Caliber rant!!!!

[mickeydim468]

I don't know what it is, but every time I see a thread about someone getting a new rifle chambered in "X" caliber, and their intended purpose for that new rifle is "X", everyone has to come on and start talking about how "X" caliber might be good but "Y" caliber would do it better.

I know some of you have 100s of years more experience than the rest of us and have shot every type of rifle ever made since the musket, but I am sure that most of you people have absolutely no experience at all with the caliber in question and are only espousing the crap that you have read in gun rags or have seen on TV or have read in other posts.

Why don't you just answer the question being asked? If you don't know, don't answer. If you do have some real experience and do know if caliber "X" will do the job at hand marginally, just say that the caliber is marginal and state your reason. If you think it is exceptional, tell us why. But stop offering up your pet caliber as the one caliber to end all caliber wars and move on. I am sick of the "My caliber is better than yours is!" crap!

By the way, just because you can input some numbers in a ballistics calculator program and come up with some results, does not make you an expert. My 15 year old son can do that, but I sure as hell would not ask him what caliber rifle to get for my next gun, because he don't know anything at all about guns. He is a hell of a computer whiz though and can work software like no ones business.

Fact is... there are lots of calibers that will do the same job at the same ranges, but one may get there a milisecond faster and a microinch higher and hit with 5% more energy. So freakin' what! The animal is dead either way. It can't be 5% more dead... Can it?

Rant over!

 

[shaggy430]

I like this post.

 

[interlock]

yep, count me in

 

[Olympus]

IBTL

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

A poll thread would have done it better than this one.

 

[bpl]

Well, we could all just buy a 30-06, 22lr and 12ga and have nothing further to debate!

 

[KBintheSLC]

I hear you brother. Can't say I haven't been guilty of it a time or two. I guess it is our nature to recommend the products we like and use. Unfortunately, sometimes we can be a bit on the pushy side.

 

[dakotasin]

as long as we're on a tirade...
why are so many purchases treated as life or death decisions? an off the shelf rifle in a common chambering shouldn't be an agonizing decision.

pick the one that speaks to you and ride it out!

as long as it is chambered in 7 rem mag and launches 162 grain hornadys, life will be grand!

 

[MikePGS]

You know, a 300winmag would make it at least 10% deader if not 15

 

[whiskey3]

Amen!!

 

[mickeydim468]

Well, we could all just buy a 30-06, 22lr and 12ga and have nothing further to debate!

See, this guy gets it! LOL How could you possibly argue with that?

Seriously though, that wasn't my point. The posts I am talking about are not asking for a debate. They are asking specifically if "X" caliber will work for "X" purpose. I know you may think that "X" caliber may be marginal and that another caliber may do the job better, but the OP didn't ask for other caliber recommendations. He simply asked if "X" caliber will work. Why can't you just say Yes it will work because.... and leave the other caliber recommendation out of it?

 

[R.W.Dale]

Me thinks the OP in THIS thread needs to read and comprehend the OP's title of THIS thread "What's your opinion on the 243?" which is blindingly obvious what this topic is about

 

[Robert]

Once the rifle has been bought then the point is moot. But if someone is giving thought to buying a rifle in X caliber when Y may work better why not inform them and give them the most information so that they may make a wise purchase? If someone says I want to shoot 1000yrd competition with a rifle chambered in 30 Army are we to just let them? Or should we try and educate them on the choice of a better suited caliber? I agree that once the rifle has been bought that we ought not to rain on their parade. But if they are still in the planning stage we should, with care, try and educate and assist them as best we can.

 

[X-Rap]

You know if somebody can find their butt in the dark they ought to know the answer to that question without asking some unknown expert on the internet. The fact is when somebody asks if x will do y they get the opinions of many, some they will like and some they won't.
Wanna start the is .223 big enough for deer debate? Or how about is the 300WinMag to big for deer?

 

[mickeydim468]

Me thinks the OP in THIS thread needs to read and comprehend the OP's title of THIS thread "What's your opinion on the 243?" which is blindingly obvious what this topic is about

No Krochus, it isn't that.

I will say that you are on the right track. It was that thread that put me over the edge. It is far too many threads like that one though that just turns into a debate.

Did you read the title of the thread? It says "What is your opinion of the .243" It didn't say, "I am looking at the .243 and others, which would be better?" I don't know why, but it seems more often than not, that in the 6-7mm range this huge debate breaks out whenever anyone asks a question of any caliber within that range.

If someone says I want to shoot 1000yrd competition with a rifle chambered in 30 Army are we to just let them?

Well, No! But you can offer up the reasons why not without going into a caliber war. Logically then next question by the OP would be to ask what caliber would be best, but no one ever waits for the question to start the debate.

I don't know... It just irks me! That's all!

 

[essayons21]

It can't be 5% more dead... Can it?

Its the 5% less dead that I'm worried about.

 

[mickeydim468]

Its the 5% less dead that I'm worried about.

Yeah, but more likely than not that 5% less dead is due to shot placement and not caliber with all things equal. IE bullet designed for hunting ETC...

 

[Calibre44]

so is X calibre better or worse than Y calibre? ... I need to know!

 

[MMCSRET]

I like this thread. All I can say about it is "WELL SAID".
I will add to it with this; I went to high school back in the 50's with a guy my age that was the sole provider for his mother and sisters, all younger. He kept meat on the table with a 22 rifle used mostly on cow and calf elk from a distance out to 40 yards at a natural lick in Western Montana. He killed about 6 elk a year, yeah, I know, but nothing went to waste. He also shot grouse, geese and ducks with that rifle. Its what you do more than what you do it with. Onward and upward!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ArmedBear]

It says "What is your opinion of the .243" It didn't say, "I am looking at the .243 and others, which would be better?"

Uh, since we are lucky enough to be able to choose among a dizzying array of calibers, the two questions are the same question.

If .243 were the only caliber, it wouldn't MATTER what someone's opinion of it is, right?

If .243 is the only caliber the OP wants to buy, it still doesn't matter, and it was stupid to ask.

If .243 is something the OP is interested in, but not sure about, then it makes sense to ask the question -- and it makes perfect sense to answer the question in context. Some answers will be stupid, sure, but smart and informed answers will still include context. Context, in this case, is comparison to other calibers in terms of effective range, recoil, accuracy, cost, availability, and other things.

FTR I don't have an informed opinion about the .243, and therefore I never posted in that thread. But if I had an informed opinion about it, that opinion would have to include experience with the .243 AND OTHER ROUNDS, or it wouldn't be very informed, now would it?

Simple rule: if you don't want to know something, then don't ask about it.

 

[mickeydim468]

so is X calibre better or worse than Y calibre? ... I need to know!

My personal favorite is "Q" really it is. It is ballistically superior due to its roundness and the little squiggle on the bottom holds it together, and retains more weight, for better terminal performance at even the highest point blank muzzle velocities.

 

[Maverick223]

Simple rule: if you don't want to know something, then don't ask about it.

Amen, if you just say the round (say for example the .243Win.) is the worst infliction on the shooting community you are doing the OP a disservice because he still doesn't know what to look for, and he may go on to choose something equally unsuitable for the task.

 

[Geno]

I thought "X calibre" was a sword?! Link: http://www.stauer.com/prod_images/14994_s.jpg

Geno

 

[SwampWolf]

We live in a golden era when it comes to enjoying guns, hunting and shooting. Time was when a new caliber/cartridge combination came along every other leap year and it became the talk of the town for the shooting community for years thereafter. Nowadays, though the "cartridge of the month" phenomena has made us jaded and spoiled, it has contributed to an increased interest in the shooting sports and, for that, I'm grateful. Though I'm a committed "traditionalist"( I own and shoot rifles that include chamberings for the .22 Hornet, the .220 Swift, the .257 Roberts, the 7X64 Brenneke, the 30-30 Winchester, the .308 Winchester, the 30-06 Springfield, the .358 Winchester and the .45-70 Government) and have nary a rifle chambered with a "new-fangled" cartridge, I say, the more cartridges the merrier! And I sincerely mean this.

 

[mickeydim468]

if you just say the round (say for example the .243Win.) is the worst infliction on the shooting community you are doing the OP a disservice because he still doesn't know what to look for

But that wasn't the point either. A 243 will do the job that the OP asked about. This isn't what I am talking about. Sure if someone is asking a blatantly uninformed question about a caliber, then it is our duty as High Road members to properly educate the OP. But when so many calibers are capable of the same job, why try to sway someone to your pet round, if the one they are asking about can do the job as well? That is what this rant is about.