Spreadsheet to determine best long range hunting cartridge

[packgoatguy]

Add in the 28 Nosler with a 180 ELD-M at 3200 fps mv, that's a safe, achievable number in lots of 28's. Should get you close to a mile and stay above 1600.

I held off on putting in the match style bullets, looking for bullets that are going to expand enough for quick kills. How does the ELD-M work in this regard? I haven't shot them in real life.

 

[packgoatguy]

Not sure how to respond to your original thread, I tried and it didn't work.
The wife and I have two SAAMI cartridges in the house, a 7RM and a 25-06, oh, and a .22lr and .17hmr.
The others are A.I'd (not SAAMI).
The next three builds we are going with are all off the Sherman line.
I'm not meaning to pick crap with the hens but I will say that shortly after joining this site I found better cartridge options....better meaning, for me. I've always not been afraid of "outside of box". And outside of SAAMI is were the true gains are at, for me at least.

I guess I should probably know this already... which cartridges on my list are not SAAMI approved?

 

[packgoatguy]

well if you don't mind revisiting the 7stw 175 double tap partitions, would like to see how they stack up. when i've run them, energy only, they've outdone most of the 300 mags. i'm relatively new to longer range hunting and elk hunting, but my understanding is partitions and accubonds are some of the tops for this.

Do you have BC and muzzle velocity for the 175 partitions as loaded by doubletap? Do they run higher than 3125 out of a 24 inch barrel? That would put it on par with the advertised velocity of the 28 Nosler.

 

[TG-5150]

I guess I should probably know this already... which cartridges on my list are not SAAMI approved?

There are many on this forum being used, maybe almost as many as stock.
The ones in our cabinet are 7-08 A.I., 22-250 A.I., and a newly acquired .280 40* A.I.(it's going to become one of the Sherman's)
But the next three are all not SAAMI.
The stock cartridges we do run are .223, 25-06, and 7RM.
And a few pistols

 

[blaser270mag]

I have done a lot of work with excel and JBM in order to find the ultimate LR cartridge and set up a new rifle.
The 28 Nosler with 195g Berger its tought to beat for LR.... however I feel more confident with .30 cal guns because they make bigger wounds and quicker kills on game. So I'm looking for a .30 cal to beat the 28 Nosler..

In my research, I found that the .30 Hornady ELD-M 225g with a G1=0.777 is the bullet I'm looking for. If it is launched at + 2,900 fps it can beat the 28 Nosler.
And maybe I'll set up a 27" 300 Wby 1:8"

 

[packgoatguy]

I have done a lot of work with excel and JBM in order to find the ultimate LR cartridge and set up a new rifle.
The 28 Nosler with 195g Berger its tought to beat for LR.... however I feel more confident with .30 cal guns because they make bigger wounds and quicker kills on game. So I'm looking for a .30 cal to beat the 28 Nosler..

In my research, I found that the .30 Hornady ELD-M 225g with a G1=0.777 is the bullet I'm looking for. If it is launched at + 2,900 fps it can beat the 28 Nosler.
And maybe I'll set up a 27" 300 Wby 1:8"

So, if Im not mistaken, the ELD-M bullets are basically an AMAX? So they will expand, but perhaps not as reliably at lower velocities as the ELDX? Any one have a pic of a recovered ELDM out of a critter that would have been a sub 1800fps kill? Any idea of bullet weight retention or any issues with using the ELDM for hunting big game at longer ranges?

 

[packgoatguy]

I have done a lot of work with excel and JBM in order to find the ultimate LR cartridge and set up a new rifle.
The 28 Nosler with 195g Berger its tought to beat for LR.... however I feel more confident with .30 cal guns because they make bigger wounds and quicker kills on game. So I'm looking for a .30 cal to beat the 28 Nosler..

In my research, I found that the .30 Hornady ELD-M 225g with a G1=0.777 is the bullet I'm looking for. If it is launched at + 2,900 fps it can beat the 28 Nosler.
And maybe I'll set up a 27" 300 Wby 1:8"

I just added a few lines to the spreadsheet. Hornady has a 300 Norma Mag in ELDM at 2850fps that gets right up there on the list. However, in looking around, it looks like folks can easily push the 28 Nosler 180gr ELD-M bullet to 3100fps and beyond (i found some claiming 3250... but that seems crazy) and with that .796 BC bullet, that about blows everything else away... How well do we trust that Hornady's BC for that 7mm bullet is accurate? That is crazy high. Still has 1600fps at a mile!

 

[257Tony]

I just added a few lines to the spreadsheet. Hornady has a 300 Norma Mag in ELDM at 2850fps that gets right up there on the list. However, in looking around, it looks like folks can easily push the 28 Nosler 180gr ELD-M bullet to 3100fps and beyond (i found some claiming 3250... but that seems crazy) and with that .796 BC bullet, that about blows everything else away... How well do we trust that Hornady's BC for that 7mm bullet is accurate? That is crazy high. Still has 1600fps at a mile!

3200 is easy I my factory browning rifle, 86 grains of rl33 at 3.580". The .796 bc holds out to about 800 for me, which is great as that is my self imposed limit on game. Hornady does list the other bc's as the velocity gets lower.

 

[sheffe]

First, WOW! and thank you for your effort. Like many on here, I am a numbers nerd and digging through your spreadsheet is fun. For those interested, if you drop down the "file" menu it allows you to save a copy for your own manipulation.

Like Handskills said, there isn't one answer or master sheet, but the formulas here are solid and helpful to help anyone out their calculate and justify their ultimate rig (or two) besides, what's the fun in owning just one!

Don't get me wrong - I appreciate the work and I enjoy reviewing other's data, but I don't think there is such thing as a master spreadsheet to calculate the best long range cartridge for everyone.

 

[wesslipka]

338 285 eld-m g1 bc=.829
Change that value in your spreadsheet and run one for the lapua imp. I've shot the 285 out of a 338 imp @ 2900 fps and the bc was good out to 1600 yds. The .796 bc on the 180 eld-m is good to go in a 8 twist. You lose quite a bit of bc in a 9 twist, but it still shoots well. It's hard to beat how well a 338 kills, but that 7mm sure shots flat.

 

[ndking1126]

packgoatguy, I did a similar spreadsheet and decided I would tackle the question of what velocity to assume by going to a well known bullet and/or powder company and averaging all the max velocities for the given caliber and bullet weight. I used Nosler's website since it seemed to have the most data, but I'm sure others would work if you had a preference. Additionally, once I had the average velocity, I found the recipe that had the closest velocity and wrote down the amount of powder used to get there. With this information I was able to calculate recoil. All in all, it was a very informative endeavor. You might consider the same approach.

 

[davsco]

Do you have BC and muzzle velocity for the 175 partitions as loaded by doubletap? Do they run higher than 3125 out of a 24 inch barrel? That would put it on par with the advertised velocity of the 28 Nosler.

double tap lists mv as 3120 out of a 26" but i got 2850 out of my 24" bbl. nosler lists their partition as .519 bc and says it expands down to 1800fps. and of course, thanks for doing all this!

 

[RCMSTER]

Just curious. Is there any information on your beloved spreadsheet on the weakest link of any situation related to shooting anything? That would be human error. BRM skills (that would be basic rifle marksmanship skills for all people not familiar with military terminology). I don't care what rifle or cartridge your shooting, whether it be a 22 long rifle or the latest, greatest supercalifragilistic long range caliber on the planet, if you don't possess the BRM skills to get the most out of said caliber, your ****in' in the wind. Spend all the time wasted looking at some silly spreadsheet at the range sending projectiles downrange enhancing BRM skills and aside from common sense caliber selection, everything else becomes irrelevant.

 

[uncle_motorhead]

I didn't see any Lazzeroni's here. The factory Warbird 180 gr over 3500 fps. The 190 VLD at 3425.