5 Best Old-School Cartridges You Don’t Already Own

You don’t need me to sing the praises of those old-school cartridges. They’ve been hammering big game for decades, and the world doesn’t need another “10 Best” list that includes the 7mm Rem. Mag.

Instead, I want to point your attention to a few options off the beaten path. These cartridges aren’t obscure or obsolete like those you’ll find in the Forgotten Cartridges series. But even though they’ve been around for decades, they’re far less popular than the heavy hitters I mentioned at the top. That makes them an ideal choice for anyone who’s looking to spice up their gun cabinet without making the leap to the ultra-modern.

The 35 Remington was first introduced all the way back in 1906, which will make it a whopping 120 years old next year. It uses a rimless bottleneck case designed to accept a .358-caliber bullet weighing anywhere from 150 to 200 grains (though these days the 200-grain is the most popular). Hornady’s LEVERevolution loads can push a 200-grain bullet 2225 fps at the muzzle, which results in 2198 foot-pounds (ft.-lbs.) of energy. It’s most famous for being chambered in lever action rifles, and it’s an excellent big woods cartridge for deer and bear in areas where a long shot isn’t necessary.

It may be on the brink of obscurity now, but there was a time when its main rival was the still-popular .30-30 Winchester. Some preferred the larger diameter and greater energy of the 35 Remington while others preferred the faster velocity and flatter trajectory of the .30-30. But both were chambered in famous lever guns like the Marlin 336 and were used in similar capacities in the field. Why the 35 Remington faded and the .30-30 Win. remained in the spotlight is a topic for another day. But if you get a chance to get your hands on a 35 Remington rifle, you’ll still be able to find ammunition and you won’t be disappointed in how it performs.

Availability: 6 options at Scheels

This 6.5mm cartridge was developed by Norway and Sweden all the way back in 1894, and it’s often used as evidence that the current 6.5mm craze is nothing new. It’s not a bad point. European hunters and sport shooters have been using the 6.5mm Swedish Mauser for over 100 years, and it remains popular to this day. North American hunters didn’t catch on until the influx of Swedish Mauser rifles after World War II. Frank Barnes reports in “Cartridges of the World” that the Canadians were the first to appreciate the benefits of the cartridge in the 1950s and 1960s, and Americans eventually came to the same conclusion in the 1970s and 1980s.

But the lack of American-made factory rifles kept it from really taking off, which is a shame. It boasts excellent accuracy, especially with 140-grain bullets, and like the 6.5 Creedmoor, is a fantastic deer cartridge. It can’t quite keep up with the Creedmoor from a velocity perspective, as it starts at 2,600 fps with a 140-grain bullet and dips under 2,000 fps around 400 yards. But that moderate velocity produces an equally moderate recoil, which makes the Swedish Mauser pleasant to shoot and promotes in-the-field accuracy.

6.5×55 Swedish Mauser 140g BTHP

Availability: 33 options at Midway USA

As I pointed out in this comparison between old and new cartridges, the .260 Remington is nearly identical to the 6.5 Creedmoor out to about 600 yards. It launches a 140-grain bullet 2735 fps at the muzzle and maintains a speed of over 2,000 fps out to 500 yards. Like the Creedmoor, it drops about 50 inches at 500 yards and has drifted about 15 in a 10mph crosswind. What’s more, because it utilizes the ultra-popular 6.5mm diameter bullet, there are plenty of high-BC options for handloaders looking to squeeze a little more out of this less-common cartridge.

Its release in 1997 makes it a bit less “old-school” than many of the other options on this list, but at nearly 30 years old, it’s had enough trips around the sun that its back hurts for no reason. It was also loaded as a wildcat cartridge for many years prior to its official release, so I think it qualifies as at least middle-aged.

Availability: 10 options at Scheels

The .280 Ackley Improved was the only Ackley Improved cartridge to make the jump from the wildcatter’s reloading bench to the ammunition factory. As such, I think it deserves a mention as one of the most interesting–and effective–7mm cartridges on the market. It does indeed outperform the .280 Remington: all things being equal, it increases muzzle velocity by about 100 feet-per-second (fps), clocking in at nearly 2,900 fps with a 162-grain bullet and over 3,000 fps with a 150-grain bullet. It’s good for everything in North America up to and including elk and moose, and it has a reputation for excellent accuracy.

Nosler released the first factory options in 2007, but the cartridge’s inventor, P.O. Ackley, invented the .280 AI decades prior.

.280 Ackley Improved 162g ELD-X

Availability: 9 options at Scheels

Thirty-five caliber cartridges might be on their last legs (the .357 Mag. excepted, of course), but much like the 35 Remington, the 35 Whelen is still chugging along. The 35 Whelen is simply a 30-06 Springfield necked up to accept a 35-caliber bullet. It can fire a 200-grain pill 2,800 fps at the muzzle, which produces a whopping 3,481 ft-lbs. of energy. Its relatively low BC bullets lose more energy than more modern options, and it’s dipped below 1,200 ft-lbs. by 500 yards. But devastating velocity and energy at close-to-medium ranges give it enough juice to take all North American big game and most African game as well. Legendary cartridge designer and author Frank Barnes has called it “one of the best balanced and most flexible medium bores for North American big game,” and it hasn’t lost all of its sheen despite trends in modern cartridge development. It’s still readily available online, with seven options at Scheels and 14 at Midway USA.

Even better, Barnes reports that P.O. Ackley’s Improved version of the 35 Whelen increases the velocity of the original and fixes a poor headspacing problem. If you want to pull the trigger on the 35-caliber big game cartridge, getting a rifle chambered in .35 Whelen AI might be a good place to start.

35 Whelen 200g Fusion Soft Point

Availability: 7 options at Scheels

This list is by no means exhaustive, and I’m looking forward to hearing about other options in the comments. You might also scoff at the idea that the 35 Remington or 35 Whelen would be included in a list of obscure cartridges. But in 2025 and among hunters under 40, none of these five would win a popularity contest–and that’s a shame.

The good news is that it’s not too late to adopt these old-school options. You can find rifles chambered in all five, though you might need to resort to the used gun counter. It’s also easy to order factory-loaded cartridges, so you don’t need to fire up the reloading bench to fire rounds downrange. Most importantly, whether you like to hunt deer in the big woods or elk in the Rocky Mountains, you can find something on this list that will deliver excellent performance in the field.

It’s comforting to use the same rifle year after year. But variety is the spice of life (or so I’ve heard), so maybe this is the year you try something new–or, at least, new to you.