Proprietary Cartridges?

[M118LR]

Mods if this is in the wrong section Please move it.

Seems that proprietary cartridges lately haven't had a track record of success. Any chance that one of the Ruger proprietary cartridges will hang around as long as say the Win .308 or Rem .223? Or are those days gone for good?

 

[Johnnu2]

IMHO, they are merely an attempt to grab cash from those who always NEED the newest, fastest, thingies under the sun. I doubt that anything will last like the classics. Of course, I said that about the .223REM (what 60 years ago?); so don't pay attention to any of my opinions

J.

 

[s4s4u]

What would gun magazines have to write about...if folks weren't coming out with new cartridges all the time?!?

I still hunt deer with a 50 year old 270 Winchester....so there is that

 

[the_leper_colony]

Apparently the Brazilian government just put restrictions on civilian use of 9mm Parabellum, so Taurus introduced a new version with the case shortened by 1mm called the .38 TPC. Other countries (Italy, Mexico, etc.) restrict civilian use of specific cartridges, and I'm sure "gun control" politicians have discussed doing the same thing in the US - after all, Joe Biden said that '9mm will blow your lungs out!' and that Democrat in Minnesota claims .223 will explode deer. So, we might see some new "proprietary" cartridges if The Gun Ban Party prohibits any of our old favorites...

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

My advice is to avoid proprietary cartridges like the plague. You know, like the .480 Ruger.

 

[contender]

Proprietary calibers all begin like that. But it's the public & sales that can make or break them.

There are many that appeared & soon disappeared.

Personally,, as a Ruger fan,, I LIKE the .480 Ruger. And it's success is not as good as many others,, but it's also held on over many others as well.

My advice is that if you find something you like,, buy it, and stock up on the necessities to enjoy it. If it "goes away",, then you can smile & enjoy because or smart pre-planning.
If it becomes more main stream,, and the necessities become readily available,, then smile as you can enjoy it knowing you are one of many that made it succeed.

I often discuss things similar to this subject with folks in the firearm industry. When you step back, and study the population, the number of guns, the number of gun owners, AND what they buy,, you can see trends.

The largest percentage of gun owners are "casual" gun owners. They own one or more,, yet rarely shoot much,, if any. Then there is the whole "military/LEO" stuff. That alone creates a large market for manufacturers. And the casual gun owners say; "If it's good enough for the Army or the cops, it's good enough for me."

Only about 15%-20% of the population are SERIOUS gun people who actually spend time, money & efforts in enjoying a lot of shooting or such. That market is where proprietary calibers are either accepted or rejected in general.

And I did mention that I enjoyed the Ruger 480. When it came out,, I thought; "I don't NEED that!" Well, I was a bit slow,, but once I shot one,, AND discovered the accuracy, the level of potential power,, I decided to own one. I still don't need it,, but now I have one & all the stuff to enjoy it until I'm no longer here on earth.

 

[DGW1949]

One of my operational theories is "what once worked, still works"....
If one can't take a 30-30 rifle into the deer woods and get his deer, the latest-greatest magnum-caliber big-boomer ain't going to make any difference. On the other hand, I'm not a celebrated gun-rag writer, so what do I know.

DGW

 

[Yaworski]

At one time, the .38 S&W Special was proprietary as was the .45 ACP.

 

[seasterl]

The beauty of handloading is that proprietary doesn’t mean much after you buy brass and dies.

I think most new cartridges these days are for rifles to make use of heavy-for-caliber ELD bullets for long-range shooting. The older cartridges, and the rifles built for them, use slow twist rate barrels, so they started making cartridges that call for fast twist rate rifles. If they would just offer fast twist rifles in older cartridges, that would have been sufficient.

 

[M118LR]

When Hornady stopped making the 265 flat nose .430 projectile, my last new propitiatory cartridge moved on down the road. I really thought that the popularity of the .44 Mag revolver would keep the .444 Marlin around. But now the ancient 45-70 seems to be the only reliable thumb sized lever rifle cartridge. Once LE went 9mm over 38 Special, prices went up on 38s and down on 9mm. Guess the best bet is to follow military loadings, but even the 30 Cal (30-06) lost out on the 7.62 x 51 ( .308 Win). And if you read the rags both are losing out to the 6.5. Seems that outside of the US the 9.3 x 62 Mauser still survives, but what ever happened to the 35 Whelen? As a matter of fact, what's up with midsize calibers in general? Proprietary Cartridges lately are rather fickle?

 

[375hh1973]

I like both new and old. This past deer season I hunted with .45/70, .308, .257wby (all old) and also 6.5prc and 7mm wsm (newer).

I carry pistols in .45acp and 9mm (old), and .357 sig (newer).

I like to try new stuff out, some are keepers, some aren't.

Yeah, I could hunt with one old caliber ie .270, .30/06, .45/70 but Im a rifle loony and thats boring

 

[seasterl]

I think internet “influencers” are all about new stuff rather than making existing cartridges work. When it comes to inventing unnecessary things in abundance, I think only the golf industry surpasses the firearms industry.

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

Proprietary calibers all begin like that. But it's the public & sales that can make or break them.

There are many that appeared & soon disappeared.

Personally,, as a Ruger fan,, I LIKE the .480 Ruger. And it's success is not as good as many others,, but it's also held on over many others as well.

My advice is that if you find something you like,, buy it, and stock up on the necessities to enjoy it. If it "goes away",, then you can smile & enjoy because or smart pre-planning.
If it becomes more main stream,, and the necessities become readily available,, then smile as you can enjoy it knowing you are one of many that made it succeed.

I often discuss things similar to this subject with folks in the firearm industry. When you step back, and study the population, the number of guns, the number of gun owners, AND what they buy,, you can see trends.

The largest percentage of gun owners are "casual" gun owners. They own one or more,, yet rarely shoot much,, if any. Then there is the whole "military/LEO" stuff. That alone creates a large market for manufacturers. And the casual gun owners say; "If it's good enough for the Army or the cops, it's good enough for me."

Only about 15%-20% of the population are SERIOUS gun people who actually spend time, money & efforts in enjoying a lot of shooting or such. That market is where proprietary calibers are either accepted or rejected in general.

And I did mention that I enjoyed the Ruger 480. When it came out,, I thought; "I don't NEED that!" Well, I was a bit slow,, but once I shot one,, AND discovered the accuracy, the level of potential power,, I decided to own one. I still don't need it,, but now I have one & all the stuff to enjoy it until I'm no longer here on earth.

I like the .480 Ruger as well; that's why I bought one. I'm merely tired of various companies abandoning the cartridge (Hornady), and declining to make a production run of brass for a couple of years (Starline). My advice to anyone who adopts a proprietary cartridge is to buy all of the ammo and reloading components that you realistically believe that you will need for the rest of your life. I will not buy any additional guns chambered for a cartridge that ends in 'Ruger,' so hopefully I'll never get burned again.

 

[375hh1973]

Yeah I really like the ballistics of the .480 and I have shot a couple, but damn, the ammo situation is stupid.

Would love to buy one but I have a feeling I would be kicking myself

 

[contender]

The 480 is quite surprising as a performance caliber. I've had several folks try & buy mine after shooting it. Yet,, I keep my eyes open & have seen some great deals on them because the seller wasn't a handloader. Mine came about because a friend wanted one for bear hunting. I helped him get one,, with ONE requirement,, "If you ever go to sell it,, I get first refusal."
Three years after he got it,, he called me. I got a Super Redhawk, a nice scope, holster, ammo, some brass, and he had an old Colt Woodsman magazine he didn't need. I asked him; "How much?" He said; $450 for all of it. It shoots lights out accurate.

Market demands drives manufacturers. Sales must be profitable for a manufacturer. So,, if you find a caliber,, as noted,, BUY A LOT OF ammo or components.
And when a company like Starline makes a run of brass,, do NOT be stingy &
"wait for a better price" BUY THE STUFF!!!!!
And I cast,, so bullets aren't a problem.

 

[Mobuck]

Like many others, my first centerfire experience was with the 30/06. Seemed a bit much for 'normal' deer hunting so shifted to 243 Win. That worked but then got into coyote hunting and found the 243 a bit short so shifted to 22/250 for yotes and back to 30/06 for deer. Caught the 'magnum bug' and went elk hunting so a shift to 7mm Rem mag for game and 22/250 for yotes. Got a real job and jumped form one cartridge to another for 30 years but stuck with the 22/250 for varmints and 257/25-06/257 Wby calibers for game. Old age, infirm joints, failing muscles demanded lower recoil from lighter rifles and I found the 6.5 Creedmoor. No more bouncing around looking for the perfect answer to all questions. 6.5 CR for game and .223 or 22/250 for yoties.
Stuff comes and goes but much of it is too 'niche use' to last as long as the old timers. The 6.5 CR is an easy choice--doesn't seem to require big bucks to own an accurate rifle and ammo.

 

[jkingrph]

The only proprietary cartridge I have fooled with has been the 6.5 Grendel. Started when loaded ammo and brass was expensive and hard to come by. I got myself 2000 rounds of 7.62x39 IMI brass and sized it down for fireforming. Have not done that many but it's there should I need it.

 

[Hankus]

Proprietary calibers all begin like that. But it's the public & sales that can make or break them.

There are many that appeared & soon disappeared.

Personally,, as a Ruger fan,, I LIKE the .480 Ruger. And it's success is not as good as many others,, but it's also held on over many others as well.

My advice is that if you find something you like,, buy it, and stock up on the necessities to enjoy it. If it "goes away",, then you can smile & enjoy because or smart pre-planning.
If it becomes more main stream,, and the necessities become readily available,, then smile as you can enjoy it knowing you are one of many that made it succeed.

I often discuss things similar to this subject with folks in the firearm industry. When you step back, and study the population, the number of guns, the number of gun owners, AND what they buy,, you can see trends.

The largest percentage of gun owners are "casual" gun owners. They own one or more,, yet rarely shoot much,, if any. Then there is the whole "military/LEO" stuff. That alone creates a large market for manufacturers. And the casual gun owners say; "If it's good enough for the Army or the cops, it's good enough for me."

Only about 15%-20% of the population are SERIOUS gun people who actually spend time, money & efforts in enjoying a lot of shooting or such. That market is where proprietary calibers are either accepted or rejected in general.

And I did mention that I enjoyed the Ruger 480. When it came out,, I thought; "I don't NEED that!" Well, I was a bit slow,, but once I shot one,, AND discovered the accuracy, the level of potential power,, I decided to own one. I still don't need it,, but now I have one & all the stuff to enjoy it until I'm no longer here on earth.

My SRH and Rossi R92 in .454 Casull filled that slot for me. AND they can chamber and fire .45 Colt. I also have a half dozen other revolvers in .45 Colt, so it works for me.

 

[Track14]

After WW1 the 8mm Mauser cartridge was banned so the gun makers made a 8x360 jrs to retain 8mm ballistics, I had a double rifle in that caliber. Finding ammo was difficult. The last proprietary cartridge I had was a 357/44 Bain and Davis. Easy to make ammo but best suited for a semiautomatic and not a revolver, sticky in the chamber.
Stick with the tried and true cartridge designs.