Good stuff, guys. I always like Bob's analysis of a topic. He's dead on this time, as well.
The 6.5/300 Weatherby Wright Hoyer (WWH) was indeed an early wildcat, so Wby didn't introduce a "new" round, they just repackaged an old round. And, they had loads of data already worked up by those early pioneers.
And, as Bob pointed out, these new powders really turn large capacity rounds like the 6.5/300 WWH into better, more efficient rounds.
I guess Nosler, rolling out their 26, stirred something at Wby. And, of course, Wby had to beat Nosler by a few fps.
Seems to me, we hit a wall trying to squeeze a few more fps from an already big, overbore round, burning a lot more powder for only a modest gain in velocity.
I personally like the Nosler version. It's a 3.4" round and my 700 has a 3.6" box, so I can load long, heavy bullets out where I want without restraint. The new Wby round is full mag, 3.6". We'll see how it sells.
DF
