Are you still this mad about the popularity of the 30/30?
Nope, even bought one years before the 6.8 was a known quantity.
Lightweight carbine with easy to use controls and an intermediate cartridge that reaches out to 250m without too much bullet drop. A great number of hunters acquired one, and the ammo is extremely widespread and commonly inexpensive.
Sounds like the AR today.
At some time in the not too distant future we could expect .300, 6.8, and X39 to all be about the same price as new commercial ammo on the shelf.
What could change things is X39 imports being completely disrupted due to world politics, 6.8 surplus hitting the market, and the Army moving to a different cartridge. It would mean a huge surplus of 5.56 on the market worldwide as others follow suit, and that wouldn't necessarily hurt .300 reloaders, but would eventually impact them as brass dries up. There would be no once fired cases to play with.
Cartridges come and go precisely because of inexpensive supplies. .308 was big in the '80s and '90s, but once 3Gun transitioned to cheaper milsurp 5.56, and the excess stocks shot up, it's back to being an also ran. Before that, it was .30-06.
In the day, .30 Remington was giving .30-30 a run for it's money. Now it's known mostly as the base cartridge for 6.8 brass.
I have no issue with folks who understand the ballistics and deliberately choose one over the other. What popularity is all about, tho, isn't the ballistics, if anything, it's completely left off the table. What popularity focuses on is "What are the other guys shooting, I want to be part of that crowd of cool dudes."
Goes to the latest version of the AR pistol - everyone is building a faux SBR with brace, long slick CNC handguard, and recessed oversized compensator. It's a matter of acquiring the same parts as the other guy, not equipping it for efficiency. It's just "me too" building, and that is what is currently happening with .300. It happened with 6.8 and 6.5, too, until some discovered there was no cheap surplus. Then they squalled like cats with their tail in the door and whined about ammo being pricey.
There's no .300BO surplus, and I'm waiting to hear about ammo being pricey. Seems it's an issue many are in denial about - or they simply aren't shooting all that much.
5.56 is still KING for cheap.
.300 is just the current fad, again, wait five years and then we will see who is still shooting it and why. They will be the real users, not the fair weather fans who move on in their quest to be the first to own the Cartridge of the Month.