Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Let's talk some hype

I love picking up my old shooters bible catalogs! If I only had a crystal ball when I was around 10 years old.

Let's get to the hype. This is from my 1963 edition:

"Marlin 336's are the only rifles made to handle the brush busting .35 Rem. cartridge. The .35's 200 grain bullet - a great favorite with deer and bear hunters - can smash through thick brush, without deflecting, to knock down game. "

Who did that test many years ago using wooden dowels to test the brush busting hype? I remember reading it in one of the outdoor magazines.

Anyway, the old publications are a great step back in time. Reminds me when I bought my fitst centirefire around 1975. Paid $135.00 for a Rem 700 BDL in .30-06. I still have the rifle and leather sling it came with. Good times!

Wasn’t the 223 the winner of that study.

The 35 Remington has been a long over hyped cartridge especially here in PA. It is always recommended for shooting through brush and is commonly referred to as a "cannon". Recently it's been overshadowed by the 45-70 which is now the new recommendation for those purposes.

It's fun to read old catalogs or magazines. A time capsule.

Not to take this too far off topic, but, as shoulder fired rifles go, this shoots through trees - unlike the 35 Remington.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anzio_20mm_rifle

Performance

At approximately 48,000 ft⋅lbf (65,000 J) of kinetic energy, the 20mm round, as fired out of the Anzio rifle, has over three times the energy of the .50 BMG cartridge fired out of a comparable rifle, which is around 12,200 ft⋅lbf (16,500 J) of kinetic energy. The .600 Nitro Express, the second most powerful African big game rifle cartridge, and one of the most common, has around 8,200 ft⋅lbf (11,100 J) of kinetic energy. This makes a 20mm Anzio rifle 5.85 times as powerful as a rifle chambered in .600 Nitro Express.

It's been done a number of times one way or another. Seems to me Col. Askins did one with dowels that the only one tested that worked was a .458 WM. But I could be remembering that incorrectly.

it makes a lot of nose and packs a helluva punch....or much to that effect for the Winchester add about 1958.....but it actually turned out to be another .270 wannabe

I believe Ross Seyfried did some semi scientific "brush busting" tests. Many moons ago.

I forget who did the dowel test; maybe Old Jack was one of them. Francis E. Sell did one for his "Deer Hunter's Guide" using actual brush. He advocated loading rounds like the '06 and .270 down to 2500 fps or so like his pet .348. A number of the photos in that book show him with his cute little full-stock 6.5, in which he used 156gr bullets IIRC. Late in life he built a Marlin in .25.35 Improved (I think). That might be the last piece of his I saw published, come to think of it.

If I remember correctly Ross actually randomly stack brush between him and target. I am not sure how far the brush was from the rifles and the distance from the brush to the target. He tried a number of rifles and I think it was written up in Guns and Ammo. I think also Mike Verintino did a test with various size dowels in a box and shot through it.

358Win

Roman? Jewish? Pinocchio?

There were some ridiculous things that we believed because we read them in an outdoor mag. Things like the world was flat. If you crossed your eyes and the wind changed, they'd stay that way. You could shoot through branches with a 35 Rem. Cup and core bullets were adequate to kill deer.

With progress comes change. You just have to pick and choose what progressive ideas or tech you want, and run with it.

Kind of hard to get that into my tree stand.

9mm vs 45 acp has been ongoing for as long as Detroit made cars.

I never tossed any of those old gun magazines out.
You never know when you need to do some research on round nose vs pointed bullets in your brush loads.

I just sent this to one of the fellows on our lease who's all into the 6.5CM because "you can shoot it 1000 yards." You know how important that is on a lease where, outside of two right-of-ways (assuming they've been mowed) you're hard-pressed to even see game more than about 75 yards away. Outstanding!

It's all part of the plan. But a useful rifle like this bolt action 20mm doesn't have many accessories. Entrepreneurs, take note!! A beefed up tree stand, complete with a 20mm rifle holder, is a market just waiting to be filled. Can you think of other, useful gear?

Rifles like the 6.5 Creedmoor are old fashioned, 'has been' ideas with no future. They will be supplanted with newer, better technology. You cannot help but be drawn to them. They will be more powerful, flatter shooting, utilize bullets with higher ballistic coefficients, and have really, really exciting names like Blockbuster, Terminator and Yikes!

These new cartridge designs will revitalize the industry. Even the written word, archaic but tolerated, might see a resurgence. Think of all those great African hunting stories, replete with gun bearers, dangerous animal encounters and exciting acts of bravery, just waiting to be re-discovered!
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From a possibly old African hunting story, Man-Eater of the Sudan!



Beardsley's companions are attacked by a rogue lion.

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excerpt from Chapter Two, Man-Eater of the Sudan!

Rogue!

Captain Beardsley studied the valley below, intent on locating his quarry. It was early morning and the sun was rising. The light would soon send the man eater back to its den, so there was no time to waste. While he scoured the jungle, his bearers sat in a circle, softly singing a hunting song in their native tongue. A boy, Little Mallawa, beat a small, lion skin drum. He might have been young, ten or eleven perhaps, but this was not his first hunt. In keeping with tradition, his job was important! The youngest hunter beat the kebero drum to bring good luck and a steady pace to the pursuit. Even before the prey was spotted, the hunt was on!

Captain Beardsley waved to his faithful native companion, Utoo, and pointed. Was that movement under the thick, jungle canopy? The Captain studied the area intensely for almost twenty minutes. Finally, he said, "Utoo, fetch Fat Martha!"

Um mah, mel e may!
Um mah, mel e may!

The chant intensified. Little Mallawa beat a simple rhythm, as the bearers hefted Fat Martha to their shoulders. Soon, it would taste blood, avenging those who had died. Since the rainy season, the big cat had killed almost a dozen villagers and two of Captain Beardsley's expedition. Like all predators, he was hard to catch, and several men had met their end trying to stop the lion.

The jungle went silent as four bearers brought the 600 Nitro Express 20mm forward. Soon, the magic stick would spit fire, and it's bark would reach out and destroy the big cat.

"Set it here." the Captain commanded. "Soon, there will be one less rogue lion in the valley!"

Some of those test box dowels were pretty big! ha A picture that gave me "pause", as a youngster, was the arrow penetrating a full sandbag and breaking the glass pane on other side. then the 30-06 was used and it stopped in the bag. Another "test" my dad and his cousins did I was a witness to. An empty pop can was set up at 75yds. My dad's cousin shot it with his .270W and it never moved. I checked it and there was indeed a hole through it. then my uncle shot the can with his 30-30 and it blew the can off the post! Conclusion? That the .270 "was too da--ed fast to use on deer, especially in the woods! So much for "scientific" tests, ha.