Long action calibre

[NullMac]

Limited range of target bullets other than 30 cal.

Much of target shooting is about the wind so bc is important. So 6mm 6.5mm have better performance for less powder and recoil. Similarly to get higher bc you have to throw a bigger bullet and 7mm gives great bc but with a lighter bullet than 30 cal etc so less recoil.

Other loadings are more competitive. 30-06 is outgunned by 7mm SAUM et al. 6.5-254 will have better bc than 270 so at longer ranges will win out.

Target shooting is a bit of an arms race so these calibres lose out.

Having said all that there is no reason why you can't shoot them, there are decent bullets available. Its just that if you want to compete you are starting from a losing position

 

[Malxwal]

I use a 270 for informal local comps and plinking, running Sierra 135gr Matchking. ES/SD is outwith what I would consider truly competitive. It also generates a lot of heat. It's fun, but I'm not winning anything.

 

[25 Sharps]

Bullet to fast for most ranges

No, it’s not that, it’s the fact that there are few decent target bullets or loadings available.

 

[Stiffy]

I have no time for the 270 nor 25-06, the 30-06 I would consider especially with heavy bullets. Or even 7x64/280 due to high BC modern bullets. Then again, I do see the reasoning behind the newer Hornady cartridges as in 6.5CM, 6.5PRC, 7PRC, 300PRC and think they make sense. The good thing about these modern cartridges is that they carefully matched case capacity to modern powders and achievable accuracy combined with modern bullets/rifle twist rates. They are not overcooked in performance, hence the staggered case lengths.
edi

agree, along with the WSM family. Thus reducing recoil and accumulative temperatures, important when shooting 15 or more rounds in competition.

 

[Rusty Gate]

Hi, probably a strange question but do many people use the likes of 30 06 or 25 06 or 270 for targets, always fancied one as never really seen them used at range, does the larger case capacity give much of an edge over say 308 etc ?

Recoil, barrel life & powder consimption

 

[6.5-06 TIKKA]

Dont forget the 6.5x55 Swede...target pedigree too..
I got a Tikka M65 rebarrelled in 6.5-06.
Brilliant with 120gr and 140gr...

 

[Jono 4]

I have a 30-06 and as soon as the 1st August arrives and its big deer time the 243 barrel is swapped over. Ive shot it on gongs to 1000 yards, and everything from squirrels to lowland red stags.

 

[hammo]

Have regularly used my 8x57, out to 600m PPU 198gr FMJ BT have good bc and are pretty cheap.
Easily capable of going further, I just have not had the chance yet.

 

[Heym SR20]

Much of target shooting stems from military rifles and cartridges, with full bore being the standard military cartridge of the day.

So in UK it was the 303, then the 7.62 Nato and 5.56 Nato. In the US it was 30-06, then the Nato cartridges. A lot of ammo was military ball which was cheap and available.

With target shooting all that really matters is a little hole on a piece of paper close to the next little hole. Other than that terminal effect matters little.

Most of the rounds we use for hunting are pretty much what was used in the military, and then tweaked to get better terminal performance.

In the early days of centrefire cartridges cordite was used as a propellant- this was like sticks of spaghetti so a longer case was necessary. The American powders were granular, but they used rifles based on European designs.

And remember that when the first centrefire cartridges came about, riflemen had been used muzzleloaders for centuries where the bottom of the barrel- the chamber - was the same diameter as the bore, and early black powder cartridges were straight walled. And to get more power, you needed more powder and hence a longer Cartridge.

Going to a cartridge that was a larger diameter than the bore was quite late in the design. And mostly it was taking a cartridge and necking it down.

The idea of a short fat cartridge is pretty recent. Whilst marvellously efficient in terms of powder burn etc, their shape is not best suited to easy feeding from magazines.

Pretty much all the military cartridges have to work well in machine guns etc and have to feed well - a longer tapered cartridge with sloping shoulders meets these parameters. A short fat cartridge with abrupt shoulders don’t feed well from magazines.

Many of the older long cartridges - notably the 7x57 and 7x64 were designed with long for calibre bullets in mind and typically have fast twist 1 in 8.5” barrels. These work wonderfully with modern high BC bullets.

For Americans though speed was everything, especially in the 1950’s and 60’s so they tended to use lighter bullets with slower twists to maximise velocity. Most 7mm Rem Mags are 1 in 10” twist rates.

The current fixation of fast twist and long for calibre bullets is nothing new. The Boers were plinking British soldiers at 1,000 yards 120 years ago with their 7mm mausers.

 

[Bowland blades]

TR here is limited to our service calibers ie 223 / 5.56 or 308 /7.62 nato , F class open is anything but true magnums if i remember all that correctly no belted cases ?