At work today i was thinking about small fast hunting cartridge's that really never took off. The Atomic age was an amazing time for fast cartridges. From what i read Weatherby released the 224 Weatherby in 1963 in a Mark V Weatherby Varmintmaster throwing a 45 grain bullet in the 3400's ft/sec. This appears to be the first angled shoulder Weatherby Cartridge until the recently released RPM line. In 1964 Winchester released the 225 Winchester in the Model 70 throwing a 40 grain bullet 4000+ ft/sec. Seems like Winchester developed a winner in the 225 Winchester that outperformed Weatherby. Why didn't the 225 Winchester ever take off in popularity as it seems like the 22-250 was still a wildcat at the time and wasn't officially released until 1965 by Remington. The 22-250 is still around and kicking strong. My opinion is Weatherby was spendy and weatherby cartridges are still is a niche market. Winchester chambered the Model 70 in the 225 Winchester but possibly the consumers were swayed away from Winchester with the redesign of the Model 70 in 1964. 22-250 was a fairly established wildcat among the reloading community but the big popularity of Remington 700 potentially could have enhanced popularity at a reasonable price in 1965 that killed the 225 Winchester flair. What do you think? Why didn't either the 224 Weatherby or the 225 Winchester take off prior to the official commercialization of the 22-250? Have you own or have shot the 224 Weatherby or 225 Winchester?
