Why minor instead of major in 3-Gun

[Dowter]

Why is it that minor caliber (.223) is more popular than major caliber?  No one shots minor in pistol (unless it's production) if they have any choice.

[Flexmoney]

points per second.

[TMC]

The vast majority of 3-gunners are shooting AR's for their flexability and ease of shooting compared to a major caliber .308 rifles.  Because 99% of the folks your shooting aginst are also being scored minor it really doesn't matter.  At the 3 gun nationals out of 200+ shooters there was only one or two major caliber rifles and none at the top of the field.

[kellyn]

Hey, the second place guy in Limited was shooting a .260 Rem at major pf!

Flexmoney hit it on the head: points per second.  The points generated shooting a .308 does not make up for the time it takes to recover shot to shot.  You can shoot a .223 SO much faster plus they are just plain easier to handle.  .308s no longer have any ballistic advantage over .223s either.

A .260 Rem at major is a different story as there is quite a bit less recoil than a .308 but is it better?  I don't know yet.  It's got the best ballistics but it still kicks quite a bit more than a .223.

Another factor is cost.  It is much cheaper to shoot .223s.  Cheaper means more practice.  I may be able to compete with my .260 but will always be much more expensive than shooting a .223.

I believe SOF/WC3Gun has the most major friendly match.  They space out the shooting positions and targets engaged from each postion.  They also shoot more paper targets at distance.

[kurtm]

Hey Kelly:

This used to be true when WC3G divided major ( 10, 8, 6.) and minor ( 10, 6, 4.) Nowadays it is a 1 point split, 10,8,6 major, and 10,7,5. With this little a difference you can see why even I switched to minor. It use to really payoff to shoot major at that match, as well it should ( and now that you are a major man you understand). It seems that the only place that I use major anymore is in Bolivia, Where it really DOES make a difference, but that is way outside a forum on match shooting. As a side note I still go through at least 3000 rounds of .308 out of my M1As a year, you got to stay sharp.  KURT

[TMC]

Kellyn,

My humble apologies

[AH6IP]

FWIW-

I for one just started using a modified AR10 that I built.  Very low recoil, very fast sight picture recovery, and very, very accurate.  I have the specs(and pics) for anyone interested.  If nothing else, I win the "coolest gun" award

[Patrick Sweeney]

Another difference is the actual power generated.  The rifle minor at 160 (check me if I'm remembering this wrong) means a 55 grain bullet needs to go 2909 fps.  Since most ARs run a 55 @ 3000 or 3100 at most, no problem.   (170PF)

For major, you need 340.  However, a standard load is something like this: 168 gr @ 2600, for a 436.8 PF.  If you wanted to have your Major load just over the threshold, you'd be pushing a 168 @ 2113 (355PF).

Or, use a 125 and push it  2840 fps.

I could be possible to develop a load that just made major, had a flat enough trajectory, and good accuracy.  And you'd still get a good butt kicking from an AR shooter who spent his time practicing instead of developing a super-special load.