What's Your Favorite "Forgotten" Cartridge?

30-40 KRAG

My dad had a carbine from the span am war he uses in reenactments that was chambered in 30-40 krag and I remember it being a ton of fun to shoot. I bought a few boxes of ammo to get him some brass for blanks and I had a blast with that thing although I was all over the place with it.
 
Forgotten cartridges

7.7 Jap and 225 Winchester.I have a 7.7 and know where a 225 Win is for sale in a 340 Savage,but because it is in a odd caliber they want about $200 too much for it.
 
My favorite forgotten

Such a shame that these have been almost forgotten

.303 British
.256 Win Mag
7mm-30 Waters
.375 Win
6 mm Rem

J. Budd
 
Remington put out a series of what they called "classic" 700s. Every year, a new classic cartridge in a special bdl. One year it was the .250 savage. I think another year it was .35 whelen.

I don't know about forgotten, but I think the 35 whelen is a great cartridge that fills wide range of needs, and it's got no equals in that niche. A medium large bore, heavy bullets, at non magnum velocities that are intended for heavy but not necessarily dangerous game.

No need for a magnum action, and you can't get that sort of performance in a short action. That's why the .358 winchester is a forgotten cartridge. it wasn't done right.

I have my dad's remington 742 in 30-06. I think that this rifle in .35 whelen would be an awesome bear gun, even for western brown bear.

I'd hesitate to take it up to a grizzly, but the semiauto feature would give immediate follow up shots.
 
So many old cartridges have been mentioned here that one wonders if anything ever is forgotten. But if you live in the South, you know the answer to that.

Many cartridges mentioned have been associated with particular guns and I think many are really saying they have a favorite old gun. I have some candidates myself.

I've never laid eyes on one but I think a Mannlicher-Schonauer in 6.5x54 is one classy rifle, better even than a Weatherby. Well, maybe not better, just in a different class. The styling and handling quality (or so I am led to believe) were something else, although the Savage Model 99 had a similiar magazine system. And come to think of it, they came in about the same time and went out at about the same time, pretty much for the same reasons. Today's Mannlichers are decendents but are not the same but what is? Not a powerful cartridge, however.

Likewise, the .38-55 is not a powerful cartridge but the novelty factor is there. Same with the .38 S&W (not the Special). Notice how these are all not particularly powerful, whiz-bang creations but they had their following. The last one makes up for it in power.

Still available in new rifles, the 9.3x62 Mauser is powerful but came along before things got called magnums. Frankly, it is over powered for anything that walks in the state where I live, except maybe for elk but I somehow have managed to live without owning one, with regret.

Someone mentioned the .300 Savage. I think I read somewhere that the .308 is very similiar. I suppose it's hard to come up with something that's really new anymore. One person suggests the 6.5 Grendel is almost the same, performance wise anywa, as the 6.5x54 M-S.
 
Since I love classic Varmint rigs: .225, 219 Zipper, R2 Lovell, all Winchester HiWall HB rifles with Lyman Supertargets or Unertl scopes.
 
Not exactly sure what is meant by a "forgotten cartridge," given all the good ones that have been listed. If you mean one that has fallen out of favor and/or doesn't get the respect it deserves, I'd have to opt for the good ol' .30-06. Seems like there are a lot of "new" cartridges out there that claim to do things better/faster/harder/flatter/more-efficiently, but the '06 keeps getting it done, quietly and competently. And if one reloads for it, it is an even more versatile cartridge.
 
I have a .303 British. Good eastern (not bean field) deer gun. Don't many in use. Admittedly, I don't use mine any more either.
 
38 S&W

.38 S&W
I have some brass that is copper with no head stamp of any type.
I have shot some lightly loaded soft cast .355 (for a 9MM) round nose in my Marlin, 5 shot, double action revolver. These are far from being nail drivers (a nominal .360 bore with a .355 slug rattling around in it) but the few times I have fired it, it was a touch of history.
A 'forgotten cartridge' in a 'forgotten revolver'.
I know, this is not a rifle. But it is a forgotten cartridge.

OSOK
 
Referring here again to the .38 S&W, I have an old box still containing about 30 cartridges, all but one marked "REM-UMC", ".38 S&W". The box is of a granite or stone print paper with a top that lifts off, unlike today's styles with a slide out tray. The box is also marked .38 S. & W. SMOKELESS, 50 Central Fire Cartridges, and it's from the Remington Arms-Union Metallic Cartridge Co., Union Metallic Cartridge Works, Bridgeport, Conn., USA.

On the side is a label that says "Specially adapted to .38 Smith & Wesson." On the bottom it says shells should not be reloaded, so I haven't. By the way, the primers are marked with "U".

Mixed in the box are a few .22 rimfire cartridges, one of which certainly looks like copper, although the others (all marked with a diamond on the base) look the same as the old brass of the .38s, most of which look pretty fair, considering. I wonder if those .38 S&Ws mentioned earlier were actually copper.

Also mixed in with the .38 S&Ws were two cartridges marked ".38 Long," which is the first I've seen of this cartridge. They are about 1/4 inch longer than the .38 S&W and about 1/8 inch (these are eyeball measurements) shorter than a .38 Special.

Curiouser and curiouser.
 
BlueTrain ask, "I wonder if those .38 S&Ws mentioned earlier were actually copper."

I was told, don't know how true it is, that these copper cases were from what Postal Inspectors used to qualify in a basement storage room of a Post Office building (I know which one, it's closed now.) And yes they appear to be constant copper, had one split the side wall and I cut/tore it down to the webbing.


100_2913c.jpg

OSOK
 
I know of no test to determine whether something is copper or brass, although what it looks like when polished might give a clue. However, cartridge cases have been made of steel and aluminum as well as brass, so copper is not entirely unlikely. The plain base with no markings is more of a mystery.

A .38 S&W is supposed to be larger than a .38 Special (in diameter) but it's hard to tell just from looking, unless you have something in that chambering.
 
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