An interesting read on long range calibers...

[ex-LT]

A link to this article was in my (social media website, whose name shall remain unmentioned) feed this morning...

17 Best Long Range Calibers

[nhluke]

It has the 260 Remington on their list and speaks favorably about it (skimmed to mostly only to indulge my bias). I'm a sucker for that and have box seats in the "echo chamber of pro 260 rem" fan club.

[Bearcatrp]

If you don't mind magnums, the 338 LM is a sweet cartridge. Had one in a savage and a RPR. Expensive but my reload cost was a little of $2 bucks. I like heavier bullets to buck the wind better so like my 308 in a 24 inch barrel. Had a 6.5CM and got rid of both of them. May shoot flatter but light on the bullets. The 300 PRC has my attention if I go back to a heavier bolt action but with no available brass for it ATM, I will wait. Good list though.

[crbutler]

I’m not sure what he defines long range as. His inclusion of the .223 as a long range round confused me (although I get why with his explanation, if it’s a long range round, then there is little separation between the magnums and bigger standard rounds. Perhaps if this was all a discussion of PRC suitability it makes more sense, although he deliberately said that this was not the thought.

His action length discussions are also strangely worded... a .308 is not a standard action, it’s short action. A .30-06 is not a long action, but rather standard. (The standard was defined when Mauser made the 8x57)... and the .300 WM uses a standard action as well.

That he had the stats he did for the .30-06, just made me wonder. The 06 is capable of 150-200 FPS more than the .308 in pretty much every bullet weight. Yet, his data shows it as less than the .308 for range/retained energy.

The blipping back and forth on hand loaded stats and factory stats made it kind of ridiculous.

From a hunting standpoint, a stat he didn’t cover that is, to my way of thinking, one of the most important is MPBR. How far you can go while just holding on target can be rather valuable.

That he didn’t include the granddaddy of them all, the .50 BMG seemed a bit off for a military sniper. Frankly, my .50 Barret is less unpleasant to shoot than a .300 WM that is set up for hunting, ie lightweight.

The 6 Creed and .243 comparison points just seemed weak.

The article just was too superficially done. Of course, the subject probably could be debated in full book length. A lot of the difference in my mind is in the standard forms. A .243 can be twisted, throated, and chambered so that there is minimal to no difference between it and a 6 creed. Ditto between a .260 and a 6.5 creed.

Really, the difference in LR performance is probably only noticeable for the top 5% of competitive shooters, and those guys could make most anything work more or less...