Topics such as this usually bring out all three types of shooters and their respective opinions, well founded or not.
There are the stodgy shooters who firmly believe that all cartridge development after the .30-06 Springfield was superfluous. Included in this group unfortunately, are the handwringers and moaners who believe that the only cartridges necessary
are the ones which will yield 5,000 or more shots per barrel so that shooting doesn't cost them as much.
Then we come upon the shooters who accept some of the advances in ballistics and cartridges but still dig their feet in when it comes down to barrel life and extremes in powder capacity. They just can't get over the fact that every time you pull the trigger there is some degradation to your barrel. If you don't want to wear your barrel, leave it in the closet or safe and don't shoot it. These are the same shooters who still purport that the .264 Win. Mag. is a barrel burner even though we've disproved this concept 15 years ago.
Then we have the extreme opposite end of opinions where the shooters will attempt to push every aspect of the ballistic envelope just to be sure that they didn't miss anything that might be useful or the opportunity to try something new.
I'm not criticizing any one of these categories, although I will admit to being in the third category. My opinions run to the fact that the .264 WM and the 6.5 WSM at 82 grains of powder seem to be at the optimum case capacity given some degree of variance of course. Neither are barrel burners because we have much better stainless steels for barrels and vastly improved powder formulas which burn slower and cooler. And just as important, we can still use 26" barrels for decent performance.
Some are stymied by what they believe is a limited velocity range, where adding more powder is not commensurate with an increase in velocity. But what they don't take into account is that these larger capacity cartridges often need longer barrels than what individuals find acceptable for either hunting or target shooting. None of us want to head out to deer hunt with a 40" barrel. But these are much more easily explained when target shooting is the goal. These slower, cooler powders need the extra barrel length in order to achieve a complete burn and to perform, contributing to an increase in velocity.
Are there compromises? Sure, absolutely. Is there just one answer to pushing the envelope? Nope, not at all. It's just that your opinion may vary.
The 6.5x300 Weatherby can be a superb cartridge for the long range hunter. The difficulty can come with the load development and barrel length. Nobody claimed that it's perfect but they also didn't anticipate the hand-in-hand development of the heavy for caliber bullets either. Some of these bullets will prove useful while a couple have yet to show that they can contribute meaningfully with the standardized cartridges. The demonstrations are coming in the form of the ultra-long range competitions where these bullets are finally being paired with cases which have the more appropriate powder capacities.
Have fun, enjoy the process!
