Cartridge Revolution?

My thoughts on new rounds are this. If 10 years after release people still swear by them, I'll consider them based on my subjective and objective criteria for my needs.

Is there a point to reaching out past 300 yards when I am limited to 300 yards on my ranges? Definitely not.
 
All a cartridge does is propel a certain diameter bullet, a certain speed.
To think that some new cartridge is going to be "the answer" to someone's shooting "problems" is stupid.
6.6 Creedmoor somehow "clicked" with the gun buying public. It propels great 6.5 bullets at a certain speed. Nothing more. Pretty much the same thing the 6.5-08 and 6.5 Swede have been doing since forever.

But Hornady did a great job pushing the 6.5cm and rifle companies jumped in and produced rifles.

Take Winchester for example, they are sh*t. The 350 legend could be a great self defense round and some companies are stepping up, but Winchester stopped producing bullets for their own damn cartridge. Winchester support of their own round is SH*T. Like moat of their factory ammo.

Or look at the 357 Maximum. Remington and Ruger did a sh*t job. Ruger developed the revolver to shoot a certain bullet weight, Remington f*cked that up and that cause erosion on revolvers because they used a lighter bullet (at least that is what the internet says). DW created the 360 DW, which is similar to 357 Max, but didn't push it. Both 357 Max and 360DW are so much better than 357 mag. The decline of ling range handgun shooting probably had something to do with this as well. 357 mag was a well established round.

With the 6.5 either the planets aligned, or Hornady put together a plan to get sh*t done and it worked. It is also a great round that can do what 223 and 308 do, without significant recoil over 223 and less recoil than 308 and finally there is the "cool" factor because it can "reach far". People like the "cool stuff".

Like I said earlier, it is like the Truck/Jeep that can go up a mountain, yet 99% of sales never leave pavement.

Anyway, I am happy companies are innovating again. Seems we went through a period of 20 years or so with pure sh*t. 25-35 years ago you had companies like Ruger, SW, MR, DW all competing to release bigger revolvers, more powerful cartridges and so on. Then it all died and everyone settled for plastic guns and 357 revolvers. The only ones releasing new cool stuff are the guys at MR. CZ destroyed their rifle division. Ruger has been surviving on their 10/22 and .22 handgun sales. SW just releases sh*t; they machine a rail, call it something new and charge $1300 for it. It is sad.
 
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There’s a real effort to make the highest BC and most efficient cartridge for shooting sports that are dominated by bullets in the 6-6.5mm range and even 224s. I think that’s great. But I’m not jumping into it until a clear winner is declared. Or I’d have to buy a new rifle every month.

Also, these probably aren’t for people looking to buy off the shelf at a good price. They’re mostly in the best interest of hand loaders.
 
there's always a "newest, best and brightest" race with cartridges like there is with pistols. just say you agree with the famous gun writer, jack o'connor. the 270 is the do all, end all rifle cartridge. i attended a lecture he did at harvard university sponsored by a harvard rifle club in 1970 (???) he had me convinced even though i didn't understand a damn thing he said for the 20 minutes. for 50+ years i just answer 270 if i get cornered for an answer to the timeless question. he died from exhaustion in the late 70's...tired of explaining himself.
just think it's a 100 year cartridge and has a whole shelf of all flavors of ammo at the 4 gun shops that I visited in Wyoming this past Oct
 
Like I said earlier, it is like the Truck/Jeep that can go up a mountain, yet 99% of sales never leave pavement.
I went up the 1000yd mountain with 6.5 Grendel and 6.5 CM. Also 308 and 300 WM but those cartridges are the classic 2-door Bronco's from the 70's, while 6.5's are modern day Bronco's.
 
All a cartridge does is propel a certain diameter bullet, a certain speed.
To think that some new cartridge is going to be "the answer" to someone's shooting "problems" is stupid.
6.6 Creedmoor somehow "clicked" with the gun buying public. It propels great 6.5 bullets at a certain speed. Nothing more. Pretty much the same thing the 6.5-08 and 6.5 Swede have been doing since forever.
True, but it gives those that want a short action the effectiveness of the Swede, and a common availability that the 6.5-08 never achieved. I liked the idea of the 6.5-08 but wasn't going to try and form/find cases. Reloading back then was enough to do.
 
A couple more to chew on.

.260 .270 .280 and more


 
There is no revolution.
Every decade or so, manufacturers manages to produce a semi-decent cartridge and the marketing department goes into overdrive trying to make to convince the public that this is the next best thing. This is usually followed by a bunch of "mee too" moves by other companies who try bring their own cartridge in similar caliber.
Remember the .22 wars to "improve" 223 Remington? 224 Valkyrie, 22 Nosler, 204 Ruger, 22 PPC.
There there was a 30 cal insanity...
Remember the "short and fat is good" period in early 2000's? how about 22LR replacement wannabes?

Until we get caseless ammo or some new type of propellant, yes it will just be evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

But there’s nothing wrong with evolutionary. Gradually things change, but over time you have big changes.
 
All a cartridge does is propel a certain diameter bullet, a certain speed.
To think that some new cartridge is going to be "the answer" to someone's shooting "problems" is stupid.
6.6 Creedmoor somehow "clicked" with the gun buying public. It propels great 6.5 bullets at a certain speed. Nothing more. Pretty much the same thing the 6.5-08 and 6.5 Swede have been doing since forever.

A new cartridge won’t necessarily be an answer to someone’s shooting problem. But advances are real. Let’s look at 6.5 CM vs 6.5 Swede. 6.5 CM gets you 6.5 Swede velocities in a smaller case with less powder.

And while it won’t solve a problem, it can certainly numb it a bit. If a new cartridge can shoot higher BC bullets then it can help someone who isn’t great at reading wind. Save them a few inches of drift maybe.

I’d say that 6.5 CM clicked when SOCOM selected it for their MRGG program because it increased hit percentage at mid ranges compared to 7.62x51 (back to cartridges helping with problems mentioned above). I know 6.5 CM was already starting to take off when SOCOM selected it, but I think that sealed the deal over 260 Rem.

Overall 6.5 CM is a fantastic cartridge and it deserves the prominence it has.
 
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