projectile that you might crown that one King, especially since that 100-grain sounds a bit more reasonable for deer-sized game. The .45 Colt possesses almost the same ballistics as the .45 ACP. Many of the .22 calibers ie 22-250 lose theor velocity at long range and get blown around in the wind a lot. A good hunting cartridge has to fit in a rifle thats comfortable to carry all day and wont kick you so hard that you cant shoot it well. The longer the bullet is in the air, the longer gravity can pull on the object. The article has really peaked my interest. One of the calibers with the flattest trajectory is the .17 Winchester Super Magnum, a sub-caliber rimfire cartridge. A 100 yard miscalculation short or long will vary your hit by a vertical of 2.3-2.9 feet, enough to completely miss or wound the deer. Im going to bookmark your website and keep checking for new details about once a week. All Rights Reserved. For each caliber, Ron picks a flat-shooting "winner" and provides some ballistics comparison tables. Nosler Trophy Grade Long Range, 175-grain AccuBond Long Range at 3,125 fps. I ran the numbers with the 180 grain Ballistic tip at 3420 fps. Anyway, it was not created as a replacement for the .223 Rem., but the Valkyrie is designed as a specialized cartridge for people who want to shoot an AR-15 at targets beyond 500 yards. Often theyre inflated. Recoil statistics are offered for reference. But as with the 6.5 PRC, there are not a lot of factory-ammo options to choose from. The 6.5 140gr bullets really retain their velocity. Another caliber with the best accuracy at 1,000 yards belongs to the newer generation of the large family of 6.5mm cartridges and bears the Nosler name, highly respected US ammo manufacturer. Nor are we maintaining that the flattest shooting cartridge/bullet is the ultimate determinant of a good hunting round. While the ballistic coefficient doesnt affect accuracy inside of 100 yards, at 300-350 yards and beyond that BC starts to become really important. As an excellent 1,000-yard cartridge with low wind drift and super-flat/straight trajectory, the two-sixty flies faster over longer distances. It does this from short-action rifles and while producing recoil that is on par with a 7mm Rem. There are countless rifle models from which to choose and a wide selection of ammunition, and the Creedmoor outcompetes stalwart target rounds like the .308 Winchester at long range. Scott Rupp gets a chance to talk to Aaron Oelger about a few new products from Hodgdon and why reloading store shelves are empty. Its like a shorter, beltless version of the .300 Winchester Magnum. . This modern intermediate rifle cartridge released in 2018 by Federal Premium Ammunition descended from the 6.8 SPC and 100 years old a .30 Remington. For good reason. The .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire, commonly known as the "Twenty-Two Win Mag," was hatched back in 1959. No howitzers or tanks.). 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. I was once hunting plains game in Africa when my PH told me, holding a rangefinder, that the wildebeest was 155 yards away. Im going to include a few in here, and my basis for including them is going to be inclusion in Federals 2013 catalog, because thats what Im basing my numbers off. Like the 26 Nosler, the 28 is based on the 404 Jeffery case and will remain supersonic out past 1,750 yards. That's nearly 10% more compared to the .338 Lapua. I also want to give credit to a couple of long-range AR cartridges that deserve honorable mention. We are not going to include here the esoteric military sniping rounds engineered for 1,000 yards, 2,000 yards, even 3,000 yards. The .30/378 Weatherby. The 6.5 Creedmoor is developed from a .30 Thompson Center (.30 TC) case, which is narrowed down to shoot .264 bullets. Does it matter if there are -30 of drop or -40 of drop if the answer is simply to spin the turret a few extra clicks? The .22-250 has a very high velocity and is very accurate. 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). throwing a 55-gr. When you havent time to engage a laser rangefinder, knowing you can reach the kill zone with a dead-center hold at any distance out to 373 yards is pretty comforting. The 7mm Rem. Hornady's Precision Hunter 145-grain ELD-X at 2,950 fps is the flattest-shooting .270 . Its recipe for success is raw speed: its the fastest of the factory 6.5s, driving a 156-grain Berger Elite Hunter bullet at 3,050 fps from the muzzle and generating over 3,200 foot-pounds of energy. 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. But truth be told, every Weatherby cartridge is a long-range cartridge. 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. 6.5mm calibers Its a great choice for those who like to hunt elk and moose and must shoot great distances, and when youre in big bear country the .300 PRC has ample stopping power to anchor a bruin should the need arise. Drop is constant at the gravitational pull of 32 feet per second accelerating at 32 fps. However, some people believe that the flattest shooting rifle caliber is the .308 Winchester. Most common calibers are just fine for regular range shots under 300 yards. Originally developed as a black-powder revolver cartridge, the .45 Long Colt (LC) functioned as the official US military handgun from 1873 to 1887. Hornadys PRCs 212gr hunting bullet is listed at 2,860fps and 225gr match bullet is rated at 2,810 fps keeping it supersonic to almost 2,000 yards. In 2019, Nosler submitted the cartridge to the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Institute (SAAMI) for approval, and in 2020, you can expect to see Nosler and other ammunition manufacturers offering factory loaded ammunition and even rifles for it. It shoots as flat as a Kansas prairie and holds its velocity way out there. . A 3 mph breeze at the shooter can become a 20 mph roar in the canyon halfway to the target. Created from the ground up for competition and very little hunting, the 6.5 Creedmoor has several advantages over the .308 and the other .30-caliber cartridges. Mag. Bullet B.C. If you are using a custom rifle and handloaded ammunition, then the .260 Rem projectiles will remain supersonic all the way out to 1,400 yards. 301". It just murders your shoulder, ears, and pocketbook at the same time . This excellent .25-caliber round was the first wildcat to have been based on the .30-06 Springfield cartridge preceding the development of much more popular the .270 Win round. And here they are: Flattest at 300 yards 240 Wby. Despite its relatively low B.C. Nosler is loading the 27 with their famous AccuBond, which is one of the best big-game bullets ever crafted. Also look at Federal Premiums 180-grain Nosler AccuBond offering at 2,960 fps. Its bullets will remain supersonic out past 2,000 yards. always means more wind deflection. Mag. The .338-378 Weatherby Magnum or in metric description 8.6 x 74mm is in the same performance league as the .338 Lapua (8.6 x 70mm). There is a lot more to it than inital velocity. Kind regards. I'm looking for something for hunting that can shoot reliably out to at least 200 yards. Nosler Trophy Grade Long Range with a 129-grain AccuBond Long Range bullet at 3,400 fps. Our margin for distancing error at 700 yards just went from 12 yards with the 30-06 to 25 yards with the 30-378. Flattest at 1,000 yards Heres where things start to change. Ditto the 6.5 Creedmoor and 6.5-300 Wby. Want to run your own ballistics numbers? Time of flight impacts bullet drop more than anything else. The 6.5 PRC (Precision Rifle Cartridge) is another Hornady creation, and like the Creedmoor it is loaded with 103-grain ELD-X bullets and 108-grain ELD Match bullets. Also, youll find more ammo options for the .308 Winchester than any of the others. Run those numbers on JBM. Appropriate hunting bullets may not reach these levels of B.C. These numbers indicate that one of the flattest shooting commercial cartridge at sensible hunting ranges is the 220 Swift. Compared to .223 Remington, at the 1,000-yard target, it duplicates the amount of energy of the standard .223 bullet. The Creedmoors detractors will say that it wont do anything that existing cartridges wouldnt do as well or better, but thats not exactly true. Savage Mark II GY .22 LR Bolt Action Youth Rifle - Best Beginners .22 LR Rifle. How about our drops on the cartridges that made it? To show viewers how to succeed at long range, J. Guthrie gears up for a challenging shot while chasing Colorado pronghorn at long range with DPMS' Panther 6.5 Creedmoor. wins again with just 218.5 inches of drop, the 27 Nosler moves into second place with its 150-grain bullet falling only 225.8 inches. Swifts 150-grain Scirocco at 3,036 fps delivers outstanding terminal performance. Always be open to new possibilities. At the time, "Gunsmoke," "Bonanza," "The Rifleman," and dozens of Western films were celebrating horses, lever-actions, and revolvers. Normas 180-grain BondStrike Extreme at 3,084 fps is new and very flat-shooting. +Nick Strother, he TOLD you right up front he was only including cartridges that can be found chambered in most any rifle. Before we check that out, lets give a nod to the 240 Wby. bullet boasts a blistering 3,000-fps muzzle velocity making it a laser beam compared to 2,400fps from its slightly older .17 HMR counterpart. But, as an extreme range competition shooter recently told me, the number of cold barrel, first round hits he sees at 1,000 yards in competition is well below 50%. and MV do. Death in the Long Grass: A Big Game Hunter's Adventures in the African Bush .by Peter H. Capstick, Dino Paravano, Handbook for Shooters and Reloaders (Volume 1) Paperback, The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game: Volume 1: Big Game, Horn of the Hunter: The Story of an African Safari Kindle Edition, Use Enough Gun: On Hunting Big Game Hardcover, Pheasant, Quail, Cottontail: Upland Birds and Small Game from Field to Feast Hardcover March 1, 2018, The Easy Venison Cookbook: 60 Simple Recipes for Deer, Elk, and Moose Kindle Edition. What is the flattest shooting rifle? So what can we learn from these numbers? #22 stelonbeene said: I am new to black powder and i've been curious about what caliber is the flattest shooting between .45-.58. But its so close to the 6.5-300 Wby. Depending on the caliber you are using, a long-range shooting may be at 1,000 and more yards, but if you are committed to rimfires than 200-300 yards is very long-distance shooting. bullet. And for all of you whove just learned your flat shooting champion really isnt, sorry. For example , the chart I used showed about 67-70 drop for .270 at 600 yd.. The drops are listed in feet for the really long range shots, so theyre pretty close to your numbers. My third point is to remind you that this is not a scientific, Newtonian examination of all possible permutations of cartridges, bullets, muzzle velocities, and Ballistic Coefficients that determine bullet drop over all distances. The Remington Model Seven is ready, willing and able to handle just about any task. Perhaps you, dear reader, can provide the formula! However, the .50BMG bullet will reach the target with 143 less drop than the 6.5 Creedmoor, because it has more mass which leads to a higher BC, and that higher BC given the same velocity, makes it slow down less during flight. Hornadys Precision Hunter 145-grain ELD-X at 2,950 fps is the flattest-shooting .270 Winchester load. While heavier bullets at low speed dont shoot as flat, they do carry energy further generally. The 6.5 PRC can remain supersonic out beyond 1,600 yards or so, but ammunition options are limited. The 300WM with the 210 VLDs at 2950fps is pretty good also. Even though high-BC .30-caliber bullets need to be heavy and pushed hard to shoot flat, many American hunters love them enough to tolerate the recoil. The .300 PRC was developed in 2018 when the US Army announced a competition for the new sniper system that will provide a 50-percent hit chance on a man-size target at 2,000 yards. The ideal coyote hunting cartridge is flat shooting, highly accurate, and won't ruin pelts. Norma offers a 156-grain Oryx load that wont shoot as flat but provides great terminal performance. He just never made it official. 2,700 fps. Still, by using G1 across the board, we are on a level playing field. 1. Low B.C. This means we can first determine the fastest cartridge in each caliber, then compare it against the fastest in others. bullet. The .17 Rem. In fact, it's safe to fire .223 Rem. And is it fair to include Risky Ralphs overstuffed, compressed-powder loads that exceed the highest handloading guides top loads by 400 fps and leave primers looking as if theyd been squashed on a train track? For starters, its another cartridge thats built for high-BC bullets. Should you have other helpful info, please send it to me by email: [emailprotected]. Sweet Scents of Gun Solvents and Oils: 12 Perfumes for Firearms, 10 Great .22 Mag Bolt-Action Rifles Right Now, 11 Top Hunting Rifles Chambered in .350 Legend, Mossberg Patriot Long-Range Hunter Bolt-Action Rifle: Full Review, 7 Top .17 HMR (Hornady Magnum Rimfire) Rifles, How to Clean a Rifle Barrel the Effective and Harmless Way, 6.5 PRC (Precision Rifle Cartridge) is another Hornady creation, The new 6.5-300 Weatherby is the sole belted magnum, 6.8 Western cartridge offerings from Winchester, Kimber Hunter Pro Desolve Blak - A Lightweight Heavy Hitter, Browning BLR Lightweight '81 Stainless Takedown Lever Rifle, Mossberg Patriot Predator 6.5 PRC Rifle Review, Review: Springfield Armory M1A Loaded Rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor, RCBS ChargeMaster Lite Review: Not 'Lite' on Ability, Remington Model Seven SS HS Bolt-Action Rifle Review. Utilizing the heavier, slender and more aerodynamic bullets than the .223 Rem, the Valkyrie best performs outside 500 yards. Enforcermj, Im not sure if your comment is sarcastic or not. This cartridge existed in a cloak of obscurity for a long time; only recently have hunters began to see the potential it offers. A 25 yard miscalculation at that distance will vary your hit by half a foot and outside our 6 imaginary circle of vitals. The reverse, however, could . When it came out in 1925, 300 yards was considered about the max distance for shots on game, and the .270 Winchester was quickly recognized as one of, if not the, best commercial option for that. So far, I've listed cartridges . Choosing the right caliber and understand its ballistic performance profile is extremely important if you want to get good. The new .300 Precision Rifle Cartridge (PRC) use as a parent case a .375 Ruger, which Hornady ballisticians necked-down to .30 caliber and moved back the shoulder to make a cartridge with very long head height. With origins dating from the pre-war wildcat cartridge known as either the .25 Whelen or .25 Niedner, the .25-06 Remington rifle cartridge is the oldest in our list. Recoil is stiff but not at all unmanageable or even unpleasant for experienced shooters. He began reviewing firearms for publications in the mid 1990s and have been fortunate to make many friends in the industry. So, Winchester slightly modified the .270 WSM case so it was a bit shorter and then specified barrels with a faster twist. As we all know, the long-range accuracy is a combination of the rifle, the ammunition, and the shooter. Still, if youre goal is to push heavy projectiles to the outer reaches, Noslers 28 may be the best 7mm option out there. 308. Is flatest of all youve listed. This newer Weatherby 6.5 combines plenty of gas with manageable recoil. But to do this, it must launch a heavy bullet and that means recoil can be stiff; from an 8-pound rifle, it generates more than 33 foot-pounds of recoil, which is more than twice that of the 6.5 Creedmoor. also reigns as one of the fastest commercial cartridges around, breaking 4,300 fps with 20-grain bullets and 4,100 fps with 25-grain pills. While that incredibly fast 6.5-300 Wby. The current 6.8 Western cartridge offerings from Winchester and Browning have BCs over .600, and when you combine that with velocities of 2,835 for the 175-grain Sierra Tipped GameKing load and 2,960 for the 165-grain AccuBond LR load you can see why this cartridge has the potential to take even the largest game at extended distances. The .300 Norma Magnum was introduced in 2009, and soon, it has begun to gain popularity in the long-range shooting community. Additionally, the 6.5 Creedmoor has about 30% less recoil than the .308 Winchester and about a 33% longer effective range. Thats comparing apples to apples with the others up above, using a 6 vitals zone. However, it was somewhat a bad timing, since the frenzy for long-range shooting and everything in 6.5mm exploded a couple of years later. The 6mm Creedmoor appeared in 2009 and is simply a necked-down version of the 6.5. With a recoil of 16.3 ft/lbs, the .270 Winchester 46'' impact range at a 500-yard drop. Muzzle blast is fearsome, but recoil is manageable and less than the various .300 magnums. The .17 Winchester Super Magnum 20-gr. Check out their concise ballistics charts. Case capacity is literally and figuratively the driving force here: Both Nosler offerings are based on the 300 Remington Ultra Magnum and both boast case capacities of 93.5 grains of water. 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. The new Sako Finnlight II sports an innovative stock and Cerakote metal paired with the terrific 85 action. While Remington's Seven-Mag is not necessarily a go-to cartridge for target match shooters, it has excellent ballistics and shoots flat like the 6.5 Creedmoor. bullet faster than did the larger volume 30-378 Wby. 270. To make the .224 Valkyrie compatible with the AR-15 platform, Federal based it on the 6.8 SPC case, which is necked down to accept .224-caliber bullet. But it's so close to the 6.5-300 Wby. Bullet Weight: 90 Grain. Should you range and animal and accidentally strike and object just ahead of or behind the target with your laser rangefinder, the Noslers laser-flat trajectory means there wont be as much variation in elevation as youll get with a slower bullet. (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. 6.5 PRC vs 6.5 RPM What You Need to Know, .45-70 vs .450 Bushmaster Cartridge Clash. And that light recoil not only makes you a better shot in the field; it also makes practicing more fun and productive. Though its primarily a hunting round, the 6.5-300 Weatherby Magnum will also work for shooting long range targets, and its laser-flat trajectory offers more margin for error than cartridges with a more arching trajectory. I have neither the scientific knowledge nor mathematical skills to figure out the perfect blend of factors that produces the flattest trajectory winner. Excellent work!! Although its going to be easier to estimate drop for a 700 yard shot with a 30-378, compared to a 30-06, you still need to range your animal within +/-25 yards using the 30-378 to hit vitals. Based on the now almost-forgotten .284 Winchester, the 6.5-284 Norma was originally a wildcat cartridge and a very popular one, especially in bench-rest competitions. By the time the 6.5 Creedmoor started gaining popularity, interest in the .270 WSM was fading. It is also a very light caliber and has very little recoil. Twenty years ago, Winchester introduced the .270 WSM (Winchester Short Magnum). Emulated by all others, the VLD Target Rifle Bullet incoporates a secant ogive design which allows the Rifle Bullet to experience less drag as it travels to the target. At 500 yards most Weatherby factory loads carry roughly 1,500 to 2,000 foot-pounds of energy, which is slightly less than most .300 Win. Sign up for Field & Streams newsletter to receive the latest and greatest gear reviews and expert hunting and fishing advice. While there are not a lot of ammunition choices for the 6.8 Western, there are some good ones. No, this is merely a fun exercise in ferreting out the cartridge/bullet combination that shoots the flattest at reasonable hunting distance with a bit of extreme range (1,000 yards) thrown in for spice. However, I fully admit that that a flat shooting cartridge is not nearly as important as a cartridge which is resistant to wind deflection. Though frequently compared to the .308 Win., the 6.5 Creedmoor is ballistically superior to the legendary "three-oh-eight" largely because of the 6.5mm aerodynamic bullets with an excellent sectional density and ballistic coefficient. That means that its very close to the .243 Winchester in terms of performance on game at most ranges. The .17 WSM delivers the accuracy and flat trajectory necessary for reliably varmint hunting at ranges beyond 200 yards with very low recoil and minimal noise. Nonetheless, 7mm bullets can be extremely aerodynamic and, as legendary elephant hunter Karamojo Bell proved, effective on even the largest animals. The following table averages multiple loads for each cartridge and shows an average amount of drop at . If there was ever a cult cartridge, the .280 Ackley Improved is it.

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