Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Cartridges that deserved better, whats your pick?

If I had to pick ONE cartridge that deserved a better fate than it's had - it would be the .284 Winchester.

So superbly designed, so ahead of its time, and now - wildcatted so frequently.

D2D,

+1. Five of the last six have been 6.5's. Most folks just don't know what they're missin'.

Best Regards

Another one for 6mm Remington. I am gonna build one.

8mm rem mag is my first pick. Gonna have one soon.
257 roberts- the origanal dual purpose cartridge.
284 win.the first short fat round.
264 win. what's not to love.
300 weatherby, has to be in the top 3 of all time classics.
325 wsm !!...whhaaaaaat I think its great.

You're forgetting a couple of things. The 6.5mm-06 already had its one in the sun as the .256 Newton. A great caliber, but never marketed by any of the major manufacturers.

Yes, the "quarter bore" has enjoyed some popularity in the U.S. with things like the .25-35, .250-3000, .257 Roberts, .25-06, and .257 Weatherby. (And I suppose the .25-20 -- if that's worth mentioning.) But the honeymoon was pretty well over for the first three of those listed when the 6mms showed up in the '50s. The .25-06 has managed to develop a more widespread following, with very nearly every major manufacturer offering a couple of selections -- including lefties.

I think sometimes it's just matter of luck and timming, and trying to catch the shooting public's immagination. The .270 win is a fine round, I have used it a lot. And it probably deserves it place in the pecking order, but having Jack O'Conor writing about using it on most ever deer and elk in 60's, definately helped make it popular, not to mention it had what the public wanted at the time, flat trajectory, resonable recoil in a gun of resonable weight and barrel length, and once the gunmakers flooded the market with plentiful guns and ammo for it, how could it fail, not to mention it did have a catchy name.

The 358 Win is a fine round, but the paper balistics just didn't catch the public's imagination, the gunmakers didn't embrace it, the gunwriters said it kicked too much and was best suited as a short range wood's cartridge. On top of that, how could it get popular, when even finding a factory rifle for it, or a box of factory ammo at the store was like panning for gold in a farm pond.

I think the .280 really didn't make it, because it's too close to the .270 Win, and generally the public though "Why Bother with it", if a .270 won't get the job done, you need a 7mm mag. That is why I personally never got excited about the .280 Remington. And if you don't want a 7mm Mag, the old 30-06 is just as good as it ever was, and ammo is always easy to find and resonably priced.

And the 350 Remington Mag, well what can I say, it's has become one of my favorites, but unless he was a gun crank, the average joe has probably never even held a loaded round in his hand, much less actually fired a rifle in that caliber. But it was a cartridge ahead of it's time, and the lack of rifle choices available for it, didn't help, not to mention the gunwriters and the gundealers all said it would knock you shoulder out of joint when you fired it. But on second thought, most average joes didn't need a 350mag, a 30-06 was plenty good enough.

I think that is 90% of your reason right there. The 270 made it first and was well timed. Once a cartridge is mainstream, it is more than 2x difficult for another caliber/cartridge near it to make marketshare. It's not just the public, it's the manufacturers are loathe to risk tooling up and investing in inventory. Kind of the chicken or the egg thing. And who can hardly blame the manufacturers for not wanting to risk it. We consumers are a fickle lot.

My picks for neglected cartridges, not in any particular order:

.260 Rem (efficient performer that is superior to the .243 for deer sized game)
.280 Rem and/or .284 Win
.358 Win (.35 cal in general gets short shrift)
.35 Whelen
.350 Rem Mag
.358 Norma Mag
.348 Win (OK, I am really lamenting the loss of production for the mod 71 here, a levergun which just oozes testosterone and craftsmanship )

I have to go along with the 358 Win.
Some time ago I acquired a Ruger Frontier in 358, and initially I was pleasantly suprised when it made sub-moa groups with 200 and 225 gr. loads out of its stubbly 16 1/2" barrel.
Even more satisfying was the big mulie it dropped with one round at 220 yds. on a cold, snowy day three weeks ago.

.25-20 Win.
.250 Savage
7mm Mauser
.338-06 A-Square
.35/.30-30 Win.

I also am a foster dad for poorly treated cartridges.

In my gun cabinet and candidates for badly accepted gems.

6mm Remington....a bit more flexible than the also good .243.

6.5 Rem Mag... a .264 bullet is so thin that it takes up very little powder space when loaded deep...so get over it!!!! I love it and have two rifles so chambered. Also picked up nearly 1000 rounds of factory ammo in Arctic Canada at 5-10.00/box.

284 Win. Again a 284 bullet doesn't take up that much powder space! Keep it in a short action and with 150 grain Nosler partitions you have genuine 270 performance in a shorty. What's not to love?

.308 Win...well accepted but so great it should be praised even more!

The 307W in a WIN 94 should have been a hit out of the park. What happened?
I don't have one but should!

350 Rem Mag. Bullets are fat enough to actually take up powder space but you still get 35 Whelan performance with 250 grainers and marginally better with light bullets. Lovely..acts like a bigger version of 308. Love it.

358 Norma. Again I have two. Great balance between trajectory, power and recoil.
A smidge better than the 338 and on the heels of the 375 in a more compact form.
200 grains at 3200 for caribou, 225 at 3000 for nearly anything and 250 Nosler Parts at 2800 for around the planet. I like the 300 Barnes Original at 2600 for a dinosaur load!

375 Big Bore. Don't have one. Like The concept.

450 Marlin. Acts like a 45-70 in a trimmer package. Cool. Mine is sub MOA in a Marlin!

And the winner to me is,,,,,,284, clever concept and ahead of it's time. All the power and trajectory for 99% of hunting and hunters in Canada.

What? No votes for the 225Win?

My Sierra manual introduces it something like this:
"If ever there was a cartridge introduced in the wrong rifle, at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons it was the .225 Winchester.

Absolutely agree,the 284 is a brilliant cartridge as is the 280 which also got hung out to dry.I honestly think it's Uncle Sams reluctance to use anything metric,why did the 8mm rem mag fail?I'm still amazed the 7mm mag did so well in the American market because of this reason.But don't get me wrong,i still think the 30-06 is the best sporting round ever developed,no argument.

And what a shame that they introduced the 14/114 line of classic rifles a few years ago but do not chamber any of them for their own classic cartridges! (I am aware that the present day ownership had nothing to do with the development of the Savage cartridges). It was explained to me that they feared a backlash from the 'average Joe' customer who might buy a rifle and then complain to all his buddies when he can't find ammo for it at his local discount store. I understand that business decision, and I know the .308Win is a slightly "better" cartridge, but damnit, if I'm buying a Savage American Classic rifle, I want it chambered for a classic SAVAGE round.

.356 Win.,a real increase in power for the traditional lever carbines, but wasn't promoted well and was damned with faint praise.

6.5x54mm Mannlicher Schoenaur.

Made for a 5-pound rifle with a 18" barrel and twist for shooting a 160 grain round-nosed bullet at about 2200 fps.

Fantastic penetration for the early part of the 20th century and killed all out of proportion to its ballistics. W.D.M. Bell received his rifle and cartridges one morning and spent the afternoon shooting 8 African elephants. Because the cartridges were not crimped, and one bullet stuck in the rifling, after that he only used it on smaller game like Lion and Cape Buffalo.

How about doing something about this and actually buying some of these cartridges that deserve better before they are gone. There seems to be a lot of respect for the 260 Rem, 280 Rem, 35 Whelen and 350 Rem Mag listed by many on this thread. All the above are available in factory guns right now and many of these and other cartridges listed make a lot more sense than the new stuff Hornady is trying to push on us.

I currently own a pistol grip BLR in .358W I bought new from Cabelas. I also have a Rem 7600 I bought used in 35 Whelen. Remington stopped chambering the 7600 for the 35 Whelen in 1996, so buying new is not an option. None of these other rounds are chambered in LH friendly packages, so it's a custom proposition anyway you look at it. While some of these cartridges are not mainstream, they seem to be just keeping the nose above water. I've toyed with getting a LH Remington in .243 and rebarreling for .260, but Remington is so darn proud of them to start with, it's just not even close to economical to do it. There aren't a lot of LH short actions floating around to pick up either new or used on the racks. So it means a special order, and the clerk will want MSRP or close to it. Just not willing to pay MSRP rifle price for a donor action (I don't really care for Rems CDL stock -- dang cheekpiece).

I'm still glad Hornady is willing to take a chance and try new things.

Tikka lists their T3 in 260 rem I plan on getting one in left hand stainless. I wondered about having a short action round in a long action but after looking carefully at a short action T3 there isn't anything to complain about IMO. I had a pump 35 Whelen when they first came out but I couldn't get used to it especialy trying to use the safety left handed so I went with a custom bolt action. As a lefty how do you handle the safety on your 7600?

Handled a Tikka for the first time just yesterday. Not my cup of tea. Savage would be a better route for me but I haven't warmed up to them either ... maybe.

Awkwardly . I didn't catch your question in my first reply. I keep my RH on the foregrip and curl my LH trigger finger under and around the trigger guard to put in firing mode. Putting it in safe mode is much simpler without any curling. Actually, I'm wondering if it's possible to reverse the button. I might look into that. I do the same operation with my Winchester 88 (.308W), but it's a further reach than the Rem 7600. I haven't had much time with that 7600. Incidentally, I'm right-handed, left eye dominant.