Comparing ballistics
I'm not trying to start a fight here, so hear me out. I've seen a lot of hyperbole about this gun or that and which is better. I was presented with the argument of ballistics and flat shooting versus knock-down power etc. So I done a few minutes research and came up with some numbers. I used standard load data for a few popular calibers discussed on this forum. I loaded that info into a remedial ballistics program just to see. So I thought I'd share it hear and let you all draw your own conclusions. All ballistics are derived using Nosler partitions with a theoritcal 200 yard zero.
270 win with 130 grain bullet at 3100 FPS--> 18 inches low at 400yards
30-06 with 150 gr. bullet at 3000 fps--> 20 inches low at 400
300 win with 150 gr bullet at 3200 fps--> 17 inches low at 400
300 ultra with 150 gr bullet at 3500 fps--> 14 inches low at 400
338 win with 180 gr bullet at 3000 fps --> 20 inches low at 400
Interesting that the 338 has nearly the same ballistic characteristics as teh 30 06 with a 30 grain heavier bullet. So what is flat shooting? I think most would say the 300 ultra is a flat shooter. Yet, the difference between it and the 338 at 400 yards is a mere 6 inches. 6 inches sounds like a lot but I can assure you that at 400 yards there are a lot of factors that can push your bullet off more than that. A mere 5 MPH crosswind can cause over 6 inches of wind drift at that distance.
In either case the shooter must be skilled enough to allow for drop in the bullet. I think the truthful answer is that very few of us have any business shooting at game over 250 yards. Inside of 250 yards the ballistics of any of the modern cartridges are a near wash.