Classic Cartridges
 

Classic cartridges or "Wild Cats"/ Short Mag ?


I say just move to the next classic" cartridge when/if necessary !


Your opinion ?? :wave:

Depends on my mood at the time...lol

For the most part, not many wildcats can do THAT much more then factory stuff these days...the production stuff has stepped up their game the last decade and even more so the last 2 years...and people are still chasing ol Roy Weatherby many decades later!

And they will keep chasing for decades to come Jeep. Until man comes up with a better alternative to propel a bullet from a shoulder fired rifle.

I guess it depends what you consider to be "classic."

What do you really want the rifle to do? A Honda Civic will get you to work, but a Mercedes S-Class will get you there in greater comfort, or a Ford F-150 will tow your boat to the lake on the weekend... What do you really want it to do?

If I'm hunting Pronghorn at 600yrds, a 100-140grn bullet with a BC of 0.4-0.55 doing 2800-3200fps is all I need. If I'm calling coyotes at 0-200 normal and begging shots at 400yrds, a 50-70grn bullet at 2750+ is all I really need. If I wanna stay super-sonic to ring steel past 1500yrds, I know I need a lot of case capacity and a super slippery pill, and the "classics" like 308win, 30-06, 257bob, etc don't really keep up with some of the more over-bored cartridges available.

For many of us in the next generation of old guys, 300win mag and 7mm RM are classics. While not as fabled as the great 30-06, they've been around a goodly stretch and have earned their credentials. The pulse dial phone was new technology to my generation, so we didn't have a concept of how a telephone operator really used to work - familiar context for the generation before us. Comparatively, my young son Lil' NM won't have any concept of a land-line connected telephone, so pulse dialing, let alone rotary dialing will be only the stuff of legend.

Similarly, with AR's as mainstream as they are today, and most modern cartridges running around 2,900-3,200fps with relatively heavy for bore bullets running super high BC's and poly tipped bullets, I assume 20yrs from now, or 40yrs from now, Lil' NM's friends who might not grow up with fathers with collections like mine will not have any concept of what hunting is like with a 154grn Round Nose trucking a paltry 2400fps out of a 7mm Mauser.

Personally, I like challenging myself, so I'll continue to shoot faster and more aerodynamic cartridges specifically tailored to my application.

Different people will describe "Classic" differently.

I tend toward "Classic" rifle cartridges.

Don't really have an operative definition of my own.

But, the newest rifle cartridge I have ever owned was introduced in 1956.

AND I still have most BG hunting situations covered!!!

The 405Win is a classic. Hard to beat a 6.5x55 too even with today's "modern" 6.5s. Roughly 125 years old and still very popular in many parts of the world.

My classic cartridge is the 45-70 and my semi modern one is the .308. I like them both, I have laid more deer than I have counted low with it but I have been using the 45-70 exclusively for the last 5 years just because I like it. Both calibers are winners.

Been wildcatting for 50+ years yet I almost always seem to fall back on my good old .30-06 for most all of my Elk+ sized game and my little old 7mm-08 (which I was loading for WAY before 1985) for my whitetail hunting and occasionally Elk. Hogs on the other hand, .458SOCOM, 6.8SPC, 7mm.08 , and .338FED get the most use. All AR platforms. And Jeep and NoMercy have alerted me to the new 6mm CREED that has gotten my interest a little bit. Looks like another AR10 build may be in the near future.

I don't reload, so my philosophy has get the best most popular available.

I may reload or be able to order up enough ammo for any specialty rifle/load I want use in the future.

I think some of us reinvent the wheel sometimes.

Weatherby ammo will be around/available

the 270 and 300 wsm I believe will be around/ here to stay.

If you need more gun than a 243, 270 300win mag, 375 H&H etc... someone once said step up in caliber etc... getting a wildcat that shoots the same bullet 100-200fps faster isn't really going to kill any quicker/better.

I think there are so many widely available options out there to choose from that for my own personal needs, choosing exotics that are difficult to find or having to handload don't appeal that much to me.

Although honestly nowadays, you can custom load enough hunting bullets and you can plink with some more common stuff if need be.

For Northern Michigan the real classics are the 30-30, 35 Remington, Winchester32 special, 300/303 savage. Mostly in a leaver action like the Marlins and Winchester along with the Savage 99. One hunting partner used a 760 Remington in 35, another had a Stevens in 30-30 yet another one used his grand dads Savage 99 in 303 savage.




:D Al

I lean more towards classic although there are some wildcats that interest me. I'm not into short magnums although that's always subject to change. And then there's those "just because calibers/guns as Hookeye stated. Sometimes you just have to have it. :D

How about improved?
On a classic to spice it up.
Ingredients:
Start w/a Marlin XLR in 30-30 (Stainless w/24" barrel)
Remove barrel and Ackley Improve it.
Add 140 gr Hornady. monolithic gmx bullet.
Combine w/favorite powder to season to taste.
Heartily serves one or many.

Nearly the equal of the .300 Savage-Thinking about doing this one day. Sometimes less equals more.

Shoot......I like anything that goes BANG! But I'm sort of like Oldtimr. I have a love affair with the .45-70. I own 3 of them and shoot and hunt with them a lot. Those and my black powder rifles. The only time I don't use them for hunting is when I hunt where a 200+ shot is likely. Even though the old 45-70 can do it the trajectory of the bullet makes life difficult. At time like these I grab my 30-06.
But I've played with the WSM line of cartridges and had big magnums. But they've all come and gone. The little 7mm-08 remains in my safe because its a great cartridge and accurate.

Well I shoot a 6.5x55 Swedish, a 6.5x54 Mannlicher Schoenauer, a 9.3x62 Mauser, a 375 H&H mag and when I had a double rifle it was in 450/400 3 1/4 Nitro Express. So my vote goes to hunting with the classics.

the old 300 H&H mag is a classic. when one of the gun companies produces rifles in the 300 H&H they don't seem to stick around for long.

I occasionally use a 30-30 lever Winchester but I seem to go back to a bolt Mark X in 30-06 for my deer hunting. I have others that I do not use, a 6.5X55, a 7X57, a 303 Enfield and a 9X57 Mauser(ammo too scarce and expensive on this one). It is hard to beat the old 30-06 for an all-around rifle.

Handload. You can take 7x57 brass and run it through an expander die to bring it up to 9mm and several places make 9mm bullets for it and in many cases you can use .358 bullets (slug the barrel first) in it. Get a set of 9x57 dies and you're in business. Problem solved. In a snap you could also use 30-06 brass since the 7x57 is the parent case for that caliber.

I'm using my 280 Remington and 35 Whelen more these days. I did take my 25/06 and 257 Weatherby to Wyoming last year for antelope but missed my 280 and will take it this year. I guess I just like to use the less common rounds.

Actually Flags, the I don't want to take the 9X57 to the woods also. It is one of those Emil Ketner jobs made between the wars in Suhl, Germany. A nice old gun that I want to keep in good shape.

I'm pretty much into .30-30's. I love a good .32 Special and .35 Rem too.

The 30-06 and just about everything based off its case are both classic and effective.

My 280 was outstanding in Africa this year. Zebra, Kudu and Impala all one shot kills at 200-230 yards. Couldn't ask for anything more.

I vote for the classic .308 cartridge. Anything that came from Uncle Sam is good enough for me too! I love my old Savage .308 with the Bushnell Trophy 3-9x40 scope. Common setup, do anything, go anywhere, etc... I have it sighted in 1" high at 100 yards and it's always dead on with tack driving capability, if I do my part too.

Use what works or what is entertaining at the moment. It is boredom that has provided my gun collection. 30-30, 32 win spc, 308, 30-06, 338-06, 7-08, 7rem mag, 280 rem, 300 win mag, 300 win st mag, 348 win. No longer have 35 rem or 35 Whelen, just get bored with an action or caliber. Some of these sizes have duplicates calibers in different platforms.

Interested in a 25-06 or equivelant, also have interest in some rimfire rounds for Florida small game season wma hogs (some have lots of restrictions).

Got to change it up and keep it interesting!

I once had a 32 Win. Great little gun. At the time ammo was kind of hard to find and so was loading components. I traded it against a Ruger 77 in 243 on a day when I wasn't thinking right. Wish I still had the 32 since I later traded away the 243. Hind sight don't ya know.

While many of the "newer" cartridges I think are only trying to re-invent the wheel, I certainly understand the need/ purpose of the new cartridges aimed for the AR platform.
That said, I am not into the semi - auto form, so my closet is very "classic".
The well proven 45-70, (but actually reinvented with modern jacketed bullets and modern powder)
30-30 (again, powders and bullet construction take its performance up a long ways)
8 x 57 Mauser - not so often found today, but my favorite, and needing a close look by any one looking for a new round,
.308.
No need for nuthin more here.