TC won't even chamber the things in the Encore, in which they do chamber magnums based on the H&H case. Probably does have something to do with material removed from the barrel.
Most hunter/shooter types I have met are completely unable to use the velocity/trajectory potentials of the 270/308/30-06. I abolutely fail to understand anything the so called short magnums do for someone who hardly ever shoots past 200 yards. Will someone please explain the point?
And since I'm on this soapbox, where was any demand for such cartridges? I'm convinced these things are an abomination foisted on the public by Remchester as an effort to sell more rifles. However, get any of the makers to actually build something that people want.........
The short and ultra magnums are in my my humble opinion (seasoned by 30 years of shooting and successful hunting experience) cartridges for the person who has honed and maintains their skills well above average profeciency. Thinking of the average hunter who has difficulty shooting their 300 Win Mag well enough to get it properly sighted in, the overall effect the new generations of magnums will have on the shooting sports strikes me as dubious at best.
But what do I know, I still consider the 30-06 to be a magnum when compared to the available 30 calibers of it's day, and I still think it plenty capable of doing anything any reasonable person would ask of it. I've noticed that peole didn't come in droves to trade their 06's in for a sample of the new kid on the block.
Perhaps the great problem is that we are dealing with a mature technology. Without some advance in enterior ballistics we simple cannot drive bullets significantly faster than we are driving them now. In the end of things, just how many variations on an action design can be done before all possible variations have been produced? At that point, only the most effienct designs , both from a manufactuering and mechanical standpoint will survive.....How do you improve on the Ruger 77, the Winchester M70 or the Remington 700?
Ultimately we are left with rehashing the territory that has already been gone over. Lazeroni is making a line of cartridges that are more reminicient of Charles Newtons work than that of the firm Holland & Holland, yet Newton did his work between about 1910 and 1925.
What the makers ahve failed to do is to improve the manufacturability (is that a word) of designs that have served them for over 100 years and simulataniously market them successfully into the niches where demand for such products is high.
When was the last time Winchester introduced a new leveraction? The AE 94?
Interestingly, none of the three cartridges introduced with it; the 307, 356 and 375 Winchester are viable today. Yes, they have reintroduced the 25-35 and the 38-55, kudos. Perhaps they will continue to offer reintroductions of such fine cartridges.
But somehow, I suspect that their bread and butter continuesto be plain jane versions of the M70 in such mundane offerings as the 270, 308 and 30-06.
It would be interesting to know which chambering tops the NEF Handirifle sales list. If I had to judge by this boards topics, I would bet on it being either the 223 or the 45-70.