What is the the most flat shooting cartridge yall can think of?

[Epeeandirk]

Working on a load for my 30-378 with 144 grain Hammer Targets. Don't have enough data yet to post. Hoping for 4k plus.

 

[FEENIX]

That's not exactly true. Increasing BC makes MPBR go up faster than Increasing velocity. Trust me.... I wore the shooters calculator out the other night just punching in hypotheticals trying to come up with something that had a MPBR of 400yds on a 4" target.

Agreed! To increase MPBR, maximize velocity and BC.

 

[jessej]

.257 Wby. Mag. Wife shoots 120 gr Nosler Part at 3300 fps adjusted to +1.7" at 100 yds. You can still put the standard crosshairs high on the critter at 400 yds.

Big critter.

 

[Ronald W Schaefer]

Big critter. View attachment 566595

Standard body size of a whitetail deer is 16", Mule deer is 18"...Elk about 32", so yeah, crosshairs on the back of a whitetail and then high on the other critters. FYI, that's almost exactly her numbers. Now she just got a Leopold VX6 3-18 X 50 scope with adjustable turrets, so no more holdover.

 

[Taj]

I built a .22-243 Middlestead about a year ago. Just got around to doing load development for it. Have shot some 52 grainers at 4250 fps second but it was really built for a yote rifle so I need to do some work with heavier bullets. Will keep my results posted.

 

[AZ82New]

Without getting downright silly with necking some monster down to 22 caliber.
It's pretty hard to beat the old 257 Weatherby for flat shooting and being able to make it rain fur.
You can get a 75 grain varmint bullet to 4000 fps.
I was loading 87 grain Sierras in mine @ 3880 fps when I was using it for ground hogs and foxes. It would decorate the landscape with varmint
The 257 was fast before fast was cool!

I agree, the .257 Weatherby is just about as flat as you're going to get.

If you go high bc, I shoot a 108 APEX out of my 25-06 ai at 3,435 fps. The Weatherby would push that about another 100 fps. The g1 on that bullet is around .600.

It's unnerving how fast you can see those impacts at 925 yards. Noticeably faster than a 300 PRC shooting the 225 ELD. Definitely waaayy faster that watching 308 impacts.

 

[del2les]

While the track record for accuracy in small arms is abysmal if we're just talking pure muzzle velocity and greatest hypothetical mpbr the ultimate will be a saboted round of some kind. If only they shot worth a hoot.

There's a fella on YouTube used some of the accelerator type sabots in a handloaded .300 win mag to drive .224 cal bullets north of 5100 feet per second.

The last pic is a 300RUM vs 30-06 vs 308 sabot rounds. I've hit 5,000fps with the 30-06 running a match 52gr bullet. The 300RUM will reach the 5,500fps range, but with large ES and SD.

 

[hawg chaser]

The last pic is a 300RUM vs 30-06 vs 308 sabot rounds. I've hit 5,000fps with the 30-06 running a match 52gr bullet. The 300RUM will reach the 5,500fps range, but with large ES and SD.

What is accuracy like with these? I ask because Remington tried something similar to this, and they were known to be wildly inaccurate.

 

[hunterbob]

I was having a conversation with a fellow member here over "flat shooting cartridges" because I've been in search of a flat shooting cartridge/bullet combination for coyotes.

I'm currently shooting a 25-06 which gives me a MPBR on a 4" target of 298yds with a 115vld. I'm switching to an 80gr barnes ttsx to see what kind of speeds I can get and hopefully stretch that MPBR a little bit more. When this barrel goes south I will probably go back with a 25-06AI or 25sherman.

I know there are some wildcats out there that could possibly be "flat-er" and a realistic choice for coyotes and would like to hear yalls opinions.

I'm not looking to neck down a 308win to 17cal or run a 110vmax in a 300rum or anything wild like that. I'd like to keep powder consumption as low as possible. Barrel life isn't a huge concern but it like to get 800 rounds out of it.

What are yalls thoughts?

A 270 the flatest one, shooting with a 130 gr Bullet imr 4831. It has plenty of take down energy and leaves a big wound channel.

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

The last pic is a 300RUM vs 30-06 vs 308 sabot rounds. I've hit 5,000fps with the 30-06 running a match 52gr bullet. The 300RUM will reach the 5,500fps range, but with large ES and SD.

I remember back in the late 60s I found a 30-06 with a sabot .22 in it. Untraceable if it was shot at someone.

 

[del2les]

What is accuracy like with these? I ask because Remington tried something similar to this, and they were known to be wildly inaccurate.

It varies with rifle, load and bullet, but when not trying to break any records, I can keep them in the 2 MOA range or so. The 30-30AI in my 14" Contender do a little better, but the straight wall rounds tend to do the best.

Decades ago, we shot several of the Remington "Accelerator" rounds, and again depending on the rifle, we could keep them in a 2-3 MOA range.

 

[436]

It varies with rifle, load and bullet, but when not trying to break any records, I can keep them in the 2 MOA range or so. The 30-30AI in my 14" TCU do a little better, but the straight wall rounds tend to do the best.

Decades ago, we shot several of the Remington "Accelerator" rounds, and again depending on the rifle, we could keep them in a 2-3 MOA range.

View attachment 566643

The "Green box" gives this as the advertised velocity, but... I've never had one come close to the factory-advertised velocity out of a 24" or better rifle barrel. I agree the MOA is never much better than 2 or 3 plus MOA. Just my 0.2 Cheers

Technical Information

• Caliber: 30-06 Springfield
• Bullet Weight: 55 Grains
• Bullet Style: Pointed Soft Point
• Case Type: Brass
  
  Ballistics Information:
• Muzzle Velocity: 4080 fps
• Muzzle Energy: 2033 ft. lbs.

 

[JiggyIi]

The last pic is a 300RUM vs 30-06 vs 308 sabot rounds. I've hit 5,000fps with the 30-06 running a match 52gr bullet. The 300RUM will reach the 5,500fps range, but with large ES and SD.

great ️but find those sabots now. I have a bag of the yet…., somewhere lol

 

[del2les]

The "Green box" gives this as the advertised velocity, but... I've never had one come close to the factory-advertised velocity out of a 24" or better barrel rifle. I agree the MOA is never much better than 2 or 3 plus MOA. Just my 0.2 Cheers

Technical Information

• Caliber: 30-06 Springfield
• Bullet Weight: 55 Grains
• Bullet Style: Pointed Soft Point
• Case Type: Brass
  
  Ballistics Information:
• Muzzle Velocity: 4080 fps
• Muzzle Energy: 2033 ft. lbs.

The factory loads were very under powered, so we would purchase the sabots from E. Arthur Brown (They still sell them) and a few gun show dealers who had a few thousand of the Rem's from demilled ammo. Reloading and experimenting greatly improves the velocities.