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04-03-2013, 20:02 #11
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- Sep 2011
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- Windhoek, Namibia
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- 111
Re: Buying your first rifle – Deciding on a calibre
Hi Tetelestai
Great article.
I think that something worth mentioning is the following:
30-06 parent case is used for 25-06, .270 Winchester and the 9,3x62 Mauser.
.308 Winchester parent case is used for .243 Winchester and then the .260 Remington (which is a 6.5mm-08 and similar to the 6.5x55).
I have started on a .308 Winchester for a couple of reasons:
1. It is the rifle that I started shooting with
2. The general purpose nature of it - I use 150gr bullets for Springbuck and can go up to 180gr for bigger game. I prefer the 168grainers mostly
3. It is cost effective to shoot
4. Barrel life is longer than other calibres. A calibre with a large case an small bullet (.300 Win Mag, 25-06 etc) are know to have shorter barrel lives.
As a second rifle, I would consider something in the line of 8x68 Mauser for larger game such as Eland.
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04-03-2013, 20:23 #12
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- Mar 2012
- Location
- Gauteng
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- 51
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- 3,857
Re: Buying your first rifle – Deciding on a calibre
Nice informative post T.
Glad to see you included some of the tried and tested European (metric) calibres in there. As the owner of a 6.5x55, 7x57 and 9,3X62 I could not agree more with your conclusions. Gives the novice more info on other choices besides the normal 243, 308 and 30 - 06 debate.
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04-03-2013, 20:52 #13
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- Aug 2012
- Location
- Stella
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- 46
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- 10,870
Re: Buying your first rifle – Deciding on a calibre
Great read! Hope it helps the inexperienced and young buyers - it definitely caused me to take a serious look at my budget! (So many guns, so little time...)
My little 2c: Practice, practice and practice a little more to make sure your shot goes where intended. Even a .416 bullet through the tail hairs of a rabbit wouldn't bring it down. Then rather a good shot with Oupa's old .303 through the vitals.
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04-03-2013, 22:22 #14
- Join Date
- Nov 2012
- Location
- Durban
- Posts
- 6
Re: Buying your first rifle – Deciding on a calibre
Hi Guys,
I just got my D.S.S status, and I wasted no time in Purchasing my first semi Auto .223.
I had a choice of 3
1. NEA
2. Dashpro
3. LM5
I picked the LM @ R20.000. Was this a Bad choice?
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04-03-2013, 23:09 #15
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- Feb 2011
- Location
- Where is my mind..?
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- 13,357
Re: Buying your first rifle – Deciding on a calibre
[b]Be ready for anything, and if his head is not at least two meters away from the body, do not 'assume' he is dead and out of the fight.[/b] [I]- Ikor[/I]
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05-03-2013, 00:03 #16
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- Sep 2008
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- 37
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- 4,042
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05-03-2013, 00:10 #17
- Join Date
- May 2012
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- Queensburgh ,Kzn.
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- 41
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- 736
Re: Buying your first rifle – Deciding on a calibre
Thanks for the excellent post! I'm currently stuck between 2 calibers ,namely .270 and .308 ,I'm in KZN so the bush might stuff me around a bit with the .270 but then again I won't take a shot that I'm not 100 percent comfortable with and I like the fact that the .270 shoots very flat ,taking a lot of the 'guessing work' out of the aiming ,but then again I have shot .308 (paper only) and really enjoyed it (I,m one of those short bantam 65 kilo okes ha ha) . But I have heard that some farmers apparently don't like hunters using anything under a .300 caliber size round in KZN because of the bush (probably another myth,I'm not too sure) , will the .308 have such a big advantage in KZN hunting over the .270 that I should rather stick to it?
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05-03-2013, 03:53 #18
- Join Date
- Jul 2012
- Posts
- 209
Great post!
Eugene I am no expert but traversed these same waters a year ago, and came to the conclusion if you don't want to shoot eland that in practice these two guns will be pretty similar. Saying this a lot of guys will post that they have taken eland with a 270, and others that a 308 isn't ideal for eland either.
That is why I ended up buying 2 rifles, and am sure it will not end there.
So I think the message from the OP is there is no ultimate single all-rounder, but if you compromise a bit any of said calibers can do the job.
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05-03-2013, 07:49 #19
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- May 2012
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- Queensburgh ,Kzn.
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05-03-2013, 08:03 #20
- Join Date
- Oct 2012
- Location
- Cape Town
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- 41
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- 751
Re: Buying your first rifle – Deciding on a calibre
I'd say that up to 200 meters, you're not really going to see much difference in the trajectory ofa .308 or a .270, like 0.1 to 0.2 inch.
Where I like the .270 better, is sectional density and ballistic coifficient, because of the smaller diameter. If you are scared of meat damage, load a 150gr bullet.
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