Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Big cases loaded back Vs top loads in smaller cases

I am curious as to what others think of the following.

7mm Rem Ultra loaded back Vs 7mm Rem with max loads
270 Weatherby loaded back Vs 270 with max loads
30/378 weatherby or 300 Rem Ultra loaded back Vs 300 Win with max loads
300 Win loaded back Vs 30/06 or 308 with max loads
378 Weatherby loaded back Vs 375 H&H with max loads
6mm/06 loaded back Vs 243 with max loads

and etc.

In recent times both my best shooting mate and myself have moved to the direction of using big cases loaded back to equal max or full loads with the smaller case in the same calibre. Both of us have done enough shooting over a lot of years to know that the standard calibres and the standard magnums such as 7mm Rem, 300 Win, 338 Win and 375 H&H will do the job.....when loaded to the full potential or very close to their full potential.

As I see things the pluses of the big cases loaded back to equal the full pwered ballistics of the smaller cases are:

1) For reasons which completely escape me when calibres are loaded back by 250 to 300 f/s they seem shoot well even when the rfifle has bedding problems and scope and mounts are not what they should be. Can't be recoil because a 460 Wby loaded back to 458 or 458 Lott has heaps of recoil compared to a 7mm Rem with top loads.

2) Accuracy also becomes somewhat easier since the powder choices are greatly increased. A 378 Weatherby would go close to getting 375 H&H ballistics if you used black powder Ditto for 7mm Rem Ultra achieving 7mm Rem or 270 Win ballistics.

3) I think it is now fairly well accepted that low pressure loads in a big case will get better barrel life than full/max loads in the smaller case capacity. In other words a 270 Weatherby loaded back to 3150 f/s with 130 grain bullets will have better barrel life than a 270 Win using top loads to get the 3150.

4) Case life, expecially if neck annealing is used, will be just this side of forever with the big cases loaded back.

5) With the big case loaded back you do have a turbo button on the dashboard and it is nice to know that you can do it. Quite often just knowing you can do something is enough.

6) The big cases loaded back do definitely have the same sort of feel that you get when cruising around easy in a big V8 as compared to putting your foot down in the lower powered car.

Any comments, views, pros/cons etc.

Mike

Mike: interesting concept. In recent years, I have come to appreciate loads with less pressure. It sure makes case reforming simpler! I found a load for my 7Mag which shoots 150gr Sierra BT's at about 2700fps. Gives me 7X57 performance, which is good enough for 95% of what I do with less recoil, noise, cheap bullets, good accuracy and terminal performance.

I do wonder about your #3 however. Looking at your example:
270 Win, 130gr at 3100 fps would require say 60gr of H4831. To get 3100 fps in a 270Roy, would require about 8 or 9 grains more powder (Hornady manual). Clearly the magnum would be at a lower pressure. But it would take more powder. So which variable, pressure or powder, has more influence on barrel wear? Not arguing, just asking...

With the 270 Wby dropped back to 270 Win the powder/flame temperature will be much lower. I think Ken Howell has been quite strong on this issue.

Mike

Mike �
Although I develop top-end loads for every rifle I shoot, I also develop reduced loads for most of them. Reduced recoil and longer barrel and brass life are just a couple of reasons. I have found a surprising number of top-end loads yield excellent accuracy, but reduced loads are often less sensitive to variances in powder lot, primer lot, etc. (I suspect the reason for this is reduced pressures mean reduced strain on the barrel. I always imagine top-end loads trying to straighten out the barrel so the rifling is straight rather than twisted.)

Case in point, I recently developed a 7mm Mag load using the 160g North Fork bullet. I knew top velocities should be around 3,000 fps with my load, but I throttled back to 2850fps for accuracy reasons (best group the rifle shot in 20+ years). I already know from experience that at that pressure level the cases will last about 18 full-length resizes without annealing. Bump the pressure up and they last 4 or 5.

Post this on Ask THe Gunwriters. Ken Howell has been preaching this for years.
Good luck!