The State of the Small Caliber World

[Alex]

Dateline, February 2, 2011

The State of Small Calibers

My fellow small caliber enthusiasts! I don't remember when there was more good stuff available. Yes, I know that Small Caliber News was lost to the greed of a new owner who bankrupted what looked to be a growing small caliber powerhouse, and that Clint Starke finally decided that the "hobby business" that he started and turned into a high profile bullet manufacturing outfit was more than he was able to handle and keep his family intact, but the fact is, Dakota survived, and Clint Nagel took over Clint's small caliber line and returned it to a more manageable "hobby" outfit.

I do miss SCN, but we do need to reflect back on this important hunting date and remember all the work Todd Kindler did to jump start the small calibers.
But look what has happened over the last several years. Sierra has come out with some super 20 cal. bullets, as has Hornady. Indeed, Hornady has supported our infatuation with the small calibers fantastically, with a fair number of choices in the 17 and 20 calibers. Even Nosler has seen the 20 caliber light, and has also been ghosting 17 cal pills.

Hornady and Ruger have legitimized the 20 cal revolution with their 204 Ruger (a direct steal from Kindler's 20 Tac), and Remington has tried to make the 17M4 into a factory round with minimal mods to become the 17 Fireball. Remington may have gone off on the wrong tack, just as they did with the 244 Rem, but to give them credit, they did try. A little more attention to detail and they could have produced a really big winner. It may take off, yet, but I sure hope it doesn't mess up the 17M4 if the 17FB fails.

Unfortunately, Remington seems to have put all of its small caliber eggs in the 17FB basket, as they no longer list the old 17 Remington in their catalog.

Cooper of Montana has picked up lots of the slack left by the demise of Kimber of Oregon, but Dan Cooper did such a good job of getting his company set on the right track that even his indiscretion and prevarication, while it took him down, left his company in the very capable business hands of Hugo. Admittedly, I haven't bought a Cooper since Hugo has owned the Cooper, and have lost my title of having the most Coopers to Verne Lunde, but just how many guns can a guy keep clean, much less shoot? Especially with a teenage son and daughter in the house. Cooper has gone a long way to support our addiction, and certainly we owe a lot to Dan and his guys.

The loss of "The Outdoorsman", with the major help Tom Thomas gave to Cooper ( their largest outlet for the first 5 or so years), to a fire set by an idiot dishwasher was very sad, but Hendershots, One Stop, and others have filled in that hole, too.

In a small cult-type group like ours, we will see suppliers come and go, and certainly attempt to support them, but we shouldn't expect everything to be set in stone. Barrel makers Lilja and PacNor have also supported us, and smiths of the likes of Greg Tannel, Bob Green, Keven Weaver, and others have made our longing for something different possible, aided and abetted by reamer experts like Dave at Pacific Tool and Gage and others.

One of the bigger assets in this small caliber world is the guys on this forum, whose pooling of ideas, gracious (and sometimes expensive) "mentoring", sharing of experience, wild stories, in this nice cozy corner of the internet provided by Jim Saubier, where the exchange of ideas is so rewarding and inviting for those with lesser experience.

On this, the day of the 'hog, we should be glad that we can say that the "State of the Small Caliber World" is indeed very good.

Alex

[philip]

Alex,

I do believe you meant Chan Nagle....Not Clint Nagle.

Nice read, i enjoyed it.

[nycstripes]

Agreed, great post.

[wirelessguy2005]

i agree it was a good read. I enjoyed it.

[montdoug]

Boy, that "State of the..." address sure beat heck outta the last one!!! And I'll bet Alex's nose didn't grow 4 inches while delivering it .
Nicely done Alex! I'd like to add that because of my growing interest in small calibers and finding this fine site I now have new friends all the way from California to Great Britain to Australia, Canada and beau coups other places here in the US to numerous to mention. Further, my wife hates each and every one of ya for making me spend my retirement on rifles no one has ever heard of before ! "NOT". (Standard use the wife as the straight person for your humor line). Actually she too has made friends with a lotta you fellas and she greatly appreciates your keeping me occupied with this swell hobby and outta her hair!
Thanks to all involved for a lotta great years and a lotta "Good Clean Fun" to quote my friend Dan C.

[17VLD]

I think you put it all in very good perspective.
If I might add the availability of the 5mm magnum again
has warmed my heart.I look forward to what the future has for small calibers
I'm sure I'll read about it here first unless a mentor calls me up first.
Matt

[georgeld]

Alex:
That was all very well put.
One of the local members loaned me ten issues of SCN. I've been staying warm in this cold weather reading them and the many great article's you, Todd and other's wrote in that fine mag. IT's a shame it was run down the tube's the way it was.

[larryinIA]

Good read, Alex...i liked that!

Nice post. You ever think of running for president? LOL

Larry

[kenbro]

Alex,
What did you mean when you wrote ' with a little more attention to detail they could have produced a really big winner' when refering to Remington and the 17FB?
Very much enjoyed reading the post.
Thanking you,Ken.

[wally bennett]

Nice one Alex. Well said. Thanks for the information and i agree all the people mentioned deserve a clap as well as yourself for that informative post.
Wally