Comments on: 30 Caliber vs. 7mm for Long Range — Litz Offers Analysis

By: Rikky

Rikky — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 21:46:42 +0000

As a long time 7mm user I fail to understand why we bother with 30 cal, apart from habit. The 7mm is head and shoulders above the 30 cal in performance and has none of those annoying habits the 6.5 has at long distance.

“Market forces” (whatever that really means) seem to keep the 30 cal afloat. I know when I started in 7mm the supply of projectiles was impossible and now it is much better. I hope in 5 years time we will see more choice of bullet weights in this caliber.

By: James

James — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 06:29:53 +0000

With respect to a tungsten core, Powell River Labs produced such in a .22 cal 87gn during the early 90’s. The OAL is around 1.004″. They performed well during testing at Oak Ridge, had a high BC but an even higher price, $1.00 per bullet. Don’t know if they continued or ever produced for other calibers. My interest in these dropped rather quickly simply due to the price.

By: Jeff Nyfeler

Jeff Nyfeler — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 19:21:06 +0000

I shoot a .300 WSM in High Power Long Range and like the 210 gr. bullets. I’ve shot well with 220 and 240 grain pills, but they give me headaches now when I shoot them. The 210 does not. I hope Berger doesn’t stop with their .30 cal. improvements at 230 gr. There’s still a market for the 210!

By: Benny

Benny — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 18:51:22 +0000

Like to see something in a .257 diameter VLD about 123 grains or better.
Variety is the spice of life!

By: Steve Blair

Steve Blair — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 18:24:47 +0000

I just ordered some Berger 230 grain Hybrid Tactical OTM .308 bullets for testing. The G7 BC is .364 vs. .345 for the 7mm 180 Hybrid. It remains to be seen if the additional recoil is a problem in a 22 pound rifle.

By: JPeelen

JPeelen — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 17:37:14 +0000

Compared to the 1st edition the book by Bryan Litz it now contains data for 60 additional bullets (my counts):
cal .224: 4
cal .243: 7
cal .264: 7
cal .270: 3
cal .284: 9
cal .308: 22
cal .338: 8
For six “old” bullets additional measurements were done to improve the reliability of the data. All 236 bullets (except one) have their dimensions shown in a drawing. The larger page size was used to add for each bullet a table of stability for typical twist rates of the caliber.
In a time of more or less fictional advertised ballistic data, the book by Bryan Litz is really invaluable.
He explains long range ballistics in a plain, easy to understand way.
The software is, contrary to most commercial programs, not overloaded with features, but very straightforward to use. I my view it is ideal for the beginner.

By: Ian Hames

Ian Hames — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 00:09:30 +0000

As this article has been brought back to the fore, it is worthy of mentioning that Matrix Bullets in Canada has indeed approached the .277 caliber with an eye towards a very high BC match round, and they have done so in the form of a 175 grain bullet, with an average anecdotal G1BC of .700, based on the testing that has been done by Long-Range Bechrest testers. They have also started producing a 165 in this caliber as well.

It will offer a nice change from the rampant supply problems with quality 7mm bullets, and it will be nice to compete with something very different.

By: mark caracci

mark caracci — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 11:59:53 +0000

Sir, if you make a high density tungsten cored .30 cal you would exceed their present BC limitations without increasing overall bullet length; heavy, short with more case capacity… Now, make the 6 and 7mm with a tungsten core and you will have a strong winner.

Mark Caracci

By: Bryan Litz

Bryan Litz — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:18:16 +0000

Alan,
I completely agree that the problem with heavy .30 caliber bullets is that they’re poorly designed. The Hornady 208 Amax, Sierra 210 MK, and Berger 210 VLD and BT are not bad options in the 210 grain weight class, but 210 isn’t really a heavyweight for .30 cal.
I know at least 1 bullet maker (wink) who’s working to fill the nitch for well designed heavy .30 caliber bullets.
Bullet availability will dictate the success of a caliber within it’s application. Look at .277 caliber. Right between 6.5mm and 7mm. Why isn’t .277 caliber considered a ‘competition’ option? Because it’s traditionally a hunting round, and all the bullets made for .277 are designed around that application.
All that’s needed to bring the .30 caliber back into the forefront of LR competition are some well designed ‘true’ heavyweight bullets (around 230 grains). For some applications, the recoil will still be prohibitive, but in other applications it won’t matter.

-Bryan

By: Alan Fraser

Alan Fraser — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:16:57 +0000

As an F-Class shooter where muzzle brakes are not permitted, I think the choice for long range is between 6.5mm and 7mm, not 7mm and .30 cal.

To be fair to the .30, the main problem is that none of the major bullet manufacturers are making them with high BC. The sectional density of the 240grn SMK shows that it COULD be made with a higher BC than the 180 Berger. Perhaps there is some other limiting factor which makes this impractical.