Obsolete calibers and cartridges.

Megawatt maker said:
Expensive you say? Expensive?...lol...omg. 5 bucks or more a piece. Ya...it's expensive! But if you got no alternative..what do ya do.

They also are not accepting orders right now...
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If you are an existing customer they will talk to you, trust me I know. But for the guy coming in cold sorry. Working with things off the trail is not for the weak of heart. They are turning out as much as they can, cool operation if you are ever down that way.
 
This topic comes up every now and then and there is no consensus. You could argue that the 30-30 was obsolete 2-3 years before it was invented. There were already better cartridge choices and 30-30 was a step backwards technologically. Yet it is still popular today almost 130 years later.

In the same theme, any muzzle loader, long bow or recurve bow are obsolete as well. Yet people still use them, not because they are the best tool in the toolbox, but because people just like them.

This is my personal definition, and my feelings won't be hurt if someone disagrees. But once a cartridge reaches the point where it isn't popular enough for manufacturers to make ammo on a regular basis and handloading is the best option, I consider it obsolete.

That doesn't mean manufacturers won't run a batch occasionally. The 35 Rem comes to mind. I bet it has been 5 years since I've seen a new box on a shelf in a gun shop. I've seen people selling personal ammo for $100 a box.
 
BLACKHAWKNJ said:
I have seen this on other forums. The word "obsolete" is not correct IMHO, when the military declares something to be "obsolete" it is with drawn from service, all issued examples turned in, new equipment is issued, no spares for old equipment iare ordered, it is not supported. The M-1 Rifle and Carbine, the M-4 Sherman, the half track, etc.
I would say unobtainable, not even in small batches, and not capable of home manufacture. The large bore rimfires, e.g. Haven't been made in decades, AFAIK no rimfire equipment available for at home use, e.g. And really no reason to revive them.
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Plenty at ammo seek. Many were converted as 7.62 x 39 also.
 
BLACKHAWKNJ said:
I have seen this on other forums. The word "obsolete" is not correct IMHO, when the military declares something to be "obsolete" it is with drawn from service, all issued examples turned in, new equipment is issued, no spares for old equipment iare ordered, it is not supported. The M-1 Rifle and Carbine, the M-4 Sherman, the half track, etc.
I would say unobtainable, not even in small batches, and not capable of home manufacture. The large bore rimfires, e.g. Haven't been made in decades, AFAIK no rimfire equipment available for at home use, e.g. And really no reason to revive them.
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The M1 is long "obsolete," but they were used in at least limited roles within the last twenty years. They were definitely NOT all turned in.

Google defines obsolete as "no longer produced or used."

Re: the OP, the M1 rifle was adopted as standard on January 9th, 1936. The last copy of FM 23-5 is dated 1965. The last M1s were assembled at Springfield Armory in 1968, and Winchester continued to supply replacement parts until 1974. The last lot of .30-caliber U.S. military M2 ball ammunition was produced in 1990, the US Coast Guard fired M1s in matches until at least 2006, and recruits carried them in boot camp until at least 2009. They are still in use by the USCG as parade rifles.

It replaced the 1903 Springfield, which again, was definitely NOT withdrawn from service. The last copy of FM 23-10 is dated 1970. The last NRA "A" course qualification shot with a 1903 that I am aware of was in 1979. They are still in use by the USCG as line-launching guns.
 
jrmiddleton425 said:
The M1 is long "obsolete," but they were used in at least limited roles within the last twenty years.
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There was seven of us in the Honor Guard at my post of the American Legion using M1s to provide "Military Honors" at a Veteran's funeral just yesterday. And tomorrow (Memorial Day), we'll be using M1s in similar ceremonies at a half-dozen different cemeteries around the valley here.
Of course, the M1s we use have baffles with small holes in them on the ends of the rifle barrels. Without those baffles, the blanks we fire wouldn't provide the back-pressures necessary to cycle the M1s actions.
Even with the baffles though, if the blank is a "dud," or almost a "dud," the M1's action fails to cycle. If that failure happens on the first or second volley, the shooter just "pretends" to fire in the other volleys. I doubt anyone in the "audience" notices the difference between 5 or 6 blank firing M1s going off and 7. ;)
jrmiddleton425 said:
They were definitely NOT all turned in.
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The seven M1s we used yesterday, and the seven we'll use tomorrow are not the only M1s we have in our "armory" at the Legion Hall either. :)
 
.38 Special said:
I believe there are two definitions of "obsolete" used here on THR. One is from the handgun forum: "Anything not a hi-cap plastic semi-auto" and the other is from the rifle forum: "Anything not 6.5 Creedmor". Hope that helps! :neener:
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:rofl: LOL!
That doesn't say much for your screen name and avatar, .38 Special. :D
 
I have a Winchester 71 (built 1956, Winchester ceased production in 1958) in .348WCF, probably considered obsolete by some, but Starline still makes brass (expensive) and I located a custom bullet manufacturer, so I can now handload with it, so...it can still be shot. The .348 (rim based off of the Win 50-110) is the parent cartridge for the 50 Alaskan, it's somewhat popular in Alaska for use on large bears, IIRC.
 
I have a 16-gauge double chambered for 2 5/8" shells....:( I bought it off Gunbroker, the seller did not reveal the chamber length.

I also have an Astra 400, chambered for the 9mm Largo. But I have LOTS of ammo. Unfortunately, I don't like shooting the pistol, because the trigger pull weight is absurd, maybe 14 pounds or so....:eek:
 
455 Webley Automatic. I think less than 12,000 guns were every made for it, Webley and Colt 1911's combined, and a fair number of those were lost in the two World Wars. That's not enough of a market to tool up to make the odd semi-rimmed brass. And less than 10,000 35 S&W automatics were ever made. That's another miniscule market. So is 7mm Nambu, I suppose. I would call all of them obsolete, not just obsolescent.
 
I have a few but nothing truly odd.

.256 Winchester magnum. Start with a .357 mag case and neck it down to take a .257 bullet. That’s a big change and a lot of necks crack unless you anneal and/or use brand new brass. I do it in 2 steps with a torch anneal in the middle.

7-30 waters. Just run a 30-30 case through the 7-30 sizing die. It fireforms after the first shot but I can’t really tell an accuracy difference between fireformed or not so I just load it all the same.

223AI again, just run it through the die and load it. It can actually be even easier by just shooting regular old 223 in the AI chamber. Haven’t done that yet, but I intend to soon.

357 Herrett necking up is a lot easier than necking down. 30-30 case ran through the 357 Herrett sizing die. Just make sure to lube the inside of the case neck.

38sw was a fun one until I finally got some proper brass. Chuck 357 brass in cordless drill after marking the proper length. Spin the case with the drill and hold a hacksaw blade against the end of the fingers on the drill chuck. Then load on 38 S&W die set using 357 shell holder.

32 sw was also fun but I figured out really quick that I could just use 32 auto brass instead.
 
No such thing. Like Bigfoot. Obsolete only if nobody shoots it. Bit does matter how obscure, someone does shoot it.
 
Codytrucker beat me to the Savage 22HP, although it is somewhat available, as mentioned, as long as one looks for the metric equivalent. A family member has a Savage 99 22HP takedown and I grab some of Ammo for them when I run across it.

tactikel said:
218 Bee
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There's a shop somewhat near me that has about 10 boxes sitting on the shelf, most of it is Hornady and a couple boxes of a different brand, HSM I think.
 
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