The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Higher Velocity Can Mean Greater Field Accuracy

Jimro · July 16, 2013, 09:04 AM

Brian, Picher,

I'm talking about national sales. Brian's experience with his local hunting scene suffers from the "small sample size" fallacy. As does "most successful hunters in Maine" which is but one of 50 states.

Notice that 30-06 is also in the top 5, as is the 7mm Rem Mag and 308 Win. The point being that you have a wide range of velocities, and none are particularly "more accurate" than any other.

I use the 30-30 as a referrence because it has "sedate" ballistics and yet remains very popular as witnessed by ammunition and reloading die sales. That literally millions upon millions of 30-30s are out there gives it plenty of institutional inertia, something rare for a civilian sporting cartridge.

Allow me to put this another way:

Muzzle velocity is affected by bore time. Longer barrels have longer bore times but also produce higher velocity. So, does muzzle velocity make up for the fact that the longer barrel gives the shooter more time to screw up the shot?

You can do this experiment with a 28" 308 and a 18" 308 and look for any sort of "accuracy gained from field positions" all you like, but you will not find it, even though the extra 10 inches of barrel can give over 200 fps advantage. The velocity advantage goes to the barrel with longer bore time, but the argument that high velocity cartridges have lower bore time is what Picher made.

So what is it? Higher velocity or shorter bore time? If it is shorter bore time, then clearly you want the shortest barrel that you can legally own. If it is highest velocity you want the longest barrel you can get.

Jimro

July 16, 2013, 09:04 AM	#38
Jimro Senior Member Join Date: October 18, 2006 Posts: 7,097	Brian, Picher, I'm talking about national sales. Brian's experience with his local hunting scene suffers from the "small sample size" fallacy. As does "most successful hunters in Maine" which is but one of 50 states. Notice that 30-06 is also in the top 5, as is the 7mm Rem Mag and 308 Win. The point being that you have a wide range of velocities, and none are particularly "more accurate" than any other. I use the 30-30 as a referrence because it has "sedate" ballistics and yet remains very popular as witnessed by ammunition and reloading die sales. That literally millions upon millions of 30-30s are out there gives it plenty of institutional inertia, something rare for a civilian sporting cartridge. Allow me to put this another way: Muzzle velocity is affected by bore time. Longer barrels have longer bore times but also produce higher velocity. So, does muzzle velocity make up for the fact that the longer barrel gives the shooter more time to screw up the shot? You can do this experiment with a 28" 308 and a 18" 308 and look for any sort of "accuracy gained from field positions" all you like, but you will not find it, even though the extra 10 inches of barrel can give over 200 fps advantage. The velocity advantage goes to the barrel with longer bore time, but the argument that high velocity cartridges have lower bore time is what Picher made. So what is it? Higher velocity or shorter bore time? If it is shorter bore time, then clearly you want the shortest barrel that you can legally own. If it is highest velocity you want the longest barrel you can get. Jimro __________________ Machine guns are awesome until you have to carry one.