If you’re a gun enthusiast, you’ve almost certainly heard the snarky stereotypes about 6.5 Creedmoor—”That’s a cartridge for hipsters.” I’ve even heard it referred to as “6.5 Manbun.” That’s stupid on multiple levels; a true hipster (they’re disappearing quickly, as a subculture) would use one of these other rounds instead!
Fudd Friday: Forget 6.5 Creedmoor, These Are Real Hipster Cartridges
A vintage advert for a Winchester Model 1895, available in .30-40 Krag in 1896.
Vintage hunting gear @ TFB:
Wait, what’s a hipster cartridge?
I presume the naysayers’ idea was that hipsters are urbanized young adults who reject mainstream culture and like niche equipment to pursue their interests—fixie bikes, old record players, and so on. I think naysayers also believe hipsters don’t have the physique to handle higher-power rounds.
A Howa SuperLite in 6.5 Creedmoor. Does that look like it goes with banjo-stomp music, vinyl records and other hipster lifestyle cues?
Frankly, I think both of these are dumb, partly because there’s nothing remotely hipster-friendly about the developed-in-2007 6.5 Creedmoor. It’s modern, and it’s only available in modern rifles. For a lot of hipsters, the scene was all about returning to the authenticity of an earlier analog era, and possibly trying to save some money along the way. It’s why I think they’d make the choices below.
Forget .243 Winchester, Start Shooting .250-3000
There’s no reason to get too deep into this chat, since we talked about the .250-3000 a couple of months back. Suffice it to say, the .250-3000 works as a hipster cartridge because it’s very niche and hasn’t been in mainstream production for decades—but it was once loved widely by North American hunters. And most of the rifles chambered in .250-3000 were Savage 99s, one of the best buys on the used lever-gun market (appealing to hipster thrift!), and also one of the most aesthetically interesting.
Griffin & Howe — itself a very retro-Americana-coded company — had this Savage 99 in .250-3000 a while back. It sold for $650. [Griffin & Howe]
If I were going to buy any single rifle that I think would sum up hipster ideals, it would be a pre-World War II Savage 99 (or 1899) in .250-3000 with a peep sight. Pair with a broad-brimmed hipster hat for full ironic effect. It would also work with the modern retro-cowboy culture that’s picking up steam too.
Shoot 7x57mm, not .30-06
Whatever the question is, the answer is .30-06, right? That’s what North American fudds have said for years, and they have a point—but if you’re a hipster who likes the finer things of life, why not opt for 7x57mm instead?
Paul Mauser developed the 7x57mm cartridge in the early 1890s as one of the world’s first smokeless military rounds. Mauser sold rifles chambered in this caliber to militaries all over the world, but especially in Latin America and in Europe. The Boer War also saw many commandos using this round, and it was popular as a hunters’ and homesteaders’ choice in Africa. Professional hunter Karamojo Bell was known for using 7x57mm for big game all over Africa.
Millions of military rifles sold in 7x57mm worldwide, not to mention countless sporters, means there’s still ammo widely available despite this round’s lower popularity in North America. [Bud’s Gun Shop]
Although the 7x57mm was never as popular as .30-06 or short-action rounds for North American gunmakers, they did make rifles in this caliber, and it was certainly popular with in-the-know shooters like Jack O’Connor. His first custom big game rifle was chambered in 7x57mm, and his wife Eleanor used a rifle in that caliber as she accompanied him on field work, filling plenty of tags with her own custom rifle. Although O’Connor was well-known for pushing the .270, he was a big fan of the sectional density of the 7x57mm.
Jack O’Connor was known for shooting the .270, but he liked the 7x57mm a lot too, and used it all over the world.
But it wasn’t just world-traveling, safari-shooting guys like O’Connor who appreciated the 7x57mm. While reading through the Arizona Ranger memoir Line Rider last winter, I noted Joseph Pearce’s observation that in his era (early 1900s), a Mauser bolt-action carbine in 7x57mm was considered the best rifle for social work in the Southwest.
Mexican troops in 1914, carrying Mausers in 7x57mm. This was a hard-hitting rifle for gunplay on the frontier.
They were hard to find, though, and even harder to supply ammo for, so he and his fellow law enforcement often opted for a Winchester 1895 in .30-40 Krag, because ammo resupply was easy at U.S. Army bases, and because it would shoot through a cactus—and in the deserts of that era, that kind of firepower was necessary. Which brings us to our next hipster cartridge suggestion …
Reload .30-40 Krag, not .30-30
The .30-40 Krag was a bit of a bust for the U.S. Army. It served as the service rifle cartridge for 11 years (1892-1903) and ushered the military into the smokeless powder world, but its performance was inferior to the 7x57mm as well as other European military cartridges. The U.S. military establishment pushed through the development of the .30-03 as a result, which became the .30-06, and the rest is history.
The Krag–Jørgensen at use in Cuba during the U.S. invasion of 1898. [USMC]
But that doesn’t mean the .30-40 Krag can’t get the job done. For decades, the world-record elk antlers were off a bull shot by a Colorado coal miner using a rifle chambered in .30-40 Krag. Pushing a 220-grain bullet at around 2,000 fps will still do the job at reasonable ranges, especially when you consider how many deer are killed each year by a .30-30 Winchester using a 170-grain bullet at 2,200 fps.
If you want to use .30-40 Krag to bag your own trophy, the problem will be finding ammo and a gun to shoot it. Occasionally, Hornady does a limited run of 180-grain loads; otherwise, you’ll have to roll your own, with limited availability of factory brass. You can also form your own brass from the much more easily found .303 British.
As for finding a rifle to shoot the round: A few classic sporting rifles like the Winchester 1885 High Wall and the Remington-Lee Model 1899 came chambered in .30-40 Krag, and Ruger even did a run of the modern No. 3 single-shot in .30-40 Krag in the 1970s. However, most people shooting this round will probably opt for one of two specific rifles.
Hornady still loads .30-40 Krag, with factory cartridges using 180 Grain SP Interlock projectiles. [Hornady]
The first is the Winchester Model 1895; this is the rifle that Joe Pearce, mentioned above, would have used in his time in the Arizona Rangers, and so would have many other good guys and bad guys of that era. It’s not hard to find a vintage Winchester in this caliber, but you can still buy a modern Miroku-built Model 1895 in .30-40 Krag—see here.
The other choice is a Krag-Jørgensen bolt-action rifle, whether a full-length version (there were different military models) or a carbine. Although it didn’t serve the Army long in front-line use, the U.S. military did use these rifles all over the world in their early years of laying the foundations of their 20th-century empire. Marines and Navy personnel used the rifle well into the 1920s, but eventually, the army sold off its Krags, whereupon they became popular as sporters in the 20th century. You can also find Krag surplus rifles in other calibers, bought from Europe for sporting use — see the second video below. The third video shows a sporterized U.S. military rifle.
And no wonder; it’s a slick action, very unique, and can be topped off by single cartridges, just like a lever-action rifle with a tube magazine. It had as much hitting power as most mass-market sporting rifles in the U.S. up until the end of World War II. Up until the post-war sporting rifle boom, a light-recoiling Krag bolt-action suited most users very nicely, and they’re still relatively easy to find today as well.
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