I have all four, small that they my be. BTW they are (except wire cutters) still in their protective covers and never used, but handy.cable/wire rope cutters are very different than wire or side cutters... even a small pair of wire rope cutters can sever a very large diameter cable, but a bit slower with more effort involved.
a dedicated cable cutter has jaws resembling a parrots beak, except they are bypassing/shearing blades, rather than a pinching/anvil type, like wire cutters, dikes, an side cutters are.
the shape of the jaws on a wire rope cutter are designed so that they can be used to pick out a couple of individual strands of a large cable at a time. the will make a mess of the cable ends, but if getting it severed is the most important thing and you have the time, then smaller ones will work fine.
if the cutter is a quality brand with 24" handles, it will easily cut thru 3/8 cable in one stroke without much effort. and leave very clean ends to work with...
the hack saw method is reserved for AFTER you donate the wire rope cutters to the deep...
Jim...
PS: My cutter doesn't ricochet much.