Now for a realistic point of view....
While the ppc is a GREAT cartridge...and it MIGHT be THE best, it has almost 40 years of technology and experience helping it's cause, vs. the .222. Notable improvements in actions, stocks, triggers, barrels, rests, benches, etc., have been made in that time span. Not to mention wind flags are standard now, and not so much then. Most of these things are accepted as NECESSARY to BEST accuracy today. I'm not saying that the .222 will out agg the ppc, but there simply has not been the same energy and resources applied to finding the answer to that as has been in making the ppc, king. For that matter I'll note that a Hall of Fame shooter, Mike Ratigan, refers to shooting a .22-100 short as being like "cheating", in his book. Also, Tony Boyer's philosophy for "agging them to death" is famous. That logic lends one to believe that a cartridge that is not finicky, but shoots very well, consistently, can WIN. I know about the wind drift advantage. That's why I made my last post about my expereince with shots not going where we want them to if the trigger is pulled at the wrong time. I've tested this theory with higher bc bullets in score shooting ON A CALIBER NEUTRAL target. Dammit, even the high bc bullets still don't go on the chigger when I screw up

[SIZE=78%]! I'm not someone who believes the ppc is the end all, be all. Rather, I like to experiment with things that may shoot well. I have proven to myself that my 30 Major cartridge is at least as good as a 30 BR, and have been fortunate enough to have beaten a bunch of them, and finished very respectably in the points, shooting it. I very firmly believe that if half or more of the shooters were shooting it, it would garner MUCH more respect as a viable option to a 30 BR. Now assume for a minute that I'm right, and that it will shoot with a 30br. What if 92+%, including the very best in the game were shooting it, TODAY...would/could it be considered the new KING of score shooting? My honest opinion is an emphatic YES! But, in the case of my 30 Major, it was a day late and a dollar short. In the case of the .222, it MIGHT be the opposite in terms of time...and maybe not. But to state such things as it being asinine to consider it as a viable cartridge, TODAY, is very presumptive. We are a small group, and when the vast majority go with a given cartridge, it ruins the data because there is so little room for improvement. There simply isn't room for a new or old cartridge to claim "substantial" gains when we are already WAY better than our own abilities to tune and shoot what we already have to their full potential. As I already mentioned, I put my money where my mouth is with my 30 Major, and am very pleased. I am now finishing up a .222 to shoot modified class in UBR, on a caliber neutral target. I would NOT go this route if I didn't feel that it could be competitive. That might lead us into another subject, but we'll see. Either way, my money is where my mouth and keyboard are.--Mike Ezell [/SIZE]