Are there any calibres you are or were drawn to without...

P

Pond James Pond

New member
.... having had any personal experience of them?

(I split the title as it seemed bit long)

I ask the question as I recently found myself awake and unable to sleep so I let my imagination wonder and I started thinking about what guns I’d like if they were but a wave of a wand away.

And I found myself wanting guns in chamberings I have no experience of.

Namely a semi in 10mm, a bolt gun in 260 Rem and last but not least a nice Super Redhawk in 480 Ruger.

I can’t tell you why but I am convinced I’d enjoy these cartridges despite never having even seen them.

Have you ever had that feel and why do you think this is?
 
Absolutely . . .

Yes. I was sweeping up my range brass, which was mostly 9mm and 380. Someone's 45 acp got mixed in. The 45 was so much bigger than the 9mm and 380 that I knew I had to get one and try it out. I bought a 1911 45 made by Rock Island and I put an after market grip on it with finger ridges and a ported barrel extension supposedly to help fight barrel rise. (see pic below)I have sent many, many 45 auto rounds down range with it. I roll my own just like all of my handgun ammo. I think it came with two magazines and now I have five. At least twice I've taken it to the range and forgot to bring a mag so I bought one. Have a $40 Wislon Combat mag that I bought because that was all they had. It runs really well, no big surprise there. So yeah, I got interested in and bought a 45 auto before I ever shot one.

Life is good.
Prof Young
 

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Accuracy International .338 Lapua Mag, something a bit more accurate at 600 -2000 yards than the .50BMG.
 
Every single one...:D....until I had enough personal experience with some to recognize I didn't need experience with certain others.

Same with the guns. I have a lot of guns and calibers that I bought so that I could experience for myself what they were, and what they did, and didn't do well, rather than just reading about it.

If I was interested in a particular cartridge or firearm, somewhere over the half century I've been shooting, I got one. That let me find out, for myself if they did what was claimed they did. Sometimes I let some go, some became much for favorite than others. Some I never had a practical use for that wasn't well covered by something else.

End result, am currently equipped to reload for over 30 different centerfire rifle and pistol rounds ranging from .22 Hornet to .458 Win Mag.

Several rounds I deliberately skipped. .40S&W and 10mm were a couple. Also skipped the .50AE and all those super short extra fat magnum rifle rounds and all those 6.5s and .30s made just to fit in an AR.

Probably because I don't have the same level of curiosity I once did.

I like the .260 Rem in principle, but never bothered to get one, simply because I have 6.5x55mm Swedes that have the same performance and I have short action rifles in other calibers, and that's what the .260 is, Swede performance in a short action cartridge. Nothing wrong with that, a sound idea, in fact, just not something I need now.

Sometimes, things turned out to be less fun in reality than they were in my dreams. Live and learn...

I realize you are in a very restrictive situation but if you're interested in something enough, get it. Find out for yourself if its what you want to keep, and sell it if its not. Someone else will be happy with it, and you'll never have to wonder any more, you'll know.
 
I did purchase a 10mm without ever firing one just because I wanted one. I find myself drawn to the .41Mag for some unknown reason. I also would like a .45-70 because - its a .45-70.
 
All of them.
With experience, that may change - pro or con.
But I want to love them all. (Except .25-06 and 6.5 Creed. They can stay out in the rain, simply because their owners spew hyperbole and unsupported claims, and I don't want to be associated with those people.)

I think you'd like .480 Ruger, if not for the difficulty that can be encountered when sourcing components. And your .44 Mag experience is very relatable for recoil and shooting experience.
.260 Rem is a good cartridge. No reason not to want one of them.
10mm is one that people want, until they own one. Then it's love or hate.
 
Hyperbole???

But I want to love them all. (Except .25-06 and 6.5 Creed. They can stay out in the rain, simply because their owners spew hyperbole and unsupported claims, and I don't want to be associated with those people.)
Click to expand...

Hey!!! Spewing hyperbole is a harsh statement! :D
 
.357, 45 acp, and 30-06. 30.06 because it was my first caliber I used for hunting when I was 10 years old. Dad had borrowed a rifle and he took me hunting with a couple of his buddies. Shot my first deer with a 30.06, and have only used a 30-06 for more than 50 years only.
 
I'll go in the opposite direction from this thread title.

I avoided a 357 magnum. I never wanted one...ever. I wasn't a revolver guy at all. Semiautos were just more fun to shoot and easier to carry.

But that changed. My stepdad had a 1979 Colt Python. To me, it was the ultimate "man's gun" and I mentioned to him how much I liked it. Last year, for my birthday, he surprised me by giving it to me. After shooting it for a couple hundred rounds, I'm a fan. I might even look for another.
 
The .40 cal. I already had a .45 and a 9mm, but always lookin' for sumthin' new. In early 2013 there was a shortage of firearms and ammo. Previously I read that the 'nine' was so popular and so abundant, one could always find plenty of it on the shelves...WRONG! It probably was the first to go, just because it was so popular and it was the less popular .40 cal. was still sittin' on the shelves, both the guns and the ammo. So I decided then my next purchase was going to be a .40 cal. gun. It turned out to be an H&K P30L and I didn't even know at the time it was the gun Keeanu Reeves carried as John Wick. Very happy with the gun and the caliber!
 
Since 2021 I added two handgun calibers because they were not mainstream. My plan includes being diversified, nondenominational and multi-optioned. I bought two Blackhawks: 41 Mag and 30 Carbine. I was able to snag both die sets and brass. Always pick the shorter line, the path of leadt resistance and the unlocked door.
 
I think the only caliber I ever bought without shooting one first was 7.62x39.

I am still thinking about these. never fired..
350 Legend. Found some casings in a batch of once fired the other day, looks cool.
22 hornet / 22 k hornet. Don't know why, but I have always though it was a cool cartridge
22-250. not sure why, but I have always liked the look.
 
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TXAZ
Senior Member

Join Date: September 5, 2010
Location: McMurdo Sound Texas
Posts: 4,233
Accuracy International .338 Lapua Mag, something a bit more accurate at 600 -2000 yards than the .50B


OldmanFCSA

same here, except RPR 338LM

and i thought it would be less expensive to shoot. ........................ ??????
 
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44 AMP said:
Every single one...:D....until I had enough personal experience with some to recognize I didn't need experience with certain others.

Same with the guns. I have a lot of guns and calibers that I bought so that I could experience for myself what they were, and what they did, and didn't do well, rather than just reading about it.

If I was interested in a particular cartridge or firearm, somewhere over the half century I've been shooting, I got one. That let me find out, for myself if they did what was claimed they did. Sometimes I let some go, some became much for favorite than others. Some I never had a practical use for that wasn't well covered by something else.

End result, am currently equipped to reload for over 30 different centerfire rifle and pistol rounds ranging from .22 Hornet to .458 Win Mag.

Several rounds I deliberately skipped. .40S&W and 10mm were a couple. Also skipped the .50AE and all those super short extra fat magnum rifle rounds and all those 6.5s and .30s made just to fit in an AR.

Probably because I don't have the same level of curiosity I once did.

I like the .260 Rem in principle, but never bothered to get one, simply because I have 6.5x55mm Swedes that have the same performance and I have short action rifles in other calibers, and that's what the .260 is, Swede performance in a short action cartridge. Nothing wrong with that, a sound idea, in fact, just not something I need now.

Sometimes, things turned out to be less fun in reality than they were in my dreams. Live and learn...

I realize you are in a very restrictive situation but if you're interested in something enough, get it. Find out for yourself if its what you want to keep, and sell it if its not. Someone else will be happy with it, and you'll never have to wonder any more, you'll know.
Click to expand...
Almost exactly the same. Only caliber i fired before buying one was 22 lr.
 
I got into .38 Super for a while without knowing much about it to begin with. The 1911 pistols chambered for it tend to be very nice. It has an interesting history. It demands one to be a reloader to enjoy it more.

I cycled out of it, but were Sig to re-introduce the P220 in .38 Super I would buy one in a heartbeat.
 
.22 Long Rifle. Accurate, cheap, quieter than center fires, no recoil, so many cool guns chambered for it.
 
I can not tell a lie...yes, all the time.

I had dies brass and bullets sitting on the bench for 300 Norma Mag, then changed my mind to 300 PRC (which I don't have either of). Maybe someday.

I just got finished restoring an Ithaca 37 Ultralite in 16g...had never had one. Shot two rounds of trap (23, 25,) and a round of skeet with it last week for the maiden voyage. Had never fired a round of 16g prior. Took an old abused shotgun, cleaned it up, made a few parts for it, refinished and fit the stock to me and gave it a whirl. It was a lot of fun. I got a box of stuff to load brass shotshells for it today.

I have a stock, trigger, and dies for my next rifle and a barreled action on order...in .280AI. I have never fired one before.

I ordered a barrel and dies and built a 6.5 Patriot Combat Cartridge when almost no one had even heard of it, it is still a fringe wildcat, but I really like it and I'll be keeping it.

.40 Super, .414 SuperMag and .338-06 are calibers I own, that before I got the gun, I had never fired.

I have dies for .350Legend and doing some testing on it, but I have shot some of them prior.

Now, to be fair, it has bit me in the butt several times. Too many calibers, and reloading, takes up space in the brain and the gun room. I was drawn to and bought or built without having shot: .204R, .224V, .22-250, 300BO, .340 Weatherby and .450BM. I have since sold all the guns, dies and components for those calibers. Too much overlap, the sizzle did not deliver the taste, etc.

I have several 10mms and my LR match rifle is .260Rem. I think they are both great calibers.

For those of you who "want" a .41Mag, well worth the dive. :)
 
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