Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles A question for number crunchers...

Given a rifle/scope combo weighing 8.3 pounds and with a 22" barrel, what load will deliver 2000fps and 1500fpe to 600 yards at 7000 feet with the least recoil?

Please be specific - Calculated recoil with cartridge, bullet type, bullet weight, B.C, powder charge and muzzle velocity.

I know a .270 Win/150g ABLR/52.0g H100V (Daughter's M700) @ 2912fps will do it a bit past 700 with 17.7 ft-lbs

TIA

Did you mean 1500 ft-lbs?

I have no patience for such an exercise but I'd guess something a short step up from the Creedmore with 140+ class bullets.

Yes. I've corrected it.
Thanks.

147 ELD out of a 22” .260 at 2,750 fps does it on paper

You might want to chek the numbers on that .370 WIn, too......

I haven't loaded that one, is anyone getting 2,750 with a 22" barrel?

That was my first thought as well too. I use the 147 ELD (RL26) at 2775 from my 24" Tikka with an EDGE fill Sako Classic. Falls about a 100 ft lbs shy on energy at 600 yards, but the recoil is cream puff like in the gun.

Done. Thanks.

47.8 gr rl26 Lapua cases 2.972” coal

7,000 asl

Did you factor in velocity decay due to the reverse coriolis, and degraded BC due to thermal expansion of jacket alloys??

The 6.5 PRC gets it done with a 143g ELD-X and 58.0g H1000 @ 2850fps, but calculated recoil is 17.6 ft-lbs, only 0.1 ft-lb less than the .270 Win load I listed above. The .270 has about 50-100 yards more reach for the given parameters.

Damnit! I knew I was missing some data!

If comparing apples to apples, you should really be using published pressure-tested data, or use 3050 fps for the 6.5 PRC with 59gr of Retumbo. Hodgdon lists 52gr of H100V in the .270 with 150gr Horn SP bullet at 2811fps, using a 24" barrel. They also list 59gr of Retumbo in the 6.5 PRC with 143 ELD-X at 2953 fps, also using a 24" barrel. The .270 load runs at higher pressure, too. So add 100 fps to both, which gets you your 2913 fps in the .270 that you mentioned, and puts the 6.5 PRC load at 3053 fps. Use a G7 BC for the 143 of 0.315, and 0.278 for the 150 (according to Litz, based on the 10" twist of your daughters Rem 700 .270).

The 6.5 Creedmoor with 147 ELD-M (.351 G7 BC) at 2741 fps (via 43gr of H100V, according to Hodgdon, again using a 24" barrel) gets to 600 yards with your 2000/1500 requirement, and has 14.0 ft-lbs of recoil.

7-08/180 ELD.

Hint............

JBM says the 6.5 Creedmoor gets you there with 2296 FPS and 1510 fpe using a 129 ABLR at 2950. 13.1 lbs recoil at 10.1 FPS velocity. Light push, that. Real world may differ, but there it is. A monolithic would be better in that weight, but hard to get the by where you need it for that cartridge with the monos.

Crunching these numbers has me thinking I may need a new rifle.

The 7-08 will "only" make 1500 ft lbs to the 800yd line in said atmosphere.

1.2 Mils of 10mph full value wind at the 1000yd line.

Hint..................

Jordan -
Your comments are appreciated, You obviously put some time and effort into your response and I can't fault anything you stated.

The 6.5 PRC 143g ELD-X load I referenced was based on the Hodgdon data. I chose H1000 because I have a big jug of it. (I also have a pound of Retumbo, or what's left of it, but don't use it for anything. H1000 I'll always have on hand.) In addition, I stated 58.0g rather than Hodgdon's 58.1g and derated the velocity by 67fps to 2850fps, an estimate for using a 22" barrel and .1g less powder. So the data is pressure tested, just not a max load. And the estimated velocity for a 22" barrel may be off by a bit either way, hopefully not by much.

The purpose of my post was to satisfy my curiosity about the minimum recoil required to meet my stated goals of 2000fps and 1500fpe at 600 yards with a 22" barrel. Thinking in terms of a light rifle but specified 8.3 pounds for rifle and scope as that's (roughly) where a lot of my rifles are. Have not purchased a replacement barrel for my 7mm RM Savage 111 and, although I've looked at a lot of options, the 6.5PRC is the most probable.

I'll run the numbers with your parameters, but Daughter's rifle and load for this fall's elk hunt are fully baked. (Her comfort range is 400 yards, so 600 is moot.) As soon as I post this I'm headed to the basement to build development loads for her BIL's .270 Win using the 145 ELD-X and 150 ABLR, same as for Daughter's rifle. (Her's is a Rem M700, his is a Savage 111, need shorter COL due to shorter mag.)

Thanks again for you detailed reply.



[Edited to add]
Scratch building the development loads. Daughter has all my .270 brass. Time to go to Cabela's or Murdoch's.

Jordan -

Not pressure tested, but the .270 Win/ 150g ABLR load I referenced is chrono'd from Daughter #1's Rem M700. Not sure about COL but set to full diameter at neck/shoulder junction with only boattail protruding lower. About 3.570" COL estimated (Daughter has the dummy loads) rather than Hodgdon's 3.285" COL. 52g H100V for both Daughter's rifle and Hodgdon. No pressure signs at 53.0g H100V, the max I tried. Hodgdon lists 61,900PSI vs SAAMI 65,000PSI. Not identical loads, though - I use a CCI 200 Large Rifle primer vs Winchester Large Rifle, and of course the bullet itself is different.