Best Caliber That Never Took-off

10mm
41 Mag
480 Ruger
35 Whelen

At least, those are the ones I'd like to own something in.

30-06. Don't know why but it never caught on.

17 HM2. Cheap, low noise, super fast and great ballistics for a rimfire. As good as it was it was still a niche round.

i'd have to pick .400 Cor Bon and .257 Weatherby Magnum. the .257 is outstandingly flat shooting and effective on most North American game out to 500 yards. it's really too bad that ammo is so expensive and rifles chambered for it are so rare and expensive. throw a 139 grain Lapua Scenar in the casing and you have a serious 1600 yard rifle, provided the winds are too bad.

the .400 Cor Bon is just plain bad a$$. i like the .40 S&W and carry it every day, but i certainly wouldn't turn up my nose at a heavier bullet at the same speed or the same bullet at higher speed.

Bobby

6MM remington
It started as the 244 Remington---it was unable to stabilize a 100 gr. spirepoint with a
1 in 12 twist.
Winchester had come out with the 243 which was able to stabilize the bullet.
Remington renamed it the 6MM Rem. with a 1 in 9 twist---but it was too late--Winchester had the market---I don't think any Co. makes the 6MM Rem. rifle today.
Too bad as it was a better cartridge than the 243.............

.41 AE
.41 Magnum
.41 Special

.17Mach2 would get my vote....

5 mm magnum, it shoots as flat as the 17HMR bigger bullet, it is trying to make a comeback hope it does.

.25-308 Win, 25 Souper

Better than a 243 for deer... great round for kids and recoil sensitive folks.

I don't own one but wish I did.

Love the 41 mag too, had a S&W 57 until someone took it.

Jimmy K

So, like the title says, what do you think is the best caliber invented that never found acceptance by the main stream shooting community and, proverbially, withered on the vine.

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5mm


FYI folks..."caliber" is the bullet size. seems everyone lists cartridges. Not the same.

.41 Colt

.41 Special

.41 Magnum

I'm with Oyeboten on this one.

30-06. Don't know why but it never caught on.

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Wait, really? When I find old hunting rifles in the used rack of gun shops they are all either .30-06, or .270 (which is just a necked down .30-06 anyway).

.256 Winchester Mag. A necked-down .357, which would be pure death on pests. A much better lever-gun round than the 25-20 or 32-20.

I'd have to go with 10mm. Awesome round that was upended by the 40 S&W.

c919 said:

Well, like stated above, at least one of these is almost mainstream.... But....

.41 Mag and 10mm are my two favorites.

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Ah, a person of discriminating taste! Those are my two choices also.

32 H&R mag
10mm
327 Mag
17HM2
all good rounds within their genre

22 WRF (not so great, replaced by better)

the recent "fat magnum" short lived craze in rifles (viewed by many as a solution in search of a problem)

9mm in revolvers (if that counts)

25acp (depending on how you look at it), been around a long long time, still here, maybe the not-great-round which should maybe not have lasted so long

all can still be found without extraordinary effort, but not a whole lot of traction

Wait, really? When I find old hunting rifles in the used rack of gun shops they are all either .30-06, or .270 (which is just a necked down .30-06 anyway).

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Agreed, besides the fact the 30-06 was adopted by the military as its primary service round with the Springfield and the Garand it was also a popular hunting round. I could go in the local pawn shops and find a dozen 30-06s easy. Not only is it mainstream, I think you could argue it is one of the major calibers of this century.

One round I like that was popular but had fallen from grace is the .32 acp. Its not a powerful round but its accurate and I like shooting it. I wish the ammo was cheaper as there are a lot of good surplus pistols chambered in 32.

Any of the big 9's

38 super
9x21
9x23
356 tsw

How about an XDm .38 super? That would be awsome!

I would have to agree with many of you... the .41 Mag, 10MM, and .38 Super

I assume Dookie was being sarcastic when he said the 30-06 never caught on.

I agree with GIJOEL also... I would stand in line and sleep overnight in the parking lot of my local gun shop for an XDm in .38 Super!!

Call me silly.

I can only wonder how the Gyrojet round would have progressed over decades if It had gone big.

.41 magnum - great idea, good paper stats. Wish it were more popular.

256 Winchester - IF this ammo was avalible and someone made a rifle, it would probably be my general purpose gun.

9x23 Winchester

I have to vote for the 9x23 Winchester. Higher pressure than 38 Super. 357 Mag performance in an auto platform.

Steve

5.7x28 FN.

I'm surprised this round hasn't become more popular.