What's the point of an extra 100 fps or so and all the machinations it takes squeeze it out?
Which is often my question--partly because I have often tried various techniques for another 100 (or even 150) fps. These have included:
New powders
New bullets
"Improved" cartridges
Longer barrels
Here's what I have found:
They can all work, but in general I have not been able to observe any difference in field performance with another 100-150 fps at "normal" ranges, say out to 500 yards. This means "killing power," however defined, AND trajectory/wind drift with the SAME bullet.
One other thing I've noticed is that once we jack up muzzle velocity another 100-150 fps, as in using RL-26 to increase 150-grain bullets in the .270 Winchester to over 3000 fps, is the rifle then recoils more like a 7mm magnum. And one long-time "advantage" of the .270 over various 7mm magnums (and I have used a lot of them, considerably) is less recoil. When a .270 kicks like a 7mm magnum we have lost that.
But when we use a 6.5mm cartridge with higher-BC bullets, at more-or-less .270 muzzle velocities, then we have less wind-drift AND recoil with similar "killing power" at longer ranges.
However, the longer I hunt the less difference I see in the "killing power" of various cartridges, within some broad parameters. Where you hit them matters far more than 100 fps of extra muzzle velocity--which is less than 100 fps at 500 yards.
