So probably your first thought was, "Why?" But hear me out.
I've been thinking about the future of beginner rifles, which have traditionally been .22's. But we all know the ammo situation. So I was trying to come up with a 'next best' option. Here's what I would want for something like that:
1) Reloadable
2) Relatively Quiet (no sonic cracks)
3) Stingy on Powder
4) Storebought ammo available and cheap
5) Acceptable for varmints to around 100 yards
6) Could use cast bullets
7) Brass plentiful
8) Straight-walled cartridge to make reloading easy and case life long
So the cartridge that kept coming to mind was the 9mm Luger. Plenty available in semi-auto, but none in bolt action. You have the old quasi-Mauser Spanish Destroyer carbine, but that's in 9mm Bergmann / Largo and suffers from parts availability and breakage issues.
Typing "9mm bolt action" into the search engine brought up a few other people who've thought of this, and one possible solution. Seems the .22 TCM cartridge being offered by RIA in their bolt rifle is a close dimensional match for the 9mm Luger. A couple of companies are modifying the TCM rifles by slightly boring the bolt head (TCM based on .223 head dia) and swapping barrels.
I've emailed and called RIA asking them to chamber the TCM rifle for 9mm, but they aren't interested and referred me to the companies who are already doing so in the aftermarket.
Anyhow, just curious on y'all's thoughts on this. Really don't want anything more than a cartridge that's basically a reloadable .22. No Hornets, no .223's, etc. I did think of Ruger's 77/357, but that's also more power than what I'm wanting, with brass also being harder to find during the panics. To me someone manufacturing a 9mm bolt rifle is a total no-brainer. But it's possible I'm the one with an empty melon.