New Rem Ultramags... WHY?

4

416Rigby

New member
Pardon the reactionary taste in rifle cartridges that I am proverbial for. But for the very life of me, I cannot understand the reason behind some of the new Rem Ultramag cartridges. See if you can explain their raison d'etre to me:

.338 Rem Ultramag: with a 250gr bullet, it is approximately 200f/s faster than the excellent .338Win - but it still lags a good 100f/s behind the .340 Weatherby. Case length? Just a hair under the Weatherby cartridge. Question: why does it exist?

.375 Rem Ultramag: a little faster (note: not "better"!!!! :D) than my beloved .375 H&H, but considerably slower than the .378 Weatherby and surprisingly similar to Roy's older .375 Weatherby. Once again, why does this cartridge exist?

Now, I understand the reasoning behind the .300 Rem Ultramag and the 7mm Rem Ultramag, as they "best the existing best" .300 Weatherby and 7mm STW by a 100-150f/s margin.

But why extend the Rem Ultramag line with 2 cartridges that are not any faster nor shorter than the existing fastest or shortest in their caliber? Hmmmmm?

[This message has been edited by 416Rigby (edited November 15, 2000).]
 
Why do they need a new cartridge. 125 fps is not a big difference even in the 300 or 7mm series. But why is never a question for a manufacturer. It's a reason for a gun nut to buy something NEW!

375 H&H is good enough for me!

------------------
o I raised my hand to eye level, like pointing a finger, and fired. Wild Bill Hickok
 
Well, easy...
They exist because Rem feels there are enough suckers out there that'll buy anything big and new... even if the job they're supposed to do is already done way good enough by a zillion existing calibers.... Yeah, I'm a 308 fan, but for big and/or bad stuff, 375 is the ticket ;)
 
Thibault, I think you've got it! Sorta like city folks buying 4WD Suburbans, for that matter.

After all, were it not for new toys, the money would just be wasted on food, clothing and shelter.

Art
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by 416Rigby:
Pardon the reactionary taste in rifle cartridges that I am proverbial for. But for the very life of me, I cannot understand the reason behind some of the new Rem Ultramag cartridges. See if you can explain their raison d'etre to me:

.338 Rem Ultramag: with a 250gr bullet, it is approximately 200f/s faster than the excellent .338Win - but it still lags a good 100f/s behind the .340 Weatherby. Case length? Just a hair under the Weatherby cartridge. Question: why does it exist?

.375 Rem Ultramag: a little faster (note: not "better"!!!! :D) than my beloved .375 H&H, but considerably slower than the .378 Weatherby and surprisingly similar to Roy's older .375 Weatherby. Once again, why does this cartridge exist?

Now, I understand the reasoning behind the .300 Rem Ultramag and the 7mm Rem Ultramag, as they "best the existing best" .300 Weatherby and 7mm STW by a 100-150f/s margin.

But why extend the Rem Ultramag line with 2 cartridges that are not any faster nor shorter than the existing fastest or shortest in their caliber? Hmmmmm?

[This message has been edited by 416Rigby (edited November 15, 2000).][/quote]

The .330 Dakota about equal the 340 Weatherby with a "standard" length cartridge/action the 338 Ultra should have about the same [very roughly speaking] advantage over the 330 Dakota, which is a ballistic twin to the 340 Weatherby, as the 340 does to the 338 Win.

Same holds true for the 300 Dakota vs 300 Ultra. The 300 Dakota ~ the 300 Weatherby with a shorter case while the Ultra uses same diameter case with the H&H length action.

So if you actually have max or near max loads in the respective cartridges the ultra's should be ahead of the Weatherby counterparts by 100+ fps.

Besides 416Rigby the ultra's are just 404 jeffery's [circa 1907] with a rebated rim, so even a dyed in the wool reactionary should like them. Plus if you want to make a single or double based on them you can use the .450 Nitro cause IIRC the 404 Jeffery is just a rimless .450/.400 :D And you could have weatherby velocity with less than weatherby pressure [which is a concern for some break actions I think].



[This message has been edited by Glamdring (edited November 16, 2000).]
 
Easy! Remington needs to sell rifles!!! There's a sucker born every minute, and these are the latest wonder rounds out there...a MUST HAVE, in some circles. Never mind that the most available, and arguably most versitle cartridges (arguably 270, 30-06 & 375 H&H) are antiques.

Just my VERY :D opinionated $.02...Mac
 
WHY?

Er...Because!

Let's see, they make it, I don't have one, I want it. Any other questions?

George, owner of a .338 Win and a .338 Ultra.
 
Remington's history with new or proprietary cartridges should make one wary about buying one. This company has fouled up more good cartridges and put several unnecessary rounds on the market. When it doesn't sell, they don't seem too concerned about leaving the consumer high and dry. As evidence, consider the 5mm rimfire, 6.5 Remington Magnum, the 8mm Remington Mag and the .350 Remington Magnum. You could add the 280 Remington and the 6mm Remington because these cartridges were terribly mishandled by Remington even though they are arguably better rounds than the .243 Winchester and the .270 Winchester.

Remington has had its successes, the .22-250 and the 7-08 come to mind, but they were well established wildcats when they were introduced. And the .223 Remington couldn't help but be a success thanks to Uncle Sam.
 
Gotta add another why, specifically, the 700PSS in .300 UltraMag. I mean, the .300 Win Mag PSS was a lot to begin with. I'm curious which law enforcement agency put a bug in Remington's ear for this one, especially since police target engagements seldom exceed 100 yards (supposedly). Talk about penetration!
 
New rem Ultramags... WHY?

Why not?

Remington is in the business of selling rifles and ammunition. Bottom line, they have to pay their bills also. They are still keeping Americans employed!

Their people believe they have come up with a better mouse trap, so be it. That's why they get the big bucks.

If one were to purchase one of the new Ultramag calibers, I wouldn't consider him/her a sucker. If they have the $$, why not?

I like the .33 caliber bullet. I've owned a couple of .338 Win. Mags and currently own a .340 Wby. but I find the .338 Rem. Ultramag interesting enough to consider one this year. Am I a sucker or just an interested shooter who likes the .33's?
 
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