What is "slow" velocity for center hunting cartridge?

What is slow velocity for hunting cartridges?

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3000 at the muzzle is my magic number for any cartridge I'm shooting , magnumitis or something I guess.
I pick a bullet that will get me there in that cartridge (taking bc and type into consideration) but I don't like shooting 120's in the 260 so 130's at 2900 it is, so I built a faster 6.5 to launch em at 3150ish.
 
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People talk about how the 45-70 is such a short range bear HAMMER. Original was a 405gr about 1200fps. Buffalo Bore is a 405gr at 2000fps or so, right? I could be convinced that anything under 2400fps is slow velocity from a hunting round.
 
I think in a hunting context impact velocity is a lot more of a factor than muzzle velocity. I will presume the OP is referring to impact velocity.

With that in mind, I consider ~1800fps to be slow. Below this threshold few bullets will expand reliably. As a result terminal performance can be poor when using a small bore at low velocity. There are some very slow and effective cartridges, but they tend to push BIG, HEAVY bullets.
 
I view muzzle speed level to be compared to 308/30-06/7mm which I think are high muzzle speed rounds. I consider the 35 Whelen to be a medium muzzle speed round, 250gr at 2400 fps. And the 358 Winchester, 250gr at 2300 fps.
 
All relative depending on what you have in the safe., I really need something to fill the "fast" hole in my safe but I like the med bores and magnum pistol calibers too much for some reason...

I have a 454 casull rifle, pretty "slow" shooting 300's at 1900 fps, pretty slow in my books. For a handgunner that's out of this world fast.
 
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Hand Skills said:
I think in a hunting context impact velocity is a lot more of a factor than muzzle velocity. I will presume the OP is referring to impact velocity.

With that in mind, I consider ~1800fps to be slow. Below this threshold few bullets will expand reliably. As a result terminal performance can be poor when using a small bore at low velocity. There are some very slow and effective cartridges, but they tend to push BIG, HEAVY bullets.
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I was thinking about impact speed but consider the 223 for example. It's a high muzzle speed round, the bullet starts off at 3000 fps but at 300 meters bullet speed is down to 1800 fps.
 
Back in the day the 30/30 was fast
To me slow is black powder capable so 2000 fps or less
3000 fps is fast as in the great 250/3000 and its marketing back in the
Between 2000-2999 fps is where most non magnums and not fast small bores sit. I'd call them high power mid velocity cartridges. That's how I see I anyway
 
Slamfire said:
I was thinking about impact speed but consider the 223 for example. It's a high muzzle speed round, the bullet starts off at 3000 fps but at 300 meters bullet speed is down to 1800 fps.
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Exactly! Every bullet runs out of gas at some distance. I shoot a lot of critters with my .223 and have a pretty good idea what the threshold for terminal performance is. For me it's about 400m on a good (calm) day.

What might be surprising to some is a heavier bullet leaving the muzzle slower may 'catch' a lighter faster bullet leaving the muzzle at a higher speed. I can shoot a 40gr bullet much faster (3800fps) than a 65gr (3000fps) but the 65gr monolithic retains more speed and energy at 400m. The speed it left my barrel doesn't matter to the coyote, but the impact velocity does.

I wish Emerson had specified MUZZLE velocity in the original post. It would be a lot simpler, and I would not have even replied because IT DOES NOT MATTER! Impact velocity matters!!

Or such is my answer to "What is slow velocity for a centre hunting cartridge".

Maybe I should have been less presumptive and said 'anything that takes more than 1 second to chamber'!
 
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