Advocate
Just curious, how come you don't register on GB's board? You obviously have much to offer here and your verbiage is quite interesting to this Ole Coug. :lol:
I have done a fair amount of shooting with the 358 in a pair of the older BLRs, and I also had one in a Remington custom bolt.
The 358 is where recoil, IMO, starts to affect a shooter. That is to say, a gent who has been shooting say a 308 with 150 to 180 grain bullets is going to notice an increase in recoil, and will percieve it differently.
That does by no means make it unshootable, I only mention it because it is so.
The late Jack O'Connor was mystified that the 358 did not dominate the market, when it came out, logic dictated it should have. But the high velocity craze was in transition and the 358 as he put it, did not wow the boys.
It always has been, and always will be, an effective round for the folks who recognize it for what it is, like us :wink:
In as far as the current and future market, I think I can help a bit here. You see, the low velocity, old 45-70 craze, well........I kinda am to a degree responsible for that :wink:
A few years back I contacted Marlin with an idea, one they acted on, and have done so well with that they expanded it all the way down to the 44 mag rifle! What I asked for then was a SHORT, FAST, PORTABLE, BRUSH GUN, with tremedous knock down power.
That need, by me, made sense to them. I think it's fair to say that at least 50% of all the game taken is from close cover. That gave them a 50% market, it gave them Alaska since Guides like to throw backup guns behind seats of planes. It was an instant sucess and continues to be.
The Ultra Mags and WSM breed of new cartridges make sense. What's beyond Magnum? The other 50% of game is taken accross the opens. Belted Magnums have kind of worn out their welcome, they too are now "old" technology. The new short and squat is just that, NEW!
We have newer and better powders that get optimum ballistics from these fat cartridges. We have better designed game bullets now than we have ever had. Why not? The public is a sucker for something new, it's our nature as humans :lol:
It has tremendous appeal to a high percentage of the masses, especially the new gunners that read all the current gun rags and dream of death ray rifles that can wipe out critters miles away.
There is a market share that is somewhat immune from this rhubarb, the old geezers who can sort through it all and smile. Yes Sir, we've been killing em square with the 45-70, the 308, the 270, and the 30-06, why stop now :wink:
Those of us that know from experience that a properly constructed bullet ( a simple Remington Core Lokt) that is delivered on target to the vitals of a game animal is what puts it in the freezer, well, maybeso we aren't supposed to know that, or think that way, but we've paid our dues, and for the most part, we're happy campers.
Ah, but they quote trajectory and energy figures. Just do a stare and compare on the PUBLISHED ballistics charts. Horse manure I say! Out to 300 yards, where the AVERAGE man should NOT be shooting, what prey tell is "flatter" than a 270 with a 130 spitzer?
Sure, you can get a couple of hundred foot pounds more of "hit um" energy way out there, but at what expense? Barrel and throat errosion, increased cost in ammo, more difficult to find ammo, and an increase in recoil. Don't sound like a smokin deal to me :eek:
Right now, we need a surge in the economy, BAD. So I ain't gonna tell the boys not to buy the new supper zappers, you either. We'll keep it our secret and smile :wink:
Coug
