Compared to bottleneck cartridges, straight-wall cartridges generally have shorter effective distances, reducing the chance of overshooting a target. This increased distance in bottleneck rounds can be caused by many factors, but most specifically it is caused by the increase in propellant. When the case is wider than the bullet, you have more room for propellant, which means the bullet can be fired with greater velocity and energy.Let's rephrase this. 1) Some states don't want hunters banging away with high-power rifles; 2) They were OK with hunters basically shooting handgun cartridges out of rifles; 3) So Winchester developed a straight-walled cartridge to try and reach the performance of a bottle-necked (high-power) cartridge.
Straight walls, however, pack less propellant, and therefore have less velocity, which means less distance from the bullet.
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[M]any midwestern states have outlawed rifle hunting. Iowa, for example, has traditionally only allowed deer hunting with a shotgun, muzzleloader, handgun, or bow. But recent changes in the state law have allowed for rifles that load straight-walled ammunition. Ohio and Southern Michigan enacted similar legislation. Of course, there is potential for other states to make changes too.
The issue is that many of the straight-walled ammunition options didn’t offer the speed and performance that most hunters desire. Seeking to fill an obvious need, the developers at Winchester created the 350 Legend. ... [T]he goal was to achieve a bullet that has the ballistic performance of a traditional rifle cartridge with less recoil than many of the hard-hitting brutes of the straight-wall variety.
I predict that the legislators, who recently allowed the use of straight-walled cartridges, will regard the .350 Legend as an attempt to work around the legal limits. They'll either say "ok, fuck you" and repeal the laws or limit them to specific handgun cartridges.
When that happens, the .350 Legend will fade away.
6 comments:
Wasn't a big part of the popularity of the original Winchester lever action rifles due to the fact that they were chambered for existing handgun ammunition?
I once had a weird conversation with a guy who claimed that my dad's model 94 .32 special wasn't powerful enough for deer hunting and was more of a squirrel and varmint gun.
I asked him if we could possibly be talking about the same gun and whether he had ever seen the cartridges it fired, which were bottleneck rounds with a naked lead slug larger than my dad's other deer rifle, a model 70 .270.
Perhaps he was thinking of the original handgun ammo firing model 94?
-Doug in Oakland
Ohio had an "approved list," then they went to "straight wall" between .357 and .50, even if .357 seem week for hunting to me. The 45-70 government cartridge is approved The standard (old-time) deer cartridge - the .30-30, is much cheaper, has lower muzzle kinetic energy but isn't allowed because fuds don't like it.
And the "straight wall" restriction applies only to white-tailed deer. "Any caliber" can be used to hunt coyotes - considered a major problem for farmers. So it isn't about "over penetration or range." It's about fuds.
I'm willing to bet that if someone - like Winchester - produces a solid, straight-walled cartridge that wasn't even crazy from a ballistic standpoint, that you could run out of an AR-15, that would be the end. Because that is what they really don't want.
It even seems .500 nitro express would be permitted under the current Ohio rules. The case tapers slightly from the base to where the bullet is crimped, but the .45-70 does the same, and I know it's legal to hunt with. Not that anyone would really want to use an elephant gun to hunt deer, but it you have a Holland and Holland double-rifle, you're probably OK.
And Let's be clear. The .45-70 is NOT a handgun cartridge. It packs quite a punch for one of the older straight-walls that runs out of a lever-action. Still available because... https://www.henryusa.com/rifles/45-70-lever-action/
The big thing about bottle neck cartridges is boat-tail bullets. They are MUCH more accurate than big lumps of lead.
Accuracy = clean kills, and fewer wounded animals crashing through the brush. But fuds run white-tail deer hunting.
So .45-120 and .50-90 are legal, but .30-30 isn't? That's just wild.
And yes, the Fudds are no help for 2A issues.
I guess that should be Fudds… As in Elmer...
Daffy Duck curses out Elmer Fudd
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