[Brasso]

With the fad lately for magnum powered rifles I wonder how this will affect bullet selection for handloader and the more traditional calibers. Are we seeing a decline in the types of bullets that will work properly at more "mundane" velocities? I feel like we are almost being forced to buy magnums just to be able to use the bullets being made. Opinions?

[David4516]

Interesting thought...

I don't really understand the magnum trend. What really baffles (spelling?) me is this "super duper short mag" thing...

[Gewehr98]

Something like a ".300 Short Mid-Range Magnum", or ".300 Short Reduced-Recoil Magnum" and then have some .308 Winchester brass produced with a new headstamp. I could use some glossy ad copy, maybe something like "Excellent accuracy and terminal performance without the recoil, over-penetration, and edible game damage of the full-range magnums." :D

Remember the .38 Special Mid-Range Wadcutter? Sounded a lot more important and purposeful than "Downloaded", "Throttled Back", "Less Than Ohmygawd Velocity", "Half the Recoil, All of the Accuracy", and other iterations.

Brasso, I know what you're asking. In one of my Speer load books, they talk about the bullets they developed for the 8mm Remington Magnum, and how it really isn't suited to 8mm Mauser velocities. That's too bad, because I really like 200gr bullets in my 8mm Mauser deer/elk rifle, and the 200gr Nosler Partition has worked just fine for elk in that rifle.

But we all know what sells these days. If it isn't a Magnum, it isn't marketable. :scrutiny:

I haven't seen concrete evidence to back your premonition up, but I also wondered a while ago if the marketing creep towards magnums was here to stay, then perhaps bullet construction was edging that way, too.