HEAD0001

These are all calibers I own. Have owned. Have hunted with. Have shot deer and few elk. Have seen hundreds of animals shot with. IMO this is how they compare.

.243.257 .277 .284.308 .338 .458
1.Recoil 9 9 87 7 5 5
2.Range of bullet
weights 5 5 6 7 10 4 2
3.Average price of
ammo 7 5 9 7 10 4 4
4.Availability of ammo 8 6 10 10 10 4 4
5.Effective killing power
0-250 yards 7 7 8 8 9 10 10
6.Effective killingpower
250-400 yards 4 5 7 8 9 10 6
7.Drop themin their
tracks dead 6 6 7 8 9 10 10
8.Cartridges available5 5 5 6 10 3 3
9.Available rifles 8 7 10 10 104 8
10.Resale value 8 8 10 10 10 5 5

Total 67 63 80 81 94 59 57

This is just my personal opinion. This a comparison of caliber not cartridges. There may be other factors, but I think this is the top 10. IMO the 30 caliber is superior-due to these 10 factors. Tom.

Red Lion

WHew, I thought that you were going to ask for feedback on each in comparison to the next. You would have either gotten like a 20 page thread or like 3 responses. Better choice of putting data up.

zrexpilot

To many holes in that theory

HEAD0001

To Zrexpilot: Holes? Where? Be specific. Tom.

zrexpilot

Cause comparing calibers in that sense does nothing. How about comparing calibers in performance.
The 284 is ballistically supperior to the .308 in SD and BC. So would be a 70gr bullet in .243 to a 70gr in .308
Just cause you can get a 70 gr in .308 does not make it better. How about trajectory and wind drift and retained energy and retained velocities, thats how you compare calibers.

HEAD0001

IMO that is not how you compare calibers. It is however how you compare cartridges. And to blankly say that .284 has better SD and BC over the .308. I am not buying that. Keep in mind these factors are affected by velocity, and bullet construction. A target bullet with a high BC does not necessarily make a good hunting bullet!! I took into account two different distances. IMO these distances represent 99% of all shots taken. Are you saying that improved SD and BC are that important over my ranges? How many inches of drop, or actual "killing power" could these differences affect? How many hunters can evenkill an animal at 300 to 400 yards? The next time you see a group of guys shooting, put a bucket at 400 yards, and let me know how many guys hit the bucket. You will be surprised. I am not aiming at you, youprobably are a shooter who can hit the bucket,but you will be surprised at how manywill miss. Tom.


Remember I based this off of personal experience. And not off a bunch of charts. ChartsIMO are something to go by,but are far from the last word. Tom.

zrexpilot

Huh ?
You have calibers listed not cartridges. The .284( caliber) is ballistically better than the .308 (caliber). Feel free to look it up yourself.
The 7mag cartridge (.284 caliber) is faster and flatter than the 7mm-08 cartridge (.284 caliber).

Your the one that started this thread, not me. Your the one comparing not me. If you only shoot 200 yds then whats the point of comparing. All the calibers listed will kill a deer deader than dead at that distance so whats the point. I just dont agree with your reasoning, You state calibers. The .277 could be the win or the wsm, you have them to generalized to make those statements, the .308 could be a .300 mag. We dont know by your first post.
To many holes in your theory.
Know what I mean ? Your theory on recoil for the .308, is that the 30-06 or the .300 mag ? Or straight .308 win ?

ShatoDavis

excellent point. At our private range I put a 10" x 10" steel clanger at an unspecified range, and their was a $50 pool for anyone who thought they could hit it on the first shot without knowing the range (from field positions/ no bags). Then after awhile we decided to laser range it and see if anyone could hit it knowing the range of 375 yds. And still no one made it clang on the first shot, not even me. And I'm the best shot in the world or at least on the internet [8D] Too many things going on at that distance to account for...wind drift....bullet drop.... mirage..... poor form.... inheriently inaccurate weapons...etc The average joe doesn't think enough to factor all those in correctly. After years of practice I can say that I'm confident to 300 yds. Beyond 300 I use the poke and hope method.

nchawkeye

How can you compare killing power when you don't specify what you are killing???

How can you compare killing power, cost of ammo, etc when you just list the bullet diameter and not the cartridge???

Looks pretty biased to me...

zrexpilot

Thats what I mean, he states the .308 having more killing power at 400 yds than the .284, well the .284 could be a 7 mag and we know the .308 win. isnt better than the 7 mag at 400 yds.