jimbo
Member
Foremost among our selections for a particular hunting rifle is caliber. Caliber debates provoke many contentious, yet worthwhile, discussions. After reading hundreds of threads on dozens of websites I have developed a pet peeve that is really beginning to stick in my craw, which is...
Few hunters ever note the ranges at which they hunt and take game animals, or any other pertinent details I need.
A typical post might sing high praises for the .243 Winchester as a suitable whitetail round. The hunter might claim taking scores of deer with his .243 over the years, and therefore it is a great whitetail round. A rebuttal is all but certain as another hunter will proclaim that shot placement is critical and he has seen dozens of deer run off after being shot with .243's, never to be seen again.
I am pleading with you all and anyone reading "The High Road" from other websites to please include more pertinent details.
Maybe the hunter who killed dozens of deer with .243's was shooting small Texas whitetails at ranges under 100-yards with 100 grain premium bullets fired from a gun with a 26-inch barrel. And just maybe the hunter who lost several deer was shooting 300-lb trophies at ranges above 300-yards with 80 grain econo-bullets from a 20-inch-barreled carbine.
Classic in this vein is the oft-repeated factoid that thousands of Scandanavian Moose (Elk I guess) are killled with the 6.5x55 SE cartridge. That is all fine and good but are they making 400 yard shots across canyons or are they able to get withing 50-yards of their game. I'm going to go out on a limb here and speculate that might just make a wee bit of difference in the effectiveness of any game cartridge. (Sarcasm is so unflattering!)
Well, thanks for letting me express myself. I'm just a frustrated because I am still mulling a Kimber .260 and any help is appreciated. And I've been pouring over caliber recommendations from hunters on numerous websites and it is just very typical for hunters to say what cartridge they like and how many deer they killed or lost and NEVER include any other pertinent details, such as the range they killled or failed to kill at.
Thanks for letting me spew. I'll take my medication now.
Few hunters ever note the ranges at which they hunt and take game animals, or any other pertinent details I need.
A typical post might sing high praises for the .243 Winchester as a suitable whitetail round. The hunter might claim taking scores of deer with his .243 over the years, and therefore it is a great whitetail round. A rebuttal is all but certain as another hunter will proclaim that shot placement is critical and he has seen dozens of deer run off after being shot with .243's, never to be seen again.
I am pleading with you all and anyone reading "The High Road" from other websites to please include more pertinent details.
Maybe the hunter who killed dozens of deer with .243's was shooting small Texas whitetails at ranges under 100-yards with 100 grain premium bullets fired from a gun with a 26-inch barrel. And just maybe the hunter who lost several deer was shooting 300-lb trophies at ranges above 300-yards with 80 grain econo-bullets from a 20-inch-barreled carbine.
Classic in this vein is the oft-repeated factoid that thousands of Scandanavian Moose (Elk I guess) are killled with the 6.5x55 SE cartridge. That is all fine and good but are they making 400 yard shots across canyons or are they able to get withing 50-yards of their game. I'm going to go out on a limb here and speculate that might just make a wee bit of difference in the effectiveness of any game cartridge. (Sarcasm is so unflattering!)
Well, thanks for letting me express myself. I'm just a frustrated because I am still mulling a Kimber .260 and any help is appreciated. And I've been pouring over caliber recommendations from hunters on numerous websites and it is just very typical for hunters to say what cartridge they like and how many deer they killed or lost and NEVER include any other pertinent details, such as the range they killled or failed to kill at.
Thanks for letting me spew. I'll take my medication now.