ndking1126
New member
I've been having problems with my 30-06 hunting rifle and have decided I will replace it or rebarrel it. It's been my hunting cartridge for 20 years (not that I hunted most of those years) so I'm a big 30-06 fan. I'm also a fan of shopping around to see if any other cartridge fits my needs better. I narrowed it down to 280 Rem, 270 Win and 270 WSM because all 3 seemed to offer less recoil and similar ballistics, if not better.
I am not asking for feedback on which caliber/bullet weight I should choose, only curious in feedback on my methodology in comparing the cartridges. Here is what I did:
Step 1: Go to Nosler and average together all the max velocities listed for the cartridge and bullet weight. Do this for all 4 cartridges.
Step 2: Using the average max velocity and JBMBallistics, calculate drop and energy at 400 yards which is the max I want to be able to shoot at an animal. The plan is to use Accubonds, but because Nosler doesn't list the BC for the 150 gr 7mm Accubond yet, I used the BC of their Ballistic Tips to keep the comparison apples-to-apples.
Step 3: Using JBMBallistics, calculate the recoil energy for each caliber assuming rifle weighs the same (8.5lbs) and the powder charge that most closely matched the calculated average velocity. (For example, if the average velocity was 2800, but Nosler had two recipes that resulted in 2775 and 2805 I chose the recipe that was at 2805 and reduced the load by .1 gr)
Step 4: Put all the data into an Excel spreadsheet and ranked each caliber from best to worst on three different categories (Velocity, Energy @ 400, and Drop @ 400). First place was worth 4 points and last place was worth 1.
Step 5: Add up all the scores. I also added up all the scores giving a 2x weight to the category that is most important, 1.5x weight to the second most and a 1x weight for the least important. First and second place were very close. Weighting them caused the 1st and 2nd place calibers to switch places.
Of course each barrel is its own set of rules, so figuring out the expected velocity is the key to this whole process. My assumption is that by using the average velocity published by a reputable company like Nosler gives me as even of a baseline as I can expect.
Thanks! Long post, I know.. and I'm sorry.
I am not asking for feedback on which caliber/bullet weight I should choose, only curious in feedback on my methodology in comparing the cartridges. Here is what I did:
Step 1: Go to Nosler and average together all the max velocities listed for the cartridge and bullet weight. Do this for all 4 cartridges.
Step 2: Using the average max velocity and JBMBallistics, calculate drop and energy at 400 yards which is the max I want to be able to shoot at an animal. The plan is to use Accubonds, but because Nosler doesn't list the BC for the 150 gr 7mm Accubond yet, I used the BC of their Ballistic Tips to keep the comparison apples-to-apples.
Step 3: Using JBMBallistics, calculate the recoil energy for each caliber assuming rifle weighs the same (8.5lbs) and the powder charge that most closely matched the calculated average velocity. (For example, if the average velocity was 2800, but Nosler had two recipes that resulted in 2775 and 2805 I chose the recipe that was at 2805 and reduced the load by .1 gr)
Step 4: Put all the data into an Excel spreadsheet and ranked each caliber from best to worst on three different categories (Velocity, Energy @ 400, and Drop @ 400). First place was worth 4 points and last place was worth 1.
Step 5: Add up all the scores. I also added up all the scores giving a 2x weight to the category that is most important, 1.5x weight to the second most and a 1x weight for the least important. First and second place were very close. Weighting them caused the 1st and 2nd place calibers to switch places.
Of course each barrel is its own set of rules, so figuring out the expected velocity is the key to this whole process. My assumption is that by using the average velocity published by a reputable company like Nosler gives me as even of a baseline as I can expect.
Thanks! Long post, I know.. and I'm sorry.
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