I remember when Remington first introduced these. I almost bought the mag fed bolt action model. It was supposed to be the .22 killer, but never took off. Too far ahead of its time I guess.
I had a T/C bbl chambered for this rd for a few years. Even back then the ammo was somewhat expensive. IIRC it did not offer anything substantial over a good quality 22WMR rd. Then they (CCI,etc)started coming out with the hyper velocity 30gr 22WMR loadings and the 5mm Mag just seemed to fade away.
My T/C bbl chambered in 5mm Mag was pretty accurate. A little under 1" at 50yds IIRC. --- SAWMAN
It was the original necked down 22 mag way before the 17 hmr. Guns were only made for 5 years I have the tube fed model and 4 boxes of the original ammo. I've seen the original ammo go for $75 to $100 per box. Couple years ago Centurion ammo (Aguila) started making ammo again in a hollow pt. and soft pt. it is pretty good and you can usually find it at gunshows. Midway did carry it but it is no longer on there site. I've never loaded any photos on the site but will try and get some of the gun and ammo next to 17 hmr and 22mag for comparison. Btw there is a whole website dedicated to the round.
I have a good supply of ammo for it, those 4 original boxes I have aren't going anywhere they are like gold on Gunbroker. I keep plenty for me to take it out when I want to.
Finally posted some pics. I need to hunt more with this setup, 1" groups at 100 yards easily. Really want to varmint hunt with it, should be great on fox and coyotes. The cartridge on the far left is a 17HMR and second from the left is a 22WMR for comparison.
Check out the Remington 591M mag fed and the 592M tube feed made from 1969 to 1974. Sometimes they show up on Gunbroker. I posted it as the original necked down 22 mag but it is it's own cartridge that Remington made for higher pressure and velocity to compete with Winchester's 22 mag.
It was for sure ,a poachers caliber of choice.Shortly after Remington brought it to market Winchester cut the sales price of 22 Magnum almost in half , making 5mm magnum almost twice as expensive as 5mm Remington magnum. I believe that hurt the sales of them drastically, and helped to bring about the demise of the 5mm.