Bullet speed 6.5
- Thread starter Ken hofer
- Start date
leveractionjunkie
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Kamloops, BC
95gr vmax maybe?
- Location
- Western Manitoba
May want to play with reloading manual tables for a bit - the bullet with highest muzzle velocity is often not the highest velocity bullet at 200 yards or 400 yards - as per the discussion in the Sierra manual - a bullet's Ballistic Co-efficient - BC - at least the G1 version - changes as the bullet's velocity changes - I see they list 3, or sometimes 4, different values for BC for each bullet, depending on the velocity window it is travelling in. I am just guessing, but would think hitting a coyote at 400 yards needs a very accurate load, with a suitable bullet and impact velocity "high enough" to do the deed, which is not necessarily the load with the highest muzzle velocity or the highest 400 yard velocity?
Looking through Nosler 7 manual and using the tables there - 6.5 Creedmoor shows a max load of 3,272 fps with 100 grain Ballistic Tip. At 400 yards, shows it will be doing just over 2,300 fps. Same cartridge - 120 grain Ballistic Tip load shown starting at 3,068 (200 fps slower) - at 400 yards, about that same 2,300 fps. In this example, the lighter bullet looses velocity faster than the heavier bullet looses it - so beyond 400 yards, the heavier bullet, with lower initial muzzle velocity, will have a higher velocity.
In Hornady 9th, they show 95 grain V-Max at 3,200 muzzle velocity. Almost exactly 2,300 fps at 400 yards. Speer website shows 3,499 fps muzzle velocity with 90 grain TNT - will be less than 2,200 fps at 400 yards.
Looking through Nosler 7 manual and using the tables there - 6.5 Creedmoor shows a max load of 3,272 fps with 100 grain Ballistic Tip. At 400 yards, shows it will be doing just over 2,300 fps. Same cartridge - 120 grain Ballistic Tip load shown starting at 3,068 (200 fps slower) - at 400 yards, about that same 2,300 fps. In this example, the lighter bullet looses velocity faster than the heavier bullet looses it - so beyond 400 yards, the heavier bullet, with lower initial muzzle velocity, will have a higher velocity.
In Hornady 9th, they show 95 grain V-Max at 3,200 muzzle velocity. Almost exactly 2,300 fps at 400 yards. Speer website shows 3,499 fps muzzle velocity with 90 grain TNT - will be less than 2,200 fps at 400 yards.
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- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
If terminal ballistics are the primary concern on a coyote, a lightly constructed fast bullet is devastating on impact. A heavy slippery bullet will almost always fly flatter than a light one, but will kill more slowly when there isn't sufficient target density to initiate full expansion.
Falconflyer
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Don't use those varmint bullets if you want the hide!
As long as the round stays supersonic, Wile E cannot have heard it coming. And bullets can tumble as they go transonic; difficult aerodynamics lie there. So I'm thinking that the distance a loading will reach supersonic has to be a key number for evaluation.
The heavier bullet drifts less (important at any distance over 300 yards) and delivers more energy at any distance beyond 100 yards, because the heavier bullet does not lose velocity as quickly.
If your shooting is all 200 yards or less, the 90 or 100 bullet is fine. Beyond 200 I would prefer the 120.
If your shooting is all 200 yards or less, the 90 or 100 bullet is fine. Beyond 200 I would prefer the 120.
