Quote:
Originally Posted by 209x50
Still, you give up too much velocity with the 162 in the 7/08 AI to ever catch even the 130 Berger in the 260 AI. I can't come within a hundred FPS of 2735 with a 162 in my 7/08 AI. It is probably just my gun. Even so lets compare using the 162 at Jordan' speed of 2735 fps and the 130 VLD at 2960 out of my 260 AI. At 1000 yards the 162 drops 40" more, it has 3/4" less wind drift than the 130 and the two are within 50 fps of one another.
Even when I use the high BC ELD-X 143 in my 260 AI, my velocity drops back to 2755. The ELD 143 bullet only outperforms the 130 in one area to 1000 yards, it has 1" less wind drift. Velocity and time of flight are tough make up for no matter how efficient the bullet is.
So on paper the argument could be made for whichever floats your boat. For me I prefer the far more pleasant to shoot 130 in the 260. Everybody's mileage may differ.
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Of course it's tough to compare apples-to-apples when we're talking about handloads in individual rifles, since 99% of handloaders have no way of measuring the peak pressure of their loads, which varies widely. For that reason, I went to Hodgdon for pressure-tested load data to confirm that both the SAAMI .260 and SAAMI 7-08 are able to come very close to 2750fps with 140 and 162gr bullets, respectively. Going AI will add 75-100fps in either case. So if we're doing a fair comparison, we'd be using about 2825-2850fps with either cartridge. Either way, performance is very close between the two. The same goes for the 120-130gr in a .260 vs. 140-150gr in the 7mm-08.
I would agree that there needs to be a balance between muzzle velocity and BC with any bullet to be used in medium to long-range applications, and that potential balance is easily quantified by comparing the form factor of the bullets in question.