The Most Sensible Caliber

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roy reali

New member
I was just looking at reloading data on Hodgdon website. I realize that the the caliber, I do mean caliber, not cartridge, that makes logical sense is the .270.

I saw in the 30 caliber cartridges, there are a half dozen rounds that fire 180 grain bullets at 2700 feet per second, give or take. Why must there be so many 30 caliber cartridges that are almost performance duplicates of each other? Why is there a .300 Ruger and a .30TC. Is one going to kill deer quicker. Is one designed not to miss as often? Does owning a rifle in each chambering close some magic gap? The 7 mm's are almost as bad. The .338's are getting there.

Then I looked at cartridges that launch .270 bullets. There are three. One is the standard Winchester round, one is the Winchester Short Magnum, and the last is the Weatherby Magnum. This is very logical. You have three cartridges shooting the same bullets with a marked performance difference in each. The short magnum boosts velocity by a couple of hundred feet per second, while the Weatherby adds another few hundred feet of velocity. There are not a bunch of .270 cartridges that do the exact same thing.

Why the over devolpment of 30 caliber cartridges? Why the sensible deveolpment of the .270 cartridges?
 
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lizziedog1

New member
I have also wondered why there are so many 30 caliber cartridges. If the .30-30, the .30-06, and the .300 Winchester Magnum were the only three availabe, you would have most 30 caliber applications covered.
 
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Rangefinder

New member
Get into handloading---it opens up a WHOLE new world. You'd be amazed what you can do with the different calibers out there. This is the part where you're supposed to throw sensible to the wind, BTW. ;)
 
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Mike Irwin

Staff
The .270 is probably closer to being a necked down .30-03, the precursor to the .30-06...

Why are there so many cartridges that use X diameter bullet? And with so many of them overlapping in their capabilities?

Because you don't have one entity controlling development and production of cartridges.

The same reason why we have what, 100 or so different car models to choose from?

Hell, we as a nation could easily get by with ONE sub compact, ONE mid-sided sedan, ONE station wagon, ONE mini van, ONE pick up, and ONE SUV.

But where would the fun be in that?

Everyone is jockying for market position, everyone thinks their designs are best... You get the idea.
 
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Mello2u

New member
The Most Sensible Caliber

This brings up the issue in my mind: What is the meaning of sensible?

–adjective
1. having, using, or showing good sense or sound judgment: a sensible young woman.
2. cognizant; keenly aware (usually fol. by of): sensible of his fault.
3. significant in quantity, magnitude, etc.; considerable; appreciable: a sensible reduction in price.
Click to expand...

It could be argued that a .458 cartridge is the most sensible and is gives the owner more options than smaller diameter bullets. If you take the meaning of sensible to be significant in quantity; then the greater the mass is also greater significance of quantity.

A .450 Marlin could be one of the most sensible cartridges in .45 caliber. It can be loaded down for target shooting, up a bit for whitetail deer or loaded to full specs for bear churning out over 3500 ft. lbs. of energy using hard cast bullets or tough designed jacketed bullets. The .450 Marlin can be shot from a Marlin 1895M which is quite handy in weight and length.

I'm not really advocating this position, just illustrating a rational alternative.
 
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Dannyl

New member
No such thing

Hi,
Sorry but I do not think that there is such thing as the most sensible caliber.
Nor do I understand why it should bother anyone that there is such a great variety to choose from.

each caliber is somewhat different to others, although some have very similar ballistics. to understand what I am trying to say, you should try and spend an afernoon with a friend who reloads and a few of his manuals; you will be amazed at what performances one can achieve with different bullet shapes and weight in each caliber (depending on what muzzle velocity you are loading for) and so on.

I think that afer your chat with your friend you will probably see things differently ( the worst that can happen is that you start reloading and buy rifles in several calibers :))

Brgds,

Danny
 
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Jim March

New member
You know what's odd? If you were going to pick "one caliber for everything", rifle and handgun, you can make a very credible claim for the 357Magnum.

Buffalo Bore's top-end loads match 30-30 ballistics from a levergun, and we know what that can do for both meat and defense. (Hopefully things ain't so dire they're one and the same!!!)
 
R

roy reali

New member
Clarification

I guess I worded the start of this thread poorly. What I meant to say is that there are only three commercial cartridges utilizing .270 bullets. For many years there were two, the standard Winchester and the Weatherby Magnum. Recently the Winchester Short Magnum was added. It sort of splits the performance difference of the other two rounds. There are not commercial rounds in this caliber that replicate the ones we have, unlike some other calibers. It seems like this is one caliber that hasn't been mucked with much.

In 30 caliber is seems as though everytime you pick up a current gun magazine a new 30 caliber cartridge has been introduced. You look up the ballistics and there other 30 caliber rounds that do almost the same thing.

I guess 270 fans seem to have more sense.
 
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Bud Helms

Senior Member
I guess 270 fans seem to have more sense.
Click to expand...

First it seems you would need to be indifferent to the differences between what the .277s offers vs the .308s.

If the difference between a .277 and a .308 bore (caliber) and the bullet weights available and all the associated performance characteristics don't matter to you, ... given that ... then that's why you have choices.

Since when is more choices bad?

(indifferent to the differences ... :D )
 
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FrankenMauser

New member
What I meant to say is that there are only three commercial cartridges utilizing .270 bullets. For many years there were two, the standard Winchester and the Weatherby Magnum. Recently the Winchester Short Magnum was added. It sort of splits the performance difference of the other two rounds.
Click to expand...

Don't forget about .276 Pedersen, and all the other obsolete .277" cartridges. Some of them are just as good, or better than the popular offerings. It's just that many of the cartridges never had the backing of a major company.

...And don't worry about the .270 WSM. Sales have declined sharply. Ammunition sales have declined. Winchester cut back their ammo offerings. Used WSM rifles are flooding the used market. Many of the fans are realizing the 'magnum' gains are not for everyone. It seems that magazine capacity and low recoil are more important than these buyers thought.....
 
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Brian Pfleuger

Moderator Emeritus
It seems odd to me that we should consider lacking development of new cartridges to be the mark of a calibers sensibility.

By that standard the 50 cal handgun rounds are the most sensible. Afterall, there's only... What? 2? 3?

And the Yugo would be the most sensible car... There's only a couple versions of that too.

Seems to me that lack of development means that the caliber either fills such a specific niche that it has no real room for development of that it fills NO niche and no one cares to develop it further.
 
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Bud Helms

Senior Member
Seems to me that lack of development means that the caliber either fills such a specific niche that it has no real room for development of that it fills NO niche and no one cares to develop it further.
Click to expand...

Bingo!
 
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Wuchak

New member
There are a lot of .270's when you consider that .270 is 7mm.

The Winchester .270 uses a .277 size bullet while the 7mm is .275.

If you want to really see the redundancy in different cartridges get a copy of Cartridges of the World. It goes way beyond what's in most loading manuals.
 
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44 AMP

Staff
It called the Free Market

And it is the market place that determines how "sensible" and popular a caliber is. It is not a scientific process. It does not take into account only the performance capacity of the caliber. People are involved too! And when that happens, "sensible" is as variable as the people involved.

Why is the .30-30 still such a popular round? There are literally dozens of cartridges that perform "better". So why?

Hint, its the rifles! The .30-30 performs well enough, and the rifles it comes in are light, handy, and still very popular.

Why are there only 3 .277 caliber cartridges out there? Not because its the most sensible caliber, but because its just not very popular. The rounds (especially the .270 Win) are fine performers, but the .27 cal bore size has never been as popular as the .30 in the USA. The .26 cal bore size is very good for many things, and excellent for long range shooting, but the 6.5mm caliber has never been very popular in the USA. And a lot of that has to do with the rifles and cartridges that have been available in the past.

The 6.5x55mm Swede is a fine round, but until fairly recently, the only rifles you could find it in were surplus Swede Mausers, and while I do, not everybody likes them.

Its about sales, as much as other things. Firstest with the mostest goes a long way. The .243 Win is very popular. The 6mm Rem isn't.

The SSMs set the shooting world on fire, at first. Now, not so much, for many of the calibers.

Sensible is an opinion, and mine is different from yours, most likely.
 
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