01-22-2012, 06:32 PM
I'm impressed that a post by someone as obscure as I warrants a response from Mr. Silvers. For those unaware of it, please understand that Mr. Silvers is the leading proponent and developer of the cartridge, so he has a significant interest in seeing its expansion.
While I agree that it is an interesting cartridge, it is VERY much a niche cartridge. Simply because companies produce something widely doesn't mean it does not fill a niche. There are millions of .380 pistols manufactured every year, and it very much fills a niche in the self defense market, but to believe that it will EVER be accepted as a widespread, primary, and generally accepted manstopper is ludicrous. The 300 BLK very much fills that same kind of niche.
Any rifle cartridge which has exterior ballistics inferior to the 5.56 and similar to the 7.62x39, seems like it might only be described in todays world as a niche cartridge. That's not all bad; the Grendel, 6.8, and many other AR cartridges are niche cartridges.
I love the subsonic characteristics, but I load 30-30's with essentially the same supersonic exterior ballistics, and that cartridge has been around for over 100 years!
Alexander Arms may indeed be interested in the cartridge, but that doesn't change the fact that it is still simply a variant offering which chambers in the AR. For that matter, I would be surprised if AA WASN'T interested, since being able to market to multiple different niches in the market is critical to survival in todays fractured rifle world. Every AR manufacturer around is looking for spots to fill in their lineup, and AA, as perhaps the premier small arms niche marketer, is quick to see those gaps.
In fact, in some ways AA might have invented the niche market, with one of the first 5.45 variations of the AR, (the Genghis, which is no longer marketed), then the Beowulf, then the Grendel, then the .17 HMR. AA has repeatedly found ways to bring cartridges to market in the AR15 platform that have not been marketed, or only scarcely marketed, before. I expect we will continue to see new and exciting offerings from them.
While I agree that it is an interesting cartridge, it is VERY much a niche cartridge. Simply because companies produce something widely doesn't mean it does not fill a niche. There are millions of .380 pistols manufactured every year, and it very much fills a niche in the self defense market, but to believe that it will EVER be accepted as a widespread, primary, and generally accepted manstopper is ludicrous. The 300 BLK very much fills that same kind of niche.
Any rifle cartridge which has exterior ballistics inferior to the 5.56 and similar to the 7.62x39, seems like it might only be described in todays world as a niche cartridge. That's not all bad; the Grendel, 6.8, and many other AR cartridges are niche cartridges.
I love the subsonic characteristics, but I load 30-30's with essentially the same supersonic exterior ballistics, and that cartridge has been around for over 100 years!
Alexander Arms may indeed be interested in the cartridge, but that doesn't change the fact that it is still simply a variant offering which chambers in the AR. For that matter, I would be surprised if AA WASN'T interested, since being able to market to multiple different niches in the market is critical to survival in todays fractured rifle world. Every AR manufacturer around is looking for spots to fill in their lineup, and AA, as perhaps the premier small arms niche marketer, is quick to see those gaps.
In fact, in some ways AA might have invented the niche market, with one of the first 5.45 variations of the AR, (the Genghis, which is no longer marketed), then the Beowulf, then the Grendel, then the .17 HMR. AA has repeatedly found ways to bring cartridges to market in the AR15 platform that have not been marketed, or only scarcely marketed, before. I expect we will continue to see new and exciting offerings from them.
You seek escape from pain. We seek the achievement of happiness. You exist for the sake of avoiding punishment. We exist for the sake of earning rewards. Threats will not make us function; fear is not our incentive. It is not death that we wish to avoid, but life that we wish to live. - John Galt