are competing cartridges actually a good thing?

Well, actually, the cartridges aren't really competing unless you can only buy them from a single manufacturer. ... Ruger competes with Marlin and Savage, true, but does the .308 compete with the .30-06?
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Of course they compete, every time someone makes a decision about which rifle/cartridge combination to purchase, whether or not the choices are from the same manufacturer.

I think the original question is a good one, if a bit pointless, because eventually the market will decide who wins and who loses. I agree that the array of choices can be a bit disorienting and that certain cartridges are weakened by the availability of alternatives that aren't much different. I'm sure many are prone to stick with the "old reliables" because they are worried that the latest and greatest won't be around very long if it doesn't catch on.
 
they do compete... in the OQ... if I'm buying a 6.5mm barrel for my AR, I'm likely to only buy one, or even if I buy more than one, they are likely to be of the same caliber to save on loading dies, etc... ( unless you're a dumb donkey like me, who gets a kick out of loading tons of different cartridges )

but to go back to the 17's I mentioned... the 17 market consists of 5-6 major players ranging from 17 Mach 2, 17 HMR, 17 Hornet, 17 Fireball, to 17 Remington... not too many regular shooters are going to buy more than one 17 caliber rifle... if you are not a reloader / like rim fire cartridges, the Mach 2 & HMR are your choices... Hornady really put the initial push out with the HMR, & now finding a Mach 2 is pretty tough ( I have a custom rifle I had built in 22 Mach 2 that I love, & shoot regularly out to 150 yards ) ( the Mach 2 is based on the necked down 22 LR cartridge, the HMR, is based on the 22 rim fire magnum case ) being both are rimfire, buying loaded ammo is definately the easiest way to go... so I always keep a couple bricks of Mach 2 on hand, before they disappear completely...

... in center fire, the 17 Hornet, & Fireball were wildcats, that were reciently "standardized" Remington came out with the Fireball 1st, but spent next to nothing advertising their "new" cartridge, & it has all but disappeared... Hornady has been advertising the 17 Hornet, offers factory ammo at little over empty case price, & though in my opinion, is no were near as balanced a cartridge as the Fireball, or as easy to reload, is likely to find more of a market share, because of the effort put forth by Hornady... & likely should become more popular than the HMR, for those that are reloading...

the old 17 Remington ( a 223 necked down to 17 ) was never my cup o tea... my FIL shot it a lot, & had loads that would vaporize the bullets before they'd get to the target... but the cartridge IMO, uses too much powder, burns barrels out, & seems to be pretty much gone, except for a few die hard enthusiasts... ( BTW... my custom 17 Fireball was built on a 60's Remington 700 that was my FIL's that had enough throat errosion, that it would no longer group... rather than chambering it back in the old 223 based 17 Remington, I chose to rebarrel & shorten the mag, & chamber it in 17 Fireball )

point being, I'm a bit not normal, & chose one slower, one hotter 17 ( yes, I do have that odd 17 K Hornet Contender barrel, that the new Hornady 17's fire form in, & an old 17 Remington Contender barrel, that used to belong to my FIL )... IMO, the 17 Fireball is the best of the group, easiest to reload, & most balanced, yet seems to be the 1st to die, not because of the cartridges merit, but because of the lack of support Remington offered, & the market share they got from the cartridge with the little effort they put into it...

I'm sure several of these AR cartridges will suffer the same fate... may be the best at something, but too much competition, & lack of market share for what ever reason will kill a couple of them for sure... though there will will always be dumb donkeys like me loading them, long after they've gone obscure ;)
 
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Are they a good thing?

Yes.

It proves that innovation is alive and well in all niches of the firearms industry.

Those that are good ideas will survive.

Those that are mediocre to bad ideas will founder and go away.

It has always been this way.

In fact, in the 1880s through the 1920s, it was probably 10 times worse given the competition between the manufacturers of black powder cartridges, then the introduction of smokeless powder on top of that.
 
at what point does a new cartridge stop being a good idea, and start being a copy of someone elses though?.. and i see more copy than i see innovation
 
I think there are 17 different 7mm cartridges, probably more.

I don't know the point at which it became pointless, but I don't see a need for all of them.
 
Since the trend seems to be downsizing calibers, perhaps some of the .14 calibers will start to appear. Trends do drive the market.
 
Anytime you get involved in high precision and/or long range cartridges, you'll find a plethora of slightly different designs doing basically the same thing. In some cases, designer A's case won't quite fit into shooter B's favorite action so shooter B tweeks the case a little and calls it a different name. The rifle maker sees something he can change and sell under his name so that happens. Soon, there's 1/2 dozen cartridges within a very narrow niche each with it's own following and not a dime's worth of difference unless you're also a shooter in that specific demographic.
If you look at all these 6.5mm choices, you'll find this in spades.
 
I don't like it. I tend to go with old rounds that have been around for a long time, hence the 45/70s Its been around for a long time and will likely still be around long after many of the new wizzbang rounds have gone extinct.
 
I think the 6.5x47 is more of a match case and if you want one your going to have build it. The others like 6.5x284 Norma/6.5 Creedmoore have very limited offering in rifles/ammo.

I don't think the 6.5 are competing for the same buyer like the hunter who would walk into gun shop look at a 308/30-06/300mag/300Wby.

If your looking at match rifles or build that's different.
 
Well, actually, the cartridges aren't really competing unless you can only buy them from a single manufacturer
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Yes. I would say it is more of a supply and demand issue. I also am not convinced there have been any real improvements for the last 60 yrs. Some of the most popular cartridges today are over 100 years old.
 
That's true, and some are more than 150 years old, though some improvements have been made.

In a sense, there are competing cartridges. Remington wants you to buy their .308 cartridges and Winchester would rather you bought their .308 cartridges. Their is, of course, the supply and demand element. For instance, these days there isn't much of a demand for, oh, .35 Remington, or at least I doubt there is. Yet it's certainly available and not hard to find. The demand is there and it's steady and the quantity sold should be picking up in a month or two but it's not the latest thing on the block. It doesn't rate many posts here. There is a demand, however, and a fairly high demand, I gather, for stuff like 8mm Mauser, .303 British, 7.62x54R and a few others because there are a lot of military surplus rifle enthusiasts out there who like shooting those old bolt actions. But the demand is only for cheap surplus stulff itself. When that dries up, and some of it has already or is beginning to, the shooting will either slow down or the shooters will rearrange their priorities. What happens to be available as surplus changes all the time but supplies are not infinite. Not that many years ago, just about the only source for 7.62x54r ammunition was Norma and it was dear, as in expensive, but rifles in that caliber weren't all that common either.

Chances are, if the demand for .35 Remingon soared for some unforseeable and mysterious reason, Wolf would start selling it. And chances are, some obscure Italian company will offer .41 rimfire one of these days.
 
"That's true, and some are more than 150 years old..."

Name one still popular cartridge that is "over" 150 years old other than the .22 rimfires...

T.
 
"Name one still popular cartridge that is "over" 150 years old other than the .22 rimfires..."

150 years ago was 1862.

The self-contained metallic cartridge was literally still in its infancy, having really been introduced by Smith & Wesson in 1857 in the .22 Short. As an aside, the .22 Short is virtually obsolete, while the .22 Long Rifle, introduced in the 1880s, is the most popular cartridge out there.

Boxer and Berdan didn't invent their centerfire priming systems until the late 1860s.

After that, though, things get really interesting, as 1873 brought us the .45 Long Colt and the .45-70, both still quite popular and, as far as I can determine, the oldest cartridges that still maintain a solid degree of popularity.
 
Why eliminate the .22 short? Obviously, that's the oldest metallic cartridge still available, though maybe not so wide available as the .22 long rifle. But it's the one to use if you want to shoot rats in your back yard and get away with it. The introduction of both the .45 Colt and the .45-70 Government in 1873 makes them both 139 years old.

WIthout looking them up, there were a couple of rimfire cartridges that are approaching that 150 year mark, though I suspect it has been a long time since they were commercially available. There was at least .44 Henry. Anyone want to name another ('cause I can't think of one).
 
32 S&W rimfire is likely within a year or two, as old... 32 S&W centerfire is likely about the same age ( or older ) as 45 Colt / 45-70

cartridges like 30 rimfire have been gone for a long time, as are 44 Bulldogs, & other similar early revolver cartridges
 
theres a difference between competition and innovation, these companies arent competing to make something better, theyre taking a side-step
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One man's "Better" is another man's "sidestep" ...... the Market will sort that out.

If an offering is truly usefull to enough people, then they will buy it, and the company making it will make money and that is the reason they are doing it in the first place, is it not?

The makers of these cartridges are convinced that their offering is better (or can be marketed so as to be percieved to be better) than their competitors' .... you and your dollars get to vote.
 
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