Give us the details man!
King of 4000fps
- Thread starter brybenn
- Start date
For what it’s worth there was a story in ‘Outdoor Life’ back somewhere in the early 1970’s …American chap loaded up custom bullets machined from solid aluminum and achieved 6000ft/sec. Came up to Canada and shot 2 polar bears at relatively close distances, maybe 50-70 yards, and both bears died relatively quickly while running away from him. He was backed up by an Eskimo guide with a 375H&H ‘just in case’.
I’m not trying to give you guys any silly ideas but if anyone goes down this rabbit hole please tell us about it.
I’m not trying to give you guys any silly ideas but if anyone goes down this rabbit hole please tell us about it.
I had a new browning a-bolt varmint stalker in 223 wssm. Impulse buy when I saw it for a really good price. Couldn't hit a 2 litre jug at 200yds using 50gr bullets. I didn't keep it long so maybe didn't give it a fair shake but I prefer a 204 with 40gr. and a gun that's about 2 pounds less, that a-bolt had some heft to it.
Weatherby claimed 6000fps from a 30-378 using an experimental powder and a saboted 30gr 22 cal bullet. In the 60's some guys claimed 6500fps using a 22-284 case and a custom 14 gr iron bullet but I have never seen documented proof of either and since the shockwave of smokeless powder is apparently around 6000fps neither of the above cases seem likely.
I will go with science over claims that seem to have no actual proof backing them up. There is a practical limit for double based powders of about 5400fps and a theoretical limit not much past that.
If you want to lug around a 118' barrel, use specially blended triple base propellant that isn't really comparable to any smokeless used in small arms then yeah, "bullets" have gone faster than 6000fps, sure. Project HARP.
If you want to lug around a 118' barrel, use specially blended triple base propellant that isn't really comparable to any smokeless used in small arms then yeah, "bullets" have gone faster than 6000fps, sure. Project HARP.
I have a 700 in 204. Fun little cartridge, though I don't use it for longer range critters. I'd buy another coyote in 243 wssm if I came across one at a decent price. I think a fast twist version would make a great LR coyote gun. - dan
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I’m sectioning 22cal Barnes tsx bullets behind the first driving band and loading them over RL 17. 28 inch barrel. The butt of the bullets weighs 26 grs, I gave those to a friend that wants to hit 5K with his 22-243 Middelstead before his barrel is shot out. RL 15 with get him there.
Haven’t shot a coyote with the 35’s but have flattened a couple of bears with them
Not positive I'm willing to believe this story. You got a copy of it to post up?
The velocity of a bullet is limited by the friction in the barrel and the velocity of the expanding propellant gas. There is a hard limit to projectile velocity when pushed by gunpowder. AFAIK, that max velocity is somewhere around 5000 - 5500fps. I looked it up and apparently the Abrahms smoothbore cannon launches its projectile at 5700 fps. However, keep in mind a smoothbore does not have to overcome the friction of a rifled bore.
The second reason I don't believe the story is that aluminum projectiles tightly fitted into a rifled bore, moving at the claimed velocity, would strip aluminium down the rifling like crazy, if they would even survive the trip down the bore.
Third, the exterior ballistics of a small, lightweight aluminum projectile would be absolutely horrible. The thing would shed velocity like crazy.
Fourth, a very lightly built projectile, moving at very high velocity, would essentially explode on impact, offering sweet FA for penetration ... which wouldn't exactly be great on something the mass of a polar bear.
I was a bit concerned about shooting a whitetail with a 30 cal 125gr Nosler Ballistic Tip that leaves the muzzle at 3000 fps. And here you are killing bears with 26gr 22 cal bullets?
I’ve shot a bunch of deer with that combination.
Hey…I agree with you about the theory of not being able to achieve 6000ft/sec with conventional materials at hand. That magazine along with some classic vintage Playboy magazines probably got thrown out by one of my 3 ex-wives way back when. lol. On a hope I just googled ‘Outdoor Life’ polar bear stories and saw a few old vintage mags show up for sale with bears on the cover, but not the issue I so well still remember after reading it 50 years ago. There was reference to somehow heat treating the aluminum, and there were a multitude of other issues and complications they had to deal with that I can’t quite remember. Bought a used Oehler 33 crono in the ‘90’s so I had a good idea of what it took to hit even 3500ft/sec back then. Before that we used a big phone book to measure our velocities. 17cal 22cal pellets and just count how many pages they went through.lol… I can’t recollect how our American polar bear shooter got his velocity numbers and why he even did it. That was a lot of time, effort and money to do this challenge.
And maybe the American attitude that we can do it isn’t exclusive to that side of the border. Seems the Canadian attitude is just as strong and our CGNers are creative little experimenters in their underground secret laboratories. Triple based powders with a pinch of fairy dust for 7000ft/sec. Hmmm
duncansuds
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Weyburn, SK
Have any of you guys ever checked out the 5mm/35 SMc? Had one Factory chambered in a. Model 12 savage. That’s a fun little unit. We had a few 32gr touch 4700fps on warm days. Pink misting gophers was a blast at 1/4 mile or so.
I did a bunch of reading / googling and there seemed to be a lot of suggestions that inside 100-150 yds the lightly constructed Ballistic Tip had a tendency to explode on the surface and not penetrate as much as it should.
My Savage Precision Carbine has been boringly reliable and accurate, with the lightweight 125 Ballistic Tip, for the 20 years I have owned it. I've shot it out to 700 yds but inside 300 yds it is a fricken laser.
Was going to say 22-284 is WICKED!
I run the 75gr Bergers at 3850 FPS, I haven't tried a light mono yet, but I want to here eventually!
The 75gr Bergers that fast flatten yote's instantly. Depending where you hit em it either cuts em in half or leaves a twoonie sized hole.
