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Thread: Useless Calibers

  1. #41
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    i used to own a 14", 16 1/4" and a 23" MGM encore barrels in 6.5 creedmoor. this was before all that hype, i had to use 22-250 brass to make 6.5 CM brass cuz no one had it. i shot it at deer and targets and i was the only one that had it. a few years go by, everybody chambers for it, so i sold them. i like different or old cartridges.

    i have a 6.5x55 swede(Numrich barrel) built on a 1916 spanish mauser with a richard's gunstock(which i have to do, my youngest son's gun). a husqvarna m46 in 9.3x57, which happens to be one of my favorites. the other favorite is a 35/30-30 in win m94(JES Reboring).

    it seems to me, that the new cartridges are just rehashes of the old ones.

  2. #42
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    I think "useless" cartridges is an over statement; I know of no cartridge that's useless. That said, we do have a lot that are redundant to any serious need. But, there's always a few folk who want to play with something "different" (I don't know why). I don't play those games but what others do doesn't bother me at all.

  3. #43
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    I guess the .225 Winchester is useless. But my Model 70 Sporter Deluxe would be the very last rifle I’d sell

  4. #44
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    Even the 25 auto can be effective. Back in the late 70’s a guy I knew ( Gary ) was assaulted by 2 other guys who wanted to kill him but were both shot dead by center of mass shots from Gary’s 25 auto.
    Sadly Gàry was put in jail at the time to await his hearing and he hung himself in the jail.
    Myself and other friends never found out why any of this happened but I can say even a 25 auto is not useless.

    Jedman

  5. #45
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    Quote Originally Posted by txbirdman View Post
    I guess the .225 Winchester is useless. But my Model 70 Sporter Deluxe would be the very last rifle I’d sell
    I was thinking of the .225 Win (along with a couple dozen others) when I wrote #42.

    Is the .225 "useless"? NO, not by any means! But, the much older .22-250 does make the .225 redundant for our needs, especially in a bolt rifle.

  6. #46
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jedman View Post
    Even the 25 auto can be effective. Back in the late 70’s a guy I knew ( Gary ) was assaulted by 2 other guys who wanted to kill him but were both shot dead by center of mass shots from Gary’s 25 auto.
    Sadly Gàry was put in jail at the time to await his hearing and he hung himself in the jail.
    Myself and other friends never found out why any of this happened but I can say even a 25 auto is not useless.

    Jedman
    Biggest problem with old mousegun cartridges is that they are so watered down by ammo makers due to so many old and/or cheap guns made in these calibers. From what I have read, the .25 was fairly potent for its size as originally loaded, certainly no worse than .22 LR. I think the current S&B ball ammo is pretty close to original.
    Currently casting and loading: .32 Auto, .380 Auto, .38 Special, 9X19, .357 Magnum, .257 Roberts, 6.5 Creedmoor, .30 WCF, .308 WCF, .45-70.

  7. #47
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    Even an effective caliber can be useless. Many examples...but

    If you have a .223, what does a .222 Mag do for you...
    Or if you have a .30/30, what does the .30 Rem do for you...
    Or a .270 vs a 6.5 CreedLess. Now that should tick off a few folks. LOL.
    Don Verna


  8. #48
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    Quote Originally Posted by Loudenboomer View Post
    Many people call the 45 GAP a solution for a problem not invented. I like mine very much.
    Same here, with standard loads it is pleasant to shoot.

  9. #49
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    Quote Originally Posted by dverna View Post
    Even an effective caliber can be useless. Many examples...but

    If you have a .223, what does a .222 Mag do for you...
    Or if you have a .30/30, what does the .30 Rem do for you...
    Or a .270 vs a 6.5 CreedLess. Now that should tick off a few folks. LOL.
    Wait....I have a 32 special and a 32 Remington, a 30-30 and a 30 Remington, 25-35 and a 25 Remington, a 22 and a 25 auto, a 32 RF and a 32 Colt, a 41 RF and a 41 Colt..............

    Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

  10. #50
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    The 30 Rem gives you an auto loader and spitzer bullets

  11. #51
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    As I see it, the biggest problem with so much duplicity in cartridges is that it plays an outsize role in the shortage of ammo/reloading brass. Must be a nightmare for the manufacturers to try and support all the different chamberings with different bullet weights. As an example, when Browning/Winchester rolled out the 6.8 Western recently, local gun stores would have boxes of ammo for it on the shelf but not for things like the .270, 6.5 Creedmoor, etc. So equipment was tied up producing ammo for something hardly any one owns instead of popular rounds. Counter to that, local stores have full shelves of 9mm, 223, and 308, but little else.

  12. #52
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    Quote Originally Posted by dverna View Post
    Even an effective caliber can be useless. Many examples...but

    If you have a .223, what does a .222 Mag do for you...
    Or if you have a .30/30, what does the .30 Rem do for you...
    Or a .270 vs a 6.5 CreedLess. Now that should tick off a few folks. LOL.
    heck im worse then that. I have 3 3006s along with two 280s also have 4 300 bo's and id have to count the 556/223s i own. Heck i have 6 9mm ccw sized gun and only one hip to put them on. I can go on and on. If i had to justify a gun by filling a niche in my safe I would have been done buying 30 years ago.

  13. #53
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    Another fine old caliber used on useless East ILL-Nois ground hogs....
    The 44 Wesson ! Last walk through the North Fork River bottoms took the 1870 Frank Wesson #2 with me. Was a very pleasant cool morning but sadly no ground hogs and no cat tracks to be found.
    Rifle does have a modified hammer for center fire.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    "Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28
    Male Guanaco out in dry lakebed at 10,800 feet south of Arequipa.

  14. #54
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    Quote Originally Posted by tazman View Post
    The Asperly Aimless.
    I have never seen any ammo for sale and have never seen any data for loading.
    and the dragon rears it's ugly head!

  15. #55
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lloyd Smale View Post
    heck im worse then that. I have 3 3006s along with two 280s also have 4 300 bo's and id have to count the 556/223s i own. Heck i have 6 9mm ccw sized gun and only one hip to put them on. I can go on and on. If i had to justify a gun by filling a niche in my safe I would have been done buying 30 years ago.
    Actually Lloyd, I have multiple guns in the same caliber because that is NOT USELESS!!! That is redundancy and that matters if things go south. To me, useless is owning a 6.5 CM, .270, .280 .308 and .30/06...four different bores to stock bullets for and three parent cases. Anyone who can take advantage of the minor ballistic differences is a good enough shooter that it does not matter. Four of them are "useless".

    Been there buddy...I know all about having "useless" toys in the safes and having guns stacked up in closets and the cases and bullets to use them.

    Nothing wrong with having lots of "toys" if that is what a person wants...but they are still "useless"...at least for most needs.

    I had four "big game" calibers when I downsized. .270, .308, .30/06 and .300 Mag. And for hunting deer I could have added a .243, .243 WSSM, 6mm, .25/06 and .30/30's. So, when it is time to harvest a deer, which one should I select?

    I wound up keeping the .30/30's (for reasons other than deer hunting), .308's and the .300 Mag (which I am going to get rid of). Six calibers gone and NONE of them missed. The money from selling those guns, scopes, cases and bullets was "wasted" on components for the guns I need. I will never complain about not having primers, powder, or needing to find cases for some weird caliber like that stupid .243 WSSM. The other advantage of shedding that stuff was gaining a bunch of space.

    One powder will work for all my rifles, but I stock two. With six .223's, three .30/30's, and three .308's I can down anything from gophers to elk...seems I have all the bases covered. I now load for three rifle calibers instead of 9. If a gun breaks down or a scope fails, I can pick up another gun and have the right ammo for it. I have a prepper mind set. I would rather have three .308's than a .270. .308 and .30/06...but I know that is not how most folks think.

    A while back you ran out of 150 gr .308 Hornady bullets and none were available...I had seven boxes on the shelf...offered some to you but you got some from one of your buddies. I have about the same number of Sierra 165's, Sierra 175's, and Hornady 165's in stock. It is easy for me to have a lifetime supply of stuff by keeping things simple...being old helps too...LOL.

    When you head out to harvest deer, what makes you pick either the .280 or .30/06? Is there much of an advantage of using one instead of the other? But more important, for the average Joe who harvests less than 10% of the deer you do, would he need both?
    Don Verna


  16. #56
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    Sometimes having one of the useless calibers means ammunition is on the shelf when all the '06, 308, 30-30 and 243's are gone. I haven't run into trouble (lotsa stuff), but some have. Finding 32 Special's when the 30-30's are gone could be a good thing. NOTE: I do have a couple 32 Special's and I do like them better than 30-30's, especially with boolits. I like the term redundancy, 300 Savage, 308, '06, 300 Mag all use 30 cal bullets, just a few yards difference in range from one to the next. 308 cases work for 243, 358 and 300 Savage. Bolt action 06's are tiresome, yeah they work but I have little interest in them, ah, but a Savage 99 in 358, that is interesting, like a Marlin .32 Special, also interesting, TO ME.

  17. #57
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    Quote Originally Posted by MostlyLeverGuns View Post
    Sometimes having one of the useless calibers means ammunition is on the shelf when all the '06, 308, 30-30 and 243's are gone. I haven't run into trouble (lotsa stuff), but some have. Finding 32 Special's when the 30-30's are gone could be a good thing. NOTE: I do have a couple 32 Special's and I do like them better than 30-30's, especially with boolits. I like the term redundancy, 300 Savage, 308, '06, 300 Mag all use 30 cal bullets, just a few yards difference in range from one to the next. 308 cases work for 243, 358 and 300 Savage. Bolt action 06's are tiresome, yeah they work but I have little interest in them, ah, but a Savage 99 in 358, that is interesting, like a Marlin .32 Special, also interesting, TO ME.
    Only foolish people run out of ammunition. Makes little sense to have multiple calibers on hand and hope to find ammunition at the LGS for something. For the price of one gun, a person can put away enough components for a lifetime of hunting. Plus when the shelves are bare...anything still there is going to be expensive.
    Don Verna


  18. #58
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    Quote Originally Posted by Loudenboomer View Post
    Many people call the 45 GAP a solution for a problem not invented. I like mine very much.
    It was an interesting study in how the manufacturer in Austria looked only at the practical, while absolutely failing to grasp the hold the .45ACP and it's history had on the American imagination and what an established juggernaut it really was here. They couldn't even get success out of it with R. Lee Ermey as it's advertising front-man.

    Not necessarily useless, but totally mystifying to me are:

    The .270 Winchester, which at the time of it's introduction could have and would have made more sense if done as the 7mm round that has come to be known as the .280 Remington.

    The .444 Marlin. We already HAD the .45-70 for a rainbow-trajectory, hard-kicking brush gun, so. . .WHY???
    WWJMBD?

    In the Land of Oz, we cast with wheel weight and 2% Tin, Man.

  19. #59
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    An update to my initial post - but straying from the thread's path a bit - got the flat nose cut up on Tuesday evening with the help of my 14 year old son and a good friend and his son. They have a family recipe for both bulk Italian and breakfast sausage that is divine!!!!

    We fired up the vacuum packer and made short work of the chore. Listening to the ball game, drinking a couple of beers and just enjoying the company.

    I have the meat distributed and the hams and bacons in the smoker!

    Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

  20. #60
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    I am finding it entertaining to hear about everyone's different take on this thread!
    When growing up I read Elmer Keith and Jack O'Connor. I dreamed of being able to at least shoot the guns they wrote about. I set a goal at around age 13 that someday I would own a rifle in each caliber in "The Book of the Rifle".
    For me, it's not about practicality or necessity - each cartridge has its own uniqueness and the journey of hunting down brass, or converting brass, or finding the right load or mould or source of information and components is what I really enjoy!!
    To see competitive shooters realizing that their brand new 6mm / 220 Swift is actually the 6mm Lee Navy!
    Or showing one of my black rifle friends a 351 when they're touting their new 350 Legend. My wife shooting gophers with her 32 RF Remington, and on and on.
    I have AR's and AK's and chassis rifles and rifles and pistols chambered for modern cartridges, I just enjoy the "useless" ones more.
    I'm probably no different than the fella that has a 2022 Power Stroke, but loves to drive and wrench on his '47 International.

    Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check