Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters What are the flattest shooting Big Game rounds around to 500 yards

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?

6.5 Weatherby is flatter, I believe. So is the 30-378.

Is the 26 Nosler flatter?

My buddy shoots a 300 rum throwing 165's at 3450.. its pretty flat shooting.

Easy way to compare. Well, easy theory, lots of separate lookups and calcs.

Look up the highest BC's of each company's hunting bullets, then run the numbers in a calculator that shows mid-range trajectory or max height over line of sight with each sighted in at 500 yards. Plug in muzzle velocities commensurate with those possible from different rounds. Lowest midrange or max height trajectory wins. You can then juggle the sight in range to get your best point blank range or most useful trajectory for whatever species of game you're after.

Obviously real world results may vary the calculated numbers a tad but at least you'd be comparing each bullet and velocity combination on a level playing field.

270 Weatherby is good. You will find all of the Magnums are pretty close in drop. It is how much energy you want at 500 yds

Was going to say ... with like bullets (ex 110 accubond vs 140 accubond ) ... the 270 Weatherby basically matches ballistics with the 257 Weatherby, and gives the benefit of more bullet weight / energy .

375 Warlord?

IF you're trying to stick around the 257 W, I'd think the 28 Nosler, or 7RUM would be fairly good/similar with the good 120 class bullets that are available. I haven't compared the numbers w/ the 257 however.

Gun gackery for sure but I am trying to talk myself out of getting another hot rod cartridge. The 25-06 only gives up about two inches to the 257 Weatherby and others like 7RM with light bullets almost match it. Then there is the 26 Nosler, 7RUM and 6.5x300 which out class the 257 but I want more than 500 rounds out of the barrel, so I am conflicted.

375 Warlord is a bit much for 100 lb. whitetails but would be fun. If that's not enough the 50 BMG doe's pretty well.

if I am hunting deer or antelope I still prefer a 257 weatherby mag has little recoil,but if I am hunting elk 300 win mag but the better cartridge would be a 338 lapau for elk but I want a break on the lapau 338.

The 6.5-300 Weatherby wins the prize.

http://www.handloads.com/calc/index.html


Work for it. Play with it.

Precious few medium game cartridges have a flatter trajectory ( or smallest deviation from line of sight) then a .257 wby when shooting 80 TTSX at full giddyup. I have a .300 win mag that shoots decent with 130gr TTSXs and Rel 17, and at 3650 they fly pretty darn flat also. I imagine a .270WBY and the light TTSXs for a 6.8 at full useful speed would require very little correction to 500. The wind will blow these around a bit though.

do you need THE flattest? I'd put together a great shooting 25-06 or 257 W and call it good!

I'm going to slum a 6.5x47 with a scope with repeatable turrets. Been there and got the tee shirt on fast rigs. Still like my 7mm Remington but its going back to lobbing 195s next year.

IMO - With any 243, 6.5, 7 mm, 30 caliber cartridge it becomes a question of how much powder do you want to burn and how much recoil do you want to endure. Choose any of them in a chambering you like with a recoil level that you can comfortably handle and go with it.
In my experience the less the recoil the better one can shoot.

drover

Out of curiosity, why the flattest? Dialing elevation or holding over with a decent reticle solves the gravity problem. Wind on the other hand, IMO, is the challenge. High BC’s on the bullets for whatever cartridge you choose would be where I would be looking for 500 yard shots. That’s a game changer. Especially if (when) you decide to push a lot farther than that.

BTW - I’m a big .257 Weatherby fan, even though I haven’t owned or shot one in almost 10 years. Before rangefinders that was my go to.

I am resisting going high tech on the ranging and dialing. I want to feel connected to what I shoot in the same county. But especially in S. Tex. you have about five seconds to judge an animal and shoot before it crosses a sendero. Ranges can be 40 to 800 yards and there is no time for ranging and dialing hence the point and shoot. If you can aim at hair at unknown ranges to 300+++ it is a big advantage. Most of this is mental masturbation and and excuse for another rifle.

I believe in the pie plate theory for hunting rifles. If ability, trajectory, and windage allow you to hit a pie plate consistently regardless if the range is 100 or 5000 that is your effective range.

Let the gackery continue please.

Sounds like a great reason to me.