Re: Caliber Choices - Comparison and Applications
@Wetzel,
BobinNC said it straight up, as usual. I will add though, JBM's smiplified ballistics calculator is fun to play with.
http://www.jbmballistics.com/
It is maintained by Bryal Litz. If you are willing to put in a couple hours to get to know the bullets and pull up Hodgdon.com and go to their free online reloading manual you can begin to see what various calibres at various muzzle velocities will do. You can even play with temp's, altitudes, and crosswinds. It has a lot of functionality built in. When you start playing with crosswinds and the various bullets, you can Really Begin to See a part of the "Story" unfold.
A good friend of mine is an Avid Hunter. He goes to various parts of the lower 48 to hunt on a regular basis. Rarely does he come back empty handed. That said, I taught him to reload for his 338 win, 270win, and 25-06rem. A bit later, I taught him how to set up his 338 so it didnt bloody him every other shot
Still later yet, one day I introduced him to JBM and a Mil Dot Scope... his 338 had destroyed his scope, So i pulled the 3x9 tasco mil dot off of my .22Lr and handed it to him (out at the range), and began to explain Mil Dots dont = military and human targets only ect... once he put the mil dot with JBM and added in his newfound reloading know how, he was suddenly MUCH more comfortable attempting (and making) 500-600 yard+ shots. "JBM and mil dots are a lot like cheating!" he said to me. Oh, he does cheat a bit, he also has a range-finder.
Later on, he replaced the tasco with a much better mildot unit, and my .22Lr is happy again
Sorry to ramble on, some days I do that. I used to be a rabid foaming at the mouth reloader / shooter. At first, I went shooting so I could Reload. Later on, after many thousands of rounds down range, I finally started reloading so I could go shooting
I have reloaded for A LOT of different rifles and calibre's, my mentor had quite a collection. There is no such thing as ballistic magic. It is all about engineering trade off's. Bullet length, bullet profile, muzzle velocity, bullet construction, all have a big effect on down range behaviour.
I love the 6.5, but then I love 7mm, and 30cal. Each have their +'s and -'s. One calibre that is over looked is 25, the Berger 115gr VLD in 25-06 makes for a SOLID 500 yard hunting tool!
Then again, a 140gr gameking in 6.5x55 swede is potent med too! A 300 win mag with a 208gr amax is wicked out to nearly 1k! A good friend has a 7mmRem mag with a berger 180 or a 162 Amax makes for a nice game taker. There really are no One and Only One to rule them all... always a series of trade off's... how much recoil can you REALLY take..?
shoot well,
Diriel