Good ol' cartridges

[jnyork]

Seemingly every week one gun company or another will introduce yet another "short magnum", "sniper round", "long range smokemjoe" or some such nonsense. They seem to sell a bunch, so it's all good, some shooters will not rest until they find the "holy grail" so to speak. BUT, have you ever considered the number of perfectly good cartridges we have available to us that are 50, 75, even 100 years old and still going strong, and will do whatever it is you need done in a highly effective manner. For instance, before my unfortunate canoeing accident, I HAD the following in my gun safe, and shot them all quite a bit.

Handguns:
.45 ACP
.38 ACP
.38 S&W
.22 LR
.44 Remington Magnum
.38 Special
.357 Magnum
All 75-100 years old except the .44 Mag

Rifles:
.22 LR
.22 Hornet
.22-250
.222 Remington
.257 Roberts
.270 Winchester
.30-06
.44-40
.32-20
.33 WCF
.30 Remington
.30-30
.32 Special
.308 Winchester
7.62 x 54R
.303 Brit
6.55 x 55
All of the above I believe are at least 50-100 years old.

They do the job for me, I have no desire for a big ol' .300 Mangle'em Boominkicker. Just my dos centavos. Thanks.


_________________

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Change the .44 Mag for the .45 Colt, and you'll have a cartridge just as capable (in a modern revolver like a Ruger), and more than 80 years older.

 

[7X57chilmau]

And add the 7x57 mauser as a forrunner of many of the slightly more modern bottleneck cartridges you listed there as well.... Well over 100 years, and capable of just about anything a 30-06 or 308, or 270 win is....

J

 

[Marlin 45 carbine]

should list 38-40 - the 'original magnum hadgun'.

 

[aka108]

6.5 Swedish is not bad either. Most of the new additions are attempting to expand the market.

 

[pdowg881]

9x19.

 

[Arkel23]

Nice collection.

 

[highlander 5]

45/70 100 years plus and still going strong

 

[Pistol Toter]

I've owned more .22 rimfires, Shorts, Longs, Long Rifle and Magnums than I care to count; all have been good guns. I prefer the bolt action over any other, they seem to be the lightest and most accurate. I have had other actions. But you know, I've never owned a centerfire rifle even though, down throught the years, I have handled and shot a number of them. It seems to me, that a .30-30 lever action and .30-06 bolt should do just about anything that would need to be done, at least on the North American and probably South American Continent too. I'll admitt to being a simple minded man with simple requirements; hense the .22 rimfire, .38/.357 and the .45acp along with the afore mentioned two calibre would do 100% of anything that i would ever want or need to do. All the rest are just iceing on some cake. That's just my two cents

 

[jnyork]

I added three I forgot earlier. These are just the ones in my collection, did not mean to short anyone else's preferences.

 

[CoRoMo]

I don't like the new stuff either.

The 'youngest'/'newest' cartridge that I own/use/reload is just under 50 years in existence. The next one is 75+ years old, and then they jump up to and over 100 years in existence.

 

[Speedo66]

+1 for the 38-40 (38 WCF).

A true .40 from 1875 or so with the same pistol ballistics as a modern .40.

And who would argue that a Glock looks better than a SAA Colt?

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Hmmm.

Looking over my own battery, and not counting military rifles (which I don't hunt much with), I have:

.22 LR
.22 WMR
.22 Hornet
6.5X55 Swede
7mm Rem Mag
.30-30
.30-06
.35 Brown-Whelen (the most radical form of the Whelen.)

 

[CTSigLover]

Don't forget the .375 H&H... 97 years old, and just as good as it was in 1912.

It would get my vote for most versatile rifle round on the planet. Sure, more powerful cartridges are out there, as are cartridges chambered in lighter rifles, as well as cartridges that shoot faster... but for my money, none do everything as well as the old .375 H&H. In addition, while undoubtedly "brisk" most shooters can "tolerate" the recoil of this cartridge in an appropriate rifle. After all, it has about half of the recoil impulse of some of the true "monsters" out there like the 460 Weatherby Magnum.

Some may claim it is marginal on elephant, but there is a reason it is the minimum allowable cartridge on many African hunts... it gets the job done if the shooter does his part.

Seems as if there really is nothing new under the sun.

 

[LeverGunJunkie]

Nice arms room. While maybe not meeting your 50 yr critieria, I think you should add the .40 S&W (while not my favorite, it is popular and effective) and I believe the .223 has surpassed the .222 Rem in most practical aspects. Although nothing wrong with the .222.

 

[FLNT4EVR]

Sorry to hear about the canoe accident. A great loss.

 

[Owen Sparks]

I would avoid such obsolete cartridges as the .33 WCF unless you are a dedicated reloader. In fact, I would avoid buying any new gun that is not chambered in a standard "Wall Mart" caliber unless you reload because of cost and availability.

 

[Floppy_D]

I'm down to 22lr, 38spl, 45acp, 45LC, 223, 30-06, and 12g. So I guess 223 is my latest and greatest.

 

[Birdmang]

Is there an equivalent to 7mm mauser that ends in brit?

I remember the elephant killer used one...his name was Kilimanjaro something...??

 

[DRYHUMOR]

Them boat trips are rough, you just can't imagine all the accidental sinkings I've heard about in the last year or so. Hope you had some insurance.

I think, while useful, most of the newer rounds/rifles are more geared toward making money. Kind of like a new ice cream flavor.

I like to shoot a box or 3 on occasion, it's a lot cheaper if the ammo is a more established caliber. Though there are exceptions to even that.

 

[bigione]

With many buying the newer and different calibers, it keeps the gun manufacters going and hopefully we'll have them there when we need tham. Otherwise they might start making throw away guns like the rest of the junk we get stuck with. I too settled on a few old standbys and would rather have two or three of the same caliber than the newer calibers.

 

[jnyork]

I would avoid such obsolete cartridges as the .33 WCF unless you are a dedicated reloader. In fact, I would avoid buying any new gun that is not chambered in a standard "Wall Mart" caliber unless you reload because of cost and availability

That's the nice thing about reloading, you get to play with totally obsolete calibers and guns that there is no ammo available for anymore. I shoot that .33 at least once a month at metallic silhouette, which takes 40 rounds. The whole point of my original post was why buy a new gun in a "Walmart round" when it is so much fun to shoot the good old timers. Again, just my humble opinion, YMMV.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Is there an equivalent to 7mm mauser that ends in brit?

The .275 Rigby is the English nomenclature for the 7X57 Mauser. Same cartridge, except for the headstamp.

I remember the elephant killer used one...his name was Kilimanjaro something...??

Walter Dalrymple Maitland (Karamojo) Bell.

 

[Birdmang]

Thank you

 

[danprkr]

I'm going the other way. Consolidating into 22LR, and the NATO calibers. Once I get those needs met I may expand outward again into more fun stuff. Heck I may even get back to loading and shooting a .41mag again. But for right now I'm consolidating.