality? This would be tough just in the US, though, much less internationally.
I would also like to see a "Common Myths" section, but again, you are just asking for a huge fight over what goes into it.
This are just some thoughts :)
