Flattest Shooting Cartridges by Caliber

I vote for the .22 Eargesplitten Loudenboomer. 4600fps with a 50 gr. 22 Bullet in a necked down 378 Weatherby case. Absolutely no drop for the first 400 yards.

My dad was an extreme marksman and a natural shot with anything even a bow . I didn't inherit his abilities,and he wasn't the best instructor for the reason I think was something everyone had. He squirrel hunted with a 22 revolver and I never saw him miss. We never had a high power and I was going Elk hunting and had to ask him what to choose. He told me a .270 bolt.with iron sights . I bought a 1990 Remington model 700 synthetic and factory free floated. It came with a 3x9 Scope. He loved it , but said " Do you really need a Scope " ❓ . The gun is tapped for iron sights , but I knew I needed the scope. Before I went I shot no less than 100 rounds through it. There were four guys that all bought Wetherbys . Two 300 win mags and a 340. They weren't free floated and had wood stocks. My 270 was unmatched at 300 yards. When we got out ,we were told to sight in . I opened my case up and the guide said " Leave it in , but if hit an Elk empty it. One of their guns didn't hit paper at 50 yards and the other two needed to be adjusted. We were in the Beartooth canyon . I took my Elk at 500 yard's with a 150 grain nozzeler . The best pattern was a 130 boat tail,but I shot twenty 150s before I went. I had a military guide and had a lot of help judging the drop. We went for a head shot . The first shot it flinched and ran I put the next one on the body and hit the top of the heart. There was no wind and I was benched on a rock . When we feil dressed it I found my round. It was spread and inside the rib cage. A ballistic expert judged the range and said it actually hit a rib going in . Practicing helped but it was 75 % luck. Dad acted like he knew the 270 was good for that shot. It wasn't and I should've had a 7mm and I consider using the 270 reckless ,but is very capable and flat. We thought it dropped between 3-4 feet. The one I will say if you can hit without a scope good ,but not me. My guide though hit me after he saw it was hit ,and couldn't get back on sight. I never saw it drop . All in all though for cost of rounds and availability the 270 is unmatched so dad was right. He was one of Patton's hand picked battle weary men . He was put in charge of a gun squad to rescue the 101 st . He made it within a day and a half to breaking into Bastogne. He also previous made it through the Hedge row country. He passed on a Thompson and had a lot of faith in the M1 but did pickup a 1911 from a fallen soldier.Thats probably why he wasn't that interested in big game hunting. No questioning his pick of calibers right or wrong. 😎

I applaud you Ron for doing more than many. Your topics have a spin off education aspect that so many don’t realize as they first watch your posts. But if you can ultimately give someone deductive reasoning, it will carry them far in their understanding of things. Thanks Ron

Another OUTSTANDING video Ron. I haven't been at it as long as you have, but its comforting and validating when I hear someone with your years and miles of experience lines up with my own. There are trade offs when going for the fastest, flattest shooting cartridge. You mentioned 2 of em. Barrel life and action/magazine length are bigguns. So is rifle weight/compactness. When I was paying $8.00 @ pound for powder back in the late 70's it didn't bother me to shoot 76.5 gr of IMR4831 in my Ole. 300 mag. Nowadays with powder at $50.00 a pound (when you can find it) it hurts a little more. I'd much rather shoot about 1/2 that charge in a .260 Rem with one of the high BC bullets. Twice as many shots, a fraction of the recoil, muzzle blast, meat damage and a lighter package to pack around. Maybe I'm just gettin OLD. Years ago a gun writer came up with a formula to determine the LF (Lethality Factor) of any give caliber round. I know at the time I had it formulated on a Excel spread sheet. I cant remember exactly but it consisted of the caliber, BC, SD and velocity calculated to give you the LF at all ranges and at which range the chosen cartridge drops below the LF<1000 for elk and LF<500 for deer sized game. I'm sure your already aware of it though. Thanks Again

Love my .204 Ruger (CZ 527 Varmint). For a varmint rifle, coyotes (my record is just under 300 yards, on a coyote - (and it got hit HARD, spun around once and dropped) and smaller...hard to beat. The 40 grainers are close to the 55 grain 22-250's. I believe they (40 g .204's) actually surpass after or around 400 yards. Not knocking the 22-250 in any way, shape or form - it is an awesome caliber, bar none (I have one)! I just like my .204 more, mostly because I still have the sight picture (red mist, lol), unlike the 22-250! How rude...I almost forgot to thank Ron Spomer for all his hard work putting this together for us all, big thanks Ron, well done!

Love these series about cartridges!

OK MY FRIENDS, This man, RON SPOMER, may be the biggest thing ALIVE right now. His take on the essentials puts him in the Legend Class right now. No one else with his gravitas is presenting the physics of the Art of Shooting as accurately and succinctly as he is, right now. SUBBED to this Channel!

Excellent video Ron! No nonsense and to the point. My hunting rifle is just an old 1944 8MM Mauser with updated hand loads. Performs very well for what I use it for but it took quite a bit of tinkering to make that happen. Upgraded powder and lighter bullet weight has turned it into a real contender but after watching your video I think a good look at the 6.5X300 might be in order

Great review Ron, thanks for all the research and taking the time to produce this, love learning about the "flat" shooters! Liked and shared.

Great follow up of previous, flat shooting video. In the comments someone mentioned the 218 Bee, it was my first center fired cartridge I’ve ever shot, I was 11 or 12, in ‘57 or ‘58. A neighbor took me target shooting, after some paper targets we shot pop cans full of water and saw them explode, it was awesome. In ‘59 we moved from Ohio to northern MN, where I was loaned a 30-49 Krag- Jorgensen by our school bus driver and shot my first deer. Trajectory like a mortar, but at 30 yards or so it didn’t matter.

I know it's a wildcat round but the 6/284 was what my father Dave Nichols shot for 30 years after leaving big bore behind in match bench rest. The velocity Sq x similar mass means it carries a straight flat and powerful punch for a very long distance. Especially when compared with more mass and less velocity. We chronograph captured speeds above 4700 most times. Wish he was alive today, so much more I would love to have gotten to learn from him. He'd just begun to play with 6.5. Being retired he had nothing better to do than fool around with guns to shot very long range. That and build the gun he gave away every year at the SD match every fall.

Good video, but 270 Win. is king, as far as I am concerned. Though I load my own and I'm a fan of Nosler bullets, and I believe the 27 Nosler to be a very good round. Thanks for the good and informative videos.

I love these comparisons. Great information and discussion. I’d like to see a couple factors covered in a segment like this. One factor of information would be how much drop is reduced in less air density in Dense Altitude. Another factor to cover would be the highest Ballistic Coefficient in each caliber. I really love watching your videos. Thank you for all the hard work.

I am a long distance bench rest shooter and I have won more matches with a 30 cal 215 grain very high BC projectile than a 180 grain faster projectile with a lower BC.

My father got me hooked early on to the 22-250, my grandpa introduced me to the 7mm mag…I’ve been shooting it for years

Really good video sir. Being from the Northern Great Plains, a flat shooting round with plenty of zip is a big deal to a lot of us up here. Sometimes we need to temper that a little with a heavier slug, but flat shooting rounds are what we like. Really enjoyed the video. Thanks!

Started hunting with a 22-250 but graduated to a 264 win mag. Still 2 of my favorites to shoot with.

I was glad to see the .220 Swift rank as near flattest. So many today love the .22-250 (a fine caliber) and have forgotten the Swift. 240 Weatherby is another semi forgotten speedster. I like the 6mm-284. It is a near equal to the 240 Weatherby.

22-250 and 220 Swift are 2 of my favorites

It’s amazing how old some of these caliber’s are and how well they have stayed on top. It’s always been the 257 Wby for me and Roy!