How do companies make money off of new chamberings?

[bullzeye8]

I was wondering if companies make money off of creating a new cartridge? I feel like they must or else why would they spend money on research and actually creating the newest greatest cartridge. Like Nosler created the new 26 Nosler which right now if you want it you need to get it from them but if it becomes more popular remington, ruger, savage and all of them may make rifles for it and therefore won't benefit Nosler too much. I have never heard though of small custom shops having to pay anything though so but why spend all the money creating it if it won't make them that much money.

 

[Sunray]

It's more about needing to introduce new stuff regularly or risk losing market share. Kind of like "publish or perish" in academia. A lot of new stuff answers unasked questions.
Worst of it is that the marketing types think nothing of discontinuing stuff that doesn't meet projections with no regard for the existing customers.

 

[armabill]

Volume.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

Also don't discount the fact that despite all the other concerns and factors they have to consider, these companies are made up of gun guys.

Mike

 

[rcmodel]

The thing I can't understand is why they keep introducing new calibers when they can't keep up with the ammo orders for what they already make.

rc

 

[wally]

As usual, rc hits it out of the park!

 

[WestKentucky]

The answer lies in the hype. Winchester came out with a pile of cartridges as did Remington and savage and those cartridges were promoted and hype was built around the might .270 Winchester, the 35 Remington, 44 Remington magnum, 250 savage .204 ruger... But then there are others who don't build that hype like the JD Jones calibers. Nobody outside of silhouette and TC contender fans know squat about them, but no money was sank into promotion. So by building hype you suddenly and pointedly attach your name to a new awesome round that may or may not live up to the hype, but it's going to sell a bunch of them. Rarely does such a thing happen as a no-name designer put out a well known round. I'm thinking of the .50 Beowulf which is a Grendel produced design by George Kelgren who now owns keltec. Sure he's got some oomph behind him in design but not cartridge design. Still that one took off for AR guys. So by putting these names out there, then attaching a positive connotation they also attach connotation to the company and thereby sell a few more guns. For custom shops, if it's big in the custom world it gets big in mainline production...but if it flops it flops in custom shops before capital is sank into tooling a line to produce...256winmag .25naa 32naa...

 

[TRX]

All of my main shooters, rifle or pistol, fire cartridges over a hundred years old. Though I do have a few that fire newer cartridges.

 

[twofifty]

The gun mags make money off new cartridges (well, in the pre-internet days anyhow).
One outfit even had a cartridge named after it: 7mm STW

 

[tactikel]

Cartridge companies broke even on guns, they wanted to sell you 3 boxes of ammo yearly for 30 years at 200% profit. Every new chamber means some one trades in a .270 for a new improved .XXX and needs ammo for it.

 

[gbran]

I'm waiting for a .270.3.5 WSSSM-B.

 

[USAF_Vet]

Introducing a new cartridge during an ammo shortage actually makes some kind of sense to me.

If you release, amidst a lot of hype, pomp and circumstance, a new round and advertise it as an improved version of .XXX, when .XXX can't be found anywhere, or in extremely limited numbers, it pushes impatient gun owners to purchase the latest, greatest .XXX, and a new gun (or at least a new barrel) chambered in the .XXX.

 

[drastic_quench]

I've always thought that if a company has a vested interest in establishing a new cartridge and ensuring its longevity, they should sell the new firearm with at least a couple hundred free rounds - or at least a voucher for the free rounds. I'm looking at you 480 Ruger.

It's the time-tested drug dealer method. Establish your market by getting your customer base hooked for "free." Then the free stuff will be used up in short order, and your product sells well. When there is no demand, gap to fill, or question to answer - you've got to create that demand. I'm willing to bet that's lots of shooters would have picked up a normally priced 480 if it came with 200 or more free rounds. I would have. Especially if it was possible in a 5 shot Super Blackhawk (but that's getting away from the point).

 

[pendennis]

Like any other product, the ammo makers invest a huge amount in R&D, and probably just as important, feedback from customers, wildcatters, etc. It all goes into the mix. Marketing research should

Some years back, A-Square invested a huge amount of time, money, and research in developing a 260-class cartridge based on a .308 case. They sent samples and dies, etc., to SAAMI, and were all set to introduce the A-Square 6.5mm-08. After some amount of time, SAAMI approved the 260 Remington, virtually ignoring the 6.5mm-08. A Square didn't get anything from their outlay. A cartridge mystery.

When S&W introduced the .44 Magnum, there was a lot of wildcatting and overloading of .44 Specials by folks like Elmer Keith. There wasn't a hot handgun cartridge of that caliber in production, and their timing was perfect.

There are, however, a lot of cartridges out there which languish, simply because the niche was a bit too small.

 

[smkummer]

Generally new cartridges fill a small desire. Short mag. cartridges that have magnum performance in a short action. 20 caliber rifles that the shooter can see the gopher blow-up in the scope because the recoil is so soft. 300 blackout because the 7.62X39 doesn't work well with the AR magazine curve. Also if the manufacture convinces you that the 6.5-06 is so much better than either the 270 or 280 Remington and you buy it, then it is what it is. If your happy with it, that is all that matters. Your old Remington 700 in 270 or 280 sitting on the used gun shelf for $300 fills a need also.

 

[Bezoar]

most of the new cartridges released in the last 5 years, really did nothing whatsover for the shooter.

sure the .327 magnum merely stretched the .32 magnum case out so it could be loaded slightly hotter then the original .32 magnum data.........


the rifle rounds that have come back have done nothing. just high velocity barrel killers that dont do what they claim..

"surei can shoot this 150 grain bullet in my .308 or 30-06, sure itll be 100 fps in your new super cartridge, but my .308 or 30-06 will last more then 900 rounds.

 

[itsa pain]

most of the new cartridges released in the last 5 years, really did nothing whatsover for the shooter.

sure the .327 magnum merely stretched the .32 magnum case out so it could be loaded slightly hotter then the original .32 magnum data.........


the rifle rounds that have come back have done nothing. just high velocity barrel killers that dont do what they claim..

"surei can shoot this 150 grain bullet in my .308 or 30-06, sure itll be 100 fps in your new super cartridge, but my .308 or 30-06 will last more then 900 rounds.

Exactly. The way they make money with new rounds is a guy will trade his 30-06 in for a 300 short mag that is 10% faster and twice as much to shoot. I tell you what that whole line of Winchester short ammo finished of Winchester. went out not long after. We had enough rounds to do all that is needed 50 years ago or even longer

 

[22250Rem]

Sometimes the wildcatters do all the R&D for the gun companies in the form of successful wildcats that really catch on with the public. Then the manufacturers see a wildcat cartridge stay popular long enough and see that all the bugs are worked out of it so they get SAAMI to standardize it and they bring it to market knowing that it's already well known and successful so it should sell very well and they can make lots of money. Some of my guns are chambered in former wildcats that made the big time such as the 22 Hornet, 22-250, 25-06, and 7mm-08. But there's a lot more than just those four.