Oft times we read articles whereby the author of whatever talks about a particular bullet or cartridge not being accurate because it can't remain supersonic throughout the distance to the target as it goes into the transonic stage...the bullet gets 'squirrelly' and accuracy suffers! One example of this is in years past when working the pits we could always tell who the Service Rifle shooters were when shooting 1000 yards because oft times the 168 gr. Sierra bullet being used would keyhole into the target paper! That bullet was NEVER designed as a long range bullet in the first place, however it set world records over many years in 300 meter matches! It had a 13 degree boat-tail and any bullet with that design has the same drag function as a flat-based bullet.

Now...here's some food for thought! The below photo is of a metal Creedmoor Target I had made a few years ago when I was heavy into shooting Sharps rifles using paper patched all lead bullets that I cast. There is a smaller plate inside the larger. Small plate is 20" diameter...larger bull is 44" diameter...same size as the Palma target. Ten ring is the 20" plate. I had this target made because when shooting from 1000 yards the bullet impacts stood out like a five carat diamond in a Billy goats ass in my spotting scope. I was testing a new load in my 50/90 Sharps using a 720 gr. paper patch bullet ahead of 116 grs. KIK 2F blackpowder using Russian primers. I wanted to see how the load held up for possibly giving a low vertical dispersion. Muzzle velocity of this load was around 1380 fps so it shouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure that this bullet was already below super-sonic at around 250 yards...or less! After a first round hit on the ten ring plate I made no adjustment for windage correction as the conditions were good with only slight wind and since I was testing for vertical....not a problem! Had I made a correction probably all ten rounds would have been within the ten ring plate. A measurement showed a 7.5" total vertical for all ten rounds!

So....in the final analysis...the question is why was the accuracy this good using a 125 year old bullet design using an out-dated propellent, moving at this below supersonic speed??? Another question is.....is all the talk about 'going into the transonic stage causing inaccuracy' just so much BS??

[Linked Image]1000 yards 50/90 PP by .com/photos/61286670N08/]Sharps Man, on [bleep]

Even birds know not to land downwind!