Ever since the 6.5 Creedmoor exploded onto the scene it seems like we get three or four new rifle cartridges a year all touted to be the next great thing. In this flurry of newness, it can be easy to forget that there have been a great many rounds that have come and gone from the scene since the advent of the metallic cartridge. Some of these cartridges did their work well and really should have lasted. Others were unique at the time but are now redundant. Here are some obsolete cartridges that I think are useful or fit with the current trends and should get another shot.
Table of Contents
What is an Obsolete Cartridge?
The definition for an obsolete cartridge is that there is no longer factory production of the ammunition and rifles are not chambered in it from major manufacturers. This does not include small-scale loaders like Steinel or Buffalo Arms. There are many rounds for which factory ammunition is still made in small batches from time to time, which is why you won’t see the 250 Savage or 338 Marlin Express on this list. (As an aside, Hornady seems to do a wonderful job of supporting some old favorites and doesn’t seem as willing as Remington or Winchester to orphan rounds they developed.)
.256 Newton
Actually a 6.5mm round, the .256 Newton raced onto the scene in 1913. Pushing a 130-grain bullet at around 2700 fps it offered several hundred fps over the 6.5×54 Mannlicher-Schoenauer that was the current favorite of the day. If WW1 hadn’t halted production and put Newton out of business, it probably would have stuck around. Based on a slightly shortened 30-06 case with more taper and a sharper shoulder, it remains a relatively easy round to make brass for, since 30-06, 270 Win, or 280 Rem can be used. With today’s slower burning powders, this round can run at 3000 fps with lighter bullets. A sibling to the 256 Newton is the 6.5-06, which uses all of the existing 30-06 case geometry, just necked down. Either of these rounds with a faster twist barrel (1:8 or so) is the ultimate 6.5 in my opinion.
9x57mm Mauser
Rolling onto the scene in the 1890s, the 9×57 Mauser is simply an 8×57 necked up to take a .35 caliber bullet. Note that this was a .355 diameter and not the .358 used by other 35s like the 35 Whelen or 35 Remington. Performance-wise the 9×57 is nearly identical to the 358 Winchester with 200 thru 250 grain bullets, but the larger case offers the ability to push the heavier slugs faster if your rifle will handle it. With handloading the 9×57 gives the user the flexibility to set the power level from just above .35 Remington up to almost 35 Whelen, making it very useful at sane hunting ranges for anything that walks in North America. With the popularity of the 350 Legend, there is now a section of .355 bullets to choose from if the original bore diameter was re-used. I’d like to see how a 250-grain Hornady Sub-X launched at 2200 fps out of a 9×57 would perform on midwestern whitetail.
6.5 Remington Magnum
One of the original short-magnums, the 6.5 Rem Mag was introduced in 1966. Housed in the short-barreled model 600 carbine the round did not succeed. When put in an intermediate or long action rifle, where long high b.c. bullets can be seated farther out of the case, the 6.5 Rem Mag offers about 200 fps over a 6.5-06 in a 24-inch barrel. Performance is very close to the 6.5 PRC, but brass can be reformed from any belted magnum, however, some trimming and neck-turning are required. Why I would choose this over a PRC is that if you seat the bullets deeply, you can stuff it into a lightweight short-action rifle, and the PRC is designed to fit into a long action.
.348 Winchester
One could argue that this round has never really died. It has the most devout following of all the cartridges on the list so far. But it hasn’t been chambered in a new rifle (other than a short run of 1885 single shots by either Uberti or Pietta) since Winchester retired the Model 71 in 1958. Pushing a 250-grain bullet at 2350 feet-per-second it was (and remains) a formidable round, capable of tackling anything in North America. Pristine examples of Model 71s go for eye-popping amounts of money, and I don’t see why someone like Henry doesn’t upsize a lever gun to handle this cartridge. It still commands respect in the wild country and I think an all-weather lever gun .348 with an LPVO or aperture sight would be just the ticket for moose in the thick stuff.
.338 Marlin Express
A joint venture between Marlin and Hornady, the .338 Marlin was designed to provide ballistics similar to the .338 Federal in a lever action rifle. Launching a 200-grain projectile at nearly 2600 feet per second, the cartridge nearly duplicates the ballistics of the .30-06 with the same bullet weight. By the few accounts available the .338 Marlin performed admirably but the Marlin XLR rifles that housed it were troubled by extraction issues (possibly a result of quality slipping before Marlin was acquired by Remington) that dampened enthusiasm. It doesn’t help that the way to widespread cartridge acceptance and adoption is to chamber the round in inexpensive bolt-action rifles and this is not one of that kinds of cartridges. If Ruger were to bring this back in the new Marlins or Henry chambered it in their lever or single-shot (even if CVA put it theirs) with ammo widely available, I think it would be a moderately popular offering for deer, black bear, and other medium game.
Final Thoughts
There are many cartridges in the graveyard of history that never got a fair shake or fell from popularity thanks to shifts in the tastes of the shooting public. I hope this list has been, if nothing else informative, but I hope that maybe it will inspire some to give some less common rounds a second look and maybe a home in your safe.
Until next time…
