The 26 Nosler Any Thoughts?

[ChrisG]

I deleted that post because after second thought I realized your post wasn't aimed at me. My bad. I still think your post was rather pompous and full of assumptions.

Fair enough.

 

[Dwight Beagle]

And on further thought I'm having a bad hair day so I retract every thing I said and apologize again. You actually raised some excellent points and used exaggeration to emphasize them.

Most of the new cartridges that have come out in the past few years haven't interested me but for some reason the 26 Nosler does. My .270 will do everything the 26 Nosler will do at the ranges I hunt at.

 

[ChrisG]

I deleted that post because after second thought I realized your post wasn't aimed at me. My bad and I apologize. I still think your post was rather pompous and full of assumptions.

As to your argument the 26 Nosler is unnecessary, that is true, and so are all of the .30 caliber magnums that came out after the .300 WinMag, as is the .375 Ruger and the .416 Remingtion if you apply the same logic.

That's true if you're talking about making a cartridge that is superfluous... I am not above claiming that I have cartridges I don't necessarily need. The biggest animal I have ever shot was a 950lb Bull Moose, but I own a .375 H&H and .416 Ruger. Technically... Nothing after the .300 H&H was invented was needed. What gets my goat is when companies try to make something that offers negligable advantages that can't be taken advantage of by the vast majority of hunters, sound like it is leaps and bounds ahead of everything that came before it. And then I hear people at the LGS regurgitate it like it is gospel. Sure the .416 Remington wasn't necessarily needed... but I bet the people who own one were glad when a big company like Remington could supply them with ammo at half or a third the cost of .416 Rigby. If we only had one cartridge to fill every sporting role we would need like 2 or 3 shotguns gauges, and probably 10 rifle cartridges.

There are cartridges that offer similar performance in a slightly different package. Most of the time, manufacturers market it as such... ".375 Ruger - .375 H&H performance in a short action, lighter rifle." That was Hornady's claim... They didn't say ".375 Ruger - hits with 20% more energy than the .375 H&H at 800 yards." So much is marketed based solely upon some slight engineering advantage that no one can really notice or use. I should know! I am a mechanical engineer and my job is to help design things with slight, negligable advantages over the competition so that the marketing department can make it seem like everyone else is in the iron age.

 

[ChrisG]

And on further thought I'm having a bad hair day so I retract every thing I said and apologize again. You actually raised some excellent points and used exaggeration to emphasize them.

Most of the new cartridges that have come out in the past few years haven't interested me but for some reason the 26 Nosler does. My .270 will do everything the 26 Nosler will do at the ranges I hunt at.

It's totally fine... I didn't mean to come across as snobbish... Everyone has bad days.

 

[Dwight Beagle]

My grandfather was a mechanical engineering professor. He wrote textbooks to finance his hobby which was ranching. It is due to him that I have so much land at my disposal to hunt on.

 

[ChrisG]

View attachment 159250 My grandfather was a mechanical engineering professor. He wrote textbooks to finance his hobby which was ranching. It is due to him that I have so much land at my disposal to hunt on.

Drafting is a lost art. My father was a Forest Ranger for The NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation. He spent his first years on the job surveying with a cartographer and drafting land surveys that were done of state land in the northern Adirondacks near the Canadian border. I still have his india ink rapidograph set! I just use Solidworks now, which sort of cheapens it... but man, you get stuff done a lot faster...

 

[Scott Slough]

I still have his india ink rapidograph set! I just use Solidworks now, which sort of cheapens it... but man, you get stuff done a lot faster...

A rapidograph was cheating when I took surveying and drafting! I would have killed to have been able to afford one!

 

[Sako AV]

I don't have experience with either cartridge but if someone is a 6.5mm fan, they may want to check out Weatherby's new 6.5-300WM. This was Weatherby's answer to the development of the 26 Nosler. I don't have a horse in this race, just trying to give fans of this cartridge diameter another option to consider.Personally, I'll stick with my .257WM!

 

[vancewalker007]

The 6.5 has been gaining some ground recently with the big focus on long range shooting. They can be very accurate at extended ranges. Also, there are a lot of great high BC bullets for hunting out there that should, placed properly, do the job on most small to medium size game (deer sized). With my pocketbook I would prefer a heavy bullet for large game like Elk or Kudu. I can't afford to loose a $2000 Kudu to a 140 grain bullet not doing its job. I have a 375 Ruger running 250 gr TTSXs for this application. With a good custom barrel it will likley be as accurate as you are. If you are building it for long range then put a muzzle brake on it to minimize barrel rise and it will be a super soft shooter on your shoulder. I can free recoil my 7mm LRM and stay of the target for followups. To me the biggest drawback is the cost of cases. I think they are somewhere north of $2.70 each. I also dislike the $1.94 I pay for LRM cases but I just shoot that rifle less. Good luck with your build, a new rifle is always a lot of fun.

 

[Dwight Beagle]

I've looked at the Weatherby and figure the 26 Nosler will be less expensive to load.