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What is the flattest shooting gun to 300 yards ? I asked Biebs the question and he said it would be good question for ar. 300 yards is the max I can shoot at my range and the max I ever want to shoot. Thanks Mike | ||
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What is the intended game? You may get different answers like varmint, Deer or Elk rifles. 40 grain bullets are pretty fast and flat in a 22/250 or a swift, 257 WBY is pretty dam flat shooting with 90 and 100 grain bullets. I'd have to look them up to verify. Oh and the 270 WSM shooting 110 grain Barnes is no slouch either | |||
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Whack a steel gong. Sorry i should have stated that. Thanks Mike | |||
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the 3 flattest shooting rifles I have: .26 Nosler .300 RUM .50 BMG None quite fit your application.  Out to 300 yards for steel, I'd stick with a .308. The idea is to learn, and the .308 is flat enough but still will require you learn a bit about wind and ranging the target. As a plus, you will be able to outshoot Biebs if you do that.... Not too much velocity, recoil or expense involved. The high velocity .22 centerfires will dent up steel over time. | |||
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For the flattest I’d say 257Bee. In all honesty, I’d go .308, as mentioned earlier. it’s a great choice. Regards, Robert ****************************** H4350! It stays crunchy in milk longer! | |||
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I agree. 308/6.5/300 win mag and 7mm rem is what I have. I have also got a 22-250 and few 223. I really don’t want to whack the gong down (375 H&H at 100 yards does that) and I don’t want to lug sandbags. The rains this year has made it near impossible to drive the truck out there. Mike | |||
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Though flatter shooting lighter bullet weights and calibres doubtless exist, I was most impressed by a Remington 270WSM 150-grain Accutip load that claimed 3200fps. It cost too much for me to keep buying but was really good for mountain hunting because, needing only to have it shoot an inch+ high at 100 yards, steep shots were much less uncertain. | |||
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Something with the name Lazzeroni attached, IMO. Way overkill for 300 yards max. Go light for caliber in .375 Wby, 7mm wby, any .300 magnum,... _______________________ | |||
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Does the OP mean the actual bullet flight of the projectile through the air? One can "flatten" trajectory with their scope, too by knowing their current zero and adjusting the scope by clicks. This effectively flattens the flight. | |||
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I would like to know what you mean by flattest. | |||
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.257 Weatherby and the .416 Barrett for me. For hunting, the Barrett is a little overkill. | |||
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That is too much work for me. I don’t like to adjust my scope via clicks. I am looking for something that will shoot a gong at 100/200/300 yards without much adjustment or tinkering of the scope. I have numerous plates/gongs and in time with practice would Ro shoot smaller plates. Thanks Mike | |||
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How big is the gong? There are lots of cartridges that will work if the gong is big enough. If all you are going to shoot is steel, one of the small varmint calibers will serve you nicely I expect. Something about 3" high at 100, dead on at 200-250, and about 7 inches low at 300 will work out nicely if the gong is 10 inches or more. You can always hold just a shade low at 100 and a touch higher at 300 if needed. Lots of rounds would fall into that category. | |||
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 My 6mm X .270 IMP w/ 60 gr. bullet.  roger  Old age is a high price to pay for maturity!!! Some never pay and some pay and never reap the reward. Wisdom comes with age! Sometimes age comes alone.. | |||
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Mike, It really depends on what you are really trying to accomplish. Let me explain further. Let's take two ends of the spectrum for modern cartridges. A 308 shooting a 180 spitzer (2625 fps) a 270 win shooting 130 spitzer (3000 fps) both sighted +2.5 at 100 yards Drop is 7.9 inches @ 300 for 308 Win with 180 Drop is -3.4 @ 300 for 270 Win with 130 So a difference of 4.5 inches across two widely different configurations The point being once you start evaluating 1 magnum say a 7mm vs. 300 win mag, the difference is going to be measured in 10ths of inches. Another example, without optimizing the zeroed in distance a 6.5-300 weatherby zeroed at 200 is ~5.5 inches low at 300 with a 140 gr BTHP and 300 win mag zeroed at 200 with 178 gr BTHP is -6.3. So pick what you like or whatever you have that will push a medium to heavy bullet for caliber for example 6.5/140 and 30/180 at ~3000 fps and you you have plenty of variables to play with such as bullet selection and zero range such that no cartridge will have any real advantage. Mike Legistine actu quod scripsi? Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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One gong is 12 inches round Another gong is 8 inches square So if I aim in the middle at 300 yards I cannot have a drop of more than 6 or 4 inches. Mike | |||
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https://www.chuckhawks.com/myth_busting_calibers.htm All depnds on how much recoil you want. And -if ringing steel @ 300 without custom reloads is all you plan to do the 223/556 is hard to beat DuggaBoye-O NRA-Life Whittington-Life TSRA-Life DRSS DSC HSC SCI | |||
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Well, if you want a medium bore, you might select the venerable .270 Winchester. You could shoot a 135 grain Sierra HP Matchking (BC .388 +/-) and could get about 3000 fps out of it. You could sight in 2.5 inches high at 100 yards and you’d be looking that bullet would rise about 3 inches and drop about 3.6 inches at 300 yards. That’s not bad. (Personally, I’d just go to a .204 Rem loaded with 39 grain Sierras @3800 fps, but you wanted a medium bore.) | |||
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I'm with Mike - I think (personal opinion) the "flat shooting" thing is a bit of a red herring with majority of hunting calibers inside of 300 yards. Vary a few inches in drop at 300 if zeroed at 200. Does it matter if you hold 4" high or 7" high at the end of the day? | |||
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I second the .204! Almost no recoil and plenty flat enough for that. Heck just zero it at 300 yds. That is where mine is zeroed anyway. God Bless, Louis | |||
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That'd work just fine. At 3800 fps, the 39 Sierra would be all of 2.80 in high at 200 and spot on at 300. That would print +2 inches at 100 yds. But . . . because I'm anal expulsive  . . . I'd probable zero +1.5 in at 100 yards. That would give me a +1.7 in at 200 yards and a —1.6 in at 300 yards.Wish I could shoot well enough to take advantage of those numbers!  | |||
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A .308 Win, 6.5 Swede, or 6 mm Rem and an excellent scope will do it. But I should ask, are you just wanting to smack steel or knock it down? | |||
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while there might be quite a few cartridges that will vie for that distinction, 300 yards is not a real long shot.....properly sighted in, many common cartridges will hit the 8" plate with no hold over.....and at all ranges closer to boot. An accurate .257 Weatherby just might be the best bet for that exercise. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." Winston Churchill | |||
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When answering the question my thoughts were  what rifle will put a bullet out the barrel and take the shortest amount of time to go 300yds.? I really think that says it all.roger Old age is a high price to pay for maturity!!! Some never pay and some pay and never reap the reward. Wisdom comes with age! Sometimes age comes alone.. | |||
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My hearing loss is so severe that doubling up with plugs and electronic muffs is a must. Can't always hear the sound of a hit from a light bullet. Then there's the visual evidence. Depending on plate size/mass, movement from a 32-40 gr hit may not be perceptible. Was messing with a friend's 6mm Creedmoor; seemed to move the 6" and 8" plates at 400m just fine. Suppose you can fresh spray paint the plates. Just something to consider. Am with CR Butler on .308, particularly his reasoning. Learning is good. Didn't know how much I didn't know - drop and drift - till I started doing it. Sobering. | |||
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Another solution is a multi-reticle scope just switch from one reticle to the other. Hit what your aiming at. I use mil-dots to make one shot hits at all kinds of different ranges. | |||
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Just aim at the top of the 300 yard gong. Just for an example I have a 6.5 Grendel that we shoot steel with. Out to 300 I only have to aim at the top of the steel plate. 100 and 200 just aim on it. Its no flatter than a .308 Win but it is a joy to shoot. -------------------- THANOS WAS RIGHT! | |||
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6.5 Grendel 100 yards with cheap wolf ammo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHFb6mQ-YO0 -------------------- THANOS WAS RIGHT! | |||
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Many of the medium guns will be good to 300 depending on what range you sight in at 100 yards for. If you are serious look at what the rifle and load does at 350 and 400 in case you move the gong father out. | |||
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from 0 to 300 yards. A 243 Win with 85gr will keep in a 6" circle. So will a 6,5 creedmoor with 123gr. A 308 with 155 palmas will do an 8" circle. 168gr 8-ish circle. This is just using JBM's site with my favorite loads. http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmtraj-5.1.cgi | |||
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While not my favorite rifle, my beat up Mark V in 270 Weatherby is pretty flat shooting (150g Nosler Partitions at 3350 fps). Was hitting a scuba tank hung by a chain at 845 yards at the Fort Carson range pretty regularly without a fancy scope Regards, Chuck "There's a saying in prize fighting, everyone's got a plan until they get hit" Michael Douglas "The Ghost And The Darkness" | |||
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That sounds pretty good, Chuck, and if extended much beyond 300 yards would begin to eat the light-bullet brigade. | |||
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The flattest shooting cartridge in the world might have trouble bucking crosswinds. Like most things in life there are trade-offs. I think it is much easier to accommodate a cartridge's vertical drop at known yardages than try to compensate for wind. JMO Bh63 Hunting buff is better than sex! | |||
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270 Win, huh? You sure sound like an O'Conner. LOL BH63 Hunting buff is better than sex! | |||
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Several good replies above and a couple that don't mirror my opinion...which is fine since everyone has the right to think for themselves. 300 yards is not long range so like others have said, many many cartridges and bullet combinations will work just fine. The catch here is the accuracy of YOUR rifle with that given load and the wind, oh.. the wind. That's something most forget about and even at the paltry range of 300 yards it's a real element that must be considered. Because of the wind, I'd opt for a fast projectile with a high BC. Next consideration is how many shots down the tube you expect to get before that all important accuracy is eroded away. It's a game of trade-offs at every turn. I should know, I play the target/gong deal at least once a week out to 900 yards. Okay, to answer your question directly: My buddy built a 6.5 RUM and calls it the "undertaker". Too bad it's only good for about 500 rounds...if you don't shoot it while the barrel is hot. Zeke | |||
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I've shot zebra at 348 y with a 300 Win 180 gr @3000 fps, mule deer at 318 y with a 270 Win 140 gr at 3000 fps, none of which are the "flattest" on paper, but as they say paper is paper....it's why we play the game." Learn to shoot...….or buy a scope with compensation. IIRC back in the day it was the 257 Wby w/100 gr and the 300 Wby w/150 gr which were the "factory" champions (before the RUM cartridges so I'm dating myself). There are two types of people in the world: those that get things done and those who make excuses. There are no others. | |||
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I loved his writing and I grew up reading him. Would love to have met him. Because of him, my first quality rifle was a Pre 64 Mod. 70 Featherweight in .270. I cut lawns all summer for that. I grew up wanting to be a gun writer because of him. But life intervened. Still have my .270 and it's just as magical to me now as it was then! | |||
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Lazzeroni Scramjet is going to take some beating on this challenge. Zeroed 2 inch high at 150 it ought to still be on the 8" steel with a dead centre hold never mind aiming for the top of the steel. | |||
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Thanks for all the info. It’s coming down to 300 win mag 308 6.5 creedmoor I just picked up a blaser safari receiver I am going to turn this safari rifle into my accurate long rang rifle project It is a heavy gun - 9-10 pounds. https://www.eurooptic.com/blas...eceiver-savanna.aspx I have all the barrels but in time may get one target semi weight barrel in what I finally settle on. Thanks Mike | |||
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Probably go through the steel as well at 300 yards. Lol. -------------------- THANOS WAS RIGHT! | |||
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