250grain Shock waves VS 270Grain Powerbelts

[gl79149]

Well I Thought I had it all figured out...Began shooting 250 grain Shockwaves with 3 777 pellets and getting decent groups 1.5" to 2" groups at 100 out of my omega...I thought I could do better,so I tried the 270 grain powerbelts...Cloverleaf groups at 100 yds all day long every day...unbelievable...Beautiful...So I go to the 200 yd range today to see how the powerbelts fly at longer distances...Horrible, no sign of any group shots all over the paper at 200 yds...my friend suggests I try the shockwaves again, to make aLong story short...3 bullseyes out of 5 shots at 200 yds with the shockwavesafter I made a quick scope adjustment to accomodate shooting the lighter 250 grain shockwaves... My question to all the seasoned vets here is. Wouldnt it make sense that the bullet that gives you the tightest groups at 100 yds would be your best bullet for farther downrange accuracy? Im sticking with the shockwaves....

[cayugad]

Many projectiles loose accuracy at longer distances. I was shooting Gold Dots once, and they were really accurate out to 75 yards. At 100 yards they would not group at all. That is a good reason as to why you need to shoot projectiles at distances that you think you might encounter. You learned a good lesson.

Also that is some good shooting on your part. Sounds like the rifle and load is real accurate.

[Wolfhound76]

ORIGINAL: gl79149

Well I Thought I had it all figured out...Began shooting 250 grain Shockwaves with 3 777 pellets and getting decent groups 1.5" to 2" groups at 100 out of my omega...I thought I could do better,so I tried the 270 grain powerbelts...Cloverleaf groups at 100 yds all day long every day...unbelievable...Beautiful...So I go to the 200 yd range today to see how the powerbelts fly at longer distances...Horrible, no sign of any group shots all over the paper at 200 yds...my friend suggests I try the shockwaves again, to make aLong story short...3 bullseyes out of 5 shots at 200 yds with the shockwavesafter I made a quick scope adjustment to accomodate shooting the lighter 250 grain shockwaves... My question to all the seasoned vets here is. Wouldnt it make sense that the bullet that gives you the tightest groups at 100 yds would be your best bullet for farther downrange accuracy? Im sticking with the shockwaves....

The shockwaves have better ballistic coeficent. Bullets with betterballistics will hold better groups further out.

[flint head]

Your on game performance will be alot better with the Shockwaves... they are killers!

[rem 700]

The shockwaves have better ballistic coeficent. Bullets with betterballistics will hold better groups further out.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this isn't always true. I think the Powerbelt, being bore sized instead of .452 at nearly the same weight, has a smaller bering surface and SD so it may be getting over-stabilized and wobbles after a certain distance. This may be why 295-400gr Powerbelts and concialsare more popular than lighter weights in sabots. Just a thought..

[cayugad]

Since this is a topic of long distance shooting, down range accuracy, and energy, I want to show you what I found in my bullet trap this morning. This is one of the finest long distance, accuracy, hard hitting bullets I have ever shot. From all the hunting reports, these bullets are really a good hunting bullet. Their drawback, they are expensive. Out of my Knight Disc rifle with 120 grains of Pyrodex RS they are accurate and I would guess deadly.

This is a 250 grain Barnes XPB Cannelured 454 Casull in .451 diameter all copper bullet. This bullet was fired at 100 yards with 120 grains of Pyrodex into a solid steel bullet trap. One might expect the bullet would fragment and loose a lot of its mass. Well the bullet still weighed 249.4 grains and had expanded to 7/8 of an inch with an almost perfect expansion pattern.

Now I am not saying that animal mass and bone would get this kind of expansion from the bullet, but I wouldguess that the weight retention would be about the same and that what ever expansion was encountered, if placed properly would lead to a very quick death for the animal being shot. But as I said, I pushed the bullet hard as the Knight almost demands it for accuracy. And the cost of the bullets being almost $1.00 each is not something I like to sit on the range and have a shoot for the day with...

[Wolfhound76]

ORIGINAL: rem 700

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this isn't always true. I think the Powerbelt, being bore sized instead of .452 at nearly the same weight, has a smaller bering surface and SD so it may be getting over-stabilized and wobbles after a certain distance. This may be why 295-400gr Powerbelts and concialsare more popular than lighter weights in sabots. Just a thought..

If it's stabilized at 100 yds it probably is at 200 as well. He didn't say that it was keyholing so I doubt stability is an issue. But the larger diameter probably means it has a lower BC than the 250 Shockwave. I've noticed that bullets with a higher BC group tighter at 200 yards even if they shoot similarly at 100. The only thing that I can figure is that BC isthe factor there. In other words all else being equal a higher BC bullet will group tighter at longer ranges.

I'm not talking different weights though so there could be something I'm missing here.

[oldsmellhound]

Ditto what Cayugad said - some bullets group well at short range and start to spread out as the range gets longer. I've never tried shooting 200 yards with powerbelts, but I know in my rifle the powerbelts group much tighter at 50 yards (sometimes 1 ragged hole) than they do at 100 yards or so. If you think you might be shooting out to 200 yards, I'd stick with the shockwaves.

[Buckhunter46755]

200 yards.... wow! I'm sighting in for 75yrds. 100max. I've had trouble with grouping even at 100yards. Even after trying several combinations of powders, loads, and sabots. I don't think I'd even take a shot at a deer over 75yrds. Just my opinion of course...