Cartridge Types with Declining Popularity

[FNSafari]

.40 Smith and Wesson and one that has really tanked is the .357 SIG based on it. The .357SIG is a great chambering for a semi-auto pistol.

 

[STOMP442]

Depends where you are I guess. I am in Southeast Arizona. Coues deer is what we hunt here and most of the time its at ranges 400 yards plus. These are small 100lb if your lucky deer and there are two factions of hunters that I deal with on the regular in my shop. One side are are the Creedmoor hunters weather it be the the 6 or the 6.5. The other is the ultra mag bigger the better crowd. Over the last couple years I can count on one hand the number of .270s or .30-06s that come into the shop to get tuned up. 40% of my work is the 7mag, 300 win mag or .300 ultra. Another 40% is the Creedmoor types and the last 9% are the new trendy cartridge guys that got to have the new next best thing because Hornady said it was type. I hardly ever get to work on the classics anymore which I love. In fact for me the type of hunting we do for these little deer the .270 is just about perfect. And the funny thing is the deer never know the difference between any of them.

 

[TaperPin]

I own and shoot one. I own and shoot a 308Win, 30-06Sprg., and a 300WM. As an American I think I will always own one of each just because!

The 30-06 is the girl next door that was good looking, hard working, down to Earth and a sweet hart you married and had kids with! You could trust her with your heart and your life! Not the exotic Russian gal you met in Occupied Berlin that was wild, crazy and a lot of fun but not a good idea and not the hot naive bubble gum chewing teenie boper that was hot and chased after you like mad but could be but nothing but trouble!

So nothing wrong with the 30-06. I like it almost as much as my pet cartridge the 300WM.

True words. The 06 is what we need to live a long happy life. That short fling with the big 300 Weatherby will always be a good memory, and a few stumpy .44 mags and a petite 357 beat showing up at the range with nothin’. Good bless America.

 

[Doug Casner]

Ive sat around deer hunters saying how superior .270s are to 3006. Ive killed deer with both and couldnt tell a hell of a lot of difference in either. Got my granddaughter a little savage in 6.5 creed and its whacked several. Dad used to kill em with a swift. Put any of them in the right spot theyll work. Doug

 

[jonbearman]

Any electronix cartridge and the 30 cal remington cartridge for the AR platform. Cant forget the wssm's either.

 

[Infrequent Shooter]

.40 Smith and Wesson and one that has really tanked is the .357 SIG based on it. The .357SIG is a great chambering for a semi-auto pistol.

40 SW is a real good round.

 

[Dgd6mm]

I really like my .40 S&W.

 

[Old Navy]

I see a lot of 6.5 Creedmoor's at the range, especially Savages. I am amazed at some of the groups I see being shot with factory ammo.

All I was saying was that for the hunter looking for an all-around deer / varmint cartridge (the one-gun hunter) who doesn't reload, the 243 Win still might have some usefulness remaining. I know it worked really well for me under those circumstances back in the mid to late 60's.

It is still on the top ten list of best selling rifles.

 

[joshb]

270 Win anybody???

Anybody???

And there ya have it...

I just bought one made by Remington. Ya don’t see many 35 Remingtons in the field. The 30 Remington just disappeared. Not many 30-30s used here, either.

“I really like my .40 S&W.”
Me too! I have 3 of them.

 

[Old Navy]

Another that drifted off into obscurity is the 6mm Remington.

Outside of a rifle for a short cartridge that is just a pain to try and make work in a standard action I have nothing but disdain for "short actions" and "short action cartridges"! They are generaly a solution looking for a problem.

For the last decade the gun boards where over whelmed with people that bought into the short action lie that could now not load the modern long ELD/VLD heavy for caliber bullets. It is not as bad now as it once was. Outside of making money for gun, ammunitiona nd brass makers most of the so called "short action and short action magnum" cartridges generaly suck and do not do anything better than the cartridges they are designed to either match or exceed when it comes to 99% of gun owners needs or use. Most of them have been flash in the pan her today and gone tomorow sort of things. The only ones hanging on by a thread are the ones that competition shooters have latched onto.

In a similar vane cartridges that require a true magnum action are likewise not super popular.

In almost every case you are best to use the longest action you can get away with that will allow reliable feeding so that in 2-5 years at the rate we are going you can still shoot the latest greatest long pointy ELD/VLD heavy bullets in your rifle from the magazine with out any modifcations or custom parts needed. I do understand there are situations where a short or intermediate or mini action is the way to go for reliable feeding.

The 6.5 PRC should be in a long action.

 

[jackieschmidt]

40 SW is a real good round.

So is the 41 magnum. Back in the ‘70’s it was the talk of the town.

I’m not sure anybody even makes ammo for it now.

 

[FNSafari]

So is the 41 magnum. Back in the ‘70’s it was the talk of the town.

I’m not sure anybody even makes ammo for it now.

Keith envisioned it as a rural police sidearm...until rural police experienced the recoil of full power loads !

 

[MClark]

Out in the field hunting there are a lot more -06, 270, 7 Mags than the new latest greatest cartridges. These hunters are never on Internet forum, they use a rifle the family has had for decades, these rifles are never brought in for tuning, suppressors fitted. They are shooting Core Lokt, a box lasts 20 years.
Those who are shooting Creedmoors, PRC's, etc are just noisier.

 

[urbanrifleman]

I never loved the 243. It's a 6BR with ten grains of wasted powder (and less barrel life) Sorry to say that cartridge is truly obsolete.

David

Tell that to John Whidden.

The 243 might be obsolete for a few reasons, one of which would be availability, but to say a 6Br is a 243 is just wrong. They are not even the same thing at all. I would like to see a 6BR shoot a 105 hybrid at 3450.

 

[jackieschmidt]

Keith envisioned it as a rural police sidearm...until rural police experienced the recoil of full power loads !

I had several Model 57 Smiths through the years. Sold or traded them off.

I currently do have a model 58. I bought it years ago. It’s a very utilitarian firearm.

And It’s a handful with full house loads.

 

[jackieschmidt]

Tell that to John Whidden.
……….l I would like to see a 6BR shoot a 105 hybrid at 3450.

You could do it……..once

 

[barefooter56]

WOW. This string sounds just like the articles that gun writers fall back on when they need a quick story fast for a deadline. They all start out " IS THE (fill in the blank) DEAD? Then they try to justify their hypothesis...
I will comment on the .270 , .25-06, .30-06 here. They are definitely NOT dead. We are getting many calls for load data for the .270 WIN and .25-06 that owners have rebarreled to us the BERGER 170 AND 133 ELITE HUNTER bullets. The .30-06 also with the 180 AND 205 ELITE HUNTER bullets. And don't get me started on the .45 ACP! LOL !!
By the way.. WHIDDEN GUNWORKS HAS ( had?) LAPUA 6 BR NORMA BRASS.
ALL IS NOT LOST OR DEAD!

 

[FNSafari]

I had several Model 57 Smiths through the years. Sold or traded them off.

I currently do have a model 58. I bought it years ago. It’s a very utilitarian firearm.

And It’s a handful with full house loads.

I've fired a few S&W .41 mags and found the recoil (full power loads) hardly noticeably different than my M29.

I guess the answer was to carry reduced loads in the 900 fps range, but if you're going to do that carry a M1911 for the extra capacity.

 

[Bottom Fodder]

Well it’s starting to look like this thread has brought some Cartridges back to life

 

[Adam in WI]

They were never really dead