Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters underrated cartridge ??

How about the 35 Whelen (especially with hand loads), and the 44 Magnum.

The 35 Whelen is as good as the 338 WM out to 250 yards, which is about the maximum range the average hunter will kill a large animal.

I have seen a friend of mine kill a 9 point buck at "measured" 192 yards by aiming about a foot high with a 44 magnum Ruger carbine. Deer fell right there. Shot him about 2" from his rear end and bullet was found in the neck. He aimed at the tip of his tail. It followed the back bone all the way to the neck. Deer had turned and flicked his tail up. He was 16. He said as an adult he would never take a shot like that again.

The .25 SAUM cat was a “thing” for a while, before the 4S become the real thing.
Don’t see much about the 6.5 WSM either, Too big ? OAL problems ?

Maybe the shorter 6.8 Western case will be the answer

Winchester was smart enough to use magazines around 3.05 inches long in the WSMs, which is around .1 inch longer than the SAAMI maximum OAL for the 6.5 PRC.

That and the fact that the 25 WSSM was only cataloged during the last year or two of USRA, so it was never in production long enough to gain sufficient traction and reach any sort of critical mass that would give it the momentum necessary to sustain any degree of on-going success.

I agree that the 25-06 is a far more practical cartridge than the 25 WSSM, but the original question asked about underrated cartridges, not about practical/impractical cartridges. The 25 WSSM could be viewed as a cartridge that produced approximately the same performance as the 25-06 from a more compact, handier, rifle.

Fleet/Farm, less than a mile from my house, always had it in stock. So did Scheels, but that's closer to two miles away.

I remember when that particular "classic" came out. I forget who wrote the article but the author pointed out a very good reason to pick one up. Ammo. At that time the only thing cheaper then surplus ammo for the 8X57 was 22LR. Something like 8-11 cents a round for decent bulk pack stuff. Too bad I'm left handed, he had me talked into it.

That variety of ammo had no draw for me.

[/quote] The 25 WSSM could be viewed as a cartridge that produced approximately the same performance as the 25-06 from a more compact, handier, rifle.[/quote]

Jeff, I have written about this before, but I have found the claim for short (and super-short) action bolt rifles to be more compact and handier than standard-action bolts to be pretty much BS.

First, I have weighed both short and standard actions of the same brand and usually the difference in weight is at most 4 ounces, and sometimes as little as 2.

A for compact, I just measured the action and overall length of four of my Model 70 rifles. Barrel length is also noted:

.223 stainless WSSM: Action 7", OAL 41.5", barrel 22"
.308 Pre-'64 Fwt: Action 8", OAL 42", barrel 22"
.300 WSM M70 Classic: Action 7.5", OAL 44", barrel 24"
.270 M70 O'Connor Commemorative: Action 8", OAL 42.5", barrel 22"

Without scope and mounts, all weigh within about half a pound of each other. The lightest is the pre-'64 .308.

I've gotten similar results comparing other brands, and my conclusion is that action-length has less to do with being compact and handy than barrel length and dimensions, and stock weight and dimensions.

Jeff, I have written about this before, but I have found the claim for short (and super-short) action bolt rifles to be more compact and handier than standard-action bolts to be pretty much BS.

First, I have weighed both short and standard actions of the same brand and usually the difference in weight is at most 4 ounces, and sometimes as little as 2.

A for compact, I just measured the action and overall length of four of my Model 70 rifles. Barrel length is also noted:

.223 stainless WSSM: Action 7", OAL 41.5", barrel 22"
.308 Pre-'64 Fwt: Action 8", OAL 42", barrel 22"
.300 WSM M70 Classic: Action 7.5", OAL 44", barrel 24"
.270 M70 O'Connor Commemorative: Action 8", OAL 42.5", barrel 22"

Without scope and mounts, all weigh within about half a pound of each other. The lightest is the pre-'64 .308.

I've gotten similar results comparing other brands, and my conclusion is that action-length has less to do with being compact and handy than barrel length and dimensions, and stock weight and dimensions.
[/quote]

My primary 25 WSSM is a 70 stainless Ultimate Shadow that is bedded in a McM Compact stock. It has the stock 22" barrel and is just about 1" longer than the 70 Lightweight Carbine in 250-3000 that I bought from you in 2005. Both rifles are more compact, handier, than the usual 24" barreled 25-06 and even a little shorter and handier than my Marlin XL7 in 25-06 with a 22" barrel.

Again, the initial question raised in this thread was underrated cartridges and IMO that 25 WSSM falls squarely into that description.

I'm not trying to sell anyone on the WSSMs 'cause I don't care what other people think or do, their lives, their choices.

Maybe it's just ergos, but my 25WSSM M70 FWT feels alot "handier" than my 257R M70 FWT..

On the other hand, I think the WSSM is ballistically closer to the 257 than the 25/06. Nosler lists the case capacity for the WSSM at 48.8 vs the 257 at 51.4 and the '06 at 63.5 (120gr bullets),

So the only way the WSSM could hang with the MVs of a 25/06 is higher pressure. I get about 2900+ with 120s in the WSSM FWT. Easy to beat that with a 25/06. YMMV

I resemble that comment!




And another reason it appealed to me. Read some safari book.

Turns out that little 338 works quite well!

7mm08, 260rem, 6mm rem, 7mm rem mag, 22 hornet

Not underrated. The 270 wannabe


Jerry

You're pretty much correct about the velocities. Here are the maximum velocities from Hodgdon's data:

.25 WSSM, 100-grain bullet, 3264 fps
120-grain bullet, 3062 fps

.25-06 100 grain bullet, 3372 fps
120-grajn bullet 3173 fps

I haven't found the .257 Roberts quite equal to those .25 WSSM velocities, even when pushed pretty hard in a 24" barrel. But it comes pretty close.

On the other hand, the difference between the .25 WSSM and .25-06 is only around 100 fps. Some handloaders think this is a big advantage, but I haven't found any observable difference in field performance--or even much with a 200 fps gain.

Which is why after shooting a bunch of big game with the .257 Roberts, .25-06 and .257 Weatherby Magnum, I finally ended up selling my .25-06's. I CAN see a difference between the .257 Roberts and .257 Weatherby, if only in trajectory and wind drift.

Dunno about "killing power." Have also mentioned this before, but the longer I've hunted and the more big game I've seen killed, have seen less and less diference in whatever killing power is supposed to mean between different cartridges--unless the vary a LOT in caliber and bullet weight. The .25s obviously don't.

[/quote] I'm not trying to sell anyone on the WSSMs 'cause I don't care what other people think or do, their lives, their choices.[/quote]

Oh, I suspect you care at least a little bit. Otherwise you wouldn't post your opinions on the Campfire!

10 +

Oh, I suspect you care at least a little bit. Otherwise you wouldn't post your opinions on the Campfire!
[/quote]

Whether anyone agrees with me or disagrees with me, what difference does it make?

After all, you and I don't know each other, we aren't friends, and other than making a few purchases from and sales to each other, we don't really know anything about each other.

John Wayne has been quoted as saying this; “I have tried to live my life so that my family would love me and my friends respect me. The others can do whatever the hell they please.”. That seems like a good philosophy to live by to me.

If something that I post irritates someone, maybe they will dig a little deeper into the subject and think a little. Most people are superficial and easily swayed by things that they read or see in magazines and on the 'net. Or so it seems to me.

That's a fair statement. Keep smiling.

I'll front the .357 Mag. from a Carbine.

Factory 158 gr. JSP will produce ~ 1,000 ft-lbs at 50 yds., and 180 gr. XTP handloads will move that out to ~ 75 yds..




GR

Just saw this..........
I was at the range yesterday with a bunch of rifles and a buddy testing some loads I made for him and after a few hours, I turned to him holding my .30/06 Featherweight and said, "The more I play with rifles and loads the more I think I should have stopped with the .30/06 which does everything for anything you could find in this country".
So I guess, I concur!