Cartridge cutoff date - how would you do?

L

ligonierbill

New member
...or "Arms of the Medicare Brigade".

Some recent "X vs. Y" discussions got me thinking. What if I had to drop every caliber that wasn't older than me? Not an issue for some of you, but that would be 19th century thru the first half of the 20th for me. Here's my score.

For bottom feeders, not much change. Most of the popular rounds are pretty old. It would eliminate .40 S&W and 357 Sig. I like the .40, but I could certainly live without it. It's cousin would be tougher to drop, it interests me, but practically no problem.

Revolvers are a different story. I have plenty of classics, but I like the boomers. I'd have to drop all the >40 caliber magnums. Wouldn't like that. Of course, I'd still have my first big bore, .45 Colt. That would have to do, and you know, it would.

Rifles would take a hit. No belted magnums. But I guess I could just step up to the .375 H&H and have that covered. No 5.56x45. That would not be good. After years of ignoring it, I'm an AR convert. And the anti-gunners detest it, so that one I'd have to keep.

I'm not dumping any guns now, but my last range session consisted of .41 Long Colt and 50-70 Government. Guess I'm regressing.
 
Considering stuff introduced after 1945, there is not much I would miss.
Does my .22-250 count as in or out? Not commercialized until 1965 but a pretty standard wildcat in the 1930s.
 
I think I could live without .40 S&W.

I was a bit concerned about .22 LR but, according to Wikipedia, even that dates to 1887. That's a year before my grandfather was born. I would, however, have to give up the .22 Magnum (1959). I'd miss that one, but I'd survive.
 
I'm not older than dirt, but I'm older than the 223 by a year or two. I would miss that useful round (insert poodle shooter / mouse gun joke here) but could get by with a 222 I suppose. I still get to keep the 44 mag though, just squeaked under the wire on that one.
 
The majority would be safe. Nearly everything predates WWII.
But I'd lose all of the .327 Federal revolvers, the .475 Tremor (.458 SOCOM based), the .480 Ruger, and ... I'm thinking ...
Thinking ...
Still rolling it around in the grey matter ...

I think that's it. Besides those three, the newest cartridge (or parent for a wildcat) would be .444 Marlin. -- 1963, 1964, or 1965, depending upon what you consider a cartridge's proper 'date of birth'.


Oh! .307 Winchester.
I'd lose that too. Sounds old. Seems antiquated. Being constantly on the verge of obsolescence makes matters worse. But it wasn't released until 1982.
 
Bye bye 6.5 Creedmore from likely everyone on this board. (Circa 2007)
Same for Barrett .416 for the high performance guys. (2004~)
 
which one

Lots of stuff to chew over.

I've been shooting 41 Long (41 Special) from my S&W mod 57, 41 mag for many years as all magnums are forbidden in the club's indoor range.

Perhaps I could squeak by with this one.
 
1951 here, looks like I would lose:
223/5.56
22 magnum rimfire
40 S&W
Maybe the 3" version 0f 12 ga and .410?

ETA--7.62 x 51 (308). Forgot it was younger than I am!

Heck--quite a few of my GUNS are from before the cutoff.
 
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Interesting game..WHY are we playing???:rolleyes:

Better get off the computer, and go back to sending letters with stamps through the Post Office!!

its only fair...
 
Having een born, some say hatched in 1938, methinks I'll have to pass on most of the newer good stuff. :eek:
Paul B.
 
I'd only lose 10mm/40 s&w, 480 Ruger and 300 Blackout.
I'd be in very good shape keeping
22lr,22 Mag, 223 Rem, 243 Win, 25 acp, 7.62x25, 30 carbine, 30/30, 30/40, 308, 30-06, 300 win mag, 32 acp, 348 win, 380 acp, 9mm Lugar, 38 super, 38 spec/357 mag, 35 Rem, 9x18, 38/55, 38/40, 44 special, 44 mag, 45 acp, 45 Colt, 45/70 and 20, 16 and 12 gauge.
 
I'm a 68 model myself. I guess I would only lose my .204 and 6.8... but their parent cartridges would still be around, so I guess I would go through the effort to re-wildcat them. Re-wildcat... is that even a real term?:rolleyes:
 
How would you figure something like .223 Wylde? I mean it is technically 5.56mm... not an actual cartridge.

Really, I'd just lose my .40s... everything else, including 10mm, is older than me. Love having .45s, 9mm, and 5.56mm. [emoji41]

Now, if you were talking firearm designs... we might have an issue.
 
My latest copy of GUNS mag has an article about rifle calibers that are old, still going, and rifles being made for them by 10 out if 14 big time gun makers.

The list of calibers was 10, I believe.
 
Now, if you were talking firearm designs... we might have an issue.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't be too big of inconvenience, I could get by with a 1911 a BHP and a J frame for defensive needs add a Superblackhawk for woods and hunting, Most of my long gun designs are older than me.

Heck in a pinch I own enough guns that are actually much older than me to get by.
1903 Colt Pocket 32 made in 1926 for carry
Smith 1917 Army 45 ACP made in 1918 for home defense
Model 10 Remington 12g made in 1928 for hunting
Eddystone 1917 30-06 made in 1918 for big game
Winchester 1890 made in 1911 for small game
 
"The .375 H&H is the ORIGINAL belted magnum. 1912."

No. It wasn't.

The first belted-head case was Holland and Holland's .400/375 Nitro Express, introduced in 1905.

As you can see from this image from Midway, it is quite different from the later .357 H&H Magnum.

692280.jpg



Magnum is just a marketing term.
 
The only cartridge I'd have to drop would be .40 S&W. Everything else I have is pre-me (1965).

My .41 Magnum would even squeak in.
 
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