What exactly defines a magnum? cartridge design? velocity? energy?
- Thread starter Barracuda
- Start date
open-sights
Regular
- Location
- Aldergrove BC
I mean the fps and retention numbers, I don't have any at the moment at work here, but will dig them up once home. I think the difference on the Chrony between my .300 Mag and a hunting partner's .06 was around 400 fps (20 ft or so from muzzle) using the same bullets loaded by himself. But the biggest difference was in bullet drop, unreal out past 400 yards.Barracuda said:
IMHO It's marketing driven.
Bigger cartridge, costs more, makes more money.
But whatever floats yer boat...
Now I have seen the impressive ballistic charts and such for Mags, but I still haven't seen Rhinos and Elephants here in the BC woods.
Why would I need more then a Norma factory load 139 grain spitzer at 2800 fps, or another a 156 grain round nose at 2500 fps for my 6.5X55 Swede?
Why?
Esp' when this same load is being used very nicely on Moose in Sweden.
Which should be fine for Deer, and Grouse (gallery loads for grouse) here in BC IMHO, and I can reload for just under a dollar per cartridge, I won't develop a flinch.
Bigger cartridge, costs more, makes more money.
But whatever floats yer boat...
Now I have seen the impressive ballistic charts and such for Mags, but I still haven't seen Rhinos and Elephants here in the BC woods.
Why would I need more then a Norma factory load 139 grain spitzer at 2800 fps, or another a 156 grain round nose at 2500 fps for my 6.5X55 Swede?
Why?
Esp' when this same load is being used very nicely on Moose in Sweden.
Which should be fine for Deer, and Grouse (gallery loads for grouse) here in BC IMHO, and I can reload for just under a dollar per cartridge, I won't develop a flinch.
open-sights
Regular
- Location
- Aldergrove BC
I didn't realize they made belted cases for the 30-30, oh wait they do, but call them a Norma mag, or is it a .300 mag, I get mixed up.Fox said:
blindside said:
Maybe I sould of had specify or explained my view better:
Sometimes, the reason for choosing a "Magnum" it's plainly and simply that some names are more appealing then others.
Meaning that often, when ballistically comparing between two (almost identical caliber) one beeing a magnum the other one not, the final choices between the 2, even if somhow close to or almost identical in some cases, tends to give the advantage to the Magnum, not that it is better or not, just because of the name and what ever mith there is attached to it.. .
Could be that in 40years from now, people will prefer buying something esle and that that Magnum wave will be looked at differently.
Also... I could be completely wrong, nowing nothing about nothing... just a different view......
Maybe it had something to do with case capacity. Magnum cases generally have larger capacities than non-magnums...just like a magnum of wine. Some of the old British big-bores used to be black powder, and then went to smokeless. I believe those ones were created the name "Nitro Express". There are some anomolies, like the .416 Rigby, .404 Jeffery, .425 Westly-Richards and so on. These were also early developments, in some cases earlier than the .375 H&H Magnum. So maybe Holland and Holland wanted to indicate that their case had a larger capacity, which has the benefit of lower pressure or higher velocity than a standard case. Then along came all of the "short" magnums like the .458 Win Mag, .270 Wby Mag, .338 Win Mag and so forth. These cases had larger case capacity than those rounds based on the 8x57 case or .30-06 case. In addition, they were based on a magnum, so the name probably indicated both: larger case capacity and based on magnum.
The new short magnums are similar in case capacity to the "old" short magnums, but they are related to the .404 Jeffery, which does not have the word magnum in its name. But by this time, many people equated the word magnum with higher performance, so to indicate "high" performance, the marketers may have decided to use the word magnum. Short may be indicating that the capacity is similar, but in a short package.
The Remington Ultra Magnums have more capacity, hence they are ultra.
End of virtually pointless dribble...
The new short magnums are similar in case capacity to the "old" short magnums, but they are related to the .404 Jeffery, which does not have the word magnum in its name. But by this time, many people equated the word magnum with higher performance, so to indicate "high" performance, the marketers may have decided to use the word magnum. Short may be indicating that the capacity is similar, but in a short package.
The Remington Ultra Magnums have more capacity, hence they are ultra.
End of virtually pointless dribble...
it's really got nothing to do with firearms at all - a magnum is an oversized bottle as in booze, champagne, there's your standard bottle , then there's the magnum which is an oversized bottle, and the grandaddy - the jerobaum- but since nobody's ever heard of a jerobaum, we're stuck with magnum ie a longer "bottle"- that's what it is in pistols- ie the 357 is really a 38 magnum, same as the 44- but the really classy ones don't even use the word- when did you ever hear the 454 casull referred to as a "magnum"- yet it's longer and stronger -
Thanks for the comment Open Sights, I was simply stating that magnum means what is more powerful than the cartridge that is currently available. Not all "magnums" use belted cases, but it depends on the person using the word magnum.
