Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mule Deer?

Careful...

You have to turn in your Loony card talking like that...👀

DF

I might do that anyway. I'm consoling myself about missing out on half-price Marlins on the basis that a 12ga with slugs will do anything I'd realistically or otherwise likely use a 45-70 for.

One of each of course. One way to avoid the chamber lotto for the Swede is to specify a 6.5x55 SKAN reamer. This was Sweden's attempt to re-standardize the dimensions and to allow for 140 grain +p loading. The dies can be more expensive though and harder to find. But a real loony would go custom or at least mix and match about three different makes of dies plus ream the seater when the rifle was chambered.

Choice is easy short action Creedmoor long action Swede. My 6.5x55 is doing things it is not supposed to with Reloder 26 and 142 NLRAB or 140 Bergers at 2900 fps. I will have to see how long the brass holds up but with Lapua brass it can handle some enthusiastic charges for awhile. No need for a 6.5x284 or 06 but the 6.5x06AI is still tempting.

But the quintessential loony round IMHO is the .256 Newton.

I have two 6.5X55's, a Sako 85 and a jack knife "sporterized" Swedish Mauser that I put a Williams peep sight on. The Sako shoots 130 grain Accubonds into bugholes, sub .400" at 100 yds. The Mauser is not that good, but good enough with 160 grain Hornady RN's to use it as a woods gun.

Point? I don't need no stinking point. I have the desire to push a 140 grain Berger Hunting VLD around 3100 FPS. I have no idea why, I just do. Common sense and practicality have nothing to do with it.

Spoken like a true Loony...

DF

What Distance down-range would that 140 VLD @ 3100 MV, drop to sub-sonic velocity ?

About a rch further than a 7mm Rem Mag with a 175 grain bullet.

Maybe even 2 rch
- Probably depends a lot on how blunt the 175 is

You're splitting hairs.

cdb,

It occurred to me that I wasn't quite correct about the 26 Nosler shooting a lot flatter than the .270 Winchester. These days there are a bunch of much lighter .277-diameter bullets designed for the 6.8 SPC, and they can be driven so fast the 400-yard trajectory is almost as flat as the 26 Nosler's with a 129-grain Nosler ABLR.

A friend in eastern Montana, for instance, handloads the 85-grain Barnes TSX in a 24" barreled .270 Winchester to 3900 fps. Admittedly, the load he uses isn't listed anywhere, but the velocity really flattens the trajectory. The downside is that the 85 TSX drifts more than twice as much in the wind as a 129 ABLR from a 26 Nosler--the downside to lighter bullets at warp speed.

Wind-drift is also the "hidden" flaw in comparing most cartridges to various 6.5's. To reduce wind-drift in larger calibers bullets must be much heavier, increasing recoil. Which is why 6.5's are currently increasing in popularity, whether mild cartridges like the 6.5 Creedmoor or boomers like the 26 Nosler. With the advent of laser rangefinders and modern scopes, flat trajectory isn't nearly as important as it used to be. Essentially, minimal wind-drift at longer ranges has replaced flat trajectory as a virtue for many shooters.

I guess I should have mentioned wind-drift also in my original post because I know that's important. I don't think about it as much as I should because the vast majority of game I've killed has been at well under 200 yards where wind-drift isn't as much of a concern.

I will stick to 130 grain bullets and above in my .270. Thank you for your information. I appreciate it when someone with your credentials takes the time to respond.