"Also ran" cartridges

[msinc]

Well, since nobody has mentioned it...the 350 Rem. mag. gets my vote. It's a pretty decent cartridge for big game. The problem was Remington, in their infinite wisdom, created all the makings of a great big game cartridge......and then killed it by only manufacturing rifles with a short, velocity robbing carbine barrel to chamber it.
Imagine a Prince William Island black bear hunt in Alaska with a 350 Rem. mag. Now, instead of that ridiculous little 16 inch barrel with that rainbow and unicorn ventilated rib, picture a McMillan hunter stock, a #5 contour 28" fluted barrel and a Zeiss Diavari scope....your drinking beer and eating fresh caught halibut dipped in real butter....after just shooting {and dropping in his tracks} a 550 pound black bear that didn't even move after he fell.......in walks two Mexican girls with ping pong paddles and handcuffs....wait, never mind, the phone rings and it's your wife........

 

[Tommie]

Well, since nobody has mentioned it...the 350 Rem. mag. gets my vote. It's a pretty decent cartridge for big game. The problem was Remington, in their infinite wisdom, created all the makings of a great big game cartridge......and then killed it by only manufacturing rifles with a short, velocity robbing carbine barrel to chamber it.
Imagine a Prince William Island black bear hunt in Alaska with a 350 Rem. mag. Now, instead of that ridiculous little 16 inch barrel with that rainbow and unicorn ventilated rib, picture a McMillan hunter stock, a #5 contour 28" fluted barrel and a Zeiss Diavari scope....your drinking beer and eating fresh caught halibut dipped in real butter....after just shooting {and dropping in his tracks} a 550 pound black bear that didn't even move after he fell.......in walks two Mexican girls with ping pong paddles and handcuffs....wait, nevermind.

I believe we have a winner!

 

[Rsadams]

Here is something that may be of interest to you.. Marlin made (maybe still makes) a .357Magnum in their lever action rifle. For what you are looking for, this may be the ticket!

Marlin and I believe Henry make a .357 version and they are great..

 

[mr45man]

Nothing wrong with the old 32 20.
Next would be the 17 fireball.

 

[Clavius-Walker]

Kinda funny too when you go back and look at the old varmint cartridge creations of around the Donalsdon era and a lot of Ackleys designs, there are very few modern cartridges that weren't tried 90-50 years ago.

 

[theMadAlaskan]

Well, since nobody has mentioned it...the 350 Rem. mag. gets my vote. It's a pretty decent cartridge for big game. The problem was Remington, in their infinite wisdom, created all the makings of a great big game cartridge......and then killed it by only manufacturing rifles with a short, velocity robbing carbine barrel to chamber it.
Imagine a Prince William Island black bear hunt in Alaska with a 350 Rem. mag. Now, instead of that ridiculous little 16 inch barrel with that rainbow and unicorn ventilated rib, picture a McMillan hunter stock, a #5 contour 28" fluted barrel and a Zeiss Diavari scope....your drinking beer and eating fresh caught halibut dipped in real butter....after just shooting {and dropping in his tracks} a 550 pound black bear that didn't even move after he fell.......in walks two Mexican girls with ping pong paddles and handcuffs....wait, never mind, the phone rings and it's your wife........

I really did laugh out loud!

 

[johnu]

Nothing wrong with the old 32 20.
Next would be the 17 fireball.

Any caliber that has a blues standard about it gets my vote.

 

[gotcha]

Recently I've been thinking about a handy firearm to deal with vermin around the house. Possums, coyotes, feral cats, skunks, whatever. More muscle than a rimfire but nothing truly high power. Truthfully, a lever action in 218 Bee or 25-20 would be perfect for my purposes but good luck finding such a rifle at an affordable price. These cartridges served a purpose in their day and still could but now they're gasping for air. But that's not my point.
.

 

[gotcha]

Tommie, Have you an old T/C hand gun action around the house? I converted one of mine to a 23" 17HMR. Numerous possibilities particularly for rimmed cartridges of old. Light and handy, as well as, awesome accuracy potential. Any critter you mentioned is DRT with such a set up. Mine is really magic but I'm sure your selection of cartridge will be different. Imagine the possibilities

 

[TheOtherZilla]

My "also ran" cartridge is the .22 Hornet. It fits the "ideal" description of an old school cartridge that is great for lots of chores around the house, or at least that's what I told myself when I bought my second one, a Browning 1885. Beautiful rifle.
In reality my ugly little Marlin 917V and its predecessor (a 21" TC Rifle in 17 Remington) have actually drawn more blood than the pretty little Browning.

I dunno about also ran, but my 22 Hornet gets used all summer for pest control.. Love it

 

[TC260]

Nothing wrong with the old 32 20.
Next would be the 17 fireball.

I have an MGM 8 twist 30-20 Contender pistol that's a hoot. Throw anything 30 cal in it and have fun.

 

[RaySendero]

Well, since nobody has mentioned it...the 350 Rem. mag. gets my vote. It's a pretty decent cartridge for big game. The problem was Remington, in their infinite wisdom, created all the makings of a great big game cartridge......and then killed it by only manufacturing rifles with a short, velocity robbing carbine barrel to chamber it.
.....

msinc,

If I remember correctly, Remington came out with the 350RM in the mid 1960s.
It's designed was a belted cartridge sized to fit in the Remington short action.
This short action design also limited the cartridge's performance with a 250 gr bullet.
As the 250 gr needed to be seated way into the case reducing the available powder space.

 

[300_whisper]

Old school Marlin 336 in .35 Remington. I'm kind of annoyed that the only ammo I ever see for it is 150 or 200 grain corelokt. I feel like there's a ton of potential with this cartridge in a nice lever action.

 

[Will Henry]

I shoot a lot of older, some obscure, cartridges for hunting and competition. I have a 30/30 HV rifle. A 30/40 Krag prone rifle (built on a PGW action), a 30/06 prone rifle, a 303 British "F" class rifle (P14) and hunting rifles in 256 Newton and 30 Newton as well as 303 British, 30/40. 7x57 , 257 Roberts, etc. For hunting purposes, we had everything we needed by the beginning of WW1. The only exception was in the varmint shooting arena where the 22-250, 220 Swift had yet to make an appearance and the 222 family was a long way into the future.

 

[JLT]

Old school Marlin 336 in .35 Remington. I'm kind of annoyed that the only ammo I ever see for it is 150 or 200 grain corelokt. I feel like there's a ton of potential with this cartridge in a nice lever action.

Cast bullets and faster powders offer a ton of flexibility to the owner of a .35 Rem lever rifle. If you cast your own, you can shoot plinking/pest control for not much more than the cost of rimfire.

 

[msalm]

Didn't catch it, but what about the good old 22 WMR. Just picked up my first one and I'm kind of liking it. Had to get it in a Ruger 77/22 as manufacturing has stalled on them, and I couldn't find a reasonable Winchester 94/22mag.

 

[sandwarrior]

.257 Roberts vs. .243 Win/6mm Rem. .25 Rem, .25-35 Win. All WSSM's and the .220 Swift now. Why is the .22 Hornet the big seller when the .218 Bee is superior? 7-30 Waters no longer has ammo made for it. Is the 30 TC still being produced? After all it's the parent cartridge for the Creedmoors. I always hear way more talk of the .307 Win than I've actually seen them. Oh, not finding .300 Savage brass or ammo annoys me immensely. Above those caliber/cartridges is anybodys guess as to what will stick around and what will go away. Not supporting what was successful just so they can get you to buy the latest greatest POS is what again annoys me. We should all take a baseball bat and knock the stupid .350/.450 legend ammo off the shelves where it don't belong. And that's the same thing. Everybody who hunted with slugs was doing fine. Rant over

 

[jackieschmidt]

Well, since nobody has mentioned it...the 350 Rem. mag. gets my vote. It's a pretty decent cartridge for big game. The problem was Remington, in their infinite wisdom, created all the makings of a great big game cartridge......and then killed it by only manufacturing rifles with a short, velocity robbing carbine barrel to chamber it.
Imagine a Prince William Island black bear hunt in Alaska with a 350 Rem. mag. Now, instead of that ridiculous little 16 inch barrel with that rainbow and unicorn ventilated rib, picture a McMillan hunter stock, a #5 contour 28" fluted barrel and a Zeiss Diavari scope....your drinking beer and eating fresh caught halibut dipped in real butter....after just shooting {and dropping in his tracks} a 550 pound black bear that didn't even move after he fell.......in walks two Mexican girls with ping pong paddles and handcuffs....wait, never mind, the phone rings and it's your wife........

Ping pong paddles and handcuffs
It’s been a while.

When I first got out of the Army back in the ‘60’s, some friends wanted to go deer hunting. I didn ‘t even own a rifle.
I went over to Richard’s Pawn Shop where he had a model 600 in 350 REM Mag. He even had two boxes of the Green Box ammo, 250 grn I think. It had a cheap scope on it.

Well, we went over to the old Lake Houston Gun Club to shoot it. During deer season, they were open till 9:00 PM.

That was the most atrocious thing I ever shot. The ball of fire out the barrel darn near blinded us, and it almost knocked me off of the stool.

I did not shoot a deer on our trip, and the first thing I did when I got back was sell it.

but you are right. That is a hard hitting short action cartridge.

 

[CJ6]

I picked up a Rem 591 (5 mm RFM) late last year. It's been a hoot to shoot. Luckily Grafs received a shipment of ammo not long after.

 

[Fuj]

The short 350 Remington mag in the Remington 600's.