Long-Range Shootout
Field & Stream|November 2016

We put five top big-game bullets to the ultimate test.

Richard Mann
Long-Range Shootout

IN THEORY, the perfect big-game bullet would fly dead flat, expand to double its unfired diameter on impact, penetrate just through the far side of every critter, and then drop straight to the ground, having spent all its energy on tissue damage. And it would do this as perfectly at 800 yards as at 80.

Of all the challenges this presents to bullet makers, the key one, given our current long-range craze, is the last. As a general rule, a bullet’s ability to expand and damage tissue decreases as it slows. It’s one thing to mitigate this problem out to 300 or 400 yards, as some manufacturers have through better bullet construction. It’s quite another when those distances double.

With 21st-century riflemen shooting to previously unthinkable ranges, the bullet maker’s challenge in the new millennium is to design projectiles that shoot as flat as possible, that are minimally affected by wind, and that deliver deadly performance from the muzzle out as far as you can make a good hit.

IN THE LAB

In reality, the perfect bullet not only doesn’t exist—it can’t. The laws of physics prevent it. But that hasn’t kept makers from chasing the ideal. So in an effort to find the modern big-game bullet that gets the closest to perfection, I used Hornady’s ballistic laboratory to test five .30-caliber hunting projectiles at .300 Win. Mag. velocities. There, Doppler radar measured flight consistency (from shot to shot) and bullet velocity from the muzzle to 800 yards. I also fired each bullet into ballistic gelatin at 150 and 800 yards to gauge expansion and penetration. The listed scores are out of a possible 100, based on a comparison with our theoretically perfect bullet.

1. HORNADY ELD-X, 212-GRAIN

TOTAL SCORE: 84

Denne historien er fra November 2016-utgaven av Field & Stream.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra November 2016-utgaven av Field & Stream.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA FIELD & STREAMSe alt
Field & Stream

LIVING THE DREAM

After the author arrives in Maine’s fabled North Woods with a moose tag in his pocket, an adventure he’s been wanting to take his entire hunting life, reality sets in, and he learns a valuable lesson: Be careful what you wish for

time-read
10+ mins  |
Volume 125 - Issue 4, 2020
Field & Stream

Get the Drift

How to make an accurate windage call under pressure

time-read
4 mins  |
Volume 125 - Issue 4, 2020
First Sit
Field & Stream

First Sit

An icebreaker outing in a pristine spot produces the rut hunt of a lifetime

time-read
4 mins  |
Volume 125 - Issue 4, 2020
Field & Stream

A Local Haunt

The author finds a sense of place in an overlooked creek, close to home

time-read
4 mins  |
Volume 125 - Issue 4, 2020
A Hop and a Pump
Field & Stream

A Hop and a Pump

Jump-shooting rabbits with classic upland guns is about as good a time as you can have in the outdoors

time-read
4 mins  |
Volume 125 - Issue 4, 2020
Welcome TO camp
Field & Stream

Welcome TO camp

Is there any place better than a good hunting camp? It has everything: great food, games and pranks, and of course, hunting. Shoot, we don’t even mind going to camp for grueling work days in the summer. Here, our contributors share their favorite stories, traditions, and lessons learned from camps they’ve shared. So come on in and join us. The door’s open.

time-read
10+ mins  |
Volume 125 - Issue 3, 2020
Field & Stream

THE DEERSLAYERS

Before you even claim a bunk, you need to eyeball the hardware your buddies have brought. In the process, you’ll see that the guns at deer camp are changing. What was walnut and blued steel may now be Kevlar and carbon fiber. The 10 rifles featured here aren’t your father’s deer guns. They’re today’s new camp classics

time-read
8 mins  |
Volume 125 - Issue 3, 2020
Field & Stream

THE JOURNEY TO PIKE'S PEAK

Last summer, the author and three friends ventured off the grid to a remote fish camp in Canada. They hoped for great fishing, but what they experienced was truly something else

time-read
10 mins  |
Volume 125 - Issue 3, 2020
Stage Directions
Field & Stream

Stage Directions

When early-season whitetails vanish from open feeding areas, follow this woods-edge ambush plan

time-read
5 mins  |
Volume 125 - Issue 3, 2020
Field & Stream

Rookie Season

A pup’s first year, from preseason training to fall’s big show

time-read
5 mins  |
Volume 125 - Issue 3, 2020