Effective velocity

[baker5150]

Looking for input on long range shooting and hunting

When choosing a long range caliber, what velocity does a bullet need to be at to make an ethical kill on a deer or elk?
What other things are there consider? 
I've seen, read, been told all kinds of different answers and wanted a take from this forum.
1800 fps seams to be a common trend, but I'd think expansion would make some difference.
I doubt I'll ever take a long range shot at game, I'm not a steady shooter, but I'm interested in learning the ins and outs.
Any thoughts?

[h20hunter]

Funny you say 1800. I load 165 gr accubonds for my 308. Once I verified my gun likes the bullet and powder combo i emailed Nosler.  Right away they got back to me and suggested a minimal impact velocity of 1800. My loads, avg velocity at 500....per the dope I'm at 1803 at 500. Done.

[baker5150]

Funny you say 1800. I load 165 gr accubonds for my 308. Once I verified my gun likes the bullet and powder combo i emailed Nosler.  Right away they got back to me and suggested a minimal impact velocity of 1800. My loads, avg velocity at 500....per the dope I'm at 1803 at 500. Done.

I load 180 accubonds for my 300 wsm. It loves them with h4350.  700 yards its at 1802.
Hopefully this weekend I'll been hitting plates at that distance. I'm comfy at 400 off a bench. Anything more has been hit or miss. (Pun intended).

[cboom]

I believe Nosler is advertising velocities down to 1300. Most other bullets seem to call for 1800. I would feel more comfortable going slightly under that velocity with bigger calibers like the big 338's or 375's. Even if complete expansion doesn't happen it's still a big hole with lots of energy.

[Bob33]

I believe Nosler is advertising velocities down to 1300. Most other bullets seem to call for 1800. I would feel more comfortable going slightly under that velocity with bigger calibers like the big 338's or 375's. Even if complete expansion doesn't happen it's still a big hole with lots of energy.

They advertise the Accubond Long Range as having a minimum effective velocity of 1300 fps. The Accubond is rated as requiring at least 1800 fps.

[cboom]

I believe Nosler is advertising velocities down to 1300. Most other bullets seem to call for 1800. I would feel more comfortable going slightly under that velocity with bigger calibers like the big 338's or 375's. Even if complete expansion doesn't happen it's still a big hole with lots of energy.

They advertise the Accubond Long Range as having a minimum effective velocity of 1300 fps. The Accubond is rated as requiring at least 1800 fps.

Good catch. Meant to say ABLR.

[carpsniperg2]

I try to stay at 1800 fps but I have killed more then a couple critters with less then that. Bullet design has a lot to do with it and what the bullet will do at different impact velocity's.

[crabcreekhunter]

I wouldnt worry about velocity as much as energy at a certain distance.  I like to keep energy above 1000 ft/lbs at a mimimum for big game.

[cboom]

When looking for bullets that will preform and long range you will also need to consider what they do at short range. A bullet that will expand at 1400 fps may blow up at 200 yards moving at 3000 fps. Lots of things to consider when choosing a bullet.

[Magnum_Willys]

A 30-30 has about 1400 ft lbs energy at 100 yards.  I would want at least that on elk.  It has 1000 ft lbs at 200 yards .  I would consider that a minimum on deer. 

[jaymark6655]

Energy is important. There were some standards depending on game, but I forgot the numbers (1400 and 1000 sounds right).  180gr interbond .308 at 2600 fps muzzle was good for deer at 800 and elk at 400 or 500.  Speed is important, but projectile specific.  Too fast and it will come apart and not penetrate when it hits an animal.  Too slow and it wont expand.  It all relative, I have killed more deer shooting round ball which at 100 yards only has 428 ft-lbs of energy and doesn't expand at all as far as I can tell since both the entry and exit holes are 1/2" diameter.

[h20hunter]

A 30-30 has about 1400 ft lbs energy at 100 yards.  I would want at least that on elk.  It has 1000 ft lbs at 200 yards .  I would consider that a minimum on deer.

This thread mimics the bro in law and I's duscussion the last few weeks as we shoot a,bit before modern. I handload for his 30 30. He confirmed his 100 yard zero then moved to the 6 inch plate at 200. Hit 3 for 3, smacked it good, done and ready. He is now confident to 200 all day and willing to extend to 250 max if things are perfect or maybe follow up.

[BeWitty]

I wouldnt worry about velocity as much as energy at a certain distance.  I like to keep energy above 1000 ft/lbs at a mimimum for big game.

Yes this.

1000 ft/lbs for deer
1400 for Elk.

You shouldn't simply generalize a velocity because bullet weights vary so much.

[jaymark6655]

Velocity is important for proper projectile performance, you need to look at both velocity and energy.

[yorketransport]

Velocity is only a one part of what makes a bullet reliably expand. Proper stability has a much greater influence on terminal performance of a bullet that a lot of people think. This is even more important with all of the extra long high BC bullets that are popular right now.

Just because you shot a 140gr 6.5mm bullet from a 1-8" twist barrel doesn't guarantee that it's going to actually give good expansion at 1800-2000 fps. Photobucket pulled all my photos from the bullet expansion thread that I had on here, but there were a lot of surprises with how bullets expanded at relatively low velocity. The vast majority of poor expansion results could be traced back to under stabilized bullets.

Bullets with higher stability factors (usually described with a SG value)  penetrate more predictably and expand more reliably. Just because you have an SG of 1.4 and the bullets shoot straight out to 1000 yards doesn't guarantee that they'll give you expect at a lower impact velocity.

The best way to know how they'll expand at a certain velocity is to test them at that velocity. My testing a few months back changed how I recommend bullets for a lot of hunting applications.