Obsolete/little used cartridges

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Neat. I once saw a custom 660 Magnum close to that. The laminated stock and plastic trigger guard discarded and replaced with walnut Mannlicher and shotgun style trigger guard. I couldn't figure out what I would use it for, so it stayed in the store for a while.

Sometimes you buy stuff just because you like it. I bought a Ruger No. 1 in 405 Winchester just because it was the anniversary of Teddy Roosevelt's African safari, and it was his favorite cartridge for lion. I convinced myself that I would hunt Asian Water Buff with it someday. Still waiting on the someday, but man, does that rifle shoot!
 
Load it down. A lot of the time, I will use starting loads. No need getting carried away unless you are really shooting Grizzly Bear.

Naaa... all I load anymore is lower velocity cast loads for shooting steel, but sizing and flaring the neck with the M-die works the brass for sure.
 
I would not consider any of the cartridges you are looking to pick up as falling in the "obsolete" category. The 250-3000 and 257 Roberts may be less common, but I've known several folks that have and shoot them. 6mm Remington would not fall in the "little used" category (I have one), although they may not be as common as the 243 Winchester.

By little used, I mean you can't readily find brass for them, nor can you find mainstream factory rifles chambered in them. The 250-3000 and the 6mm certainly qualify although the Bob isn't quite there yet. Kimber, at least, chambers rifles in the Bob. Remington obviously doesn't exist anymore and Savage doesn't care to play with the 250 at the moment, although they might in the future. I just watched a bolt gun (Ruger M77) in 250-3000 go in the $1500 range. Just because you own one doesn't make a cartridge common. At least the talented hand loader can keep all three chamberings running. If you are the normal factory ammo user, you have to really look for ammo, and pay through the nose for it. Or give up and sell your rifle....
 
Hi...

Can only think of a few obsolete/little used cartridges that I shoot.
.45AutoRim, .357Maximum and .375SuperMag.
Least used rifle cartridges that I reload for are 7x57Mauser and .303British.

You can actually find 45 Auto Rim? I am truly surprised.
 
Naaa... all I load anymore is lower velocity cast loads for shooting steel, but sizing and flaring the neck with the M-die works the brass for sure.

If you are worried, annealing could help. There are even services that will do it for you. I just looked at one that charges 20 bucks to anneal a hundred cases.
 
HowieG, we're far enough into this discussion that I don't mind posting something that is not strictly on track with the OP (but it is related to your post).

I have a Savage bolt action 257 Roberts. Less than 10 years back Savage made a run of their bolt guns in 250-3000 Savage, blued, with walnut stock. I really wanted a 257 Roberts. I did my research and found that the dimensions of the 257 Roberts were the same or larger than the 250-3000 Savage. I bought the new rifle, found a local gunsmith with a 257 Roberts reamer and for an extra $100.00 bucks he cut a new chamber in it and I had the rifle I wanted.
I had him XXXX out the "250-3000 Savage" on the barrel and add "257 Roberts".

I am very happy with the result.

All the best.

Dan
 
No chance the 22-250 will go away. I also load 300 Savage for a Remington 722. I have been looking for a bolt action 250-3000, but they now want custom rifle prices for those.
My 250-3000 is in a Ruger 77 RSI with Mannlicher stock. They are hard to find in any action now.
 
My 250-3000 is in a Ruger 77 RSI with Mannlicher stock. They are hard to find in any action now.

Believe it or not, I just had one in my gunbroker watch list until a couple of days ago. I passed on bidding for it because I already have an 18 inch carbine in my safe and I didn't want to spend the bucks Ruger Internationals cost. Also, I wanted to bid on the M77RL Ultra Light in 250-3000 that was also in my watchlist. I ended up not being a player on that because it got out of reach in a hurry. It went for over $1400.
 
Believe it or not, I just had one in my gunbroker watch list until a couple of days ago. I passed on bidding for it because I already have an 18 inch carbine in my safe and I didn't want to spend the bucks Ruger Internationals cost. Also, I wanted to bid on the M77RL Ultra Light in 250-3000 that was also in my watchlist. I ended up not being a player on that because it got out of reach in a hurry. It went for over $1400.
It is stunning the prices they go for on gun broker I can assure you I didn’t pay anywhere close to those prices. I got lucky as I walked in to my LGS and there it was on the rack. I traded another RSI in 243 and $150 cash for it as it had a Leoupold 2x7 scope on it. I much prefer the performance of the 250 as compared to the 243 but that is just personal preference as they both kill deer dead.
 
Reloading for obsolete/little used

Replicating .455 Webley loadings for a cut Webley IV using .45 AutoRim or .45ACP with moonclips, using .454" 255gr bullets (.45 Colt) and BP or BP substitutes.
Loading .312" 85 to 90gr jacketed bullets in a C96 Mauser with a seriously worn out barrel, mostly Triple7 for BP cartridge pistol match.
 
I have my Grampa's Savage 99 take down in .303 Savage. Found some .303 savage brass. From what I've read there isn't other brass it can be made from. Slugged the barrel @ .308" and have been using .309 lead bullets so far. It is fun to shoot. I need to get some 159gr SPs for deer hunting this fall.
 
A few…

.256 Winchester magnum
7-30 waters
357 Herrett
223 Ackley Improved
32 sw
38 sw
32 sw long

The rest you can generally find ammo for in normal times.
 
The oddballs i load are 300H&H
480 Ruger
50-2 1/2 Sharps
45-3 1/4 Sharps
12 Gauge in brass cases
16 Gauge in brass cases
Have fun and thank you
 
I have a 30 rem (NOT AR) but have not been able to find reloading data for the darn thing. If you could send me a PM and point me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate it.
n. I have A Hornady #1 reloading manual that lists th 30 rem on the same page with the same loads as the 30-30 Winchester. Those were the loads I used with 150 and 170 grain round nose bullets.
 
I have a 30 rem (NOT AR) but have not been able to find reloading data for the darn thing. If you could send me a PM and point me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate it.

Hey MWC,
I use 30-30 Winchester load data (mid range), IMR 3031 with 170gr RNSP and 170gr FNSP. Accurate, feeds reliably and good deer medicine without beating up the old Model 8.

Be well
 
My obscure/obsolete/uncommon cartridges are:
30-40 Krag
7.7 x 58 Jap
6.5 x 50 Jap
6.5 x 52 Carcano
6.5 x 55 Swede
7.5 x 55 Swiss
.303 British
7.65 x 53 Argentine Mauser
5.7 x 28 FN
and the real "old" one 10.4 x 47 for a Vetterli Vitale
and in pistol
38 Super - not common in some areas anymore
32 S&W Long
327 Fed Mag
7.65 x 25 Tokarev
5.7 x 28 FN
45 GAP - don't see much around

I've picked up components for all. The 45 GAP, one of my former troops was with FHP and she would bring me brass when she went to qualify.
 
You can actually find 45 Auto Rim? I am truly surprised.

I have never bought a round of factory .45AutoRim.
I bought a large quantity of brass a few decades ago. I occasionally add a hundred Starline cases to my inventory when I find them at one of the local gun shops.

I probably have in excess of 500 cases on hand. Decent supply considering I typically only shoot a few hundred rounds of .45AutoRim each year.
 
I have a Remington Rolling Block that an old friend of mine had built back in the 50's.It has a straight 1.060 bull barrel on it that's chambered for the 219 Zipper.Insanely accurate albeit somewhat lacking in aesthetic appeal.Well,to be honest,it's downright ugly.And a Contender carbine in 7X30 waters.Neither round is very popular.
 
The obsolete/little used calibers I load for are:

32 S&W (short)
32 S&W Long
38 S&W
38-40 (38WCF)
45-90

I shoot the most 38-40 using black powder, but I also load smokeless. Shot the brass so many times have worn out (cracks in case mouth, neck or body or all the above) at least two full coffee cans of it. I currently have to cull on average 5 cases per 100 fired for cracks.
 
I have two rifles chambered for .405 Winchester, an original Model 1895 and a Ruger No. 1-H Tropical. Hornady makes SP bullets for it and they sold .405 brass until a couple of years ago. Loaded ammo is still available. Fun rifles to shoot, but it's a bummer that IMR discontinued 4320 powder which was superb for the .405 IMO.
 
Right now it's only .32 S&W. It's actually got me thinking about getting a 5 shot top break because the H&R Y. America I have is able to chamber and fire .32 wadcutters, so using the .32 S&W in it is pretty much pointless, but as strange as this sounds I do like the .32 S&W because from a properly chambered revolver and loaded warm enough the .32 S&W is as capable as .32 S&W Long is, which is to say you can get 12 inches of penetration with them.

I wish I knew of any .32 S&W "short" solid frame revolvers besides the H&R Young America that don't have straight bored thru chambers as I'd rather have that than a top break that will force me to download my loads for the weak gun.

Other than that, I've had the idea to load .44 Webley if I could ever score an H&R in the caliber. I have the Lee dies for 7.62x25, but no bullets.

I do want a Snider-Enfield rifle, thus .577 would be loaded to keep that fed.
 
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