Is High Velocity a Myth.

[mortensen]

The term 'high velocity' has been around for about 75 years, and has largely been misinterpereted to it's application.

I grew up in Western Washington State and as a kid I would go hunting black-tail deer with my 30-30 Marlin. This is an ideal caliber for hunting in a forest type areas with lots of tree growth and all kinds of foilage. I usually found the average shooting distance to my game would be between 50 to 100 yards. I would say the 30-30 is very effective up to 200 yards as the bullet drop is substantial for anything beyond. And the 30-30 caliber is a slow moving bullet at that distance and does substantial damage to the game and will seldom exit.

I had the opportunity to go hunting with a friend who had a 30-06 and told me he had some new high velocity ammo. His turn came to take a shot at a blacktail and hit the animal, but the deer kept on going and ran off. Obviously he didn't hit vitals and that bullet probably exited at the same speed it entered! I learned then that velocity is an important factor in hunting but it's application is for longer range hunting. Hunting at around 400 to 500 yards it is a consideration. Hunting from 600 to a 1000 yards it becomes a major consideration. The FPS at 1000 yards for a 30 caliber ball will be less that 1600 FPS. Oddly enough thats about the same FPS as a 30-30 would be at 100 yards.

Does the high velocity bullet shoot flatter? It may, but I've seen no evidence that it does. I reload 3 calibers for benchrest competion and target bullets do shoot flatter than hunting Ammo.

If your a reloader, your ahead of the game whether for target or hunting. With factory ammo your at the mercy of the manufacturer regarding powder selection and charge. The bullet drop in factory loads is substantial compared to your own hand loads. If velocity is what you require then your own hand loads and developing your own powder-bullet recipe is always the ultimate solution.

Here's a good article by a pretty respected firearm writer.

'Is High Velocity a Myth?'

Trajectory, Meat Damage, and Knock-Down.

By Eben Brown

There are two areas of modern rifle opinion that I think are not correct.

1. That extra high velocity rifle cartridges are necessarily so much flatter shooting than medium velocity cartridges... the myth of the so-called '500 yard cartridge' and...

2. That high velocity and energy are necessarily desirable at knocking down game... they aren't.

What follows is an argument in favor of using medium velocity and heavy bullets for hunting... we're going to look at the realities of bullet trajectory relative to velocity; Meat damage in relation to excessive energy; And Sectional Density as it related to the killing power of a cartridge on big game.

Read on

http://www.eabco.com/Reports/report05.htm

[m gardner]

I believe what he is talking about is the "hang time" of the bullet in the animal (at least that's what some of us refered to it as years ago). The medium and low veloctiy cartridges kill far beyond what you would think is reasonable and I believe the time spent in tissue has a bearing on it. Same with broadheads. Ever grab something sharp and quickly drop it before it cuts you? Put the same pressure on it for any length of time and you'll bleed for sure. I still love my 300 win mag though even though most of my game has been killed with the 30-30 and 30-06.

[mortensen]

I believe what he is talking about is the "hang time" of the bullet in the animal (at least that's what some of us refered to it as years ago). The medium and low veloctiy cartridges kill far beyond what you would think is reasonable and I believe the time spent in tissue has a bearing on it. Same with broadheads. Ever grab something sharp and quickly drop it before it cuts you? Put the same pressure on it for any length of time and you'll bleed for sure. I still love my 300 win mag though even though most of my game has been killed with the 30-30 and 30-06.

Thanks for your post and I would be in agreement with you. The study of exterior ballistics is an ever on going study.

I recall that some of the hunters up in Western Washington state were reloading with 30-30 rounds for their 30-06 which is a more bull nose bullet and had excellent results. I wouldn't, because it's to great a distance from the bullet ogive to the lands and could eventually create throat or chamber erosion.

A lot of what were hearing about from the ammo manufacturers is a lot of hype regarding high velocity. Ammo manufacturere are approved and regulated by SAAMI, and in producing ammo these company's always take a conservative view, which they have to do in considering the liability of what there selling over the counter.

[m gardner]

I shot a Speer 170 grain flat nose bullet designed for the 30-30 with a reduced charge of IMR 4895 for years in the 30-06 with no difficulties and excellent accuracy. Velocity was around 2500 fps and it worked great on deer. About like the 307 win. round that eventually failed.