largest case per caliber choice?

[ARlife4me]

264wm has been my go-to since i was 11 ('76) and have bloomed since then. in '15 (or '14) i decided to get the 300wm since it's belted just like the 264 is for reference is familiar to me. i don't hunt (as i've stated many times in other post), but love the reloading game and learning thereof! having 3 30cals w/different capacities and range of uses (300bo, 308win & 300wm) is there any benefit to having the largest 30cals available (not counting wildcats and improved) like the 300nm, 300lm and 30-378wby (300rum, 300prc & 30nos maybe)? the only benefit i can think of is the largest cases can use a shorter barrel to get the job done of the smaller magnums to make the firearm more compact and lighter? the cost of the extra powder for more velocity at hindrance of lower barrel life (consumable) and its possible worth? for hunting use it might be as it's not being shot very much (say 20 shots per year?) can last a long time. SO, what large capacity cases do you have per caliber and your decision to have them?

side note, if i decide on the mk22 (308win, 300nm & 338nm package) the 300nm can do the same job as the 300wm @ 3" less barrel length.

 

[RichCoyle]

I made a 6.5-.338 RUM and a 7-.338 RUM. Why? More velocity. Like they say in drag racing: No substitute for cubic inches.

 

[comfisherman]

For me it was always what I could tolerate both in recoil as well as packing. Its also changed over time.

Rewind 15 years ago and eveyone was going longer than 26 inches, as suppressors hadn't fully dominated like they are and the sport was much more geographically dominated by folks in the wide open spaces. Velocity gains from massive overbore cartridges are much more appreciated in a long tube. Seems like the overall lrh game certainly chased more overbore cartridges back then.

Bullets have also changed, used to be sporadic batches of heavy for caliber wildcat bullets to feed the heavy high bc setups. Now everybody and their brother has some crazy heavy for caliber bullets across all the caliber range. Certainly changes what cartridges are used. When I first got into this lot of guys were shooting target grade berger and smks, to get a high b.c. bullet you had to step up to a 338 around 300 grains.

These days you can get bomber wind bucking bullets in 6.5, 7, and even 25 cal without having to rely on intermittent botique companies. So it takes less oomph to get the higher b.c., lets be honest 28 nosler or similar chucking 175+ pills is a lot easier to handle than the same rifle flinging 300s from a 338. Add to that the trend to lighter weight and shorter barrels and it seems like we all have trended towards more moderate magnums.

My personal happy medium is the 7 rum, about 15 years ago a friend and I did rum and wsm based rifles from 6.5 to 338. On the rum side the 6.5 wildcat at the time was limited as we didn't have the bullet selection nor slow powder selection we have now. Barrels were done the way young men shot then under 500, we got 700 outta the 7rum closer to 1k on the 300 rum and we never shot out the 338 edge we pieced together. If I was killing paper and didn't have to pack the rifle up mountains, I'd upsize bore to get better life and compensate with a heavier barrel and stock.

 

[turbobrick]

I do like the short fat cartridges, 300wsm being my go to. I'm looking at a 6-6.5prc or a 6-300wsm, not as extreme as some options out there, but I think they'll do what I'm looking for.