What fills the gap between pistol carbines and full on rifle rounds?

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Eric F

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I want a medium range rifle and looking through the choices we have pistol carbines, nice but lacking power, and full on rifle rounds 223 308 ect. With only one exception I can think of there are no medium range rifle rounds. The only choice I have is a 30 carbine. Why? the 351 winchester was a cool round but petered out for one reason or another. Why is there no market for this sort of thing? There was a 44 mag ruger that was cool but 4 round mags dont offer any real fun.


Does any one else wish there were a 30+ caliber medium range choice?
 
This caliber round probably has more than enough stopping power for whatever you want to shoot at medium ranges. And you can get it in an AR platform :evil:.

The .50 Beowulf is a rifle cartridge developed by Alexander Arms for use in a modified AR-15 rifle. The cartridge utilizes a rebated rim, sized to match the rim of the 7.62x39mm and 6.5 mm Grendel rounds. It is very similar in dimensions to the .500 S&W Magnum revolver cartridge.

According to the manufacturer it was descended from the .50 Action Express, a cartridge originally developed for the Israel Military Industries Desert Eagle pistol, with significant modification to improve functionality and safety in the AR-15 platform.[1]

The round is intended to greatly improve stopping power at short-to-medium range as compared to the standard 5.56mm.
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-copied from wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.50_Beowulf
 
Any assault rifle cartridge: 5.56x45 pr 7.62x39, are specifically meant to be mid-range rifle rounds.

Sounds like 7.62x39 is what you are looking for, or 30-30 which is pretty similar.
 
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I want a medium range rifle and looking through the choices we have pistol carbines, nice but lacking power, and full on rifle rounds 223 308 ect.
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The .223 (AKA the 5.56X45 NATO) is an internediate round. So is the 7.62X39mm. By definition.

I suggest any of the AK-47 lookalikes on the market would do just fine for your purposes.
 
Yep, .223/5.56 and 7.62x39 were both created specifically to fill that exact role... .30 carbine is more closely related to a pistol round than a "full power" .30 cal rifle round.
 
I was gonna post what everyone else said, because they are right.

Or you can consider 5.45x39 (AK-74 uses this). Right now it is near as cheap as 9mm for surplus rounds bought in spam cans.

Buy a rifle (the new saiga for like $350) and drop around $600 for 5000 rounds and you can plink for a long while
 
If you want something less 'military' take a look at the CZ-527 carbine in 7.62x39mm. It's a short, handy and light bolt action carbine built specifically for intermediate rounds (also available in 223)

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the 351 winchester was a cool round but petered out for one reason or another. Why is there no market for this sort of thing?
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It is being filled with .357 & .44 Magnum carbines.
The .357 nearly equals the .351 Winchester, and the .44 Mag out-performs it by quite a wide margine.

rc
 
Are you sure about the limitations of pistol-caliber carbines?

If you like what the .30 carbine does, the .357 out of a carbine does more. The .30 is 1990 fps with a 110 gr pill, from what I read; my .357 is 2100 fps with a 125 gr bullet (and generally a better bullet than you get in the .30) or 2000 fps with a 158. Obviously the .44 (or my .41) mags are even betterer.

It doesn't have the range or capacity of an AR, but within 125 yrds a .357 or .44 mag carbine is a pretty potent tool. Is that what you want in a 'medium range rifle' or do these miss the mark on some other grounds?

Oh--I see RC has said this already, more concisely.
 
ChristopherG said:
Are you sure about the limitations of pistol-caliber carbines?

If you like what the .30 carbine does, the .357 out of a carbine does more. The .30 is 1990 fps with a 110 gr pill, from what I read; my .357 is 2100 fps with a 125 gr bullet (and generally a better bullet than you get in the .30) or 2000 fps with a 158. Obviously the .44 (or my .41) mags are even betterer.

It doesn't have the range or capacity of an AR, but within 125 yrds a .357 or .44 mag carbine is a pretty potent tool. Is that what you want in a 'medium range rifle' or do these miss the mark on some other grounds?

Oh--I see RC has said this already, more concisely.
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You could easily reach out to 300-400yrd with Ruger #1 in 460 s&w. Decent handloads and your on your way..LEVERevolution and Barnes XPB really changed the way these things fly.
 
my .357 is 2100 fps with a 125 gr bullet (and generally a better bullet than you get in the .30) or 2000 fps with a 158.
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Ive done this before and have not been called out. I call SHENANIGANS on 158grn 357mag hitting 2K from a carbine within published load data without resorting to $40 a box exotic factory overloads.

My 22" 357 MAXimum wouldn't but barely crack those speeds
 
Buffalo Bore claims 2153fps for a 158 from an 18.5" Marlin. Hodgdon claims 1757fps using H110 from the same barrel length. From what I've read Lil'Gun would beat that. I just read an article on Gunblast where Jeff Quinn got a 180gr XTP to go 1831fps using Lil'Gun--from a 16" Trapper. That's 19fps faster than Buffalo Bore's 180gr load from the same gun. If you can get 1831fps from a 180 in a 16" barrel using Lil'Gun I wouldn't be too surprised to see 2000 from a 158 in an 18.5" barrel.

Edit: Looks like ArmedBear beat me to it...Gotta post type faster...
 
sounds like a good spot for the .300 whisper

or the better choice of .300/221 (allows easier use of .223 brass for making cases)
 
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Hornady XTP flat point, 158 grs.
Lil' Gun, 18.0 grs.
Federal Small (not mag) Pistol Primer.
2,000 fps, chronoed repeatedly, from an 18.5" Marlin 1894c.

You don't have to believe me--this is the internet after all--but I'm telling the truth.

And extremely good accuracy--though I attribute that more to bullet than powder or specific load. That's a great bullet for the .357 carbine. No shenanigans ;-) Technically, I suppose this puts the .357 mag out of the desired range of the OP, though, since it's about 120 ft/lbs more energy than a .223.
 
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45/70 Government?

You're sort of asking "What's an anemic rifle cartridge?" Anyway, the discussion above had illustrated that the gap is pretty small.

Gun Blast has a review of the Ruger 77/44 (.44 Magnum). http://www.gunblast.com/Ruger-77-44.htm

Given that you say "medium" range, and mention the magazine capacity, I say go for a .223 semi-auto.
 
45/70 Government?

You're sort of asking "What's an anemic rifle cartridge?
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.45-70 and "anemic" in the same post? Even at trapdoor levels it's fairly potent, and with modern loadings it's not far shy of the .458 Win Mag
 
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