Category: Ammo

This originally ran on March 2nd, 2023. As a perennial favorite, however, we figured it might be time to expose it to a new audience. With the entrance on the scene of some new long-rangers like 7mm Backcountry, 6.5 RPM and 6.5 Creed +Peak, perhaps it’s time for a full update. Let us know!

Laying prone against a termite mound in the wide-open semi-Karoo of South Africa’s Free State, I adjusted the hold of my .375 H&H to compensate for the 400 yards between my rifle and the eland bull. We had leopard-crawled until we were absolutely out of cover, and there was no means of getting any closer. When the sound of the 300-grain Swift A-Frame striking flesh and bone came back on the breeze, I was equally elated and relieved. I also knew there were better tools to perform the job I’d just asked the .375 to do, and it started me down the path of flatter-shooting cartridges.

Long-range hunting is a controversial topic, and the very definition of long-range hunting can be ambiguous. I’ve made solid hits on steel targets at 1,400 yards while attending a shooting school, yet I assuredly wouldn’t attempt a shot on unwounded game (except perhaps varmints) at half that distance. What I have learned by practicing at the longer distances—where the only thing to be wounded by a miss is my pride—is that so long as I can handle the recoil, velocity does help. I also come from a background where my chosen cartridge has to offer a whole bunch of flexibility, as I’d ask it to work just as well in the deer woods of the Northeast as it would across a bog in Newfoundland or on the prairie of the Midwest. Here are 10 of my favorite flexible long-range cartridges, in no particular order.

1. .300 Winchester Magnum
Released in 1963, the .300 Winchester Magnum is the fourth in a series of shortened belted magnums released by Winchester. It can be comfortably housed in a long-action receiver, and while it has been criticized for its short neck, I have found it to be a wonderfully accurate and hard-hitting choice. It will drive a 180-grain bullet to 2960 fps, and I’ve used it with sleek spitzer boat tails and round nose bullets alike. It isn’t as fast as the .300 Weatherby, but is faster than the .30-06 Springfield and .300 H&H, and I find it to be the perfect blend of flat trajectory and acceptable recoil. It can accurately deliver the 140- and 150-grain bullets, yet equally handle the 200- and 220-grain slugs. It’s been making hunters happy for almost 60 years, and will continue to do so.

2. .280 Ackley Improved
Famous gunsmith P.O. Ackley gave his “Improved” treatment to a good number of cartridges, but his most popular (and commercially successful) is the .280 Ackley Improved. Using a 40-degree shoulder and minimal body taper, the .280 AI can generate velocities which can approach that of the 7mm Remington Magnum, with a noticeable reduction in recoil. The .280 AI is, for a long-range cartridge, rather “sweet shooting.” Factory ammo is available from Federal, Hornady and Nosler, and the cartridge can really show its versatility when handloaded. From the 120-grain lighter bullets all the way up to the 175-grain slugs, the .280 AI can handle them all. Federal’s 155-grain Terminal Ascent load will retain 1,637 ft.-lbs. of energy at 500 yards, and will only drop 37.7 inches at that range when zeroed at 200 yards.

3. .224 Valkyrie
Federal’s .224 Valkyrie is based on the 6.8 SPC case necked down to hold .224-inch-diameter bullets, and works well in the AR-15 platform. Driving a 90-grain bullet to 2700 fps, you have a .22-caliber centerfire capable of reliably taking deer and antelope, yet with the 60-grain V-Max load at 3300 fps, you can create all sorts of red mist on a prairie dog town. At the range, it was nice to have a cartridge capable of handling 1,000-yard shots, with a recoil level low enough to see your own vapor trail.

4. 6.8 Western
The collaboration between Winchester and Browning has become one of my favorites since its release in early 2021. In essence, it is a shorter version of the .270 WSM, with a tighter twist rate of 1:8 or 1:7.5, depending on the rifle, and will use .277-inch-diameter bullets weighing up to 175 grains. I find the cartridge to deliver field performance similar to the .300 Winchester (with 165- and 180-grain bullets), yet in a short-action rifle, with significantly less recoil. Factory loads will use 160- to 175-grain bullets, but if you handload it (like I do) you can use the full gamut of .277-inch bullets. My rifle really likes the 140-grain Badlands Precision Bulldozer 2 140-grain bullet, as well as the 165-grain Nosler AccuBond Long Range bullets.

5. 6.5 PRC
Hornady’s “big” 6.5—the 6.5 Precision Rifle Cartridge—has been referred to as the big brother to the 6.5 Creedmoor. Designed for a short-action receiver, the 6.5 PRC will send the popular 140- to 147-grain bullets from the muzzle at velocities between 2910 and 2925 fps, and there are a number of lighter monometal and bonded core choices at 120 to 130 grains, as well as some of the heavier bullets, like the Berger Extreme Outer Limits 156-grain bullet, which gives the cartridge the flexibility hunters enjoy. With ammunition available from many major manufacturers, the 6.5 PRC is most definitely here to stay, and takes full advantage of the 6.5mm bore diameter.

6. 7mm Remington Magnum
Like the .300 Win. Mag., the 7mm Remington Magnum has become an undeniable classic. Despite the fact that the belted cartridges seem to have fallen out of vogue of late, the 7mm Remington Magnum remains a big seller due to its universal appeal. It can handle the heavy 7mm bullets—I’ve found the 175-grain Nosler AccuBond to perform wonderfully in this case—and there are a good number of lighter bullets available for the deer hunter. This do-all cartridge has the case capacity to deliver both respectable energy figures as well as a flat trajectory.

7. 28 Nosler
Nosler’s family of cartridges is well designed, but I really like the 28 Nosler. Mimicking the formula of the 7mm Remington Magnum, minus the belt, this cartridge is based on the .404 Jeffery, shortened and with the body taper removed. A 35-degree shoulder handles the headspace duties, and several ammunition companies have picked this cartridge up. Quite obviously Nosler produces ammunition for it, but so does Federal, Hornady and Browning. This cartridge is capable of delivering the hair-splitting accuracy needed to hit distant targets, and has the velocity to get your bullet there quickly to minimize wind deflection. Being 7mm certainly adds the wide selection of bullet weight and choices to the mix.

8. .257 Weatherby Magnum
Mention .25-caliber cartridges in hunting camp and you’ll find fans of the .250-3000 Savage and .25-06 Remington, but the fans of the .257 Weatherby Magnum will bare their teeth like rabid dogs. Of all the Weatherby cartridges, the fans of the .257 seem to be the most fervent; even Roy W. himself championed the little speed demon. Bullet choices are common for the caliber, topping out at 120 grains, but the velocity of the .257 Weatherby has been the attractant for decades. From Hornady’s 90-grain CX monometal load to Weatherby’s own 120-grain Nosler Partition load at over 3300 fps, the .257 Weatherby certainly punches above its weight class.

9. 7mm PRC
Youngest of this lot, the new 7mm PRC has proven to be a wonderful choice for any long range application, yet works very well at normal ranges. I had the opportunity to use this long-action cartridge at the FTW Ranch, to punch steel targets out to 1,800 yards, and took it out West this season for pronghorn in Wyoming and black bear in British Columbia. The former was taken at 330 yards, and the latter at 75 yards, without issue. A good, steep shoulder for best concentricity and positive headspacing combines with a fast twist rate (1:8) to deliver heavy-for-caliber bullets at magnum velocities, making this little gem perfectly suitable for both big game hunting and competition shooting. Hornady’s current factory loads use the 160-grain CX bullet at 3000 fps, the 175-grain ELD-X bullet at 3000 fps and the 180-grain ELD Match at 2975 fps.

10. .300 Remington Ultra Magnum
Big Green released this behemoth cartridge in 1999, based on the .404 Jeffery case blown out and necked to hold .308-inch-diameter bullets. Driving a 180-grain bullet to a muzzle velocity of 3200 fps in factory loads (this can be exceeded with handloads), the .300 RUM offers plenty of striking energy and very flat trajectory. There are plenty of factory loads to choose from, ranging from the 150-grain Swift Scirocco II at 3450 fps to the 220-grain Hornady ELD-X at 2910 fps, with the 180-grains splitting the difference. If you anticipate shots on the closer side of things, where the impact velocities are still way up there, I recommend bonded core or monometal projectiles, to avoid premature bullet breakup. The .300 RUM is capable of delivering right around 4,000 ft.-lbs. of energy at the muzzle, and the high-B.C. bullets will help retain that energy at longer ranges. That performance comes at the cost of stout recoil, but in a properly stocked rifle it can be managed, or a muzzle brake can be employed to remove the sting. If you can still find some floating around, Remington once offered ammunition for the .300 RUM at three different power levels, making the big cartridge even more versatile.

It really wasn’t all that long ago when 6.5mms were a rarity, as the .264 Winchester Magnum had faded into near-obscurity, and the .260 Remington had just seen the light of day.

Yes, there was a fan base for the 6.5×55, but most folks who dipped below the .270 Winchester were reaching for one of the 6mms, and as often as not one of the .25-caliber cartridges.

Dating back to the 19^th century the .25s have been known for speed, as well as for their light recoil levels. But of late, a minor change to the rifling twist rate has brought the quarter bores to a new level, offering an unprecedented level of performance. Let’s follow the .25s throughout history, revisiting some old friends, meeting some new ones and digging up some ghosts.

.25-20 WCF and .25-35 WCF

Winchester gave us a pair of rimmed .25s in the 1890s, built for its excellent lever guns. Both began life as blackpowder cartridges, but made the transition to the smokeless era. The diminutive .25-20 WCF was released in the Winchester Model 1892 rifle and used an 86-grain bullet at 1,460 fps. The .25-20 WCF is simply a .32-20 WCF case necked down to .25-caliber, but Winchester didn’t actually do it first—Marlin beat them to it by a couple years, but Winchester just took the name and ran with it.

Nonetheless, the little .25-20 was used for smaller game species, plinking and was a favorite of trappers as well. This little cartridge has the distinction of having taken the Jordan buck, though I’ll be the first to agree that the .25-20 is not my first choice as a deer cartridge.

The .25-35 WCF is larger, being based on the (then new) .30-30 Winchester necked down to .25-caliber, and using a 117-grain bullet at a muzzle velocity of just under 2,400 fps. Like the .30-30 Winchester, the .25-35 Winchester was designed from the time of its release to operate with smokeless powder. Delivering considerably more power than its significantly smaller sibling, the .25-35 WCF is a decent deer cartridge to this day. You can find ammunition still produced by Winchester and Hornady, both with 117-grain bullets.

.250-3000 Savage

Charles Newton designed this cartridge for Savage Arms in 1915, and it had the unique distinction of being the first commercial cartridge to break the 3,000 fps mark. Housed in the excellent Model 99 lever gun, the .250-3000 (also known as the 250 Savage) used a light-for-caliber 87-grain bullet to hit that velocity mark.

Now, the Sectional Density (SD) of an 87-grain bullet comes in at 0.188 (in comparison, the 117-grain bullets have an SD of just 0.253) and when looking at the construction of hunting projectiles over a century ago, you can easily understand how this combination didn’t exactly develop a reputation for deep penetration on larger game animals.

In fact, Newton himself highly recommended the 100-grain bullets for this cartridge, but Savage was bent on using the velocity as a marketing tool, and it certainly worked. That cartridge is a good choice for the whitetail hunter, as the recoil and report are very light, yet there is enough energy for clean, humane kills and enough velocity for a decent trajectory.

Based on a shortened .30-06 Springfield case, the .250-3000 uses its 26 ½-degree shoulder for headspacing, and is equally at home in a bolt rifle as it is in a lever gun which doesn’t use a tubular magazine. Sadly obscure today, the .250-3000 is still cool, especially if you can find one in that timeless Model 99.

.257 Roberts

Ned Roberts was among the early 20^th century wildcatters who modified military cartridges to differing bore diameters, and he took the 7×57 Mauser case, and necked it down to hold .257-inch bullets. That design floated around for over a decade, until in 1934 Remington made it a commercial offering, adding Ned’s surname to it.

The .257 Roberts—or ‘The Bob’ as it affectionately known—is a great cartridge for deer, pronghorn antelope and similar species, as it offers a bit more velocity than does the .250 Savage, while still offering a manageable recoil level for nearly any shooter.

The Bob offers a significant velocity increase over the .250 Savage—nearly 200 fps in all bullet weights—and is usually offered with the 117- and 120-grain bullets in factory offerings. Though the cartridge is not nearly as popular as it once was, a competent handloader can easily convert the readily available 7×57 Mauser brass into .257 Roberts brass to feed one of those classic rifles.

If you like the .25 bores, the Bob is a great choice. It’ll push the 117-grain bullet to 2,650 in its standard guise, and the +P variant will nearly hit the 2,800 fps mark. It’s a shame that the amount of new rifles has dwindled to nearly nothing.

.257 Weatherby Magnum

While the .300 Weatherby Magnum might be the most popular of the Weatherby cartridges, the .257 Weatherby Magnum was Roy’s personal favorite. Unlike the .300 Weatherby, which requires a magnum-length action like its .300 & .375 H&H forefathers, the .257 Weatherby was designed to function in a standard long-action rifle.

With a case length of 2.549 inches and a cartridge overall length of 3.209 inches, the .257 Weatherby Magnum comes in just a bit shorter than the .30-06 Springfield and its ilk. Using the H&H belt for headspacing, the .257 Weatherby Magnum has the signature double radius shoulder, which must’ve been pretty radical for 1944.

If anyone tested the limits of the .25-caliber cartridges, it was Mr. Weatherby; he used his quarterbore on a Cape buffalo bull. Roy lived to tell the tale, the buffalo bull did not. The .257 Weatherby is surely a speed demon—it’ll drive a 115-grain bullet to 3,500 fps, making it one of the fastest of the .25s out there. It isn’t easy on throats and barrels, and it isn’t cheap to shoot, but if speed is your game, this is a definite candidate.

.25-06 Remington

If Big Green has one claim to fame—and there are many—it is how well they have legitimized wildcat cartridges. From the .22-250 to the .257 Roberts to the .35 Whelen, they’ve made sure some of the greatest designs were commercially available.

The .25-06 Remington is no exception. The design can trace its roots back to Charles Newton’s A.O. Neider’s efforts in the early 20^th century, but it stayed in wildcat form for over half a century. Remington’s 1969 release used the 2.494-inch case of the .30-06 (as opposed to the 2.54-inch case of the .270 Winchester, held over from the .30-03 design), and a 17-degree shoulder for headspace duties.

Cartridge overall length is a bit shorter than the .30-06, coming in at 3.250 inches. The cartridge makes perfect sense, as in a pinch cases can be made from the ever-popular .30-06. Capable of sending a 117- or 120-grain bullet at a velocity in excess of 3,000 fps, the .25-06 might not be a magnum cartridge, but has the power to deliver a very respectable trajectory.

The cartridge was very popular for the lighter big game species, until the 6.5 Creedmoor began to eat the lunch of all those medium-bore cartridges. It was, at one time, the definitive pronghorn antelope cartridge, but it seems to have gone out of favor lately. That’s a shame, as the cartridge is wonderfully accurate, easy in the shoulder, and hell on deer and game of similar size. Of the lot, this might be my favorite .25-caliber.

.25 Winchester Super Short Magnum

*sigh* If ever a series of cartridges was given up for dead almost immediately, it was Winchester’s WSSM line. Banking on the popularity of the WSM line which became extremely popular at the turn of the century, Winchester went even further with the seriously squat Super Short Magnum line, comprised of the .25 WSSM (released in 2004), .243 WSSM and .223 WSSM.

There were a good number of hunters who bought the .25 WSSM and enjoyed its performance, but when (inexplicably) the ammunition supplies dried up, panicked. Driving a 120-grain bullet to just shy of 3,000 fps, the .25 WSSM comes in a rifle with an extremely short bolt throw. With the 0.535-inch base diameter (probably based in the common H&H bolt face diameter) the .25 WSSM uses its 30-degree shoulder for headspacing, though the rimless design assuredly shows the same relationship to the .404 Jeffery that the entire WSM line shows.

The ballistic performance level is roughly on par with the .25-06 Remington. For reasons I neither understand nor can explain, Winchester seemingly abandoned production of ammunition for the WSSM line. As the owner of a custom handloaded ammunition company, I will attest to the fact that a decade ago, a full 25 percent of inquiries were for this cartridge. The design isn’t bad in any way, it’s just come down to a lack of ammunition availability; that said Winchester once again offers ammo for the .25 WSSM in the Super X line.

.25 Creedmoor

Here we venture into one of the modern ‘revisionist’ quarterbores, using a tighter-than-normal twist rate to utilize heavier bullets than are normally associated with the .25-caliber. The latest in Hornady’s Creedmoor line—which includes the 6.5 Creedmoor, 6mm Creedmoor and 22 Creedmoor—the .25 Creedmoor offers bullets weighing up to 134 grains, Recognized as a dual-purpose hunting/target shooting cartridge, the .25 Creedmoor will offer a 112-grain copper monometal CX bullet at 3,150 fps, giving an advantage over similar weights in the .25-06 Remington, a 128-grain ELD-X at 2,850 fps, and for the target crowd, a 134-grain ELD Match at 2,800 fps—with the latter bullet offering a G1 B.C. value of 0.645 and magnum-level trajectory.

Sitting comfortably between the 6mm Creedmoor and 6.5 Creedmoor—offering a better B.C. than either, and less recoil than the Six-Five—the .25 Creedmoor just might catch on among hunters, but only time will tell if it has the goods to unseat its older brother. The 1:8 twist rate stabilizes those heavier bullets, and that makes all the difference when comparing the modern .25s to those benchmark cartridges of the 20^th century.

.25 Weatherby RPM

The latest release among the quarterbores, Weatherby’s newest in the Rebated Precision Magnum also uses a faster twist rate to stabilize higher B.C. bullets. Offering a larger case than that of the .25 Creedmoor, the .25 Weatherby RPM is housed in Weatherby’s lighter six-lug action, making a great cartridge/rifle combination for those wanting a lightweight choice for the backcountry. Using the rebated rim we’ve seen in the .284 Winchester, and a steep 35-degree shoulder for headspacing, the .25 Weatherby RPM will push a 133-grain Berger Elite Hunter to a muzzle velocity of 3,000 fps. Maintaining the long-action maximum cartridge length of 3.34 inches, the .25 RPM has nearly an inch of seating room for those bullets with the longer ogives.

Is it as fast as the .257 Weatherby Magnum? No, but the smaller body diameter makes it easier to get an extra cartridge in the magazine or keep weight to a minimum, and the speed of the .25 Weatherby RPM is more than sufficient to make those long-range shots at ranges this side of sanity. Weatherby offers the Barnes LRX and Hornady SST—both at 117 grains—at 3,150 fps, and the 107-grain Hammer monometal at 3,350 fps, so there are plenty of choices for all sorts of big-game hunting.

So, does the latest crop of quarterbores change your mind about the capabilities of the bore diameter? Or do you still feel there are better tools for hunting elk, moose and other large game? I think the newest cartridges will only enhance the performance of the .25-calibers, making shots on the longer side a bit easier by offering better wind deflection values, and retaining more energy downrange.

I still feel an animal the size of a bull elk or bull moose warrants a bigger bore diameter, and a heavier bullet, though I am painfully aware that many are taken each year by cartridges as small as the .243 Winchester. If you play in both the target and hunting worlds, the new designs should definitely have some appeal to you, as those bullets between 128- and 134-grains have a very impressive B.C. value, and assuredly extend the capabilities of the .25-caliber in general.

If—like me—your shots beyond 250 yards are a rarity, at best, perhaps the .25-06 Remington offers a sufficient level for your hunting needs, or maybe one of the mild .30s offers a more universal appeal. I will offer this: with the two latest cartridges in the quarterbore lineup, the 6.5mm cartridges might have just lost their advantage.