By Scott Mackenthun | A perfect storm of conditions may be driving keen interest in straight wall cartridge
caliber rifles. For the uninitiated, straight wall cartridges are a class of rifle ammunition
with straight or nearly parallel cylinder shape and not holding the taper common in other
rifle cartridges. Since tapering concentrates pressure upon firing, the non-tapered
straight wall cartridges are lower velocity and will shed energy faster, as well as
producing less recoil. Straight wall cartridge rounds are valued for excellent precision
and flat trajectories, ballistic characteristics valued by many deer hunters. Examples of
straight wall cartridges include 450 Bushmaster, 360 Buckhammer, and 350 Legend.
With two youth hunters in my home and preference points accumulating in Iowa, it was
time to acquire a straight wall caliber rifle for our family. Out of an abundance of options
at the gun shop, I selected a Savage Arms Axis 2 that was easy on the wallet but
packed in a lot of features. After sighting in the Axis 2 in 350 Legend and practicing on it
this summer with my oldest daughter, I reached out to R.J. Contorno, Senior Product
Manager for Savage Arms to see if Savage is seeing the same popularity in straight wall
cartridges calibers and learning more about the gun.
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