Failed cartridges

[Creek Henry]

All of the Saums... Too little too late

300 RUM, too much too late

357 maximum... Good idea that never caught on

480 Ruger... Excellent on deer and hog, what the 454 might have been but just redundant, should have been a lever gun round

375... Did we need a 150 yard deer round?

 

[FrankenMauser]

I really don't think .480 Ruger would have done any better in a lever-action, especially with the adopted pressure limit.

It is a great fit for the design goals (reasonably powerful big bore with plenty of energy, but not as punishing to shoot as .454 Casull or the S&W 'ultra'-mags); but that approach wasn't flashy enough for the market when it was released. ...And, really, still isn't good enough to take much attention away from the "more powerful" big bore revolver cartridges.

I love my .480 Ruger for the cartridge's common sense design. But I'm well aware that it will die a slow death, because nothing sensible and reasonable ever really catches on. Only being at the top of some branch of the food chain, in one way or another, ever really gets attention.