New Cartridge: 30 Super Carry

[kc17 622]

I did a search, didn't see any posts about it. 

It seems Federal has created a new cartridge they've named 30 Super Carry. It's sized in between a .380 and 9mm. I found out about it via a marketing email from S&W announcing they've got two guns chambered in that caliber now.

I did some (very) quick reading online about it. My initial reactions are 1: it solves a problem that didn't exist and 2: a mixture of anger and bewilderment. The anger and bewilderment over Federal spending time and resources when we're in an ammo shortage. Those feelings subsided a little bit when I realized they probably started the R&D on this years before the current shortages. But still, for every press making 30 SC, that's one press not making 9mm. For every pallet of primers used to manufacture 30 SC, that's one less pallet available for 9mm or reloaders.

One article I read,  includes a graphic (from Federal) which to me, shows the 30 SC hollow point would perform worse in a Self Defense use than .380 or 9mm. It has increased penetration over .380 and 9mm as well as the smallest diameter expansion of the three. 

I know I have zero interest in making a switch. Anyone willing to consider it? Anyone think this cartridge is needed?

Link to the one article I referenced: https://gununiversity.com/30-super-carry/#handguns 

 

[10X 3,296]

I don't see much need for it.   It's no great shakes ballistically, and as a reloader I have no interest in finding and stocking 8 mm bullets.    I'm glad it's unlikely to see much use, since the cartridge case is the same length as a 9mm.  It would be a huge pain in the butt to separate that from 9 mm brass when scooping up range brass.   This might, barely, be more annoying than finding .45 small primer brass mixed in with your .45s.

[JohnnyB 4,321]

10 minutes ago, 10X said:

more annoying than finding .45 small primer brass mixed in with your .45s.

NOTHING is more annoying than .45 small primer brass!

[kc17 622]

I didn't even think about the headaches it would cause sorting brass. I'm thinking more of the 30 SC and 9mm brasses getting stuck together like 9mm & .45 cases do now. 

Anyone have a source for timeline of when cartridges were introduced? A quick google search is failing me. When/what was the last new cartridge that became somewhat mainstream, .380 maybe?

 

[EdF 323]

2 minutes ago, kc17 said:

.380 maybe?

Introduced in 1908 . . . 

.17 is only 20 years old but I don't think that gets much use either.

[10X 3,296]

4 minutes ago, kc17 said:

I didn't even think about the headaches it would cause sorting brass. I'm thinking more of the 30 SC and 9mm brasses getting stuck together like 9mm & .45 cases do now. 

Anyone have a source for timeline of when cartridges were introduced? A quick google search is failing me. When/what was the last new cartridge that became somewhat mainstream, .380 maybe?

 

.380 has been around for quite awhile, though never used widely.  I think the .40 S&W might be one of the more recent introductions.   And there are rifle wildcats-gone-mainstream that are newer still.

[kc17 622]

Yes, after I posted, I saw the .380 was from 1908.

The .40 S&W was introduced in 1990. The 10mm Auto is from the 1980s. My unscientific guesstimate says the .40 S&W is more popular?

[kc17 622]

I finally found a list by year. It's rifle & handgun though, .327 Federal Magnum seems to be the most recent from 2008. The 30 SC is not on the list.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_handgun_and_rifle_cartridges

 

 

[10X 3,296]

4 minutes ago, kc17 said:

I finally found a list by year. It's rifle & handgun though, I don't see a way yet to filter out the rifle cartridges. Seems there's many more of them and all of the newer ones are for rifles. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_handgun_and_rifle_cartridges

 

 

That's a cool reference.  You can sort right in the wikipedia table.  If you click the arrows next to the H/R header, it separates the entries into Handgun and Rifle, much like you can click the arrows on the date column to sort by date introduced. 

I'm not completely sure I believe the '# of factory loadings' column (or maybe I misunderstand how it is used here), but it shows the 9 x 18 Makarov of having the most of any cartridge, at 10, followed by 10 common rifle calibers (30-06, 308, .223, etc) each having 8 factory loadings available.    Dozens and dozens of oddball cartridges have no factory loads available.

[kc17 622]

Yes, I wish I could export it as a .csv file to bring into excel. Then I could filter out the rifles and sort the handguns by year, or any other item. I found another wikipedia that listed only handgun, but that didn't have a date column. 

[kc17 622]

Reddit for the win. I was able to import the table from wiki into excel. I then filtered out rifles and non-US and sorted by the year. 

The way I read the "Factory Loadings" column, is that is the number of manufacturers producing that cartridge when the table was created. One could assume the more factories producing it, the higher the demand. 

This first image is sorted by date. 

Edit: I removed the filter for Nationality when I realized 9mm was missing. So this now includes all Nations, still handgun only, sorted by year. 

Obviously, I have not validated any of this data for accuracy. 

 

[kc17 622]

Here I've sorted by number of manufacturers producing it. I removed the Nation filter, because I realized 9mm was filtered out, since it came from Germany. I'll try to edit the above post. 

Maybe I'll see if I can find numbers for actual rounds manufactured in a given year. 

 

[kc17 622]

I went down this rabbit hole because I was wondering when the last "popular" or "mainstream" cartridge was created. 

If I go by number of manufacturers as a judge of the popularity and filter out fewer than four, then sort by year, it seems the answer would be 1994 when the .357 SIG came out. 

[Parker 213]

New cartridges help sell new guns. 

Some new cartridges, while good, haven't made the grade when it comes to popularity in a field that doesn't need to be that deep. The .32 H&R Magnum, .327 Federal and .45GAP come to mind. They offer something but all have one foot in the grave. 

 

 

[Tunaman 548]

I am seriously looking at the 350 Legend.  They even have revolvers that shoot these.  Straight wall case so easy to reload.  Reviews on this cartridge are very promising.

[Parker 213]

25 minutes ago, Tunaman said:

I am seriously looking at the 350 Legend.  They even have revolvers that shoot these.  Straight wall case so easy to reload.  Reviews on this cartridge are very promising.

The .350 Legend is AR-friendly and is going to be embraced by the deer hunters in certain Midwest states and other states where they are only allowed straight-walled cartridges for deer hunting. The .350 Legend is comparable with the .30-30, and with good aerodynamic bullets should be well received. This round may have a home for a while. We'll see. 

My cousin is building one now on an AR platform for this specific purpose. 

 

[45Doll 5,873]

Got a stock alert today from TSUSA. Down to .35/round from .38. But that is an 8% drop in price, if still outrageous compared to 2019.

CCI Blazer Brass 9mm Luger Ammo 124 Grain Full Metal Jacket (targetsportsusa.com)