How can this be??

who do people buy a Tikka T3, Savage Edge, or another rifle that use one standard action length in .308?
seems to me that if youre going to be using a .30-06 sized action, you may as well get a .30-06 for the added versatility of loading heavier bullets. factory ammo cost is identical.
 
fclassguy said:
mmattockx, Aaaawww c'mon...

<snip>

The advantage of a good BC begins at the muzzle not at 600 yards. The point was made to throw some light on the question of why a seemingly superior round does not upon close inspection seem so superior after all from a ballistic perspective, and to how a guy can maximize the ballistic performance of the caliber he has.
Click to expand...

I was mostly just giving you a hard time. I know some people do use the SMK on game, but it is not a common hunting bullet. Most of the reason why people think one round is superior comes down to marketing hype and not looking at the actual performance numbers. As noted earlier, most of the typical hunting calibres are pretty much equivalent at closer ranges.

While it is true that a higher BC is always an advantage, inside of 200yds it makes no almost measurable difference. You hardly notice the difference until around 400yds, certainly not in practical hunting terms. I am not arguing that using a high BC bullet is a good idea, just that its effects on the performance for hunting purposes are very overrated and exaggerated. For long range shooting and target competition, it is much more important and cannot be ignored.

Just to show what I am talking about, let's look at two 225gr. .338 caliber bullets, both starting with the same 2850fps muzzle velocity. The first will be a Hornady SP design with a G1 BC of 0.397 (from Hornady's website). The second will be a Hornady SST with an average G1 BC of 0.520 (from Bryan Litz's book). Both zeroed at 200yds.

At 200yds the SP is at 2392fps and 2858ft-lb of energy. The SST is at 2496fps and 3112ft-lb.

At 300yds the SP is at 2181fps and 2377ft-lb with 7.9" of drop. The SST is at 2330fps and 2711ft-lb with 7.3" of drop.

At 400yds the SP is at 1980fps and 1959ft-lb with 23.1" of drop. The SST is at 2170fps and 2353ft-lb with 21.0" of drop.

So, the difference is 190fps and 2.1" of drop at 400yds. Not very dramatic in terms of hunting performance. If you used a RN bullet, the differences would start to be significant earlier on, probably before 300yds.

Mark
 
There's no doubt that there are a pile of similar cartridges that will all do about the thing. Hell, half of them use the same cases and just vary the diameter a few thousandths, the velocity a couple hundred and the bullet 10-20 grains one way or the other. Many of them fit into that 250-300 yard point blank range category and someone will always show up to say most game is shot at ranges where a muzzleloader is still in the game. Since range doesn't matter, wind doesn't matter either right? Energy doesn't matter if you have enough.
Well, heres the deal. The top end of that range of standard cartridges is different from the low end, nor did cartridge developement stop there. Range doesn't stop because some bush hunter can't see past 50 yards and the wind doesn't quit blowing because someone else either doesn't need to or can't shoot far enough for it to matter.
I can go through my own rack and pick out cartridges that have MPBRs of 250 to 400 yards. That's more or less double. Where I'm sitting double is a lot. Its really easy to go through the same rack and find others where the wind drift is half. If you don't think half matters guess a number between 1 and 10 while I guess one between 1 and 5. You're gonna lose.
Next I'll pick out couple cartridges that have longrange traditions. One kicks out as much energy at 900 yards as the other does at the muzzle. Equal? If you say so.
When people talk about all cartridges being the same, it might just be that for what they are doing it doesn't matter much. Worded that way, they're probably right.
 
I got lost, had to reread the original question.

The ballistics are comparable because the .308 is a newer cartridge loaded to a higher pressure, designed to match 30-06 ballistics in a short action. (As stated above.) (Way above.)

You can however load to higher pressures safely; ie: "Light Magnums" and have more usefull case capacity if you're so inclined. Also heavier bullets aren't going to infringe on your case capacity as much.
 
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