Competition Calibers - Why are .257 & .277 calibers under developed?

[pertnear]

I'm not a competitor but I'm fascinated by rifle matches for everything from 50' RF to 1000 yd target & steel. I see the whole range of caliber diameters from .224 to .338 getting attention. As certain cartridges get more popular, bullet makers seem to make more & more match grade bullets in that diameter. So why so little interest in .257 & .277 calibers? The usual argument is that there are few match grade bullets. Is it strictly the perception of shooters? If they make the bullets, will the popularity grow?

 

[miles13]

In order for those calibers to become popular, they will have to outperform what's working.

 

[watercam]

I think I boils down to what everyone else is already using. There is one outfit specializing in the .25 cal. with match bullets but they are all by them selves. The calibers/cartridges that are
popular have proven match-winning abilities. Simple as that.

 

[Adam in WI]

If they make the bullets, will the popularity grow?

Sounds like a standoff if you ask me. They won't make them without demand, and people won't build high dollar rigs in calibers that suffer poor availability.

 

[pertnear]

Sounds like a standoff if you ask me. They won't make them without demand, and people won't build high dollar rigs in calibers that suffer poor availability.

Kind of what I'm thinking. "What came 1st, the chicken or the egg?" The same is true of barrels. Here is a sample list of Shilen's barrel twists:

.257 dia 7", 9", 10", 11", 12", 13"
.264 dia 7", 8", 9"
.277 dia 10", 11"

 

[dkhunt14]

The 6mm will what the 25 cal will. Good clamberings available. The same thing can be said for the 270. The 6.5 cartridges work and some accurate ones available. You can also go bigger and go 7mm. There are good caridges available for it. There are good bullets and a big selection available including a lot of custom ones. The thing about competition is you are looking for accuracy and not speed. The calibers I mentioned all have good cartridges available that are accurate. While the 25 and 270 calibers don't have that much available. Matt

 

[greisdor]

It would require some to champion it and start winning matches. Lot of people would like Berger to make a high BC 25 cal hybrid bullet around 128 gn.

 

[406pat]

The right time and place yesteryear is not the same as today. When the most popular chamberings for these rounds came out, speed was king for the sub-.30 crowd. "long range" for most shooters and hunters was 3-400 yards. A light- or mid- weight for caliber bullet was an easy way to get that. Most didn't really care about BC or SD because that didn't really matter for their purposes. Manufacturers geared barrel twist and ammunition components to these weight bullets. These were also (for the most part) not military calibers. Most of the other calibers that shoot long heavy bullets in competition today also shot long heavy bullets in military applications for a long time. In order to accommodate the old chamberings and surplus ammo, barrel makers still had to churn out fast twist 6mm, 6.5 mm, 7 mm, .30 cal, etc. Not so much so for the .25 and .277. When true long range shooting came into vogue, there were already fast twist barrels to accommodate long, heavy, aerodynamic bullets in the military rooted calibers so bullet makers weren't constrained by that. They could design a bullet and be pretty confident there would be an off the shelf barrel for it. If someone wanted to do a heavy .277 or .25, they also needed to have a custom fast twist barrel cut. A fun novelty project, but not a recipe for commercial success. It simply hasn't been worth it on a commercial scale to make mass quantities of fast twist barrels in these calibers. With no fast twist barrels, it doesn't make commercial sense to make heavy target bullets. That seems to be changing a little bit, but I doubt they will ever sniff the more established calibers. They just have too big a head start.

 

[kzin]

Mo metric is mo better

5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 mm covers it fine.

No need for the goofy in-betweeners.

 

[IdahoSharpshooter]

The 30 caliber is easy. Military caliber.

The 257 is on the other end. In the early 1950's the NBRSA adopted the 6mm, nobody knows why that caliber, for the sporter class.

You have to understand, accuracy shooters hate recoil. Lots of recoil = larger groups.

 

[greisdor]

Mo metric is mo better
No need for the goofy in-betweeners.

I bet u would tell Palmisano & Pindel to stick the 222.......

 

[std7mag]

Mo metric is mo better

5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 mm covers it fine.

No need for the goofy in-betweeners.

Drop your parents car insurance!
Buy a 30 cal!!

Guessing we know who has a manbun...


As for 25 cal & 277, i dunno...
Mostly to do with demand i guess.
Though any Tom, Dick & Harry can walk into any shop and get what they want in 224, 6mm, 6.5mm.
(No offense to Tom, Dick, or Harry)

 

[DirtySteve]

Early bullet choices were poor.... That is why..

 

[kzin]

Drop your parents car insurance!
Buy a 30 cal!!

Guessing we know who has a manbun...

I barely have hair!

I did kinda forget about 30 cal though
Even though I own 4 different 30 cal rifles. Just not f-class rifles.

 

[kzin]

I bet u would tell Palmisano & Pindel to stick the 222.......

5.56 takes place of what should be 5.5 because history.

 

[Hohn]

The trouble with splitting a difference is that you can get a better overall option going up or down depending on what you seek. Splitting a difference is a compromise measure. By definition that means you get less compromise on either side of it.

And if you can live with the tradeoffs of a less compromise? Better option.

And it's useful to remember that the rest of the world is metric, so having 6mm, 6.5mm, and 7mm makes a lot of sense that .257 and 277 doesn't.

 

[Downeast]

When I think .257 and .277 I think hunting calibers and hunting rifles not competition shooting. Both are excellent hunting calibers. There are tons of .270's out there and a lot of 25-06's as well. And the .257 Wby is a fine deer and antelope cartridge.

 

[justpassinthru]

In order for those calibers to become popular, they will have to outperform what's working.

Or have massive media support as with the 6.5 Creedmoor.

 

[pertnear]

As the OP, like I said, I'm not a long range competitor, but fascinated by the game. I just seems like a factory .270 WSSM with the 170 gr Berger in a 8" twist (if you could find a barrel) would be a good choice, except for there being zero hype. Like a lot of things, it's the man behind the rifle & not the rifle usually! Just thinking out-load while stuck at home.....

 

[jackieschmidt]

The 30 caliber is easy. Military caliber.

The 257 is on the other end. In the early 1950's the NBRSA adopted the 6mm, nobody knows why that caliber, for the sporter class.

You have to understand, accuracy shooters hate recoil. Lots of recoil = larger groups.

The NBRSA did not adopt the 6mm, they simply stated that in Sporter you had to shoot a caliber of .23 or larger. The 6mm was the logical step. Since many shooters used one Rifle, they simply shot their Sporter in LV and HV.
I feel safe in saying that at one time, all the records in all three NBRSA and IBS classes, (except the .009 group record in LV) was actually held by shooters using a legal Sporter.

I played with the 25 BR back in 1998/1999, that is when Jeff Fowler made those great 85 grn FB Bullets. It was very competitive. Berger also made a good 72 and 82 grn.

But to what point. It would do nothing that a 6PPC would not do. I used Krieger 1-13 barrels with enough N130 to push it 3250. About all I accomplished was a tad more recoil.

Even now, with caliber rules taken away, very few shooters shoot anything but a 6mm in NBRSA Group. In fact, LV simply replaced the Sporter as the “go to” rifle.