JWALL,
In the past 25 years, I'd say powders have improved more than bullets. I know a lot of people think many of today's bullets are vast improvements, but I've used most of today's premoium bullets and still don't see any magic improvement over the Nosler Partition in how well they kill big game.
Actually, the big improvement I've seen is in varmint bullets. They're more accurate, fly flatter and open more violently than the standard soft-point and hollow-point bullets we used to use.
The bigbest improvement in powders is in temperature-resistance, though some powders also provide a little more zip as well. Many of today's powders burn a lot cleaner as well, and even include anti-coppering agents.
Scopes are much better overall. Twenty-five years ago the scopes with the best optics and adjustments often weren't truly waterproof, or very rugged. The toughest scopes often didn't have the best optics or great adjustments. Today we have many great combinations of optics, adjustments and toughness.
