Lesser known cartridges

[Jims Custom Stocks]

There is no money for the shooting industry hyping old proven cartridges. All the money is in selling new rifles, ammo, reloading dies, etc. I thought one of the latest examples was the .300 Remington ultra magnum that didn't do anything different than the .300 Weatherby that has been around for 50+ years

 

[Member 38805]

As a shooter/collector who owns a large number of firearms in obsolete calibers, it's something I mostly enjoy reloading for, and have to form brass for most of my old guns. I'd never restrict myself to firearms I could only buy "factory brass" for, or I'd be down to shooting 3-4 of my old guns.
But there are lots of parent cases that can be reworked to form into a case for some obsolete caliber, if you reload. If you don't reload, then you're basically stuck only buying firearms that you can buy ammo for. And worse yet today, as even calibers that were easy to buy ammo for are now impossible to find!

 

[Member 38805]

There is no money for the shooting industry hyping old proven cartridges. All the money is in selling new rifles, ammo, reloading dies, etc. I thought one of the latest examples was the .300 Remington ultra magnum that didn't do anything different than the .300 Weatherby that has been around for 50+ years

Indeed! And for every 10 whiz bang new cartridges the gun makers develop to entice another sale, there's an old cartridge that is proven and will do the same job just as well, or better! Wish I had a dollar for every new cartridge that's ever been developed, only to become obsolete later. The good ones have stood the test of time.

 

[No_Regerts]

This is what I like about rifles and Their cartridges vs pistols. Its not 9 vs 40 vs 45........

Its:

30-30 WCF vs 300 Savage vs 308 Marlin, vs 30 TC, vs 308 Win, vs 30-06, vs 300 WSM, vs 308 Norma, vs 30-338, vs 300 H&H, 300 Win Mag, vs 300 Wby Mag, vs 300 RUM, vs 300 Jarrett, vs 30-378 Wby Mag.....

 

[Spitpatch]

.250-3000 Savage. First American cartridge to break the 3000fps barrier. Weasels to Wapiti capable and any .300 Magnum devotee is guaranteed to shoot this cartridge better than his favorite.

Modern marketing hype catch phrase for it might go like this:

"Included at no extra charge is its inherent tutorial program toward teaching the user to shoot high-powered rifles, conveniently accessed by the trigger icon."

I'm pretty sure the Remington Custom Shop still has reamers floating around if you insist on "factory offering".

 

[Olderguy]

6.8 SPC is my favorite AR cartridge by far.

 

[Cheezy157]

218 bee is pretty cool
please send ammo

 

[Camohunter]

I have always had a soft spot for the old 300 H&H.
I inherited an old 721 from my Dad and love the feel of that rifle. And when I shoot it is more like a push than a sharp recoil. Maybe just in my head, I dunno.

 

[Ura-Ki]

I really have a special place in my heart for the .222 "Triple Duce" as an awesome varmint wackin round, and have a nifty little Remington Model 7 chambered in it with a Hart barrel, still shoots amazing! Graduated to the .22/250 and thought it was the best in the world, but the old Duce could still keep up with the lighter bullets! .264 Winchester Magnum, a fun cartridge that predates some of the wildcat 6.5s that was poorly marketed.
I have also had lots of fun playing with the old .300 Holland & Holland, especially when you blow out some of the case taper and stuff it with 165 grain pills!
.405 Winchester, a fine cartridge that has fallen out of favor, one of the last of the big bores when big bores ruled the hunting fields and woods, a damn fine cartridge, plenty of power, excellent brush bustin capabilities, and decent range when called upon! And, one of my favs. the .500 Jeffery, tons of fun and damn good performance in a big bore smokeless package! Long over shadowed by contemporary cartriges, but it still puts game on the ground just as well today as it ever did before!

 

[RangerArms]

.38-55 is a good one that is making a comeback in the straight-walled cartridge arena. It can be loaded up and down the bullet weights and powder charges with low recoil throughout. Cast boolits shoot well too! There are some decent rifles still made for it.

 

[Ura-Ki]

.38-55 is a good one that is making a comeback in the straight-walled cartridge arena. It can be loaded up and down the bullet weights and powder charges with low recoil throughout. Cast boolits shoot well too! There are some decent rifles still made for it.

Awesome Cartridge, I have a 1895 Winchester in this chambering, fantastic package!

 

[tac]

Don't overlook two of the oldest in the book - the .303 British - in service from 1888, and still in service in a few former colonies, and the Swiss 7.5x55 - AKA GP11.

The first has killed most everything on four legs, and untold millions on two, and the second is probably THE most accurate milsurp ammunition ever made.

The first shoots a 174gr bullet - your choice of front end - at around 2550 fps, the second a similar weight but with the highest BC of any military bullet ever, at 2650 fps.

Easily reloadable, too. and the 7.5x55 uses ANY bullet you shoot in your .308Win from 155gr up to 190gr. Grafs make brass for the Swiss, and most everybody makes it for the .303, although most of us use easily gettable PPU stuff. High quality and many times reloadable it you take care.

 

[Runs With Elk]

Two that have already been mentioned, but that I have always thought were great are the .257 Roberts and the .284 Winchester.

The .257 Roberts is one of those cartridges that i heard my father's hunting buddies talking about while I was bouncing around in the back seat of our '74 Bronco. Probably has more of a literary romance to it than anything else, but I have always wanted one.

The .284 Winchester is really about the original Short Magnum, before the craze caught on a few years back. I have one in a Winchester model 100. Didn't really catch on due to the fact that it was kind of strapped to the Winchester model 88. Had they chambered it initially for the Model 70, who know where it might have gone. I love that round and I think it is a great choice if your looking at something that is in the .270 Winchester and .280 Remington realm. I am probably outdated on this information, but I beleive it is currently the F-Class world record holder.

 

[tac]

And here is a bit of useless information that might one day feature in a Trivial Pursuits competition.

What has the original British .303 British and the Swiss GP90 [forerunner of GP11] got in common?











Give up?











They were both designed by a 'team' led by Colonel Rubin, of Schmidt-Rubin fame. He was on TDY to the Royal Small Arms factory, Enfield Lock, North London, during the development period. Both his cartridges were 200gr, round-nosed and paper-patched. Both ended up as 174gr FMJ, although the British version could often be found with a flat-based bullet.

However, the Brits mistakenly discarded the rimless cartridge case, and ended up with the world's slowest-shooting HMG, the famous cloth belt-fed Vickers MG, because the rimmed round had to be mechanically removed backwards from the belt, and then pushed forwards into the breech......s l o w l y......

The rimless cartridge is simply pushed through a nifty sprung disintegrating link, at least twice as fast....think of the German WW2 MG42, at 1200 rpm.

 

[nehalemguy]

When I worked at Larry's back in the day we had a absolutely gorgeous but used bolt action rifle come in one day. I can't remember the manufacturer but I do remember that it was marked as being chambered in 7.62x63mm .

I thought to myself "Man...good luck finding ammo for that!"

-E-


P.S......7.62 x 63mm is also known as .30-06.

 

[Ura-Ki]

One I always liked was the old .30/40, the original .30 U.S., not many rifles chambered in it, but it preformed quite well, and still does!

 

[Boboclown]

8x56mmR. Not a single gun shop in my half of the state will even have a box of it. Most of them don't know the gun its for either.

 

[Ura-Ki]

Another fascinating cartridge you don't see much here in the states, the old classic Big Game cartridge 9.3X74R a fantastic Elk or big Moose chambering, and pretty good medicine on large Grizzlies! My Grand Dad had a German made side by side double in this chambering, and it was a fantastic performer for him in Alaska in the 60's and 70's! It's kinda close to .375 Holland & Holland, and in some ways better! Fits well between .338 Winchester and .375 H&H in performance!

 

[Medic!]

How about .375 Winchester?

 

[Mark W.]

One I always liked was the old .30/40, the original .30 U.S., not many rifles chambered in it, but it preformed quite well, and still does!

In a rifle like the Winchester model 1895 or the 1885 the 30-40Krag can safely be loaded to with in a hair of what the .308 will do. My 30-40Krag hunting loads come within 50fps of the same bullet in a .308win using book loads.

Big draw back with the 30-40 is its now a reloaders cartridge as finding it on a shelf is near impossible and $2.00 a round if you can. While reloading once you have the brass the cost is exactly the same as it is for .308