Covering Hunting Calibers

Foxrr: I agree, the setup costs for some decent reloading gear seems rather expensive. But it would be more for the lack of factory ammunition than my desire to find a 'perfect' load for the 6.5 SE.

The .270 is still under serious consideration, especially as its Ballistics are pretty close to the swede. I think my concern would be for its rather heavy recoil being an issue for semi-regular range practice (i need to maintain practice or my accuracy starts to slide), though field positions it may not be anywhere as severe as if I fired prone or off a bench.
Also, what sort of barrel life do you get from a .270?
 
Nothing wrong with a 270 for sure. For some reason though I have always favored a 243 and 308 and they are good. So good that I am now searching for a good deal on a 7 mm-08. I figure it will be a good in between round compared to my two favorite rifles so far. It's pretty darned close to a 270 though in terms of realistic performance. I just prefer a BLR in a shorter throw.

My best shooting buddy though is an absolute fanatic about the 6.5 Sweede. And he has shot pretty much everything that regular Americans are supposed to shoot. If a guy from Nebraska likes it so much, it seems like a reasonable choice for Australia because there are some similarities in the shooting opportunities.
 
The .270's ballistics really do surprise me. Comparing just a 150gr BoatTail SoftPoint with a similar but heavier .308 165gr projectile, the .270 gets there faster, hits harder and with better penetration.
 
Also, what sort of barrel life do you get from a .270?
Click to expand...

Found this answer in Field and Stream June '09.

According to Petzal and one of his gunsmith friends a .270Win will get about 3,000 rounds through the barrel.

For some comparison he offers up these other figures:

.223 3-4K
22/250 2.5K
7mm Rem Mag 1.5K
30/06 4-5K
.300WSM 2K
.300Weatherby 1-1.5K
.338Win Mag 2.5-3K
30/30 estimated at 6K+ [gunsmith had never seen a barrel shot out]
 
My all time favorite is the old 30-06 you can not go wrong with it. You can use it for almost anything, and you can get a wide range of ammo about anywhere. If you reload that is a added bonus. The .308 would be second, the .270 third, and the .243 fourth. That is just my thoughts. They are all great calibers, and I have owned them all at one time.
 
Just a short comment on felt recoil. You can adjust to it in time ..up to a point. Probably depends on your build as well as attitude/tolerance. But if it's a bit on the heavier side, say, from 20 ft/pounds on up it can be annoying on the bench. I'm not a big built bloke so I have my limits.
I bought my .308 Ruger second-hand. It came with the infamous 'paddle' stock with its nasty hard buttpad. In .308, yep, it did annoy me. Chucked the buttpad and fitted a Pachmayr slip-on.
End of problem!
 
Recoil seems to be a very specific thing for me. I find a 12g shotgun recoil 'fun' but a heavy recoiling rifle is unpleasant.
I agree that I can probably take a substantial amount of the uncomfortable portion of recoil out with a good limbsaver and of course a proper fitting stock.
 
Hi telgriff, well I currently own a .270 & 6.5x55 & they are both great calibres.
The 6.5 has considerable less recoil than the .270 for around the same bullet weights, on the down side there are alot less decent factory rounds in 6.5.available is aussie.
The .270 is basically a necked down 30-06 so althought it generally has less bullet weight it does travel faster so if your not shooting big elk as in usa then to me .270 is more suited to pigs/goats/deer here in aussie! Good luck!
 
6.5x55 Swede

I do not see this caliber mentioned...

This is a magnificent caliber and would work beautifully for what you are looking for. It carries great knockdown power. It will allow you to load for varmit type game as well as Elk size game and do the job on anything in between.

The only thing that could be a drawback is ammo. You most likely would need to load your on ammo.

Good luck with your choice.

As you can guess I did not scroll all the way down...I see where in the post above this caliber was mentioned....
 
If the Swede is hard to find you might want to look at the 7x57 Mauser. I understand it's pretty common outside the US.
 
Hadnt even considered 7mm projectiles... have wandered into new territory.. 7mm-08 seems very good indeed.

thanks for the suggestion Buzzcook
 
I've found it easier to pick the rifle and then choose the chamber. I had selected 7-08 just to find it wasn't available in my rifle choice. I got it's ballistic twin, so I'm very satisfied.

You can pick any (with very few exceptions) of the commercially available chambers from the 25 class to the 30 class and go hunting without ever pushing the limits of a cartridge. It doesn't have to be this difficult. Select a chamber based on your recoil comfort level first. If you are not comfortable shooting a heavy recoiling rifle you will struggle to shoot well.
 
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