If the 300 RUM surprises you, know that it surprised me, too. Now I have some facts for my creedmoor pal to chew on. Despite its relatively low B.C. Hornady's ELD line of bullets is considered the most precisely made, and the flattest shooting for any specific caliber. That's impressive but misleading. Mag. The 300 Win Mag is definitely on the list. I've been looking at the .257 weatherby that drops about 34" with a 100gr bullet at 500 yards and the .22-250 is another at around 36" with a 50gr bullet. Thanks Jim. Right now, shooters are obsessed with flat-shooting rifle cartridges. bullets at faster speeds allows the projectile to get to the target sooner, minimizing the amount of time all three forces have to affect the bullets trajectory. With the 30-06, we can only overcome 12 yards of ranging error at the same range before we miss the 6 of vitals. If not. Most often you just have to buy a Weatherby rifle to get one, and while that used to be an expensive proposition, its not anymore. Most fall close to the .22 caliber bullet range, and can dip down to .17 caliber and up to .264 (6.5 mm). The 220 Swift would be my pick for coyotes, rodents, and probably pronghorn if it werent for the wind deflection issue. The .277 bullet earns a lower B.C. The Nosler AccuBond is one of the best all-round big-game bullets offered, and Weatherby has smarly offered the 140-grain version for their 6.5 RPM cartridge. great to see bullet drops and equate them in inches of drop brings home the reality of how much impact good old gravity has on ballistics.even with the flattest cartridges still aiming the height of a house above the target @1000 yds While that incredibly fast 6.5-300 Wby. All are welcome. The 300WM with the 210 VLDs at 2950fps is pretty good also. For some reason it pushed Noslers 125-gr. It's still possible to get factory ammo for the cartridge, but current production .223 WSSM ammo normally uses heavier 50 or 55 grain bullets at . Good points, which are all things Ive considered. MY 45 cal ball travels at 1633fps with a standard charge, and 74-5gr for a full charge (2040fps). All Rights Reserved, My Group Therapy: Shooting Log Book | 100 pages (6"x9") | Record Target Shooting Data & Improve your Skills and Precision Paperback June 13, 2019. Granted I do live in New England, and we dont have that many long shot opportunities here, but you would think someone would want to have there firearms chambered in such a flat shooting cartridge. 1 Normal load using the most popular factory ammo, one heavy load for each, one light load. The drops are listed in feet for the really long range shots, so theyre pretty close to your numbers. is the fastest at 3,500 FPS, and exits a rifle with a muzzle energy of 2,700 FPE. Also, youll find more ammo options for the .308 Winchester than any of the others. Don't get me wrong, but 45-70 are very accurate and can travel quite well buckin' the wind, It was introduced in 1962 and essentially knocked the .264 Winchester Magnum several notches down on the popularity list after hunters and shooters put the 7mm Mag to the test. Commissions are earned for links to Brownell's, Amazon, MidwayUSA, GoHunt, OpticsPlanet, Sportsman's Warehouse, and other retailers. After Weatherbys 6.5-300 Magnum did not win as many hearts and minds as theyd hoped, Weatherby rethought the 6.5mm cartridge and developed the 6.5 RPM (Rebated Precision Magnum). A big 7mm like the 7rum can put a 140 with nearly a .500 bc downrange at over 3500 fps or a 120 with about a .400 bc in the 3600+ fps range. I was surprised at the distance, so I asked my PH Thats just 155 yards? He got a stunned look on his face and said, No, TWO hundred fifty-five yards! Our miscommunication during the shot sequence didnt matter a bit, because I was shooting a .28 Nosler, which put the shot only 2.8 low at that distance. The vast offerings of ammo and rifles on the market today is why the 338 Winchester Magnum is probably one of the best elk cartridges a hunter can carry. I subscribed to your Feed as well. The biggest deficit is the roughly 57 feet of drop at 1,000 yards. throwing a 55-gr. Gravity impacts all objects the same. Thats equal magnitude to 200fps less flatness! Just want to extend my sincere gratitude to you for all of the hard work, time, and incredible effort that you put into this, and so many other endeavors that you have undertaken to give us so much useful information and education, and doing so in a carefully detailed and professional manner! A 25 yard miscalculation at that distance will vary your hit by half a foot and outside our 6 imaginary circle of vitals. By way of comparison, the .270 Winchester (based on the .30-06 Springfield) offers a case capacity of 67 grains. rating) driven more slowly. Answer (1 of 5): Trajectory flatness is a function of muzzle velocity. and .30 caliber bore . Flattest at 1,000 yards Heres where things start to change. Its drop at 1,000 yards is 330.30 and at 500 yards its drop is 50.00. More hunters should get to know this fantastic round. 2. Flattest Shooting Hunting Bullet 257 Weatherby Vanguard 26" pipe. The .277 is an oddball bullet diameter, in that it doesnt fall into the much more common 6.5mm, 7mm, or .30-caliber categories. The 300 PRC will cruise above the speed of sound out to 1,650 yards. A rifle is suitable for flat shooting as long as the 500-yard impact range of the rifle falls below the 40''. Aug 31, 2013. Its muzzle velocity is 1880 fps, and muzzle energy is 2355 ft. lbs. It just murders your shoulder, ears, and pocketbook at the same time . . It's not until you get farther out that BC starts making a big difference. What do you guys think . Run those numbers on JBM. Norma offers a 156-grain Oryx load that wont shoot as flat but provides great terminal performance. With a muzzle velocity faster than 3000 fps, it offers great external and terminal ballistics. If youre after critters deer-size and up, the field is dominated by .30-caliber, 6.5mm, and 7mm cartridges, with the best long-range options remaining supersonic out to at least 1,400 yards. bullet. It has the best BC and is hands down the flattest shooting of the AR15 calibers. Find out which ones made the cut. This is about an alternative to a .308 for those snipers who will likely never even see a 100-yard deployment and do not need the overpenetration or down range effect. At 500 yards . Great work mate including .22LR what a hoot (Incoming!) It's a shame the .25-06 is in decline at the moment. Yet it has proven again and again that it will deliver at distance. We are not going to include here the esoteric military sniping rounds engineered for 1,000 yards, 2,000 yards, even 3,000 yards. Share: Facebook Twitter WhatsApp Email Share Link. Many people found it informative, but some of the hunters wanted to know if you have any statistics available on the calibers as listed above. Ballistically, the cartridge is very similar to the 6.5 PRC, but unlike the PRC it uses a standard 0.473 rim diameter like the .308 Winchester. Federals EDGE TLR .270 Winchester is another outstanding option. How hard would it be to add a 223wssm to the mix. Obviously this list doesnt include every possible bullet/BC/MV combination, but it gives us a pretty good picture of the likely winners at three distances. | Nosler Trophy Grade Long Range with a 129-grain AccuBond Long Range bullet at 3,400 fps. The story of an old humpback Browning that's Sign up for the Field & Stream newsletter and get the latest intelligence straight to your inbox. Unfortunately, the .223 WSSM has fallen by the wayside in recent years. Sign up for Field & Streams newsletter to receive the latest and greatest gear reviews and expert hunting and fishing advice. Your Knowledge is greatly appreciated! Trust but verify. Besides recoil, the downside is the limited availability of factory ammunition and rifles. I would like to see a chart on down range energy. But again, that just my opinion. always means more wind deflection. Its very clear that you went through a huge amount of work to pull all of this info together. the max load is the distance load. I am impressed at all the data you went through to come up with the three chosen. Another and even better option for reaching out to a big game animal with an AR15 is the 6.5 Grendel. "Animal Instinct ammunition is optimized to deliver . The .223 Remington will easily take care of any varmint out to around 500 yards, but at extreme distances loses its punch. A long-time favorite of snipers, the .308 Winchester will remain supersonic out to around 1,200 yards. Normas 180-grain BondStrike Extreme at 3,084 fps is new and very flat-shooting. With the ability to handle more aerodynamic bullets than the .270 Winchester or the .270 WSM, the 6.8 Western and its 1-in-8 twist rate allows this cartridge to outperform both at distance. It started with the .30/30 and continued with the .30/06 and .308 and right up to todays .300 Blackout. It seems a bit odd to consider a .22-caliber cartridge of any design suitable for long-range hunting of even smallish big game. Check out ShootersCalculator.com By Adriel The .17 HMR is based upon the .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire casing, necked down to .17 Caliber. Please, keep up the great work! Its trajectory is awesome. I am looking for a really flat shooting cartridge up to 500 yards for a Remington rebarrel project I have. At 1000 yards a .308 Winchester will have dropped around 400 inches (30 feet) where it has lost 55% of its velocity. These cartridges all drop less than 255 at 1,000 yards. At 500 yards even the flattest shooting rounds are going to be dropping somewhere around 30". Good video! Mag. I have found that when talking about these large caliber hunting rounds, there is not a tremendous difference in bullet drop. What are the best long-range cartridges: .22-250 Remington .308 Winchester .300 Winchester Magnum .338 Lapua Magnum .300 Weatherby Magnum 6.5 Creedmoor 6.5-284 Norma 26 Nosler But it's still a better distance choice than the .270 Winchester past 400 yards (a great caliber as well). MPBR with a 150-grain spire point from a 308 Winchester might extend to 317 yards on an 8-inch target while a 300 RUM might push that same bullet to 373 yards. It propels a 17 Grain bullet at 2,550 feet per second. That, combined with their relatively small size, means that compared to cartridges of similar powder capacity, the 6.5s will almost always do more, in terms of external and terminal ballistics, with less recoil. One argument for a flat-shooting cartridge is that it covers mistakes. .25-06 AI with a Berger 115 VLD that's moving 3,600 fps. It is an ideal choice for deer-sized game in open country, and a fine choice for mountain game. For most calibers, such as a 45 getting the impact to be on target at 75 yards, the impact at 50 will be an inch or so high and an inch or so low at 100 and 4 to 6 inches or more low at 200 yards. Want to run your own ballistics numbers? (For anyone who gets worked up about the fact that the .30/06 isnt on this list, feel free to swap it with this one, as long as you dont mind the extra kick. Before we check that out, let's give a nod to the 240 Wby. JOHN BUOL Preferred Caliber For 500 To 1,000 Yards And Beyond: 5.56mm NATO. But the premise is based on my farm, where distances are limited to 560 or so yards. Those, then, are my conclusions. By the time the 6.5 Creedmoor started gaining popularity, interest in the .270 WSM was fading. rating, that 100-grain bullet is hanging in there. Considered by many to be the optimum long-range, large-game cartridge, the .300 Winchester Magnum has proven itself worldwide. The amount of drop is directly influenced by velocity, energy, rifle barrel, and bullet design. . projectile that you might crown that one King, especially since that 100-grain sounds a bit more reasonable for deer-sized game. Impeccable analysis here. Just saying, excellent job to tell the nature of all calibers for hunting from 100 to 700 yards for medium game. again. If you dont have good range finding equipment, youre hooped either way; humans will have extreme difficulty judging 700 from 725 without physical land markers or other range finding signs. Please look into it. This cartridge existed in a cloak of obscurity for a long time; only recently have hunters began to see the potential it offers. 6.5-300 WBY (-204) Recoil is negligible, making it a great option for hunter with sensitive shoulders. A 10 mph right angle wind at 500 yards can divert even a fast, high B.C. Not a lot of difference in drops between the cartridges though; you need accurate yardage readings to get your drop correct. When the .264 Winchester Magnum was introduced about 60 years ago, it became a sensation with shooters looking to extend their reach in the field. Dear James