Hipster Cartridge Guilty Pleasures

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This is a rip-off of a thread I found on another forum about “hipster handgun cartridges” that I thought would be fun to bring over here. Let’s expand it to include rifle cartridges too. So, what is a hipster cartridge?

Meets most of these criteria:
Obscure
No factory loads commonly available anymore.
Serves no purpose that another load wouldn’t do as well or better.
Kind of cool in its day.
Kind of pointless.

So what are your guilty pleasure hipster loads? What fills your skinny jeans with joy?

I’ll go first.
I’ve shot 9x18 Makarov and liked it for its dowdy Sovietness, but 7.65x20 Longue is sexy cool on a whole ‘nother plane.
So I nominate the aforementioned long obsolete and forgotten .32 French Long.
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Re: Hipster Cartridge Guilty Pleasures

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AZAndy wrote: Wed Sep 05, 2018 5:19 am I shoot a fair amount of .32 S&W Long and am set up to load .38 S&W (not Special). There are still factory loads out there, but I doubt you'd find any at Wal-Mart.
:) I have a Colt Police Positive that eats 32 S&W Long (and I assume Short but never tried one) along with 32 Wadcutters. And an Enfield No.2 Mk 1* that takes 38 S&W.

But the hipsterest is 7.5 x 22 Swedish which fits my Husqvarna 1887 revolver. There is only one guy that loads it that I've found - Reed's Ammo in Oklahoma. But at approx. $1 per bang for revolver ammo, I don't order much. :)

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"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo.
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Re: Hipster Cartridge Guilty Pleasures

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eelj wrote: Wed Sep 05, 2018 12:32 pm If this about the weirdest ever made and not necessarily in my arsenal I will have to nominate the .14 Jones.
I had to look that one up. Good one.

Part of a family of Alton Jones oddball wildcats.
62B3E565-A867-4516-91A7-15430760DBF9.jpeg
Here’s a lineup of five of the cartridges produced by Alton Jones, with a .22 long rifle for comparison. To the right of the .22 is the .14 Jones Express rimfire, made from a necked down Remington .22 rimfire long rifle case. The next three are center fire rifle cartridges, beginning with the .145, made from either a .22 Extra Long Maynard or a Velodog case. Next is a .17 Scorpion, made from a .22 Winchester CF or Hornet case, The last of the rifle cartridges is the .240 rimless, based on a necked down .30 Carbine case. The cartridge on the far right, the largest of the Alton Jones cartridges, is the .26 pistol cartridge, which was probably made from a shortened .22 Winchester CF or Hornet case. The only other Alton Jones cartridge that I am aware of is a .22 based on a necked down .30 Carbine case.
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Re: Hipster Cartridge Guilty Pleasures

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I hate hipsters and anything related to them. If hipsters caught wind of a round I currently shoot, I will sell that gun with mighty disgust. I am the anti-hipster. I shoot 7.62x39.
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi

Re: Hipster Cartridge Guilty Pleasures

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Huckleberryfun:

So, what is a hipster cartridge?
At the risk of upsetting people who love the caliber, I would nominate .45-70 as a 'former hipster' caliber that has seriously regained popularity.

It appears to me that volume is king here. For example, 25 years ago, I was spending a lot more for 9mm than .38sp , now the numbers are reversed, simply based on popularity and volume. Similarly I see a lot more commercial .45-70 ammo (maybe I just never noticed.)

When I lived on Kodiak Island in Alaska, there was one weird dude with an old .45-70. And he cast his own bullets. I just asked an airman back from Kodiak and he said it is now a very popular caliber in Alaska.

And I confess, I can't stop looking at .45-70 rifles - I have the bug now.

And I am very unlike 'Quigley' - I have no use for a .45-70, but I still want one.
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Re: Hipster Cartridge Guilty Pleasures

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max129 wrote: Thu Oct 25, 2018 10:30 am
Huckleberryfun:

So, what is a hipster cartridge?
At the risk of upsetting people who love the caliber, I would nominate .45-70 as a 'former hipster' caliber that has seriously regained popularity.

It appears to me that volume is king here. For example, 25 years ago, I was spending a lot more for 9mm than .38sp , now the numbers are reversed, simply based on popularity and volume. Similarly I see a lot more commercial .45-70 ammo (maybe I just never noticed.)

When I lived on Kodiak Island in Alaska, there was one weird dude with an old .45-70. And he cast his own bullets. I just asked an airman back from Kodiak and he said it is now a very popular caliber in Alaska.

And I confess, I can't stop looking at .45-70 rifles - I have the bug now.

And I am very unlike 'Quigley' - I have no use for a .45-70, but I still want one.
That must make me WAY hip then... (Hint: I'm not!)

A Martini-Enfield in 45-70, recent addition to the fold....

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"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo.
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Re: Hipster Cartridge Guilty Pleasures

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SailDesign said:

A Martini-Enfield in 45-70, recent addition to the fold....
Thank you for pushing my toy-lust buttons with your picture. This is all going to cost me more money and will also add a new caliber to my ammo stocking fetish.

At least you posted a picture with a scope. My new .45-70 toy-lust only includes peep or vernier sights. :thumbup:

And even though I teased with the idea of .45-70 being hipster, I have proof it is not: I like it (same argument as Bisbee's). I was born with a deeply negative hip score. Being an industrial mathematician has not increased that - rather the opposite.

Now having said all that - that is one good looking Martini-Enfield. Wikipedia says it exited service in the year 1902. You have a very good condition example. Did you buy it that clean or have to make it pretty yourself? And if your rifle is newer, accept my apologies for ignorance. I am just developing a love for vintage firearms; I have yet to get deeply educated.
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Re: Hipster Cartridge Guilty Pleasures

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Bisbee wrote: Fri Sep 07, 2018 7:21 pm I hate hipsters and anything related to them. If hipsters caught wind of a round I currently shoot, I will sell that gun with mighty disgust. I am the anti-hipster. I shoot 7.62x39.
You are in trouble then man. I'm pretty sure the VZ-58 is a hipster gun, despite being a commonly available caliber. Much like PBR is widely available and has become the choice of hipsters everywhere. You can send your ammo and rifles to me for disposal.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
- Maya Angelou

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Re: Hipster Cartridge Guilty Pleasures

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shinzen said:

Much like PBR is widely available and has become the choice of hipsters everywhere
That's funny. My new son-in-law is a very hip guy (not obnoxious, just really cool.)

I joked that I would buy PBR for their wedding party and THEY LOVED THE IDEA. So I bought 4 cases of PBR, and you are right, the hip kids loved it.

It was pretty hot and dry that day. I drank maybe 4 of them. Not exciting, but not bad tasting either.

In Bisbee's defense, he DID say he shoots 7.62x39 (common VZ-58 caliber) and the topic is hipster cartridges, not hipster shooting iron.
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Re: Hipster Cartridge Guilty Pleasures

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max129 wrote: Thu Oct 25, 2018 5:59 pm
In Bisbee's defense, he DID say he shoots 7.62x39 (common VZ-58 caliber) and the topic is hipster cartridges, not hipster shooting iron.
Hipster cartridge by association? (Help me out here, he's got some good stuff that I want!)
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
- Maya Angelou

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Re: Hipster Cartridge Guilty Pleasures

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max129 wrote: Thu Oct 25, 2018 5:14 pm
SailDesign said:

A Martini-Enfield in 45-70, recent addition to the fold....
Thank you for pushing my toy-lust buttons with your picture. This is all going to cost me more money and will also add a new caliber to my ammo stocking fetish.

At least you posted a picture with a scope. My new .45-70 toy-lust only includes peep or vernier sights. :thumbup:

And even though I teased with the idea of .45-70 being hipster, I have proof it is not: I like it (same argument as Bisbee's). I was born with a deeply negative hip score. Being an industrial mathematician has not increased that - rather the opposite.

Now having said all that - that is one good looking Martini-Enfield. Wikipedia says it exited service in the year 1902. You have a very good condition example. Did you buy it that clean or have to make it pretty yourself? And if your rifle is newer, accept my apologies for ignorance. I am just developing a love for vintage firearms; I have yet to get deeply educated.
Bought it that way, with a scope that wasn't right and will need work to make so. Dropped on a "spare" I had lying around - lower rings will probably get in the way of loading, so it'll look geeky for a while. It is (I think) a Khyber Pass variant (stamped VR, but dated 1919 (she died well before that...) Am gong to research a bit before dropping a banger in it. The barrel is much newer, and in very good shape, but the breech-block and innards are what might be lacking.
"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo.
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Re: Hipster Cartridge Guilty Pleasures

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AZAndy wrote: Wed Sep 05, 2018 5:19 am I shoot a fair amount of .32 S&W Long and am set up to load .38 S&W (not Special). There are still factory loads out there, but I doubt you'd find any at Wal-Mart.
There was quite a few of the S&W model 10 with the S&W Ctg. made during WWII. But most were shipped to the British Forces. I have one that doesn’t have any British marking, but was probably issued to Aussie forces in Italy. They were with the anti-aircraft batteries protecting the airfield my dad was flying from in B-24s he carried it on most missions except for the last one when he was shot down and became a POW. It was sent home with his other personal effects.

He told me it was always hard to find ammo.
Last edited by TrueTexan on Sat Oct 27, 2018 11:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Hipster Cartridge Guilty Pleasures

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max129 wrote: Thu Oct 25, 2018 10:30 am
Huckleberryfun:

So, what is a hipster cartridge?
At the risk of upsetting people who love the caliber, I would nominate .45-70 as a 'former hipster' caliber that has seriously regained popularity.

It appears to me that volume is king here. For example, 25 years ago, I was spending a lot more for 9mm than .38sp , now the numbers are reversed, simply based on popularity and volume. Similarly I see a lot more commercial .45-70 ammo (maybe I just never noticed.)

When I lived on Kodiak Island in Alaska, there was one weird dude with an old .45-70. And he cast his own bullets. I just asked an airman back from Kodiak and he said it is now a very popular caliber in Alaska.

And I confess, I can't stop looking at .45-70 rifles - I have the bug now.

And I am very unlike 'Quigley' - I have no use for a .45-70, but I still want one.
I have one, and I urge you to get one or build one. There's nothing like flinging 500 grains of lead and copper downrange. I'm'a gonna have to pic my old dude again just for kicks and giggles.

CDFingers
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