Sarasota Readers' Choice 2021, Articles F

Nonetheless, 7mm bullets can be extremely aerodynamic and, as legendary elephant hunter Karamojo Bell proved, effective on even the largest animals. But can it defend that title at 1,000 yards? It may be a bit rough on barrels, but this cartridge shoots so flat you probably wont care. Your email address will not be published. 260 Rem HOWEVER after going through Cartridges of The World by Barnes and Skinner it has come to my attention that 7.21 Lazzeroni Firebird is ever more overbore. Hunters can take advantage of flat shooting rounds to extend maximum point blank range, the distance over which a center-of-target aim results in the bullet remaining within the kill zone, never climbing above it at mid-range and remaining in it until maximum point blank range is reached. bullet. Appropriate hunting bullets may not reach these levels of B.C. It started with the .30/30 and continued with the .30/06 and .308 and right up to todays .300 Blackout. The actual rain is pretty old-school, not digital distances and whatnot, but it's cheap and the people who work there are great. Up until that time, there had only really been two .277-caliber hunting cartridgesthe .270 Winchester and the .270 Weatherbyso the .270 WSM was almost immediately popular. It is an ideal choice for deer-sized game in open country, and a fine choice for mountain game. 26 Nosler. Also, youll find more ammo options for the .308 Winchester than any of the others. Pronghorn hunters have driven the search for flatter shooting cartridges for a long time. For example, the 7mm Weatherby Magnum will shoot the same bullet as a 7mm Remington Magnum, but it will do it about 10 percent faster. These are all under my extreme heading, because theyre all brutal on cost and recoil. Below is the information Ive gleaned from 17-caliber through 338. With a recent elevated popularity, due in no small part to the rise of the six-fives, the Grendel is now getting the attention it deserves. 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. Its really tough to spot impacts with that much recoil, and thats becoming increasingly important for shooters. Drop is constant at the gravitational pull of 32 feet per second accelerating at 32 fps. Must be true since it was posted on the internet. Commissions are earned for links to Brownell's, Amazon, MidwayUSA, GoHunt, OpticsPlanet, Sportsman's Warehouse, and other retailers. No exotics just yet, theyll come later. In your question about Flattest shooting caliber in a Lever Gun, Winchester 1894 shooting a .25-35 caliber bullet. It was also a resounding success and has remained popular with hunters looking to stretch their effective range. At 500 yards . The non-bonded bullet should deliver good terminal performance up close and at distance. It is not always the caliber that is in question. We are not going to include here the esoteric military sniping rounds engineered for 1,000 yards, 2,000 yards, even 3,000 yards. Recoil is negligible, making it a great option for hunter with sensitive shoulders. Notice that it is only 3 grains lighter than the 150-grain .264 atop that Weatherby. It's not until you get farther out that BC starts making a big difference. Check out their concise ballistics charts. 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. That's pretty dang flat. For optics, I use a Leupold Mark 6 with a Horus reticle. Light bullets driven fast shoot flatter over shorter distances. Zeroing for 100 yards or farther will change drop significantly. Since this article originally went live, several excellent long-range big-game cartridges have it the market. ), Hornadys Precision Hunter 178-grain ELD-X at 2,600 fps is probably the best long-range option, but look also at the new 168-grain Berger Hybrid Hunter load from Federal, RELATED: 6.5 Creedmoor vs. .308 Winchester. The Barrett 416 or CheyTac exceeds this - I have witnessed it first hand - then you get into the wildcat cartridges. Since nearly all long-distance shooters today use a laser rangefinder, does it even matter which cartridges shoot the flattest? Jim, Thank you. And for all of you whove just learned your flat shooting champion really isnt, sorry. 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. So since it doesnt work AT ALL for serious shooters, it doesnt get much air time, and then the average hunter who only shoots 2-3 boxes per YEAR never hears about it. 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. THANK God for analysts like you Jim your passion for statistics really help us guys with our difficult choices and how we spend our hard earned money.. Im definitely sold on the 6.5-300 wby mag its definitely the new Era 270 in my books. More hunters should get to know this fantastic round. For 500 yards just raise the cross hair up to the top of the back but stay in the hair and have a sharp knife ready. But again, that just my opinion. 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. Shot from SAAMI-mandated 1-8 twist barrels, the 6.5s long, slender bullets seem to almost defy wind and gravity and allow this cartridge to deliver clean kills at distance. Prairie dogs?). 6.5-300 WBY (-204) The flattest-shooting popular rifle cartridge at 1,000 yards is the 6.5-300 Weatherby Magnum, followed by the .26 Nosler, the .28 Nosler, the .22 Creedmoor, and the 6.5 Weatherby RPM. As magnums go, the .257 Weatherby is a mild kicker, and it's a great long-range cartridge for deer, pronghorn, sheep, and the like. Hornady Precision Hunter 212-grain ELD-X at 2,860 fps. The multiple loads for each cartridge are not at all pulled at random. Well, Im done Adulting for Today and Tomorrow. rating, that 100-grain bullet is hanging in there. Something like a 7mm Ultramag shooting a 120 TTSX would be pretty flat shooting to 500. 264 Winmag While heavier bullets at low speed dont shoot as flat, they do carry energy further generally. In fact, we may say that its the only thing that matters; however, factors that lead to time of flight changes are important to consider. But what are the flattest shooting rifle cartridges? 270 and 30-06 carry enough power out to 700 yards, 7mm pulls a bit further, and 300 win mag pulls a bit further still. It outperforms the .280 Remington (also known as the 7mm-06 and the 7mm Express), and for years wildcatters and handloaders have been singing its praises. Want to run your own ballistics numbers? I see there are some others like 300Win mag as well and thats a very popular cartage so it should be there as well I would think. No, its not a 6.5 Creedmoor, but few things are. So its not like the flattest shooting rifle gives you a lot more leeway on ranging errors for super long range shots. And it gets there with a lot less powder the either of the two Weatherbys. Norma offers a 156-grain Oryx load that wont shoot as flat but provides great terminal performance. . A few specialty matches, such as the Farr trophy at Camp Perry, are fired at 1,000 yards. Yes, the article most definitely included the 7mm Mag, but the specific cartridge mentioned by Nick is what the original article would have included as an exotic version, NOT something found chambered in most any rifle. Join F&S+ to read exclusive stories by your favorite writers. This article covered not only objective but the subjective topics my buddies use to caliber shame my 5.56. . Great info but my 7mm rem mag with Nosler 120 grain BT (.417bc) @ 3600fps has anything on this chart beat pretty soundly. But lets have a round of applause for our antiquated 220 Swift, just 0.2-inch off the record! Based on the antique .404 Jeffery cartridge case, the 27 Nosler is the first new .277-caliber rifle cartridge since the .270 Winchester Short Magnum, which was introduced almost 20 years ago. 1.5" high at 100, would be dead-on at 250, and only drop 30" at 550. I noticed in your video that your chart also listed energy and recoil. And here they are: Flattest at 300 yards 240 Wby. It's muzzle v. Beyond 600 or 800 yards, however, the efficiency of the high B.C. Underwood Ammos 110-grain Lehigh Controlled Chaos bullet at 2800 fps is another great option. So if you take flat shooting to mean aiming right at something far away and hitting it, theres not really enough difference between the main popular cartridges to get out of bed for. I work at a very large and popular firearms dealer, and I have sold dozens (if not hundreds) if the 6.5, but I havent sold 1, or had anyone even ask about the top 3 in this list. Both are of course bolt-action rifle cartridges. Right now, shooters are obsessed with flat-shooting rifle cartridges. However, it proved to be mostly a flash in the pan. If I am mistaken, I am sure someone will chime in and let us both know. I know you won't find them in the US, but just wanted to mention them because it's fun. The 243 Winchester and 6mm Remington have reputations for shooting flat, but the lesser known 240 Weatherby magnum fires the same bullets at higher velocities, so its the flattest of the 24-calibers. Most of the calculators out there show larger drop rates then your table. My father has been shooting a 6.5300 wby we had made for him in the early 80s and it was only limited by bullet construction. Thanks Jim! I was once hunting plains game in Africa when my PH told me, holding a rangefinder, that the wildebeest was 155 yards away. (Essentially, you don't have to arc the 300 Win Mag's bullet trajectory in order to strike a target up . The 300WM with the 210 VLDs at 2950fps is pretty good also. All the following data was computer generated as if all loads were fired from a (simulated) dead flat (level) barrel, so these are pure drops. Thanks for your video and the information on your website. Most shots are taken at short range, but some experienced marksmen with good rifles, known distances, and good conditions may need to make connections at longer distances. The final two cartridges above are mislabeled. The ballistics coefficient of the bullet (a formula which considers the mass, diameter, and aerodynamic drag of a bullet to understand its ability to fight wind and continue on its path) greatly impacts time of flight because it keeps the bullet from slowing down due to inefficiency of flight. (not the bullet Id choose for this beast, just puts it nicely in line with the others), What does that do for you at regular ranges? But its so close to the 6.5-300 Wby. Even at 500 yards the Hornady 225 SST is traveling over 2,000 fps and carrying over 2,000 ft/lbs of energy. Richard Mann 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.