Twenty years ago, Winchester introduced the .270 WSM (Winchester Short Magnum). I realize that you looked at several different loads for each cartridge to figure out which one was the flattest shooting. 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. Heres a chart from my Popular Hunting Cartridges Compared article. . due to its larger diameter which increases drag. I wonder if you could possibly make that load available to me, so I can compare which loads are the best? What are some of the most flat shooting calibers at 500 yards? All are welcome. I took multiple loads from each, but identical sources. So I find it strange you dont have it on any of the lists from what I have seen. Answer (1 of 5): Trajectory flatness is a function of muzzle velocity. . Thoughts on this? Precision, varmint, big-game, and dirt cheap NATO surplus ammo for plenty of cheap shooting. The flattest-shooting cartridges usually have Nosler or Weatherby in their name, and the top three flat-shooting cartridges were created by those respected companies. I also want to give credit to a couple of long-range AR cartridges that deserve honorable mention. 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. While heavier bullets at low speed dont shoot as flat, they do carry energy further generally. Flattest shooting AR15 cartridge to 500yds coyotes . 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. Your email address will not be published. Hornady's ELD line of bullets is considered the most precisely made, and the flattest shooting for any specific caliber. When considering cartridges for their ability to shoot flat, overcoming drag is critical. Danny. Before we check that out, lets give a nod to the 240 Wby. This lead-free copper monolithic, fragmenting hollow-point Liberty Ammunition round is the next generation of one of the most popular hunting and long range rounds in existence. They are normalized within caliber. 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. The biggest deficit is the roughly 57 feet of drop at 1,000 yards. Flattest shooting to 500 yds. | Long Range Hunting Forum He is a well-known entrepreneur, having started many successful online brands, and lives in St George, Utah. The Barrett 416 or CheyTac exceeds this - I have witnessed it first hand - then you get into the wildcat cartridges. 10 Best Long-Range Cartridges of All Time (2023) - Gun Digest 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. I prefer larger calibers for elk, but the .270 is perfectly adequate for elk, and I have personally used it for elk all the way to 400 yards with no problems. I suspect Weatherby got wind of Noslers work on its superb 26 Nosler, so they released Roys old wildcat to steel some of Noslers thunder. They have 1 particular cartridge thats something of a hot-shot for flat shooting, long distance devastation; the Weatherby .30-378. 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. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service. When a bullet is fired, many forces are immediately working against it: gravity, wind, and atmospheric drag. This lets you focus on having only one caliber to maintain. Shooting a 180-grain bullet (.507 G1 BC) at 2,960 fps and sighted in 1.5 inches high at 100 yards, the .300 Win. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. The reason why 6.5mm cartridges are exploding in popularity is because they are ultra-efficient. I ran the numbers with the 180 grain Ballistic tip at 3420 fps. Well placed shots seem to work and poorly placed shots tend to fail. Four Great Calibers for Elk | The Outdoor Line Blog If youre after deeper penetration, look at the 139-grain Barnes VOR-TX Long Range load. It shoots as flat as a Kansas prairie and holds its velocity way out there. That's why the three best rifles we have sorted have a 500-yard impact range below 40''. again. It is flat shooting, powerful, has a manageable amount of recoil, and there are dozens of great hunting rifles chambered in this outstanding cartridge. I had to calculate this one out, as Weatherbys ballistics charts dont go past 500 yards. Kind of underwhelming, right? For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Top 10 Low-Recoil Hunting Cartridges - SkyAboveUs Still, a flat-shooting cartridge will often perform well with wind as well, because it is in the air for less time between the shot and hitting the target. 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. The .25-06 is fast, shoots flat at 200 yards, and has just a 6.5-inch drop at 300 yards. Is the 270 Good For Elk? - eatingthewild.com . If the hunter is looking for a flat shooting caliber with good energy and speed of distances around 400-yards, then the .270 would be the obvious choice. But what are the flattest shooting rifle cartridges? For example , the chart I used showed about 67-70 drop for .270 at 600 yd.. plays a major roll in trajectory, but is second in significance to muzzle velocity. It combined flat-shooting ballistics with hard-hitting bullets in a package with lighter recoil than the .300 Weatherby Magnum, which debuted in 1944. But the premise is based on my farm, where distances are limited to 560 or so yards. We are not going to include here the esoteric military sniping rounds engineered for 1,000 yards, 2,000 yards, even 3,000 yards. It is a flat shooting cartridge, able to hit a target at 300 yards with negligible hold over. The 7mag is one of the calibers he mentioned for the original 7 in the test. Appropriate hunting bullets may not reach these levels of B.C. I'm not a huge fan of basing my decisions on bullet energy. 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. Barrel twist rates spin the bullet out of the muzzle in a spiral much akin to a quarterback throwing a football. The wise longer range shooter errs on the side of a higher B.C. 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. In ballistic terms, a 235-grain .375 bullet at 3,000 fps exits the muzzle with lots of energy: 4,695 ft-lbs. rating, that 100-grain bullet is hanging in there. 11 Best Rifle Calibers For Precision Shooting - BadAssOptic It was also a resounding success and has remained popular with hunters looking to stretch their effective range. REX'S INDOOR RANGE - 77 Upward Rd, East Flat Rock, NC - Yelp No exotics just yet, theyll come later. Dear Adriel, please be so kind to provide statistics on the following calibers as well: If you like the idea of a six-five for going long, but hate the Creed and want something a bit different, the 6.5-284 Norma is the way to go. Recoil is stiff and some find it hard to master. This old timer remains a phenomenon, flat-shooting and effective. 260 Rem I love your work and what you share with us. Lets start by acknowledging we can minimize our search by ignoring all cartridges within each caliber that dont produce maximum velocity in that caliber. To even things out, Ive zerod all cartridges at 100, drops are listed in feet and cartridges that fell below 1000 ft-lbs didnt get past the next 100 yard clip. MY 45 cal ball travels at 1633fps with a standard charge, and 74-5gr for a full charge (2040fps). Thank you. With its rebated rim and 1/2-inch diameter at the base, it is essentially a longer version of the 6.5284 Norma; ballistically equivalent to the .264 Winchester Magnum. I noticed the WSSM family was not on your list I assume because of the higher velocities they would be higher than the standard calibers. Thanks. The 6.5 Creedmoor will remain supersonic out to 1,400 yards and is quickly becoming the most popular long-range, big-game cartridge in the world. Myth Busting Big Game Calibers - CHUCKHAWKS.COM Only a handful of .277-caliber cartridges are made today, but the .270 Winchester is still by far the most popular, given all the guns and loads out there for it. flattest trajectory? | Sniper & Sharpshooter Forums 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. Once again great effort appreciated. This is the allure and benefit of a flat shooting bullet. 2. The Flattest-Shooting Rifle Cartridges: A handy table - Backfire In 2022, he was named as the brands Shooting Editor. It gives you an MPBR of 336 yards. Target Rifle- Caliber Question. I am curious to see how it does for a 22 that can push any bullet weight made for it. Dear James 1 Normal load using the most popular factory ammo, one heavy load for each, one light load. RELATED: 6.5 Creedmoor: The New King of Cartridges? 6.5mm and 7mm projectiles offer very high ballistic coefficients, meaning they offer excellent ability to overcome drag and wind deflection over longer distances. Also know that not all manufacturer-claimed B.C. It would help one decide on if a cartilage was up to a specific task and if one would be willing to take the kick. By the time the 6.5 Creedmoor started gaining popularity, interest in the .270 WSM was fading. Mag. Its clear that flat shooting is directly proportional to overbore. Terry Cross. You can't go wrong with a .308 for a 500 yard rifle. Not only are new loads being offered, new ARs and even bolt action rifles for the Grendel are being introduced. In your question about Flattest shooting caliber in a Lever Gun, Winchester 1894 shooting a .25-35 caliber bullet. Not many of us can afford the ammo, let alone the rifles and scopes that chamber it, in such calibers as 375 CheyTac, 408 CheyTac, or 416 Barrett. Notice that it is only 3 grains lighter than the 150-grain .264 atop that Weatherby. 7 Top Modern Long-Range Cartridges - RifleShooter 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. Low B.C. Great job. Just saying, excellent job to tell the nature of all calibers for hunting from 100 to 700 yards for medium game. The Amazing 22 Creedmoor: A Wildcat Worth a Hard Look It has flipped positions with the 6.5, losing by a mere 1.4-inches. The 300WM with the 210 VLDs at 2950fps is pretty good also. JavaScript is disabled. I asked around a few years ago and found 6.5-300 Weatherby Magnum as the most overbore commercial cartridge. 6.5 CM The 6.5 CM is a newcomer to the shooting world. Meantime, lets enjoy our deeper dive into flat shooting hunting cartridges (hand carried and shoulder fired. 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. (Essentially, you don't have to arc the 300 Win Mag's bullet trajectory in order to strike a target up . This means we can first determine the fastest cartridge in each caliber, then compare it against the fastest in others. Both are of course bolt-action rifle cartridges. For good reason. 1.5" high at 100, would be dead-on at 250, and only drop 30" at 550. And it gets there with a lot less powder the either of the two Weatherbys. The 257 Weatherby Mag. But there is a big contender missing I think. spitting a 100-gr. The muzzle velocity is a plus in windy conditions, with the bullet arriving on target with minimal drift. These cartridges all drop less than 255 at 1,000 yards. Shane Olson, nope, no sarcasm involved, simply pointing out a straight fact, which I stand by. But the 7mm Remington Magnum will remain supersonic out to 1,400 yards or a bit more, making a good choice for cross-canyon hunting. always means more wind deflection. The caveat here is that fastest becomes a bit murky. 28 Nosler cartridge For decades, the Nosler cartridge has ruled the world of a flat shooting range with complete dominance. The wildly overbore 6.5-300 Weatherby Magnum wins or places near the top of the flat-shooter podium at most ranges to at least 1,000 yards. A flat shooting cartridge matters. again. Only B.C. Then look at the available options for reloaders, nearly endless, bullets for every application imaginable. Flat shooting, minimal recoil and low noise, the .17 HMR is one of the top performing cartridges for shooting ground squirrels out to 200 yards easily. gundata.org has done all this for you already. That's pretty dang flat. numbers are accurate. Hornadys Precision Hunter 145-grain ELD-X at 2,950 fps is the flattest-shooting .270 Winchester load. during their trips downrange. Fastest Rifle Cartridges: 9 Choices With the Best Bullet Velocity Do you have any of the data on the weight of the bullets, the brand of the bullets, the BC, any of the information related to the data youre posting? Don't get me wrong, but 45-70 are very accurate and can travel quite well buckin' the wind, Thanks Will! Do we compare the fastest factory loads or top end handloads from select handloading manuals? However, the .220 Swift and the .22-250 have been used to take deer out to distances a lot of folks got no business shooting, for a long, long time. Here we go! But you did such an awesome job with this data. 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. Caliber Flattest Shooting Load BC; 7mm R Mag: Hor 139 gr InBd HvMag.480: 270 WSM (1) Fed 130 gr Nosler BT.428: 300 Win Mag: Hor 150 gr InBd . bullet faster than did the larger volume 30-378 Wby. This is one of the flattest shooting bullets available on the market, with a plethora of different size bullets available that range from 75 grains for small game, all the way up to 120 grains for deer. While that incredibly fast 6.5-300 Wby. Its bullets will remain supersonic out past 2,000 yards. Good work mate. This is with a 58gr charge of Hodgen 4831 powder. Choosing the proper ammunition and knowing your own capabilities at those distances is most important. Drops just 11.6 inches. Flattest Shooting Hunting Calibers | The Hunting Gear Guy So lets roll with this! You can compare these numbers with your favorite cartridge using Backfires own table of flat shooting cartridges and you will see that the numbers indicated are in the absolute upper tiers. . I too share your endorsement of Ron, his videos are a treat each week. Flattest shooting lever gun - SASS Wire - SASS Wire Forum Great chart and thanks for what must have been an incredible amount of work. Great chart, I appreciate all your work on this. This is the darling diameter for American big-game hunters. and MV do. 1. . I've heard that too! Sight in 3" high at 100 yards and 6" low at 400 yards. 17. But can it defend that title at 1,000 yards? It started with the .30/30 and continued with the .30/06 and .308 and right up to todays .300 Blackout. And for all of you whove just learned your flat shooting champion really isnt, sorry. If not. Great work here. 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. drops 6.7 inches at 300 yards and just under 20 inches at 400 yards. Join F&S+ to read exclusive stories by your favorite writers. I too am a huge fan of Ron Spomer. Your email address will not be published. The drops are listed in feet for the really long range shots, so theyre pretty close to your numbers. Mag. It will push a 90-grain Fusion bullet to 500 yardswhich is probably the limit for big game with this cartridgewhile still retaining enough velocity to initiate expansion. | that are blowing the ceiling off gun sales, instead of 6 5 CDM? So dont assume that youll be shooting the worlds flattest rifle cartridge and bullet until youve verified your MV and bullet B.C. I blog often and I truly appreciate your content. Most Accurate Ammo for the 6.5 Creedmoor: My top 7 list Get The Most From Your .375 H&H - Shooting Times Muzzle velocity certainly makes a difference in how fast the bullet reaches the target, but it is by no means the only factor to consider. Most center-fire rifles that are legal for deer hunting can take a deer at 300 yards. He just never made it official. Im going to bookmark your website and keep checking for new details about once a week. Still, by using G1 across the board, we are on a level playing field. I see lots of Wildcats mentioned here. The .204 will work quiet well at 500 yards with good shot placement. Please, keep up the great work! 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. Thank you for the great content you provide. Shooters have no real idea how much drop a bullet has at long ranges like 1500 yards. So what if we shoot further than 300? I noticed in your video that your chart also listed energy and recoil. Beyond 600 or 800 yards, however, the efficiency of the high B.C. 4 Stunning Long-Range Rifles That Will Shoot Past 1,000 Yards The .223 Remington will easily take care of any varmint out to around 500 yards, but at extreme distances loses its punch. Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made. Based on the old .404 Jeffery case, its the same length as the .30/06, which means it works in standard-length actions. There's currently no better option for the AR-15 when the range extends much past 500 yards. Norma offers a 156-grain Oryx load that wont shoot as flat but provides great terminal performance. Hornady Precision Hunter 212-grain ELD-X at 2,860 fps. 300 Win Mag Ballistics - Velocity, Trajectory & More - The Lodge at These are all under my extreme heading, because theyre all brutal on cost and recoil. A 30-06 will take any game on the NA Continent. Also, I used something called G1 B.C. I know its a great round, but its by a long shot the best selling rifle chambering of the last several years. Check out more F&S long-range shooting coverage, including advice for getting started in long-range shooting competitions, the reason why rifle groups keep shrinking, how Heavey did at Gunsite Academy, and what makes long-distance shooting so difficult. 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. BUCK DOYLE Preferred Caliber For 500 To 1,000 Yards And Beyond: .260 Remington (130-grain Berger AR Hybrid OTM . 2023 Backfire LLC, a limited liability company headquartered in Utah, USA. "Animal Instinct ammunition is optimized to deliver . The .277 is an oddball bullet diameter, in that it doesnt fall into the much more common 6.5mm, 7mm, or .30-caliber categories. Published Apr 14, 2022 12:07 PM EDT. For bigger game, I could easily hunt with either the 240 or 6.5-300 Weatherbys. Enjoying many of your video\s whilst stuck in lockdown. Flattest shooting caliber - PredatorMasters Forums Normas 180-grain BondStrike Extreme at 3,084 fps is new and very flat-shooting. Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates. J. From 600 to 1000 yards they use a 300 Winchester. Top With a growing choice of ammo from 90-130 grain projectiles and the benefit of a great ballistic coefficient with the 6.5mm bullet, 500+ yard shooting can be almost boring. Don't want it too heavy. Its also based on the 220 Russian/7.62x39mm Russian cartridge, but unlike the Valkyriewhich uses a 0.223-caliber bulletthe Grendel is yet another 6.5. Nice summary of the subject for those of us who do not understand things like Coreolis Force and aerodynamic jump.