Posted on 03/23/2015 7:35:33 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants
The myriad selection of rifle cartridges today has a metric ton of overlap, duplication, and some downright silly designs. Some of these designs boast wonderful claims, but not all of them measure up. In order to be overrated, you have to be rated at all, so that leaves some of the more obscure designs off the menu.
I’m well aware that I’m going to be taking a lot of flak for this article, no matter which cartridges I were to pick, so let me give you some details to start with. When you sit down to make your voodoo doll of me, you need to be as realistic as possible, I’m six feet tall, bald, blue eyes, and the goatee is graying. Accuracy counts in the voodoo-curse world as well.
That said, I have to pick five, and I know someone will come away with hurt feelings, but I’m going to throw caution to wind and do this anyway. “Overrated” is a tough term. It doesn’t mean that the cartridges I’m going to pick are bad, or even that they don’t work, it means that I feel that the glorification of them may not live up to the actual performance. Let’s roll.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanhunter.org ...
Still, a cartridge that moves out that fast and flat might be worth re-barreling every few years.
Having played with both M-16s and M-14s in Nam I’d say that it’s a choice depending on needs. If you are is a position where you have to hump ammo around in a pack you’d be better off with 5.56 because you can carry twice as much. If you have a defensive mode or some sort of vehicular support for easy resupply then 7.62 would be preferable.
Being a civilian now I’m happy because I can use my 30.06.
Agreed. You must master all the fundamentals to shoot the 7.62 well. Once upon a time I did, nailing 10 bulls at 500 meters (20" bull) prone with iron sights.
It would take a helluva lot of practice to get back to that now, 67 year old vision allowing. Nothing like several days of "snapping in" to imprint muscle memory.
If I was ever to get a gun chamber in one of the other. I would think about ammo availability.
Ahh, Parris Island memories.....
OK, the .223 is just right for shooting medium small game such as coyotes and with the right heavy bullets, it will do fine on hogs. At 500 yards it will out penetrate the .308.
The .300 Weatherby magnum feeds more smoothly than the .300 Winchester. It is also more powerful. The Weatherby has a longer case neck which helps in several ways. It also has the double radius shoulder which helps with that smooth feeding.
Probably the best overall combat round for the rifle is the 6.5 Carcano. Since it will never be popular due to the rough rifles it is used in, I would pick either the 6.5X55 Swedish Mauser or the old 6mm Lee Navy. You could do worse than the .243 Winchester.
Edson range at Pendleton for me. I do not envy your for the bugs.
.223/5.56: You can carry more. Flat trajectory. Bullet “tumbles”. A wounded man ties-up another/other men. Less recoil. The Russians copied it.
But even the manufacturers call it a “varmint” round.
I still like 7.62 better.
bflr
The .220 Swift has been around a long time, and this reputation was developed when it was young. Advances in metallurgy have greatly attenuated the problem, but the reputation remains. Still, when you're the velocity king (excepting a handful of .17 and .20s) you will by definition erode barrels faster than a slower cartridge, all other things being equal.
Yeah, well, PI in ‘74,
shot group tightened up in Anbar ‘05-06, Ninevah
‘07-08
Until my boating accident, I had a M1 Garand, M1903A3, M1 Carbine and a M1A. Love them all. Have an AR that I don’t shoot much, but I used to carry a M4 in full auto as a duty weapon that I really liked too. Really like the 30 caliber though. Accurate and certainly does the job it’s designed to do.
IIRC, the 74 round is actually superior to the 5.56 in ‘tumble factor’. Their bullet design is superior, too.
Lever action in 45-70 325 gr. puts the wham in the bam!
Prob meant 7.62mm nato.
The 7.62x39 is a 310 caliber.
And in the right set up it can be very accurate. I have a Savage heavy barrel varmint that can routinely do same hole 3 shot groups at 100 yards if I am having a good day. Longest Prarie Dog shot is 540 yards. Even though the barrel is a 1 in 9 twist the 55 gr Hornady Tap Urban works the best. Go figure.
.223/5.56: You can carry more. Flat trajectory. Bullet “tumbles”. A wounded man ties-up another/other men. Less recoil. The Russians copied it.
Happy people with unhappy thumbs!
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