It's Time for a New Round

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HoosierQ

HoosierQ

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A purpose built rimmed cartridge designed for traditional tube fed lever action rifles. Yet one that fits in between pistol calibers and the 30-30. Gives you range and flat trajectory with less recoil that the 30-30. I'm talking about...let's say 5.56x45R...6x40R...7.62x39R...

I know there are a couple of "obsolete" calibers of this general size form back when.

Seems like it would sell...hypothetically anyway. I say this because I want a lever and I don't need 30-30. I'll most likely end up with a .357 lever and those'll always have a place. But to have a rifle caliber in a lever down where we have a lot of bolt guns just seems like a good idea.
 
Why not the .327 Federal? It was unfortunate that they decided to market it as some kind of handgun round when it is a natural choice for carbines.
 
The 30-30 has "reload" written all over it. I load a full power 180g soft point for deer, a 150g spire/polymer tip for coyotes, a 110g .30 carbine fmj bullet for varmits, and a 150g lead bullet with red dot pistol powder for target shooting. If necessary, you can pull/use any .30 cal bullet for single shots (incl armor piercing). You can do quite a bit with what's on hand.
 
Seems like a bit of a small nitch. I think part of the allure with lever actions is the "old timey, traditional" cartridges that they shoot. When marlin has come out with new whiz bang lever action cartridges, they seem to get a ho-hum. On the other hand, you can already get a Browning BLR in .223, 22-250, .243 and up.

Hornady makes a .357 Magnum 140-grain Leverevolution that claims to get 1850 fps and 1064 lb-ft from an 18″ carbine. Buffalo Bore also claims that their “Heavy” .357 Magnum hard cast 158-grain loads will produce 2153 fps and 1626 lb-ft from an 18″ carbine.

Might not be the flattest shooting, but comes pretty dang close to 30-30 if you ask me.
 
Part of the problem is, every time Winchester, or Marlin, or Browning brings back a lever gun in one of the old calibers everyone wants?

They couldn't sell enough of them to make it profitable.

I have a Browning 65 in .218 Bee.
And an original Winchester Model 53 in 32-20 WCF.

Wonderful rifles both!

rc
 
Yep. I couldn't have been more wrong. It was an old round I was asking for all along. I should have known. 32-20, 25-20, .218, 25-35 all look like what I'm thinking. In fact .218 Bee and .217 Zipper pretty much are the hypothetical 5.56x45R I made up above...mighty close both!

In the end, I am not a reloader. Not yet anyway. I'll probably go with a .357 lever action...but it's fun to dream. Maybe if I had me a 32-20 or a .218 Bee I'd become a reloader!
 
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rcmodel said:
Part of the problem is, every time Winchester, or Marlin, or Browning brings back a lever gun in one of the old calibers everyone wants?

They couldn't sell enough of them to make it profitable.

I have a Browning 65 in .218 Bee.
And an original Winchester Model 53 in 32-20 WCF.

Wonderful rifles both!

rc
Click to expand...
I just looked these up. Those are wonderful indeed. The Tipton Indiana gun show always has a lot of lever action rifles for sale. It's an old school gun show not a "vendor showroom" like the big city shows. I've probably looked right past something in one of these calibers...or a Browning 65 or Winchester 53 in some other caliber without knowing what I was looking at.

That's the gun show I grew up going to with my dad. He always threatened to come home with a German army helmet...and probably would have had they not always been $100.
 
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The difference between 180gr 44mag in a 20" levergun and a 170gr 30-30 in a 20" levergun is so slight as to be not worth argument; the right 357 in a levergun is a very small step down.

I don't think, for me, that there's enough "gap" there to worry about an intermediate cartridge.
 
Modern improvements in ammo now overlap between the rounds where there used to be gaps. .357 > .44 > 30-30 are examples of this. There used to be large gaps between these rounds. Now they overlap, with small exceptions for heavy bullet weight of .357 > .44, the .357 heavy is into the low end for .44 and even 30-30 energies.
 
Cosmoline said:
Why not the .327 Federal? It was unfortunate that they decided to market it as some kind of handgun round when it is a natural choice for carbines.
Click to expand...

Yes and No. The .327 is a great round for revolvers. But I do agree that the flat nose would be right at home in a lever fired tube fed rifle. The .327 could probably have a fighting chance as a handgun caliber if a few companies made rifles for it. That way you could go hunting and conceal carry using one caliber.
 
Jack of all trades an master of none is my 308. It is my one pick for do it all as you handload for your agenda from varmit to big game. I need more guns not more cartridges.
 
Vern Humphrey said:
What's wrong with the .357/.38 Special, or the .44 Special/.44 Magnum? Or the .45 Colt? You can already get lever guns chambered for those cartridges.
Click to expand...
Oh I like them plenty. Liking the Uberti series of model '73s a lot. I am liking some of the neat old guns that came in .218 and 32-20 as well. As I said, I didn't want a new cartridge...there are old cartridges that they still make that seem to suite me. I'd have to a) find a gun to shoot them, and b) buy the rounds online but what the heck. A man's gotta dream.
 
Let's see here...

the .357 mag is a 100-125 yard cartridge, the .44 Mag a 125-150 yard catridge, and the .30-30 is a 150-200 yard catridge...

Where exactly is the "in between" thing that your looking for?

How about a 7-30 Waters? or one of the Herretts?

BTW, the .357 Mag beats the .32-20 you mention... a good .38 SPL will probably match it (factory loads).
 
Actually, an 85gr 327 jhp in a lever carbine might be a superb combination for feral cat abatement
.. and maybe deer poaching. But as either of these are a quick way to wind up in jail where I live, I'll pass.
 
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