Which Factory Chambering Has the Best Factory Ammo?

[lgm270]

Does anyone have any feelings about which standard factory ammo is the best?

30-06?  .270?  7mm Mag? 

I have found 30-06  to be the most uniform.   .270 velocities vary as much as 200 fps with 130 grain bullet.

[Coyote Hunter]

The .30-06 probably has the most factory ammo available, equalled or followed closely by the .308 Win/7.62 Nato.

As to "Best", you need to lay down the criteria by which it is judged.

"Cheap and adequate for the intended purpose" is certainly a valid criteria.  So is "most consistent, regardless of cost".

For varmints?  Deer?  Elk?  Moose? DG? Plinking?  Competition?

For my own purposes, I tend to favor Federal Premium ammo due to the bullet selections.  That said, I handload and rarely shoot factory ammo.

[bja105]

I'm surprised someone with a chrony shoots enough factory ammo to see trends.

Anyway, the three you mentioned have lots of choices, as does 243, 308, 300 win, and 30-30.  All those choices mean one is likely to be good.

In my handloading experience, only one round could I not easily duplicate or exceed factory ammo precision, and thats the 30-30.  I could never get a hand load to shoot as well as any of the factory ammo I tried.
My vote, 30-30.

[lgm270]

I'm surprised someone with a chrony shoots enough factory ammo to see trends.

Anyway, the three you mentioned have lots of choices, as does 243, 308, 300 win, and 30-30.  All those choices mean one is likely to be good.

In my handloading experience, only one round could I not easily duplicate or exceed factory ammo precision, and thats the 30-30.  I could never get a hand load to shoot as well as any of the factory ammo I tried.
My vote, 30-30.

A great assessment.   

[charles p]

You know the saying about opinions....and assumptions.

My most accurate factory chambered rifle happens to be a 25-06, but I doubt it is because of the caliber.  Maybe I just shoot it better.  The 7mm-08 and 280 would be high on my list.  Always heard nice things about 7mm bullets and I own five different 7mm chamberings. 

The choice of a caliber is very personal, and depends on the intended use.  I can't think of a modern rimless, non-belted caliber that is inheritantly in-accurate.

Cartridge manufacturers will most likely strive to improve the chamberings that sell the best.  Makes good business sense.  The same is true of shotshells.  Almost all of the R&D goes into 12 guage trap and skeet loads.

[lgm270]

You know the saying about opinions....and assumptions.

My most accurate factory chambered rifle happens to be a 25-06, but I doubt it is because of the caliber.  Maybe I just shoot it better.  The 7mm-08 and 280 would be high on my list.  Always heard nice things about 7mm bullets and I own five different 7mm chamberings.  

The choice of a caliber is very personal, and depends on the intended use.  I can't think of a modern rimless, non-belted caliber that is inheritantly in-accurate.

Cartridge manufacturers will most likely strive to improve the chamberings that sell the best.  Makes good business sense.  The same is true of shotshells.  Almost all of the R&D goes into 12 guage trap and skeet loads.

Regardless of the saying about opinions and assumptions, I enjoy reading them and so do many others apparently.  As I said in my opening post, I've noticed as much as 200 fps spread in .270 ammo, but 30-06 in my experience has been  pretty uniform, although 50-75 fps below published MV's for 150 grain loads with 22" barrels.  A friend with a chronograph said that .308 and .300 win mag was pretty much on the dime,  once you adjusted for barrel length.  Obviously an 18.5" .308 will give lower MV's than the 24 incher.  He was really into this and would offer people the opportunity to chronograph their ammo at the range.   He was more interested in comparing published vs. actual MV's than in some exhaustive study of which rounds were more uniform.  

The .270 and 7mm Rem Mags were frequently under the  published MV's.   I was with him one day and we chrono'ed 3 different 7mm Rem Mags, all with 24" barrels and the factory 150 grain loads. This was pubished as 3,200 fps MV when the round was introduced, but has been reduced to 3,110 fps, the same as the .270/130.  The 7mm Rem/150 grain loads he tested were from 3050 to 2,950.  Kind of disappointing.  With a 24" .270  and handloads you can get 2,950 fps with a 150 grain bullet, the same as some of the factory 7mm Rem Mag loads.  

 The 300 Win, 30-06, 223 and 30-30 were pretty uniform and compared favorably to published MV's.

After years of hunting I became less interested in 100 fps, but when I was younger it seemed like a big deal.