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Thread: Best longrange hunting bullet for medium sized game.

  1. #1
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    Best longrange hunting bullet for medium sized game.

    There’s been plenty of threads on best bullet for terminal performance, but I haven’t heard it discussed on the long range end of things. Obviously heavy for caliber bullets will be a huge factor, but which bullet has the best balance of bc, terminal performance at varying speeds and ease of tuning.

    I’ve been reading a few articles and I think I’m going to try out the hornady eldx. 178 grain in my 300wsm with h4350, maybe even the next size up(I think it was 200 grain)

    I don’t trust a Berger bullet for hunting as they don’t seem to stay together or penetrate at all. The accubonds seem popular, but I’ve been reading they’re hard to tune and the last thing I want is to tune a load at my local gun club and then drastically change the environment and expect the load to still be on point. Barnes would probably be my second pick, but they can be hard to tune as well.

    My longest hunting shot to date is around 250 yards on a moose with a Barnes ttsx which performed flawlessly, but I’d like to push out to 4-500 yards comfortably.
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  3. #2
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    Re: Best longrange hunting billet for medium sized game.

    Quote Originally Posted by Bustercluck View Post
    There’s been plenty of threads on best bullet for terminal performance, but I haven’t heard it discussed on the long range end of things. Obviously heavy for caliber bullets will be a huge factor, but which bullet has the best balance of bc, terminal performance at varying speeds and ease of tuning.

    I’ve been reading a few articles and I think I’m going to try out the hornady eldx. 178 grain in my 300wsm with h4350, maybe even the next size up(I think it was 200 grain)

    I don’t trust a Berger bullet for hunting as they don’t seem to stay together or penetrate at all. The accubonds seem popular, but I’ve been reading they’re hard to tune and the last thing I want is to tune a load at my local gun club and then drastically change the environment and expect the load to still be on point. Barnes would probably be my second pick, but they can be hard to tune as well.

    My longest hunting shot to date is around 250 yards on a moose with a Barnes ttsx which performed flawlessly, but I’d like to push out to 4-500 yards comfortably.
    With those 178 eldx and H4350...in both of my 300wsm's 64 grs is the winner....

    At 500 and less yards most bullets will work just fine, if you are going to push the distance you will need a bullet that will open up at a lower velocity...high BC and easy expansion exactly what the Bergers where designed to do

  4. #3
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    Re: Best longrange hunting billet for medium sized game.

    Most hunting bullets have a 'window' of performance. This is to mean that the bullet will perform from a high velocity to a lower one.

    EG: I have a 7mm-08 and a 280ai. An ELD-X 150gn in the 7mm-08 as the bullet will perform from muzzle to out past 500yds, where the 280ai, expecting advertised performance starts at about 150yds from the muzzle out to ~700yds.

    So, for the 280ai I would use a 175gn in an ELD-X, to slow it down so it will be effective from muzzle on out.

    For a 300wsm look at a 168 or 175gn Barnes X or a 180gn Accubond. There are also good hunting bullets in this weight range besides these two. These two are reliable performers.

    A 1.5" 3 shot group or less is ideal for hunting large animals out to 500yds, so on any range day the rifle /load combination must put 3 into 1.5" at 100yds under all conditions, the bullet's velocity, game intended, must be compatible with bullet construction.
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    Re: Best longrange hunting billet for medium sized game.

    double post deleted

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    Re: Best longrange hunting billet for medium sized game.

    Define what your hunting "long range" is . 500-700-1000 yards ?
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  7. #6
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    Re: Best longrange hunting billet for medium sized game.

    Accubond LR or Barnes LRX would be at the top of my list...

  8. #7
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    Re: Best longrange hunting billet for medium sized game.

    Quote Originally Posted by 358mag View Post
    Define what your hunting "long range" is . 500-700-1000 yards ?
    I said 4-500 yards comfortably in my original post, but I’ll likely be shooting further. At some point in time skill/hunter ethics/equipment capability start becoming the biggest factor. Maybe I’ll spin a new barrel on next year and tune up my trigger to make my comfort level increase, but for now 4-500 yards. And this isn’t specific to my needs, just a general long range bullet
    Last edited by Bustercluck; 02-28-2021 at 12:06 PM.
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  9. #8
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    Re: Best longrange hunting billet for medium sized game.

    Quote Originally Posted by Bustercluck View Post
    There’s been plenty of threads on best bullet for terminal performance, but I haven’t heard it discussed on the long range end of things. Obviously heavy for caliber bullets will be a huge factor, but which bullet has the best balance of bc, terminal performance at varying speeds and ease of tuning.

    I’ve been reading a few articles and I think I’m going to try out the hornady eldx. 178 grain in my 300wsm with h4350, maybe even the next size up(I think it was 200 grain)

    I don’t trust a Berger bullet for hunting as they don’t seem to stay together or penetrate at all. The accubonds seem popular, but I’ve been reading they’re hard to tune and the last thing I want is to tune a load at my local gun club and then drastically change the environment and expect the load to still be on point. Barnes would probably be my second pick, but they can be hard to tune as well.

    My longest hunting shot to date is around 250 yards on a moose with a Barnes ttsx which performed flawlessly, but I’d like to push out to 4-500 yards comfortably.
    Bustercluck. Now your talking. 300 WSM is my favorite caliber. Have been loading for 300 since it was first introduced back 2000. I wouldn't get to focused on BC unless your going to be shooting out past 600 yds. A friend who is shooting a Christensen Arms in 300 WSM wanted to do load development for his rifle. I offered to help him and he is now shooting sub MOA all the way out to 1000 yds. He's deadly with that rifle, but he practices a lot. He is running 212 Gr ELD X with H 4831. We started with H4350 but could not get the velocity he was looking for, so changed to H4831.

    As mentioned I have shot this caliber for a long time and taken many game animals from deer to moose. I initially tried a number of different bullets in the 150 - 168 Gr class, as common knowledge suggested that the 300 WSM preformed at its best with that bullet weight. I have not been disappointed. I presently have a number of pet loads I can pass on if interested. My favorite bullets bar none are Banes TTSX. I have loads for 150 -165 and 168 GR bullets. I started with winchester brass, and am now using Norma. I am amazed at how accurate and deadly Barnes are. Nothing I have ever shot at walked away. They flatten game and the wound channel is not extensive as some other thin skinned bullets. I have only ever recovered 2 bullets from game as most all pass right through at ranges out to 500 yds.

  10. #9
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    Re: Best longrange hunting billet for medium sized game.

    Quote Originally Posted by Bustercluck View Post
    My longest hunting shot to date is around 250 yards on a moose with a Barnes ttsx which performed flawlessly, but I’d like to push out to 4-500 yards comfortably.
    This is my opinion, based on my personal experience:
    My longest shot is on a moose at 327 yards. It took me over an hour to find the moose because I was gauging the distance by eye and thought I shot him at 250 yards. It was pretty much a "bang-flop" at the side of a cut line, but if the moose falls 75 yards from where you think you shot him you're not gonna find it.

    I have since purchased a rangefinder. And know my drops - when it comes to elevation I can now accurately compensate out much farther than I can shoot.

    What I CAN'T compensate for is changes in wind. So what i do is look at the 5-10MPH wind shift of the cartridge I am using. Assuming I can easily be 5-10MPH off on the wind call, at what range would that put me out of the vital zone?

    With my 7Mag that keeps the lighter bullets (150gr and less) to under 300 yards and the heavier bullets (160 gr and more) to under 400 yards. At these ranges the terminal performance is pretty much meaningless - everything will have the energy to expand properly at the speeds a 7Mag is going at 400 yards.

    If I found some magical bullet that I thought I could keep in the kill zone in varying winds at 500yards or more, then I'd probably pay more attention to terminal ballistics, but for now "keeping it in the kill zone" is the more limiting factor (if it matters the moose I've shot have been with Remington Core-Lokt, Sako Hammerhead, and some sort of Nosler Partition - forget brand - they all mushroomed fine).

  11. #10
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    Re: Best longrange hunting billet for medium sized game.

    The higher the BC the less the wind drift at a given velocity...if you are shooting 500 yards and under it doesn't make a huge difference.

    To be fair to the intended target, any long range shot should be measured with a range finder and calculated with a Kestrel, then only attempted if you are very confident in both your and your guns ability...IMHO though

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