Forgotten Calibers

[BluegrassBilly]

On the topic of forgotten calibers, I meant to add, if anybody finds any 32 Colt Longs or Shorts (NOT 32 Colt New Police/32 S&W), let me know. I'm down to one box.

 

[65swede]

My 6.5 Swede isn't going away.

 

[1100RemingtonMan]

I will say from a practical point some cartridges should go the way of the Dodo Bird. Like all the smaller than .223 Rem like .22 Hornet and .222 Rem for a example, why .223 Brass is cheap and with Blue Dot powder you can load it down to a .22LR or to .22 Hornet levels or .222 Rem.
I also feel we have Manfactures that want to sell rifles as # 1 priority, making sure Brass is available comes in way down the list.
I will say some should be more popular than they are like the .260 Rem should be more popular than the 6.5 Creedmore as I believe accuracy is in the Rifle and not the head stamp on the cartridge.
In reality if buying a hunting Rifle and Wal Mart does not sell shells for the cartridge you are looking at maybe it's not practical to buy. IMHO and this is from the guy that hunts Big Game with 6mm Rem, .264 Win Mag & 300 H&H Mag.
Good Hunting

 

[Carlin59]

I recently inherited a 7mm RUM. I was really excited about setting it up as a long range rig, until I started to try to find ammo for it.

 

[Mica Man]

I still hunt and kill stuff with my Rem Classic 350 Rem Mag! Wanted one as a kid because a neighbor lady who was in her 70s still packed and killed elk and deer with that caliber on a regular basis and was one of the most successful hunters I knew at the time.

 

[OhHeyThereBen]

I hope to revisit this thread in 20 years and be able to add creedmors, particularly ones topped with vortex scopes to the list.

Gomer - the true hipster.

 

[Greyman]

My first deer rifle was a sporterized .303 British SMLE. I still have that rifle but my youngest son has dibs on it. It is a cool rifle and caliber. It is in a Goldilocks spot between a 30-06 and 30-30, just right. Used to be able to find ammo anywhere. Now I just get it online.

 

[Losing_Sanity]

My first deer rifle was a sporterized .303 British SMLE. I still have that rifle but my youngest son has dibs on it. It is a cool rifle and caliber. It is in a Goldilocks spot between a 30-06 and 30-30, just right. Used to be able to find ammo anywhere. Now I just get it online.

I almost forgot about the .303 British. My grandfather had a SMLE he killed whitetails with. Interesting rifle. You can still find ammo for it from time to time. I read an article on it once, I don't remember who wrote it, that said the .303 was a good round but it wounded as many deer as it killed. But I think that was contributed more to the bullet design and availability as anything. A gunsmith once told me the 30-40 Krag was a better round. It's about gone also. But I'm just repeating others opinion on it.

 

[Losing_Sanity]

Though not centerfire...5mm Remington Rimfire. Ammo was reintroduced a few years back but dried up but I see Aguila has plans to produce more.

I would guess the .17 HMR took that one out.

 

[Greyman]

I almost forgot about the .303 British. My grandfather had a SMLE he killed whitetails with. Interesting rifle. You can still find ammo for it from time to time. I read an article on it once, I don't remember who wrote it, that said the .303 was a good round but it wounded as many deer as it killed. But I think that was contributed more to the bullet design and availability as anything. A gunsmith once told me the 30-40 Krag was a better round. It's about gone also. But I'm just repeating others opinion on it.

I'll bet that a lot of those wounded deer was due to the use of old milsurp ammo that a lot of folks used to hunt with. All the deer I've shot were with round nose Remington Corelockts and it had no problems.

 

[morley.tyler]

You can still get a barrel for the 338-06 and swap out with a savage 110. It's a pretty easy swap.

I built one off of a CZ550 Mauser action, and it's a fantastic round/rifle. I just wish all of the rifle and ammo companies would listen to me...

 

[Trial153]

7x57 is sweet if you hand load for that matter so is a .257 Roberts, don't hear much about either of them anymore.

 

[std7mag]

I already mentioned the 6.5mm Rem Mag on page 1.

Anyone for the 425 Westley Richards?

 

[Riflerich]

221 fireball & 338 RCM have 'em and like'em both. Have enough brass to shoot them until I'm gone the way of the dodo.

 

[6mm Remington]

I need to add another to the list that should have been made into a factory round............wait for it!

6.5-06

I know right! All the 6.5 this and that and they left this one out of the works. It's been around along time and should be a standard cartridge. That goes without saying that anything on the 30-06 case should be a standard chambering. None of them are anything but wonderful!

 

[golfer]

243 WSSM and 25 WSSM.

 

[elkduds]

30-40 Krag: US military round, precursor to the 30-03 (no typo). In terms of Krag utility:

 

[T Bone]

.284 Winchester.

I've always looked for one, but all I've ever found was a BLR.

 

[VAspeedgoat]

I have some of these and others I think about alot.

32 Winchester, the 30-30s big brother

.307 win., A decade too late or it would have been a legend

.35 Remington, my pick for cutest case

.284 Winchester, why in the world didn't they take advantage of the capacity. There may not have been a .280 rem

444, it has better ballistics than other big bore lever guns

22mag, more thump than any .17 rimfire

 

[BrentD]

Elkduds, that was before elk evolved Kevlar. .30-40s bounce off now.