High BC Bullets Are Here to Stay

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Impossible as it seems, the 6.5 Creedmoor turns 20 years old in 2027. The cartridge has won many fans (and created a few enemies) during its life, but one thing that we can all agree on is that the 6.5 Creedmoor ushered in a new era of factory target and hunting cartridges that were designed around high-BC aerodynamic hunting bullets. There are currently factory loads that are designed to handle high BC bullets ranging from .22 up to .30-caliber and beyond, and virtually every new cartridge touts its ability to fire high-BC bullets.

So, what’s all the fuss with heavier, more aerodynamic bullets? Well, it’s due in part to an improved understanding of ballistics and a new fascination with long-range shooting. I grew up near the end of the Magnum Era when most new centerfire hunting cartridges wore belts and carried the magnum moniker. Part of the allure of cartridges like the 7mm Remington Magnum and the .300 Winchester Magnum—which arrived in 1962 and 1963, respectively—was that they shot flat because they pushed their bullets fast. Best of all, you could use lighter bullets at higher velocities to flatten trajectories even more.

I still remember an article that touted using 150-grain bullets in the .300 Winchester Magnum because those bullets shot so flat. And, in an era where holdover was the dominant method of compensating for bullet drop, a flat-shooting bullet was effective to 300 or 400 yards, the extreme limits of effective range for most big game hunters at the time.

Times have changed, though, and so has equipment. Today’s shooters have rangefinding binoculars and weather meters for monitoring atmospheric conditions. We have scopes with 30 or 34mm scopes and resettable dials and even onboard ballistic solvers. And we also have a new understanding of bullets, bullet design, and ballistics.

A Brief, Straightforward Explanation of BC

First, let me explain BC as plainly as possible. Ballistic Coefficient—or BC—is a numerical value indicating a bullet’s ability to overcome air resistance (or drag) while in flight. Certain features of the bullet, like boat tails, ogive shape (section of the bullet between the bearing surface and tip), and weight-to-diameter ratio, impact a bullet’s BC. Traditionally, manufacturers used G1 BCs that were based on older, less aerodynamic bullet designs. Modern, more aerodynamic bullet geometry is used to determine G7 BCs. G7 BCs are lower and considered to be more precise. Since manufacturers determine the BC of their bullets, there’s some room for fudging the numbers, but for the most part I believe factory BC figures are fairly accurate.

For years long-range shooters have known that higher BC bullets improved performance, but the problem was that very few rifles were set up to handle cartridges with high BC bullets. Sure, you could load really aerodynamic, long-for-caliber bullets into older cartridges, but the increased overall length often required extensive and often expensive changes to the rifle.

One of the changes required was a faster barrel twist rate. Longer bullets have increased aerodynamic instability, and so to stabilize heavy bullets, they must be spun faster than shorter, lower BC bullets. Shoot a high BC bullet through a barrel with too slow a rate of twist and the bullet will not stabilize. Naturally, accuracy will be poor. Many modern high BC cartridges use 1:7, 1:7.5, 1:8 twist rate barrels, much faster than the old 1:10 and 1:12 barrels that were popular a generation ago.

When I spoke with Hornady’s Seth Swerczek about the advantages of high BC cartridges, he told me that rounds like the 6.5 Creedmoor and 7mm PRC allow the shooter to shoot high ballistic coefficient projectiles without the hassle of finding bullets, loading their own ammunition, and adjusting the chamber, magazine, and rifling of their existing gun to accommodate low drag bullets. Makes sense.

Low-Drag Goes Mainstream

Back to the 6.5 Creedmoor for a moment. The 6.5 Creedmoor is a great cartridge developed by Hornady ballistician Dave Emary and Dennis DeMille, a champion shooter. I don’t know Dennis, but I’ve chatted with Dave enough times to know that he’s a pragmatist. His claims for the 6.5 Creedmoor was that it was a cartridge designed around high-BC, heavy-for-caliber, aerodynamic bullets, that the cartridge was efficient, and that it was easy to shoot. All those are true. Gun writers and social media “experts” were the ones that made the Creedmoor sound like a laser-guided missile, and the hyperbole made some folks turn on the cartridge unfairly.

The 6.5 Creedmoor doesn’t slay winged dragons and it isn’t a laser beam that allows every shooter to drill steel at 1,500 yards with each shot. No reasonable gun expert ever made these claims. But the Creedmoor did teach us a thing or two about how bullets perform at extended ranges.

You see, the old shoot-a-lighter-bullet-faster mantra was just fine for anyone shooting game at 300 yards or so. But once you get out beyond a quarter-mile or so, that super fast, very light bullet starts to lose its luster. At 600, 700, and 800 yards, the light bullet is dropping like a rock and drifting widely in the wind compared to modern high BC bullets at more modest velocities. To illustrate this, let’s consider three Hornady .300 Win Mag loads. The first load is the company’s 150-grain Interlock at 3,275 feet per second. The second is the company’s 180-grain Interlock at 2,960 fps. The third is their 200-grain ELD-X bullet at 2,860.

Conventional wisdom says that the 150-grainer is the best option for shooting long distances because its raw speed will prevent the bullet from dropping as quickly as the heavier bullets. When all three loads are zeroed at 200 yards the 150-grain load drops -5.9 inches at 300 yards and -17.6 inches at 400 yards. The 180-grainer drops -7 inches at 300 yards with the same zero, and at 400 yards it has dropped -20.4 inches.

Where We Start to See Separation in Performance

With that same 200-yard zero, the 200-grain .300 Win ELD-X bullet at a relatively modest 2,860 fps muzzle velocity drops -6.9 inches at 300 yards and -19.9 inches at 400 yards. Based on what we’ve seen so far, the Magnum Era attitude of going lighter for longer shots makes sense.

But we’ve only seen part of the picture. At 700 yards, the slower, heavier 200-grain ELD-X bullet drops almost exactly as much as the 150-grain bullet. By 1,000 yards, the 150-grain bullet drops over 42 inches more than the 200-grain bullet. Why? Because despite higher weight and lower velocity, the 200-grain has a better ballistic coefficient and is more aerodynamic than the lighter 150-grain bullet.

Bullet drop is important, but I believe there are two other advantages of high BC bullets that are even more important to shooters—particularly hunters—than bullet drop. First, higher BC bullets with modern, aerodynamic shapes like the ELD-X are more resistant to wind movement. In a 10 mph 90-degree crosswind the 150-grain bullet drifts around 14 inches at 400 yards and 35 inches at 600 yards. With those same wind conditions, the ELD-X drifts 9 inches at 400 yards and around 22 inches at 600 yards. Calling wind is always a challenge, but cartridges with high BC bullets make it easier to shoot accurately because there’s less wind drift.

Many hunters and shooters understand that high BC bullets drift less in crosswinds than lower BC projectiles of the same caliber, but the more aerodynamic shape of high BC heavy-for-caliber bullets reduces drag and doesn't lose velocity as quickly as less aerodynamic bullets. This allows high BC bullets to strike with more energy, but they also retain velocity more efficiently than less aerodynamic bullets. This is the second important benefit of high BC bullets for hunters.

Expanding hunting bullets have a velocity window in which they work effectively. Sometimes bullets that are driven too fast and impact a target at close range without losing very much velocity do not hold together because they have exceeded the maximum effective velocity for the bullet. Likewise, a bullet at 500, 600, or 700 yards may drop below the minimum velocity threshold for expansion and reliable performance.

Many bullet makers claim that their bullets work down to 1,800 fps, so let’s use that as an average for our consideration of velocity and bullet performance. The 150-grain bullet drops below 1,800 fps between 500 and 600 yards, while the 200-grain ELD-X bullet maintains more than 1,800 fps past 800 yards. The ELD-X’s more aerodynamic shape and higher BC allow that bullet to function effectively at greater distances because the bullet retains velocity more efficiently.

Should You Care About High BC Loads?

Maybe. Practically speaking, you won’t notice much difference between a .270 Winchester firing a 130-grain bullet with a BC of .400 and a 6.5 PRC load with a 140-grain bullet with a BC over .600 if you’re hunting whitetails in Kentucky under 300 yards. However, if you’re making a 500-yard shot on a pronghorn across the windy Wyoming plains you’ll begin to notice the difference between the two cartridges.

My favorite analogy about modern high-BC cartridges involves chainsaws. If a tree falls in your backyard tomorrow, would you rather cut it up with a chainsaw with a dull blade or one with a new, sharp blade? If you’ve ever spent much time behind a chainsaw, you’ll probably choose the sharp one because it’s faster and more efficient. So it goes with cartridges. Modern high BC cartridges are designed to reduce wind drift and retain velocity. They are, in effect, sharper chainsaws. It doesn’t mean that dull chainsaws don’t work, but the job is easier with a sharp saw.

No, high BC cartridges aren’t going anywhere. How, what, and where you hunt will determine how much impact these cartridges have on your hunting success, but don’t expect high BC cartridges to go away. They have their measurable advantages, especially at greater distances, but older cartridges still work fine, and on shots to moderate ranges—say 300 or maybe even 400 yards—you likely won’t notice much difference in performance. But many hunters want a rifle that they can shoot at long distances, whether in competition or simply for fun. I won’t take a shot at game at 800 yards, but I do like ringing steel at that distance, and my rifles chambered for high BC cartridges help me do just that (and I need all the help I can get). High BC cartridges are simply more versatile, and that versatility is one of the primary draws toward modern cartridges that shoot aerodynamic, low-drag projectiles.

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