[Sourdough]

The short maginums were brought out to be able to use in the short actions so they could make a smaller shorter gun for mountain type hunting. They wanted a shorter gun yet be able to retain the performance of the original longer cartridge. The short catrtidges won't do anything the longer parent cartridge won't do. Therefore putting it in a single shot is a mute point.

I own two guns that shoot the .350 Remington Mag cartridge, the original short mags. They knock the crap out of you with recoil, yet are balistically identical with my two .35 Whelens. They all shoot the same bullets, yet the Whelens don't have the recoil of the .350s. Yes the Whelens are the same type and weight of the .350s.

I helped a young man sight in a new 300WSSM. Recoil was horrindous, and I'm used to shooting .338s. Yet that 300 WSSM won't do anything the 300 Win Mag won't do. So why habve something so abusive to the shooter?

 

[Sourdough]

wudjalike2no: Yes, in a bolt gun or a semiauto there is a weight advantage. But we are talking singleshots here. Nothing gained by chambering a single shot for these hard kicking short rounds. No weight savings. So why do it? The old tryed and true cartridges can be found almost everywhere. The new short mags are hard to find, expecially in the rural areas.

 

[Sourdough]

Zack:
Yes it would be cool, but you have to look at the economics of retooling for the production of a cartridge. Then will it sell? Yes a few would buy it, but most would not. If the market is not there, it's not a good idea to manufactor it.
Then you have to look at the product. In this case the WSSMs were designed for use in bolt action guns. Their purpose is to shorten the action, making the gun lighter, yet retain the ballistics to reach out at longer ranges. With a single shot rifle you don't shorten the action, or gain any advantage by using the shorter cartridge. Since their is no advantage, people would not buy it. Then the manufactor is stuck with a lot of items that won't sell. This would cause him to loose money, and possiably go out of business.
Also those new cartridges are hard to find. Oh, you may find them at almost every store in the city. But when you get out into the rural areas you won't find them until they are really popular. Right now they are not. In areas like where I live I doubt that you will ever see them in the trading post, or stores out in the villages. I own two .350 Rem Mags, good cartridge for big game. But I can not find cartridges outside of Anchorage or Fairbanks for them. If I go on a hunting trip and for some reason loose my ammo, I'm out of luck. Can't find them in the rural stores. Where if I take a .338 Win Mag or a 30-06, no problem. Every store carries them.
Personnally: I think the WSSMs are a passing fad that will fade away in a few years. I don't think they will last. There has been many good cartridges come and go on the shooting scene in the last 100 years. Some deserved to die a fast death, yet others were good rounds, they just did not become popular. The shooting public tends to always slide back to the old tried and true cartridges. Look at the 30-30, and 45-70. Old obsolete black powder cartridges according to the gun writers. Yet there is more boxes of 30-30s sold in this country every year than any other round. And the 45-70 has had many writers sound the death bells for it, but it keeps making a comeback. Any gun manufactor wants to sell guns, make them in those two cartridges and they will sell every one the make.
Like I said it is a matter of economics, I don't think you will see many WSSMs in single shots. And I seriouslly doubt seeing them in leverguns, pumps, or semi-autos. Eventhough the advantages of the short cartridge would assist in making them lighter, the weight savings would be negliable, on these types of guns.

 

[Sourdough]

wudjalike2no: You just brought up an interesting point. I have a TCR, that is a single shot rifle made by Thompson Center. I have two barrels for belted magnums, 7MM Rem Mag and .338 Win Mag. Sometimes these belted cartridges are really frustrating to load into the gun. The belt has to be pushed over the extractor, but care must be taken not to push the case too far, or extraction groove slips past the extractor then the gun will not close till the case has been removed and reinserted properly. This removal is not easy, and usually requires the removal of the barrel. Then a rod has to be used to push the case out of the chamber. This only happens with the belted magnums. Standard cases will not go past the extractor. I can forsee the same problem with Handi's if you try loading a Belted Magnum case with the same type extractor or ejector.