ORIGINAL: stalkingbear
Anytime I speak or reccomend something,it's directly from 1st hand experience. I have vast experience with 7mm08,none with .260 rem. Since I had already have lots of experience with 7mm08 before the 260 rem came out,it ain't broke,and I ain't gunna fix it. Another thing to remember is my all time 2 out of 3 favorite deer size cartridges are dying (.280,and .284), I also see a whole bunch of newer cartridges sinking in future. Think it can't happen? Try to buy 5mm rem ammo. As good as it was/is,rem dropped it.
You are right on here. The 260 and the 7-08 are so close to each other that you have to really look hard to find any difference at all. I have been shooting the 6.5's for a while. I was only pointing out that the 6.5's tend to have a "SLIGHT" advantage with higher BC's. IMO this slight advantage is why the long range shooter's are going to the 6.5's in droves(basically because of the higher BC's, and less recoil.
As you said if one of these two cartridges fell off the face of the earth there would probably be little notice. Along with a lot of the so called other new caliber's. However I believe what will determine what cartridges will go away will be due more to advertising dollars, and not true performance. Tom.