Re: Caliber Choices - Comparison and Applications
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Greg Langelius *</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I agree that Remington has handled several of its new cartridge introductions more poorly than it should have. The .260 and .280 come first to mind.
More recently the .30RAR was high on my list of choices for a shorter range .30 caliber match chambering, until Remington screwed up (yet again) and altered the rim diameter away from the highly popular and more conventional .473". The resaons came down pretty much solely to lawyer-speak. One of the dumbest moves I've seen Remington make. Ever.
I eventually went with .30BR, but at what I suspect was an otherwise unnecessarily greater expense in brass and dies. If so, I especially thank Remington for their role in a therefore more difficult choice.
The .30BR is beginning to look like a stellar choice; but I also suspect it could have just as easily, maybe even more easily, have been an equally stellar accomplishment for the .30RAR.
It is by such marketing choices that Remington continues to fail to sieze new markets. I'd lament it, but after all, it's just Remington again, and simply more of their same disappointing track record.
Greg</div></div>
I'm glad to see this thread alive and well. It seems it got too far back on my list and I just never visited it enough to see any of the good posts or good questions someone might like an opinion on.
I agree with Greg wholeheartedly on Remingtons blunders. They do have one extremely strong thing in their favor though, the 700 action. It's just the favorite and that's the way it's going to stay for a while. IMO, there is not that much wrong with it. But, there are things that I wish were more right with it.
From the time this thread started a lot of the high performance small 6mm cases have now made their way into the competition worlds and the problems that some of them have encountered have been solved up to the point of better, or I should say, useful and consistent useability. That said, the two top choices I would have are the 6mm XC or 6mmCM. (Creedmoor,... the Competition Match sounds like a great one too!) Lower volume to save on recoil and barrel life. Plenty of high BC bullets to choose from. Shoots flat, and beats the wind pretty well. 6mm's still aren't really heavy enough to 'buck' the wind. Once it really starts blowing they get beat up on pretty bad compared to the 'heavies'.
In 6.5 you can go with any of the three mid-size cartridges and have an excellent set-up for accuracy. All can push really good BC bullet out at very competent speeds. I'll mention the 6.5x47, the 6.5 Creedmoor and the .260. Again great selection of bullets. For all out, "I don't give a damn about the barrel" performance there is the 6.5-.284 or the 6.5-06. It gets even more extreme when you go 6.5 WSM or .264 Win. They get there the fastest, and that's how your barrel burns out. Anything above the first three are barrel eaters for the sake of winning that day.
The reason I like the 7mm's is because with the basic two, the 7mm-08 and 7x57 you can get to a mile with the heavier but still reasonable VLD type bullets. The 6.5's can get that far and shoot flatter as can the 6mm's, but both of those smaller calibers drift more at optimum velocities. AT 1k and One mile. Just like the two smaller calibers you can get a lot of life out of the smaller cases, but as you go up you start seeing barrel burners. 7WSM and 7mm Rem mag are two examples. I've also seen a 7mm WBY compete and burn barrels out every 1000 rounds.
The big problem to me for the .30 cal is in order to get competitively high BC bullets you have to go over 200 gr. Which in turn just means you have to use more case to get them out there fast enough. Which leads to more recoil and barrel wear. As noted above, the .308 really is the fat kid at the track meet. It runs the race but isn't a winner. It doesn't wear barrels out. But get big and competitive, like the .300 Win Mag (and most other .30 cal mags) you wear barrels out a lot quicker. The only upside to that is you have high BC bullets that weigh more and you're going to have less wind drift at competitive velocities.
Anything bigger than .30 needs an even bigger weight advantage, but that is happening.
