Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Velocity!!! How important is it?

Lets just say that at one time, I knew a fair bit about wind out to 1000 ish yards.

I have no problem saying that wind is underestimated and even totally ignored a lot of the time, while worrying about drop... heck if you shoot over or under, nothing is wounded... if you are on, but left or right you can really wound one and make a miserable day.

I'm like Bob... you never know what the wind is doing. My best shot has been 802. The reason it was taken and made, twice, is due to minimal wind and readable mirage. Plus a spotter I really trusted....

I"ve passed on 200 yard shots before.... wind blowing the position around and just could not get stable enough quickly enough....

BC matters more in longer shots to me than most anything, well that and a really accurate load plus lots of trigger time with that load in conditions and in zero conditions verifying no wind zero's at temps and so on.

Having a flat shooting load just does not come into play anymore for me really. I can handle that part of the equation pretty quickly and easily.

I'm not as concerned with a relatively high velocity in my 7-08's or 30-06 as I am with the 7mag.

Just for the record. Personally it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.

I have very L O N G deer seasons and have had for years.... so

I don't and don't have to hunt in hi wind, problem solved.

I rarely have had any shooting opportunities past 400 yds but 400 is a common ' opportunity'.

I'm prepared for those w/o turrets, knobs, or dots. I'm not knocking those, I just don't need them -- with velocity and flat trajectory.


Jerry

Let me illustrate. The following are the dates for THIS year's deer seasons where I live/hunt.

Mzl Oct 15- 23

Mod Gun Oct 29-Nov 2

M G Nov 12-Dec 18 and Dec 26-28

Mzl Dec 29-31


I can't hunt every day but I pick and choose when I hunt.


Jerry

I shot two antelope two weeks ago with 95 gr 6mm Nos Bal Tip with muzzle velocity 2800 fps.

Both were bang flop.

And that is pretty much my position as well. I have never had the luxery of hunting the number of days jwall speaks of. My hunting was always primarily to fill the freezer. We always shot the first legal game we encountered.

I also am one who has never hunted in appreciable wind. Over fifty years, if the weather was that bad, we just waited for a better day. And typically in this part of Idaho, there are very few days of crappy weather during our deer and elk seasons.

I carried an '06 loaded with 165 gr boat tails over 60 gr H4831 for over twenty years. When I got a chrony, I discovered the actual mv was 2620 fps.

The rifle was zeroed at an actual 300 yds by shooting at 300 yds. And i never had a bit of trouble hitting anything I aimed at inside 400 yds using an old Weaver 2-7x32 with a typical duplex reticle.

Today, I choose higher velocity cartridges such as the 264 Win mag or STW not because I think they are necessary for the hunting I do. But they make it easier, and give me more assurance of a lethal hit at the ranges I hunt.

Killing a 600 pound bull, and killing it quickly so it does not run a mile into some schitt hole before it dies is a far different matter than killing a 100 lb deer.

I have killed and watched others kill elk with loads like the 30-06 I previously mentioned. The elk die eventually, and are usually recovered. But I was never impressed with the situation.

That is specifically why I bought the Ruger #1 in 7mm STW. And I have been quite satisfied with the results on elk due to the difference in impact velocity.

For comparison, the aforementioned 30-06 load w/ 165 gr bullet is down to 1920 fps at 400 yds. While my chosen STW load with a 160 gr bullet impacts at over 2500 fps at the same range.

The difference in reaction of elk hit has been obvious to me. If I could handle the recoil and shoot it effectively, I would choose an 8mm mag with a 220, or a 340 Wea with a 250 gr bullet. But I can not.

There could be a reason why some are on ignore....

I. Shooter -

I could deer hunt tomorrow thru Wed. but we are running 60 - 85* F during this time. I will not go where I normally hunt.

IF IF I see deer early in the mornings AT Home, I may shoot 1. I don't like to hunt in hot WX either.

Yesterday I saw 2 shooter bucks in my pasture.
1 is a cull I want to remove. He has 1/2 rack on his right side. The left side is a TALL spike - 10-12", with a short spike, both straight up. He was 125 yds from my house S - SW.

The second is a very nice 8 pt, long, tall, decent width, and average mass.
He was 100 yds from my back door East. I had time to grab my LRF just to know. He licked a branch and pawed the ground while I watched.

If I knew I'd see both during season, I'd kill the cull first.

If I don't see a deer early, I won't shoot one at all this week.

Jerry

A. That is exactly my perspective as well. Hi Vel makes it easier And quicker to make the shot.

B. I have not YET had the privilege to hunt Elk but I haven't given up hope. I enter our Elk Permit draw every year----no luck yet---- but I'm prepared.

Having seen MANY deer killed with various cartridges--it's easy to understand that MORE tissue destruction YIELDS quicker death. (Proper placement is UTMOST)


For guys that only hunt woods/short range, velocity is less important. I actually hunt woods MOST of the time BUT even in the last 4 seasons I cross open land going in and coming out.

Last yr alone I killed 2 deer BEFORE I entered the woods. I believe in being prepared for MY situations.

YMMV

Y'all can blame JOC, Bob Hagel, JRS, et.al. for my penchant.


Jerry

Velocity is an interesting thing when it comes to bullets.Different shapes and construction are affected by this.One thing for certain is faster bullets are going to shoot flatter,carry more energy and just hit harder when it gets there.I once shot a doe with a 7mag using 145gr Speer Grand Slam bullet with a mv of 3200fps,behind both shoulders and it broke the onside front leg just from the sheer impact.The bullet never even touched the shoulder but it broke the front leg right at the scapula.Another thing I've noticed is the shock wave you can sometimes see in your scope when the bullet hits the animal.I've noticed this a few times.You can actually see an area as large as a basket ball sometimes,where the hair gets all distorted when the bullet hits the animal.Think of it like this,when you pass a truck on the highway,the wind shearing from the front of the truck with shake and push your vehicle.I'm sure you get the same thing with the bullet too.Does it have an affect when it hits an animal with that blast of air?I'm sure it does,but how much,I don't know.In the end,an animal hit in the vitals the same spot,with the same bullet will die,but the one with the higher velocity may very well put the animal down quicker unless too much of it's energy is lost with the bullet leaving the other side.Who knows.

I'm pretty sure that a bullet feels no emotion when it hits an animal.

I don't need high velocity for my deer hunting. Long experience has shown 2200 fps is plenty for the woods hunting I do. I want my sight line and trajectory as close to the bore line as possible from 0-100 yards too, as it makes it much easier to thread bullets over and under intervening branches. No big scopes mounted high over bore and none of this 3 inches high at 100 yards stuff for me thanks. Just makes it tougher to thread the needle when I need to shoot over a branch at 20 yards and under another at 60 to hit a deer at 80.

I wonder which bullet maximizes the hypersonic shock wave?

That's what I'm talking about.