There are some obvious choices but to get all the data together would be a daunting task. As soon as you name something as flattest someone else will come up with a different bullet combo that will out do it. I know trajectory is only one item for mid to longer ranges and that it is almost moot for scope dialers and long range target shooting but for point and shoot types I am curious about the rankings. To put it another way which cartridges are better for this than the 257 Weatherby?
................Read your last post as well....................Because you have gotten and will get different answers, the only real way to truly discover the answer to your question is to go through the daunting task (lol) of getting comfortable and then settling onto a downrange ballistics table which is what you are trying to avoid. Yup...Alot of work and research. You are going to have to see the downrange #s on a graph for proper comparisons.
Imo, the following should be on the list, not only out to 500 yards but beyond 500 as well for better retained velocities, energy and trajectories. The faster 6.5s with great bullet BCs and better resistance to wind drifts are a good place to start, then followed by a fast 270, the fast 7s and then the fastest 30s. Then it becomes a matter of recoil tolerance, expense etc and etc.
Tops in the 6.5 mm dept are the 6.5/300 Weatherby followed by the 26 Nosler...........In the 270 dept, the 270 Wby reigns supreme. In the 7mm dept; the 28 Nosler, 7 RUM/STW, 7mm Wby.........For the 30s; 30-378 Wby, 300 RUM, 300 Wby.
So you compare all of the above and then take the best 6.5, the 270 Wby, the top 7 and the top 30 and then compare them on a graph using the hunting bullets of varying bullet weights with the best BCs that each offer and then see how they compare to the 257 Wby.
Then you will have your true and correct answer rather than relying on opinion.
