In your opinion how close are the ballistic tables in the back of of various loading manuals.

Hey Hvy Barrel, They seem to be excellent for "comparing" different Bullets from the same Manufacturer. Like if you wanted to know which Bullet will have the most "estimated" Energy at 400yds if a 150gr has a 3200fps MV and a 165gr has a 3050fps MV. Same for "estimated" Wind Drift and to some extent the "estimated" Trajectory.

They do help get you on the paper way out yonder, but the only way to know the actual Drop Rate is to shoot the specific Cartridge combination in the actual rifle it will be used in. Sometimes the Charts end up being close to reality, but most often though it is not as close as we are really looking for.

And if you are comparing Bullets from different Manufacturers, it can be very misleading since they all seem to calculate the B.C. slightly different.

Like Hot Core says they are good estimates.
The bullets BC changes with velocity, humidity, alt, temp, and all of these are figured at a "standard" value when the tables for the books are figured. They are close, but not exact.

As others have said they are estimates. It's always best if you can range test your load if you are going to count on the data for hunting.

When setting up the .338 Win Mag for Elk hunting I tried to sight-in locally for "minute of Elk." That is, set the impact point so that I'd have the longest available range for an 10" circle of certainty across the trajectory. Tables indicated that setting the impact point 4.7" high at 100 would give me a 5" drop below aim point at 350 yards. Pretty easy to adjust in the field.

When I got to Jackson Hole I was able to check the trajectory on the long range gongs at the public range. Estimates worked out pretty well.

I have found significant differences between the tables and the actual point of impact at distances of 400 yards and more with some bullets..