View Poll Results: For 2 deer cartridges (A & B), if a deer shot with cartridge A consistently travels …
5 yards farther than cartridge B, I would still consider them equal.
0
0%
10 yards farther than cartridge B. I would still consider them equal.
1
6.67%
15 yards farther than cartridge B, I would still consider them equal.
0
0%
25 yards farther than cartridge B, I would still consider them equal.
2
13.33%
50 yards farther than cartridge B, I would still consider them equal.
0
0%
75 yards farther than cartridge B, I would still consider them equal.
1
6.67%
Any distance works as long as I can recover the deer.
2
13.33%
None of the above
9
60.00%
Voters: 15. You may not vote on this poll
How Do You Compare Cartridges?
10-09-2009, 03:27 AM
#31
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 2,445
"I put it right behind the shoulder", from the above post got me thinking. This is the shot to take for a bowhunter. An arrow can be deflected or impeded by the shoulderblade and other bones. Too many gun hunters shoot their deer as if they were shooting a bow.
If you aim to break the offside shoulder, or use the high shoulder shot, I believe you will have shorter trails on average. Just use a bullet that will do the job. The cartridge is far less important.
If you aim to break the offside shoulder, or use the high shoulder shot, I believe you will have shorter trails on average. Just use a bullet that will do the job. The cartridge is far less important.
10-10-2009, 09:26 AM
#32
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: WI USA
Posts: 175
Bigbulls – I was trying to avoid going there, but I think you touched on a couple of things that are very important. First, you mentioned “adequate cartridges” for game and even that is a loaded phrase that I do not want to stir the pot on. It is difficult for hunters and even states to agree on that and that makes this discussion that much more difficult. So we will not go there, but by asking about the distance of travel, I was trying to get at that answer also.
The other thing you mentioned was the variation you see within a cartridge when you change bullets. But there is another way to look at that. There will also be variation if you use the exact same brand of bullet across all cartridges. I cannot say that is true for all brands of bullets, but it is true for some of them.
If you don’t reload in my area, one ammo maker and bullet brand has a grip on the local market. Most of the local stores have a good selection of that ammo/bullet and a poor selection of anything else. The internet and larger chain stores are opening things up, but even now, there is one brand that most hunters seem to have. I would imagine different regions have the same issue with other brands.
But I think that is why cartridge discussions can get so heated. My feeling is that for some cartridges, you could change bullet brands and even bullet sizes to a certain extent and get similar results. For other cartridges, just making that same change to the same bullet brand may give very different results.
I think there is an “ease of use factor,” flexibility factor, or convenience factor that some on this thread have hinted at. When someone on here says you can get similar results from all cartridges (and I know we need to be careful about “all”), there also needs to be an asterisk indicating … but you might need to work at it for some of them. By “working at it,” I mean cartridge development at the bench or searching the internet for ammo. Hunters should not expect to go to the local sporting good store, buy whatever is offered on the shelf for all of these cartridges and get the same results. But the flexibility of some cartridges probably would allow them to do that. That is why some hunters take a polar opposite view on the same cartridge.
The other thing you mentioned was the variation you see within a cartridge when you change bullets. But there is another way to look at that. There will also be variation if you use the exact same brand of bullet across all cartridges. I cannot say that is true for all brands of bullets, but it is true for some of them.
If you don’t reload in my area, one ammo maker and bullet brand has a grip on the local market. Most of the local stores have a good selection of that ammo/bullet and a poor selection of anything else. The internet and larger chain stores are opening things up, but even now, there is one brand that most hunters seem to have. I would imagine different regions have the same issue with other brands.
But I think that is why cartridge discussions can get so heated. My feeling is that for some cartridges, you could change bullet brands and even bullet sizes to a certain extent and get similar results. For other cartridges, just making that same change to the same bullet brand may give very different results.
I think there is an “ease of use factor,” flexibility factor, or convenience factor that some on this thread have hinted at. When someone on here says you can get similar results from all cartridges (and I know we need to be careful about “all”), there also needs to be an asterisk indicating … but you might need to work at it for some of them. By “working at it,” I mean cartridge development at the bench or searching the internet for ammo. Hunters should not expect to go to the local sporting good store, buy whatever is offered on the shelf for all of these cartridges and get the same results. But the flexibility of some cartridges probably would allow them to do that. That is why some hunters take a polar opposite view on the same cartridge.
