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What's Wrong With .30 Caliber? By Bryan Litz
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<blockquote data-quote="BryanLitz" data-source="post: 291378" data-attributes="member: 7848"><p>BH,</p><p>Part of what I'm illustrating is that there are few very efficient designs in .30 cal (similar to the smaller caliber VLD's). The heavy .30 cal bullets (Sierra and Berger) are made with the same length ogive as the 155's, which is relatively short for a 200+ grain bullet.</p><p>One exception is the 208 Amax, which is has a much different (longer) ogive and boat tail than the lighter weight Amax's.</p><p></p><p>You have a good point about barrel life. It's usually better with the larger calibers, even the magnums when compared to smaller calibers. My point was that to achieve the velocity required to match ballistic performance of the heavy 7mm's, you need to load the .30's real hot (because the bullets aren't as good in .30 cal). Loading anything real hot will reduce barrel life, but it's being reduced from <em>very long</em>, to just <em>acceptably long</em>.</p><p></p><p>To be self-critical...</p><p>The biggest problem with my article being on this site is that kinetic energy, momentum, or any measure of lethality is not mentioned. The article was originally written for Precision Shooting Magazine, an audience primarily composed of target shooters. I didn't really give any thought to hunting applications where bullet weight and energy are important. This IS where the .30 caliber shines. Despite having less-than-optimal bullets, the big .30 caliber magnums carry a lot of energy and momentum due to their mass. It takes a very long distance for the external ballistic efficiency of something like a 7mm 180 VLD to 'catch up' to the energy of a .30 cal 210 VLD.</p><p></p><p>-Bryan</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BryanLitz, post: 291378, member: 7848"] BH, Part of what I'm illustrating is that there are few very efficient designs in .30 cal (similar to the smaller caliber VLD's). The heavy .30 cal bullets (Sierra and Berger) are made with the same length ogive as the 155's, which is relatively short for a 200+ grain bullet. One exception is the 208 Amax, which is has a much different (longer) ogive and boat tail than the lighter weight Amax's. You have a good point about barrel life. It's usually better with the larger calibers, even the magnums when compared to smaller calibers. My point was that to achieve the velocity required to match ballistic performance of the heavy 7mm's, you need to load the .30's real hot (because the bullets aren't as good in .30 cal). Loading anything real hot will reduce barrel life, but it's being reduced from [I]very long[/I], to just [I]acceptably long[/I]. To be self-critical... The biggest problem with my article being on this site is that kinetic energy, momentum, or any measure of lethality is not mentioned. The article was originally written for Precision Shooting Magazine, an audience primarily composed of target shooters. I didn't really give any thought to hunting applications where bullet weight and energy are important. This IS where the .30 caliber shines. Despite having less-than-optimal bullets, the big .30 caliber magnums carry a lot of energy and momentum due to their mass. It takes a very long distance for the external ballistic efficiency of something like a 7mm 180 VLD to 'catch up' to the energy of a .30 cal 210 VLD. -Bryan [/QUOTE]
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