Forgotten Calibers

[std7mag]

T Bone,
I was thinking this morning of the 3 i already mentioned( 250Savage, 257 Roberts, 280 Rem) when i remembered my 4th forgotten caliber rifle.
Custom built commercial Mauser action in 284 Win.
I bought the barrel from E.R.Shaw.
My only recommendation.
Get a custom reamer. The throat/leade on the standard 284 is wayyy long.
But it can be overcome with very concentric ammo, much like the Weatherby Magnums.

A good modern bolt action allows higher pressures in the 284, 257R, 250 which brings out much potential in these cartridges.
I think i'm the only one loading 115gr Berger VLD Hunting bullets in a 250 Savage.
Really wanting some good weather to chrono them!

 

[Gunner46]

If you want a 338 Fed, you can have one with just a short 4-6 week work time. Buy any 308 Win you choose, send it JES and BINGO !! I put one together based on a Ruger American, topped it with a Leupold 2X7X32 and still came in under dollar than trying to buy a base NIB rifle 338 Fed from any manufacturer's list price. I Love It !!

As for other Forgotten Cartridges, the 30/40, 303 Brit, and 32 Win come to mind.

 

[BuzzH]

My family has a 32/40 Winchester...been forgotten for a long time now.

I killed a deer with it about 25 years ago, only deer I've shot with open sights.

 

[std7mag]

Gunner,
Who is JES?
And why would i send them a rifle to do 338 Fed when i can get a 24" (or shorter) E.R.Shaw barrel reamed, polished, blued, with 11 degree recessed crown delivered to my door for $272, and put on myself?
Plus having the satisfaction, much like hand loading, of doing it yourself.

 

[Scott85]

I have to agree with what people said about the 280. For some reason according to all the internet experts out there it isn't capable of killing anything bigger than a deer. I love my Remington 700 mountain in 280 just wish it was left handed.

 

[std7mag]

Oh no. The 280 is more than capable.
Just remember it's a 280, not a Rem Mag.
I've run a few loads through QuickLoad and instead of a sensible 60,000 psi i've gotten 73,000 psi from said safe load internet gurus.

 

[Greybeard]

The mighty .303 British barked and down went a vicious wild boar!

 

[Guy]

One of the oddball cartridges I mess with is the old 22 Savage High Power. Mine is a 1913 vintage Savage lever action.

That cartridge has similar power to a 223 Remington, and normally uses a 70 grain bullet at about 2700 fps. Difficult to find ammo for, though some is imported now and again. I handload for it, but that too is a challenge since the proper bullet diameter for it is .228" not the normal .224" of most bullets. I have found bullets for it.

If anyone has some of the old 70 gr Speer soft points in .228" diameter, let me know. I just might take 'em off your hands!

Oh, and that's a wolf skull and a coyote rug. I shot 'em both, but not with the old Savage.

Regards, Guy

 

[Sawtooth]

Two calibers which I still enjoy using are the .338-06 and the 7-30 Waters. The Waters is a great TC Contender round for deer sized game. And the .338-06 will do the job on elk just fine at reasonable distances.

 

[3855WIN]

Our primitive season in Mississippi and Louisiana allows single shot, .35 caliber and above. I’ve shot a .38-55 WIN for that season the past 14 years. What a great caliber. I shoot a 255 grain bullet. Mild recoil. Similar to a .30-30, but much better.

 

[MThuntr]

307 Winchester

480 Ruger...had one and traded it for a lovely Charles Daly over/under

 

[Nameless Range]

Two calibers which I still enjoy using are the .338-06 and the 7-30 Waters. The Waters is a great TC Contender round for deer sized game. And the .338-06 will do the job on elk just fine at reasonable distances.

I have shot over a dozen deer with my 7-30 Waters as well as two elk. My wife shot her first deer with it and my daughter will attempt to do the same next year.

 

[Sawtooth]

I have shot over a dozen deer with my 7-30 Waters as well as two elk. My wife shot her first deer with it and my daughter will attempt to do the same next year.

Is your 7-30 Waters in a TC Contender or lever action rifle? How far were the elk and what bullets did you use? I have been thinking about taking the TC out on a cow elk hunt. I would need to keep shots close and pick my shots, but I think it would be a fun challenge to get an elk with my Super 14.

 

[Nameless Range]

Is your 7-30 Waters in a TC Contender or lever action rifle? How far were the elk and what bullets did you use? I have been thinking about taking the TC out on a cow elk hunt. I would need to keep shots close and pick my shots, but I think it would be a fun challenge to get an elk with my Super 14.

It’s Model 94AE XTR. I’ve got a little Burris fixed 4 on top. I shoot 120 gr flat nose game king bullets.

Both elk were broadside at less than 100 yards and I could see the argument that that’s too light for elk. It’s just all I hunted with for a long time and I love the gun. As I think about it now I don’t know if I’ve ever shot anything with it beyond 150 yds or so, but it’s killed numerous mule deer bucks and filled many whitetail B tags.

 

[OhHeyThereBen]

Either I missed it or nobody mentioned the 32 Special. That's a great little deer cartridge and my brother-in-law has his grandpa's Winchester 94 chambered in it. Great little gun.

 

[antelopedundee]

I still keep my eyes peeled for a Kimber Montana in 338 Fed on the used racks and gunbroker.

Would they rebarrel it in the same chambering if you wanted it done?

 

[antelopedundee]

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!

Excellent. Have several. Tho if one has a .270 the 6.5-06 is sorta duplicitous. At one time it was the most popular wildcat based on RCBS die sales. The AI version is a winner too.

 

[antelopedundee]

Its all about marketing today, in the past gun writers would make or break a cartridge. Look at some fantastic cartridges that never took off, either because of poor gun writer reviews or they weren't loaded the way they should have been. Some Remington examples were the 6mm 6.5mm and 8mm. All great rounds, but at that time metric cartridges weren't popular. 350 Remington was another. Today speed is all the rave.

And honestly barrel burners are never an issue for the average hunter. Say throat will be toast in 1,000 rounds. The average hunter is going to shoot maybe 100 times the first year with break in and finding a load. Then 20 rounds a year or less after that. That rifle will last them a lifetime.

The 8mm rem mag was almost DOA IIRC. I commented to a Sierra rep about offering an 8mm GameChanger bullet which could make the 8mm Rem Mag the next world class elk cartridge; as if the world needs another elk cartridge. He sort of agreed.

 

[coleslaw]

Went down a Wikipedia rabbit hole a few months back after reading what was probably a Ron Spomer article and found a cartridge called the .270 British. Looked up the ballistics and it is actually fairly impressive as a intermediate round which is what it was designed to be.
Ballistically, it seems to fall into that spot between the 7.62x39 and .308 Win. Not really a hunting round and hardly even made it past military trials in the UK due to the 5.56NATO being bulldogged into acceptance by the U.S, but still an interesting cartridge that never was.
Seen a few mentions of the .444 Marlin on here also. My father owned one in a lever gun once and it was an absolute deer smasher. I keep my eyes open for those big bores sometimes. Something fascinating about them.

 

[Europe]

I have been asked by a couple fellows to respond to this thread. To be honest the number of calibers that have become obsolete, with the hunting populace , especially in the U.S. is staggering for someone my age. So many fine calibers have fallen out of favor in my lifetime.

What can one not hunt with a 6.5 x 55, 300 H & H, and a 9.3 x 64 Brenneke, but I doubt if there is a major rifle manufacturer in the U.S., that is currently making a 300 H & H or 9.3 x 64 Brenneke, and the Creed, according ti the man bun group is so much better than the swede. (just teasing guys )

More speed, more power, further distance, less weight ( rifle ), and the desire for a short action, plus the rifle manufacturing companies are always reinventing the wheel to promote sales, are some of the reasons some calibers have become or are becoming obsolete.

At a recent gathering these words were heard. "The 30/06 is boring" and "the 30/30 is a joke"

Maybe, but before you bury them, and others, try hunting with some of them. The original Win 71 is like an extension of your arm, the smooth chambering of the 300 H & H might impress you, and it will hold its own in the hunting field as well, the 9.3 x 64 Brenneke will let you hunt the biggest and baddest without knocking your shoulder out of its socket. The 7 x 57 is another great caliber for those of us without a man bun and prefer less recoil, and everyone should have the opportunity to hunt with a Savage 99 250/3000 at least once in their life, aa well as the 30-06 and 30/30

Surprisingly, some of the above, plus others, like the 7 x 64 Brenneke, which was being used before the 270 existed is still in use in Europe and Africa, as is the 6.5 x 55, 6.5 x 68 Schular, 7 x 64, 8 x 68, 9.3 x 74R

Among all the "new", what is one "old" you each wish you could add to your collection ?