Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Favorite so called "obsolescent" cartridge.

Damn, I just found out that I am shooting a bunch of obsolete cartridges for the last 65 or so years! My gun cabinet consists of a few oldies but goodies I guess, at least according to these posts! My 300 H&H, 30-30, 257 Robts.,7x57,250-3000 are obsolete....

But I got one past ya'll, and that is one of my all time favorites the 25-35 Win. I still shoot at least one deer a year with it.

Then again I personally could easily qualify for obsolete, so I guess its ok for me to shot those old rounds!

450/400 Nitro Express 3".

Ray,
I don't consider anything "obsolete" until I can't find a box of ammo for it at any of the gun shops, sporting goods, and hardware stores in town.

'bout the only one I see in your list might be that 250 Savage that is "nearing obsolescence". Haven't seen a box of that in a while, but I did see a 100 count bag of brass a week or two ago.

That 25-35 win on the other hand....how old are you?

The name says it all. My uncle, who bought his Model 99 in .300 about 1955 and used it till his passing in 1984, thought it was the best deer cartridge/rifle combination there was. And in his hands, it seemed to be. This was in eastern MT, not the eastern US. He did well up to 300 yards or a bit further with a steel tube K4.

I don't consider the .30-30 or the .45-70 obsolete, too many guns and too much ammo being manufactured. They ARE old, but not put out pasture, yet.

My vote would be split between .348 Winchester and .250 Savage, with the .300 Savage as an alternate. All three are very usable rounds that are much harder to support than the .30 WCF or .45-70.

My vote would have to be for the 264 Win Mag. Everyone waxes poetic about the 6.5X55 and the 260 but doesn't give the 264 the time of day. What's wrong with a cartridge that pushes the same slender bullets quite a bit faster? Just seems like more of a good thing to me.

This is a tough one. Lots of cartridges have been overcome by newer, mo better ones.
Does the 300 WSM make the 30-06 obsolete?
Does the 218 Bee make the 22 Hornet obsolete?
Does the 358 make the 35 Whelen obsolete?
And the list goes on.
If obsolete means that a cartridge is not in use today because a better one has taken its place (and not made by any company today), then we're driven to look at something like the 45-90, or the 30-03??

My dad's favorite is a .25-20 win. I have never seen much use for it- too big for small game too small for deer size game. He seems to like it none the less

.303 British

I keep reading my 30-06 is obsolete but from a reloaders standpoint its the cats meow.

I still like the .35 remington. In a single shot pistol it still hammers game. Maybe even better than ever with good bullets.

I think we can fairly declare the 30 Rem obsolete. Most had never even heard of it until the gun rags started talking about the 6.8 SPC. I don't think I have seen a box of ammo on a store shelf in over twenty years.

I grew up with a 30 Rem pump rifle and hunted with it until I was twenty something. It is really kind of useless when compared to the 260 Rem, or any of the medium range deer cartridges. But I am still kind of fond of the old girl.

About twenty five years ago, I had a really nice model 141 in the bedroom closet, but a burglar got it.

I shoot a few that are truely obsolete such as the .25-20 (Savage 23), .303 savage (Savage 99) and .30-40 (Krag) in rifles. In handguns I also shoot the 7.62 Mauser (C96) and .38-40 (SAA).

I also shoot the .375 Win. (Winchester 94) which is at least on it's way to being obsolete.

8mm Mauser, I loved finding an old mauser to clean up and shoot. .307 winchester was fun for awhile also.

My most obsolete is my 50-70. I like it so much I had a encore barrel made for it.

Not from what I can see, though some easier to find than others.

One of my most memorable photographs is one of my Step Father taken in 1939. It's a pix of him with an 8 point PA Buck, shot with an old Winchester Lever Action rifle in 25-20. (I don't recall the model number now.) The one antler of the Buck had a very visable, neat little 25 calber bullet hole through it which was his first shot at the Buck. He's standing behind the Buck with a big grin on his face...

350 Remington Magnum. I asked a 200 lb Feral Hog, and he was not convinced of it's obsolescence....

.300 H&H and 7X61 SHARPE & HART

358 Winchester and 300 Savage, although I'm not sure if the latter would be considered obsolescent.