Best balance of recoil and terminal performance in a cartridge.

BongoBob said:
hoytcanon said:
I have likely downed more big game, with a bow and arrow, than you will in two lifetimes... /QUOTE]

Well, are you going to tell us how many and show us some pictures?
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The point was not to brag... it was to illustrate that simply harvesting more game with one particular rifle over another, does not invalidate the latter, nor does it elevate the former...

If you want pictures and numbers spend a few hours scrolling through my previous posts.
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Ok, why no love for 7.5x55 Swiss?

Same terminal energy range as with the other full powered cartridges... I haven't shot any hunting ammo, but the GP11 surplus I find quite easy on the shoulder, compared to .308 or 54R.

Any reason why it isn't in the running in this discussion? Genuine question, not trolling, I just have no experience with the cartridge outside paper punching with it, but was thinking of adding it to the "possibilities" cabinet.
 
Why not? said:
Very nice bull, Tikkam65. Very impressive!

Having said that, your ballistics are not quite as accurate as you shot placement on that bull surely was.

To be brief, all bullets drift in the wind. The fastest of the fast drift....and remarkably so at long range.

Have you ever tried shooting targets at long range in a 10 mph wind? That's just a gentle breeze on the side of your face. It's enlightening, to say the least.

Again, lovely bull.

Ted
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yes Ted you are correct that all rifles drift
but with a 10 mph cross wind a 210 -300 win mag is running as much as 2 -3 moa
and you must recognize that the little 264 hold around 1/2 to 1 minute
not to mention consitancy when bucking the wind down at a 1000
 
Tikkam65 said:
yes Ted you are correct that all rifles drift
but with a 10 mph cross wind a 210 -300 win mag is running as much as 2 -3 moa
and you must recognize that the little 264 hold around 1/2 to 1 minute
not to mention consitancy when bucking the wind down at a 1000
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The 308 210gr bullet has a higher BC than the 264 140gr, so why would it then have more drift? If you look at say Hornady bullets the 264 140gr BTHP Match has a BC of .580 and the 208 gr BTHP Match 308 bullet has a BC of .620. :)
 
hawk-i said:
The 308 210gr bullet has a higher BC than the 264 140gr, so why would it then have more drift? If you look at say Hornady bullets the 264 140gr BTHP Match has a BC of .580 and the 208 gr BTHP Match 308 bullet has a BC of .620. :)
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Hawk-I... I can see where you went wrong in your calculations... you forgot to factor in P.D...
 
My vote is for the quarter-bore...................25-06 rem , .257 Roberts, or any other quarter bore case. Enough to kill a big moose, yet small enough to take out pests. Negligible recoil. Anyone who shoots a .25 caliber shoots it well.
 
I have to agree with the previous poster. ... .25-06

The "best balance of recoil and terminal performance" implies a cartridge with (1) low recoil and (2) lots of downrange killing power.

The .25-06 has been called "the 1st magnum" .. a tribute to its high velocity, low trajectory, laser-beam like performance.
The recoil of a .25-06 is almost nothing .. it is pleasant even in my lightweight Kimber Montana 84L.
And as for long-range killing power? .. check out the Youtube vids of hunters taking everything from gophers to elk at 400+ yards.

I vote for the ol' quarter-bore. Mate it with a light, easy-to-carry rifle like a Kimber .. and you've got a winner.
 
The .25-06 is a great cartridge, but it has one major failing, despite an almost negligible difference in diameter, it doesn't have the range of bullet weights that are available to the various 6.5s. The various 6.5s are great cartridges, but not legal for bison in the Yukon, so if bison hunting interests you, you need to move up to the .30/06 180 gr level as a minimum. Now the .30/06 is a great cartridge unless you decide that you just have to make that African dangerous game hunt, in which case, for legality reasons, you'll have to move up to a .375 of some flavor, although a 9.3X62 is acceptable in some countries. The .375 handloaded is suitable for small game and large. Load it with a solid, or a heavy for caliber soft point and its a hammer for heavy game, penetration is measured in feet not inches. Load it with a a slippery match bullet, and it will shoot flat and far. Nothing is a versatile in the game fields as a large case .375. Look at all the money you'll have saved if you'd just bought a .375 in the first place.

If none of this makes sense to you, its because you already know the rifle and cartridge you hunt with must be balanced to the game and conditions in your specific area, not to mention your reasons for carrying a rifle in the first place. There are many cartridges suitable for medium sized game, but there's more to hunting than medium sized game and shooting at woods ranges or we'd all just shoot .30/30s which are the easiest rifles to carry anyway.
 
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7mm Remington Magnum, or have you heard:
Better, cheaper, flattest, most power, ease of handload, bullet selection, range of powder, less obnoxious, ###ier, price range, rifle availability. range, blondes, brunettes, or redheads, potatoes or potAtoes.
Only gun nutz would have twelve pages of this.
 
Boomer said:
The .25-06 is a great cartridge, but it has one major failing, despite an almost negligible difference in diameter, it doesn't have the range of bullet weights that are available to the various 6.5s. The various 6.5s are great cartridges, but not legal for bison in the Yukon, so if bison hunting interests you, you need to move up to the .30/06 180 gr level as a minimum. Now the .30/06 is a great cartridge unless you decide that you just have to make that African dangerous game hunt, in which case, for legality reasons, you'll have to move up to a .375 of some flavor, although a 9.3X62 is acceptable in some countries. The .375 handloaded is suitable for small game and large. Load it with a solid, or a heavy for caliber soft point and its a hammer for heavy game, penetration is measured in feet not inches. Load it with a a slippery match bullet, and it will shoot flat and far. Nothing is a versatile in the game fields as a large case .375. Look at all the money you'll have saved if you'd just bought a .375 in the first place.

If none of this makes sense to you, its because you already know the rifle and cartridge you hunt with must be balanced to the game and conditions in your specific area, not to mention your reasons for carrying a rifle in the first place. There are many cartridges suitable for medium sized game, but there's more to hunting than medium sized game and shooting at woods ranges or we'd all just shoot .30/30s which are the easiest rifles to carry anyway.
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Boomer I once can't agree more with you.

As I've read thru this thread I kept thinking recoil is subjective why is everyone going for the smaller calibers.

The 375 cal would be my choice just pick your case design I went with 375JDJ/375H&H/375RUM but if I found a 376 Steyr I'd snap it up and sell the H&H just for the cool factor.
 
Tabacco Brook said:
Some can say that " my .243 will do this "... or.. " my .500 super duper wiz bang tank smasher can do that ",...but it all boils down to one cartridge and every single one of us, deep down inside knows, that the most versatile, useful, well rounded cartridge is the grand old 30.06 Springfield,...we all know it, but lots will not admit it. From 110gr to 220gr bullets, varmits to moose, it's a real killer, just as accurate as any other hunting round, cheap ammo found anywhere, manufactured in all rifle platforms, by all manufactures, reloading components are cheap and readily available, recoil is no more noticeable than the rest of the standard calibers,..so whats not to like,....30.06 is the answer.
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I knew someone was going to say this and I absolutely must take umbrage with it. Most 30-06s that I have shot have had significant recoil for the ballistics available out the muzzle. I had at the same time 2 Rem 700 BDLs 1 in 30-06 and 1 in 7MM RM and the big 7 was much more pleasant to shoot than the '06. I bought my boy a Ruger 77 RSI in 30-06 and it is a most unpleasant little rifle, IMHO. I find most '06s to be in the same realm as a 300 NM or WM for perceived recoil and no where near the available down range or terminal ballistics. The only relatively pleasant '06 I owned and shot was an old Sako L61R, but of course it had a 24" barrel and was fairly heavy with a good designed stock, however I didn't find the identical 300 WM, which I owned concurrently, to be any less pleasant to shoot.

My vote goes to the 234 Douglas.........devastating on game with Matrix bullets, and virtually zero recoil..............
 
Most 30-06s that I have shot have had significant recoil for the ballistics available out the muzzle
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I don't and I can agree with TB = I've never shot a 30-06 that had significant recoil for the returns no matter how you look at it its still just a little ole 30-06 wasn't it Col Jeff Cooper that used to say something along the lines of "if you can't do it with a 30-06 you shouldn't be doing it".
 
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