Mescalero wrote:If you are fixated in .30 caliber, you are alreadyt lost.
Good luck.
Ouch :p
But that said, I'll at least tell you why I'm going in that direction. First I started at the 7mm Mag,
reading up on it.
wikipedia wrote:Remington Magnum is especially popular for Western plains use in the United States, as well as for use on plains game in Africa, where longer reach than commonly achieved with the .30-06 are most often needed. It has also been chambered in sniper rifles as the US Secret Service counter-sniper team has deployed this cartridge in urban areas, and its use out to 1,000 yards has been commonly demonstrated in competition. Popular web gun author Chuck Hawks calls the 7mm Rem "one of the great all-around rifle cartridges."
Hmm, the 7mm sounded like good stuff! But unlike your assertion, there are appear to be plenty of people not lost in .30 land. The mention of the 30-06 led me to google
7mm mag vs 30-06, primarily because I know for a fact that the 30-06 is available everywhere and inferred is being used for the same application as the 7mm, per the previous wiki article.
This forum thread was especially helpful. It goes back and forth a lot, but thae main thing that jumped out wasonce the conversation hit this:
Shootersforum.com wrote:Note that a 180gr. bullet in the .30-06 has near identical ballistics to a 175gr. bullet in the 7mm Mag. Draw your own conclusions.
The thread battles back and forth from there, but I'm now thinking if you can equal a 7mm's ballistics with little more than a heavier bullet, why not go with the easier to find caliber? Of course, then there's the argument for .308 but the only advantage I see to it is that its a more compact cartridge while insisting that 30-06 was antiquated and not as availible (on that last part I had to scratch my head). You still have more payload variety in a 30-06 up or down the scale like a 45-70. Again, why not go with the avenue that gives me more options?
And lastly, it appears that a
modest number of the longest range sniper shots have been in the .30 class (.338 specifically), directly contradicting the fact that it's a lost caliber cause
So that's how I arrived at the 30-06. If you've got a better idea, smack me upside the head with it, but tell me why. Im not that guy who doesn't do at least a little homework before posing his questions. I just have no real worl experience in the calibers posed here and my biggest gun to date is a 30-30, thus my question of those who have.
And trust me, I'm well aware I'm not a trained sniper. It's a goal to aspire to more than anything else... Like that 300 bowling game ^.^