Target Versus Hunting Cartridges

I’ve been sort of sequestered over a couple of months, owing my cardiologist’s instructions.

- Dave Scovill

First, he took care of an irregular heartbeat, and a few months later installed a pacemaker. Both procedures were less troublesome than waiting for special-order pizza. The problem was the “don’t do” list afterward, effectively summarized by “don’t do anything stupid or lift anything over 10 pounds for four to six weeks.” I didn’t ask about chopping wood.

While waiting for the obligatory timeframe to pass, it has been interesting to review the more recent cartridge introductions in the gun press (print) and on the Internet, which as folks might be aware, are on two different planets.

Of course, you would have to be chained up in the basement to have escaped the never-ending press coverage of the 6.5 Creedmoor, which is basically a modified .260 Remington, but “better” because it has a scosche (Japanese) longer neck and a tad (English) less powder capacity.

That last is interesting, since the gun press has spent the last 50 years fawning over anything with the case capacity just short of the .50 BMG, as witnessed by the culmination of big beltless and belted wonders that generate the kind of recoil that no rational person would care to put up with. And yes, for the discerning shooter, there are wildcats based on the big .50 for those who like to shoot, as they say, “over the horizon.”