Such is the world we live in amigo. I can't say that the 2010 F-150 I just got rid of, or the 2014 F-150 I just picked up are anywhere near the truck that my 1991 F-150 was. I'd admit, the creature comforts in my 1991 were a big step up over my 1986, and for "truck use" the '91 went more places as a 2wd than the '86 could as a 4wd, but the new models are lacking.

You could say the same thing really about most things out there. The incremental improvement made on anything in the last 100yrs (depending upon it's industry) is pretty minimal. The .308 over the .30-06, iPhone 5 over iPhone 4, Bluray over DVD, 2014 F-150 over 1991...

The room for improvement shrank to almost nothing a long time ago on firearm cartridges. Now the only room left is diversification.

The sad part is that marketers understand that consumers buy on fads/trends, so they don't have to consider longevity of a product anymore. If the NPV on the product is positive, based on a short-term, unsustainable life cycle, then they still sell the product. Profitability is driven by investors, who don't care HOW the company makes money, but only care that it makes THEM money. If that means turning out piece of junk cars that don't make it 100k miles, all the better, because they can sell you another car 100k miles from now. Just like those gum commercials, make something that lasts too long and you'll put yourself out of business.

I have about a thousand bucks in Cabelas cash saved up from the last few years, I'm pretty tempted to give the .17WSM a shot just for something to play with in February and March when fur starts falling out.