Cartridges run in trends, just like cars and planes and clothes. The winners are the ones that are marketed better than the others.
Back in the 1930s, the 22 Donaldson reigned supreme on the range, but no one out in the field ever carried one. It died in the 1950s when the 222 Remington made its appearance because peopel could buy a rifle chambered for a cartridge that was winning on the ranges and performed well in the field.
Seems like just a few years ago (mid-1970s), 22 PPC ruled the benchrest course, so Remington tried introducing the BR cartridges. They made it much too complicated by offering BR brass that was full-sized 308 with a small primer, and making dies available. Most shooters did not want any part of that. They forgot KISS.
Winchester thought they could replace the 220 Swift after it had ruled for 30-ish years, so they introduced the 225 Winchester to go head to head with the new 22-250 Remington. It died without a whimper.
Same can be said about quite a few offerings over the years, biggest, bestest, purtiest, powerfullest and available NOW at your local gun store! Buy one soon! And the crowd yawned and walked away. They never "created a need", never marketed the new creations, and so they got poor results. Poor sales result in dropped products. I say good riddance, but some folks are disappointed by the passing of the 307 Winchester, the 308 MX, the 375 Winchester, the 30 TC, and a slew of other never-rans introduced to much fanfare but without thought as to why.
Back in the 1930s, the 22 Donaldson reigned supreme on the range, but no one out in the field ever carried one. It died in the 1950s when the 222 Remington made its appearance because peopel could buy a rifle chambered for a cartridge that was winning on the ranges and performed well in the field.
Seems like just a few years ago (mid-1970s), 22 PPC ruled the benchrest course, so Remington tried introducing the BR cartridges. They made it much too complicated by offering BR brass that was full-sized 308 with a small primer, and making dies available. Most shooters did not want any part of that. They forgot KISS.
Winchester thought they could replace the 220 Swift after it had ruled for 30-ish years, so they introduced the 225 Winchester to go head to head with the new 22-250 Remington. It died without a whimper.
Same can be said about quite a few offerings over the years, biggest, bestest, purtiest, powerfullest and available NOW at your local gun store! Buy one soon! And the crowd yawned and walked away. They never "created a need", never marketed the new creations, and so they got poor results. Poor sales result in dropped products. I say good riddance, but some folks are disappointed by the passing of the 307 Winchester, the 308 MX, the 375 Winchester, the 30 TC, and a slew of other never-rans introduced to much fanfare but without thought as to why.
