Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Do you like the new 'modernized' cartridges?

Here we have a #5.

New stuff for me.

I like/appreciate old walnut blued steel rifles and they are chambered in older cartridges. Which is also my preference.

The gun means more to me than the cartridge.

Spent most of my rifle shooting life with 22-250, 25-06, 270 & 30-06 & was served well.

But even though I'm a boomer, I don't stay in the box. I appreciate a good case design when I see it, & will use it if I see the need. This years new build was a fast twist 6mm Creedmoor, but everyday truck gun is a factory 243.

I have my own judgmental procedure's based on mostly mechanics & what I need rather than fads.

Do tell what it does the Swede cannot.

You can color me 'old school', for the most part.

I have a 300 Blackout - the newest production that I use, but I only shoot cast bullets.

Next would be 1962 7mm Rem Mag

EVERY 45-70 round that I have ever shot was Paper Patched

Oldest 50 Maynard

And this one still under 'development' the 22GTC..

Looks like we have another 5 here.

Don't have need for the new toys, but have toyed with a few wildcats.

I love the smell of black powder in the morning.

After reading through this thread I'm realizing it may be the older rifle action designs I like more than the latest cartridges. I also realized that my old 8x68s checks all of the boxes Brad lists above which is impressive for a 1939 design. Pairs up nicely with its 98 C-ring Mauser action. Unfortunately it appears most of the good RWS brass was gobbled up for reforming into .300 PRC brass when it first arrived on the scene.

The 6.5 Schuler (sp) always seemed like a ripper as well. Cool case design.

That one was way ahead of its time as well. Darn Germans...

I always say about the ones that say only the old are needed or good, I guess you still ride a horse and don't own a vehicle either....

Anyway long as it works its good. if it works better its a plus. if you need or want a new one super. if you don't then don't. pretty easy.

of course I always wonder if you can truly claim to be a gun nut if you don't buy a new one to the stable fairly often.

Of course you can and it doesn't have to be the latest commercial whiz bang cartridge. My newest rifles are
A custom 250 Savage built on a Kurz Mauser action, Dakota M 10 6.5X55, Two Browning N78's a 25-06 and a 6MM

Nothing against the new fangled cartridges. They really won’t do anything the old fangled cartridges will do. Of recent I’ve acquired a 22 K hornet, a .222, and a 220 swift. I did have a 270 WSM, great cartridge but I have a 7Rem mag and 257 wby, so sold the 270wsm.

I like the old standby cartridges, like the new ones too. I have a Creed, fun to shoot, 300 and 270 WSM’s seem like recoil is less to me for the performance they bring to the table. Anything that goes bang is a good thing, because it means you are off your ass and outside.

I’ve had a couple of wildcats, .333 OKH Belted and a 6.5-06. I still have the 6.5, not a wildcat anymore. It is fun to shoot, a little more velocity than a Creed. I wish the hell I’d kept the .333, built by Charlie O’Neil on a 1917.

These discussions are always interesting--but have taken quite a bit of big game with the .270 WSM and have yet to see any meaningful difference in either "killing power" or trajectory out to 450-500 yards between it and the standard .270 Winchester. (Might also make the same comment about the .257 Weatherby and 7mm Remington Magnum. Have seen both used on a variety of big game up to 6x6 elk, which all died promptly....

These deer, did they die well, truly satisfied with their ends? Were any disgusted that a newer cartridge had done the deed? Or perhaps they were blissfully ignorant of what hit them!

Were they older animals, mortified that a newer cartridge with no provenance had been used? Or perhaps they were younger, pleased that no 30-06 or 270 Winchester was responsible!

"I were taken by a Creedmoor! No antediluvian conk for me!" Is there a generational divide among deer?

Is there a deer heaven where whitetails talk about the good old days?

"I went on opening day, taken by a 30-30! No Wizzums back then! A deer knew that he was going to be fairly and squarely shot, not taken by some new fangled, metric cartridge or a youngster wearing camo!"

The other deer would silently nod their heads in agreement.

The only thing I could think of that a 6.5CM can do is you can run it through an AR-10 or another semi-auto like the Springfield Armory M1A because of its shorter length. But I imagine that this is not done by a large number of shooters. Most are probably using bolt actions and on that platform, the differences between the two cartridges might not be as pronounced depending on what you're using it for. I'm a big fan of hunting with my 6.5x55 Ruger No. 1A (I've put two deer in the freezer with it this season). I don't own a 6.5CM or do any rigorous long distance / target shooting that might benefit from this newer cartridge so maybe there is an improvement in an area that I haven't explored. But I think with handloading, either round could be tweaked to come close to the performance of the other. As a hunter, I think most of the game that I go after would dislike being shot by either cartridge.

But I have enjoyed watching the debate around the 6.5CM. I find it interesting the level of derision & irritation thrown at the 6.5CM when it appears to me that the designers did a pretty good job of creating the round they were striving for. A lot of the criticism towards it often has terms like "gay", "over-hyped", "man bun", etc. but no compelling technical reasons why it is a bad or inferior cartridge. It seems to evoke a lot of emotions but not much in the way of quantifiable shortcomings. To the contrary, it appears to often work well using factory ammo in affordable rifles. I have some rounds that I favor but I can't think of any that I don't own whose mere existence actually annoys me.

One other cartridge comparison that I found interesting lately is the 375 H&H vs the 375 Ruger. Again it appears that the designers did a pretty good job of reproducing the characteristics of the classic in a newer & shorter design. But the 375 H&H has an almost cult-like reverence & following to it that precludes a competitor from sacrilegiously knocking it off its throne. The main argument I've seen in favor of the 375 H&H is the availability of ammo in remote locations. Because I love a classic, I wound up buying a LH Winchester M70 in 375 H&H instead of the more readily available and affordable LH M77 in 375 Ruger. I'm still tempted to get one of the shorter stainless Guide Guns simply because they're so affordable & it would be fun to shoot. The modern alternative did intrigue.

Poor analogy. The difference between a 6.5 Creedmoor and a 270 Winchester is comparable to a Ford F250 and a Chevrolet 2500. The difference is only measured by a marginal improvement of a Creedmoor to fit into an AR platform.


No arguing the 6.5 Creedmoor does what it is designed to do, but the vast majority of its followers don’t use it for the purpose it was designed…

Couldn't you also say that the vast majority of people who shoot any cartridge that was originally designed for a military application aren't using them for the purpose that they were designed?