New 7MM PRC will it kill the 6.8 Western?

[Scooter22]

Ammo companies aren’t making people buy new cartridges. Consumers want new cartridges to buy - developers just try to fill that desire in the particular market favor prevailing at the time.

I have to say thats backwards. "Developers are making new cartridges that fit a niche or what they want. Wildcats was the old word. But with the huge internet exposure anything can be sold. Nobody might want it but it,s new shinny on Youtube and has more clicks than the older cartridge so they want it. I honestly think it will hurt shooting in the long run. How many SAMMI cartridges can be supported from the ammo manufactures? They can,t keep up with the basics. So you can,t find basics like 30-30, 30-06, .243, 7mm-08, and other traditional rounds of millions of guns. But you got lots of new alphabet rounds that hardly sell before a new one comes out. Yeah thats good for the shooting industry.

 

[Varminterror]

@Scooter22 - by “developers” in that context, I was referring specifically to the folks within ammo manufacturers and rifle manufacturers which do the work to standardize cartridges for commercialization.

One specific aspect in which you’re wrong - indeed, it IS good for shooting industry when we have so much demand that production lines are operating at absolute maximum capacity and still not able to keep up with demand. This drives opportunity for growth and expansion. Sure, it drives whining online too, when folks which failed to plan ahead can’t find the 2 boxes of ammo they buy each year for their hunting rifle they bought 30yrs ago - but those folks aren’t keeping the industry alive anyway, so who cares if they can find what they want?

It’s those days when shelves are full of ammo and nobody is buying and revenue streams dry for these manufacturers which see the industry whither and falter. But that ain’t where we are today, and hasn’t been for a long time now.

 

[JayZee]

I don't care what it is, I love my 7x57.

Anything 7MM gets my support and attention

 

[WVRJ]

One thing that comes to mind about the 6.8 Western is that it needs longer and heavier bullets than are commonly available to show its ability.I doubt if they're very common outside of high dollar factory ammo.7MM heavyweight bullets are fairly available,probably more available than the more traditional bullet weights in 7MM.My 280 Ackley has been silent for almost a year because the bullets I like to shoot in it are unavailable.The 7 is about the biggest caliber that won't produce a lot of recoil when using heavy high ballistic coefficient bullets.The cost of feeding this new generation of beltless magnums factory ammunition is quite high.Some of the premium 6.5 PRC stuff around here is going for over 5 bucks a round.I'd imagine the 6.8 Western is probably pretty pricey too,and good bullets to reload for it are hard to locate.I'd have to think the 7PRC will be an inherently accurate case design,and good bullets to load in it are available.I've already seen a couple of 6.8 rifles on the used gun racks at the stores around here,and that doesn't sound good for the 6.8 cartridge.I'd say the 7PRC isn't going to kill the 6.8,but it will deliver the Coup DeGras,because the 6.8's dying a slow death as it is.

 

[Phaedrus/69]

Ammo prices have truly become eye watering! I suspect a lot of rifles get purchased, taken to the range once then sat in the corner for long periods. It wouldn't surprise me to see rifles that get less than a hundred rounds per year through them and maybe a couple hundred in the entire time a person owns the gun. I'm not a hunter so most of my guns are cheap to feed with pretty good availabilty. I do recall considering a .375 Ruger for a camp gun and to maybe hunt black bear but the cheapest factory ammo I could find even online was well over $3/round!