Obsolete Cartridges

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lizziedog1

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Does anyone here enjoy collecting and shooting rifles chambered for obsolete, or near obsolete rounds? I like shooting guns chambered for the "oddball" rounds. I know it is a pain to get ammo even though I reload. I just like shooting something different then what everyone else does.

Cartridges Of The World is one of my favorite gun reference books. I'll thumb through it and see some obsolete round and wonder if there is a way to get a gun for it. I realy want a rifle chmabered for the .25-20 Winchester.

For example, I have a rifle chambered in 6.5mm Carcano. Ammo for a 7mm Mauser would be much easier to get, but there is something almost romantic about shooting such an old round.

Who else collects guns for cartridges that you need to reload for?
 
You really want to have fun, get a copy of Nonte's "Cartridge Conversions" and start making the brass for those weird chamberings that you just can't find ammo for.
 
I have a 32-20, 405 Win. , 9.3x57 Mauser, and the hardest of all a 41Swiss or 10.4x38R, acutally a rimfire cartridge. I made a simple conversion to centerfire and form and trim cases from .348 Win or 8mm Lebel cases. Either cast replica type bullets or use .429 bullets for a 44 Rem Mag. The rifle is a 1871 Swiss Vetterli, a bolt action repeater.
 
I've been casually looking for the right .32-20 rifle. That's probably the most obscure caliber I own.
 
I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum. I like to shoot so I stock mostly mainstream military and police cartridges. I do share your love for the nostalgia of classic/vintage cartridges.
 
I recently inherited my grandfather's deer rifle - a Remington Model 14 pump that is chambered in .32 Remington. I haven't yet ventured into reloading those cartridges - I'm still burning up some old ammo that my dad had lying around. My interest is in the nostalgia of the gun and the history in my family. Dealing with an obsolete cartridge is an outgrowth.

OR
 
Yup. I love the odd. Calibers, guns, it doesn't matter, I love em. Strangest I have is a m1895 Nagant, and 7.62x38r is expensive.

Anything weird has my attention. Which is why I want a Mateba and Webley-Fosbury. :D
 
Actually, I hate it. I built a rifle using a wildcat caliber many years ago and came to regret it mightily. Parent cases (.404 Jeffery) shot up from $1 each to $4. That's $80 for a box of empty cases.

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Then I bought a rifle in a discontinued caliber and thought it was no big deal as cases were available and I reload. Well, they were available when I bought it. All of sudden they WEREN'T available and I was caught short. They came back a few years later from one outfit but now they are $4 a pop for brass. That seems to be the magic number, no?

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Not learning my lesson I gave in and bought a Steyr M95 so now I am scrounging brass and resizing bullets for that damn thing.

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Also, I suddenly find myself with 4... count 'em... 4 pistols in 38 S&W. I still don't know how that happened. Fortunately cases are cheap (for now, I stocked up having learned my lesson) and the .357 sized bullets seem to work OK.

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Been loading the 30-40 for many years without any trouble. But someone told me he thought the brass had recently been discontinued by the major makers so I don't know at this point.

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Obsolete and Wildcats make the world go round....

I had Marlin Lever Guns in 25-20, 32-20, 38-40, & 44-40 and other more reg calibers..... I miss those guns... Had a 38-55 too That was a 1893 if I remember correctly. lots a water under the bridge.....

The 25-20 & 32-20 were Octagon barrel. Beautiful pieces of history.

Had a large collection in the early 80's ..... fell victim to the D word.....

and that is that I suppose.... I had to sell them to start all over!

Oh well! Life goes on......and life is awesome!

We will save Wildcats for Another Thread :)
 
I have a tendency to stick with what I refer to as "standards". You know, .223, .308, .30-06, 7.62x54r, etc. Also 9mm, .38 Special, .45 ACP, ad nauseum.

However! I also own a Mauser 98 target rifle chambered in 8.15x46r (think a slightly short .32-40 and you are on track). Plus a .25-35 lever action and a 6x45 AR.

There is a .44 Russian revolver in da house, along with a 7.5 Swede revolver, a couple of .32 S&W Long revolvers, and almost enough .44 Specials to satisfy the lust. Oh, lets not forget a .41 Magnum.

I try to be a Wal-Mart ammo kind of guy, really, but I am sob, just not sucessful at it. :p
 
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The .257 Roberts just won't die. Kimber is manufacturing in the caliber now. Love that cartridge.

Now I have a Baby Desert Eagle .41AE. I have about 40 PP rounds for it and no more. Luckily I do have a 9mm barrel for it and that is what I shoot in it now.
 
Check Grafs and Buffalo Arms for rare ammo and components. I shoot 8x56R Hungarian and get brass and bullets from Grafs.
 
I have a Uberti reproduction of the 1873 saddle ring carbine model Winchester in .44-40 which is a cartridge that came out in 1873. It's still made but often a bit hard to locate outside of internet supply places that cater to the SASS crowd.
 
jkingrph - I have an old revolver in .32-20 that was my dad's. I have only been able to find a couple of sources of factory loads and they are running over $30 per 50!
Have you found better prices?
These are 100 grain lead flat points and, from what I've read, the ballistics aren't very good.
 
Let's see... .577/450 can be had, if you don't mind paying $5 a round.
.41 Swiss rimfire can't be had for any price, pretty much.

I've got a good stash of primed brass for 6.5x53R Dutch Mannlicher, I should probably think about selling it, can't see shooting that rifle much in the future.
 
Oddballs?

Obsolete:
310 Cadet
577/450 Martini/Henry
256 Winchester Magnum

Obsolescent:
22 Savage High Power
7.62 Nagant
455 Webley
9mm Largo

32-20? 25-20? 25-35? Heck, I can go to my local gunshop and buy ammo for those, as long as I remember to bring enough money.:)
 
I love collecting old and interesting weapons which are often in old and interesting calibers. Some of my more interesting calibers:

7.62x25 (Not too rare, for the CZ52)
7.62x38r (For the Nagant Revolver)
.577-450 (For my Martini Henry)
.38-200 (For the Enfield No2 Mk1*)
5.5 Carcano (No, that's not a typo, for my Carcano Training Rifle)
 
I've got a 722 Remington in .222 that's 50+ years old.
Still has the 12 power Weaver scope and shoots 5/8 groups at 100 yards
with bulk Winchester 55gr. PSP.
 
my buddy has a nice winchester auto-loading rifle chambered in .351 WSL /.351 Winchester Self-Loading .. I like the rifle very much, flawless old thing, looks like it maybe had a box shot through it. The brass is nearly impossible to find
 
winchester 1907 self-loader... I grabbed this photo with a google search, the furniture is MUCH more attractive on my buddy's gun
 

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