Posted on 09/18/2016 12:42:15 PM PDT by w1n1
Despite The Rise Of The 6.5, The 7mm Remains America’s Favorite Metric Hunting Cartridge
It’s hard to pick up a shooting magazine or wander through a large gun store without coming face to face with one of the myriad of popular 6.5 cartridges. Some, like the 6.5 Grendel, 26 Nosler and 6.5 Creedmoor are relatively new. Others, like the 6.5×55 Swedish Mauser, are practically historic. But the 6.5s are trending right now in every platform for hunting and competitive shooting.
I won't take anything away from the 6.5s. They’re versatile cartridges that are accurate out to long range. But the king of the metric mountain is and will be (at least in the foreseeable future) the 7mms, and here’s why.
Modern smokeless 7mm cartridges have been around for more than a century. The first truly successful sporting and military 7mm across the Atlantic was the 7mm Mauser, and at the Battle of San Juan Hill, Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders realized that the fast, accurate, flat-shooting Mauser 93s in 7mm Mauser were far superior to their .45-70 Springfields. That battle prompted a change in American cartridge design that continues to this day. Read the rest of the story here.
The 7mm is probably a nice bullet, but I am still partial to the 7.62x51 ....
Teddy Roosevelt’s guys had .30 Krag carbines. The other volunteer regiments had the 45/70 Springfield. The regulars had Krags.
My great-grampa carried a 7mm Spanish Mauser because he was a Spanish soldier.
Gee, I've been thinking all this time that my 1896 Carl Gustavs SM was a authentic piece of history, being built in 1919 and all.
My go-to deer & elk rifle is a Howa chambered in 6.5x55.
But nowadays I shoot only 30.06 in my hunting rifles.
The ability to purchase off-the-shelf ammo in the widest spectrum of bullet weight and sectional density has made me a believer.
From 125gr at over 3,000fps to 220gr with a ballistic coefficient of over .5.
No matter how cheap your rifle, there's a 30.06 bullet on the shelf that it will shoot sub MOA.
And I've loaded a 165gr Nosler that my chrony says left the barrel at 3,032fps.
Yep, and fed through the Rifle, semiautomatic, M-14 (M1A).
Imagine an M-14 (M1A) that is redesigned for 8.6x70 mm. Now, that would be truly awesome.
I was lucky. The first load I tried in my .30-’06 was factory ammunition, Remington 150-grain Core-Lokt, and it gives 3-shot groups of about 1 1/4” at 100 yards. It works fine on mule deer, so I haven’t experimented with other loadings. Both deer I have shot at since I got the rifle were killed on the spot, without taking a step.
I thought about other calibers when I was going to buy a hunting rifle, but, as you say, .30-’06 is everywhere, and I can always find variations if I want.
The guy took one of every big game animal in North America with his 30-06 and wrote a book about it.
http://www.safaripress.com/One-Man-One-Rifle-One-Land/productinfo/JONES99Z/
***The other volunteer regiments had the 45/70 Springfield.***
IF I remember my history, Congress continued the use of the black powder 45-70 into the smokless era because there was so much ammo that need be shot up!
Army appropriations 1865-1898 were scandalously skimpy.
The Navy was well funded in the 1890s, which permitted the fighting of the Span- Am war in the first place. No Navy no war.
My next most accurate is my newly built 6.5 Grendel AR.
Why does anybody need anything newer that 30-06?
Started with a sporterized 03 Springfield in 1959. Same rifle still shoots better than I do.
You must pick your teeth with a crowbar..
I love the 165 Partition. That said, the 6.5x55 with 140 Partitions punches above its weight class.
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