The bottom line for all shooting is shot placement. Bullet form contributes to that to some degree in all shooting. Personally, I'm a huge .357 fan, for airguns, and now beginning to realize that I'm drawn to the .30's even moreso. In MY OPINION, those calibers beyond .357 are drifting into the muzzleloader projectile realm and follow the same potential and opportunity, albeit, at vastly reduced energy and velocity parameters and thus too, IN MY OPINION, nothing more than short range wannabees.
This is MY OPINION... I've been a .40, .451-452, or personal favorite today, the .58. However, for long range shooting, history should guide you. The British, back in the day of Whitworth and Rigby, did extensive study on bullets and ballistics, and the Whitworth Sniper Rifles of the day, or today some of the Volunteer variants, are (in my case .452) .451 or .452 calibers, for some reason. These were long range bullets, and I'm guessing that through the rigors of their study came up with a very long, heavy, bullet that had range potential of 1000 yards plus.
These were shooters. These bullets, are shot with 1-18 to maybe 1-22 twist, mine being 1-20. At 70 grains of powder, my bullets were barely supersonic, and quickly became subsonic and possibly unless the target were right at that transition distance from the muzzle, show absolutely no accuracy non-comformity out to over 200 yards.
So... my impression... mass times velocity is one thing, spin rate to stabilize is another. Get the spin right, and my opinion is that the rest is going to be all on the shooter... My recommendations for the .45 caliber is that with the right spin rate, meaning around 1-16 -1-20, these heavy 45's, and by that I mean from about 380 grains up to maybe 470 grains max, are (in my guns anyway... (muzzleloaders)) in my opinion the best hunting bullets (flat nose) you find without getting into the whole segmented, hollow point, or weight saving hollow-base bullets. I do shoot very heavy skirt hollow base minies, and these perform excellently with reduced power as well, as long as you can get enough energy to expand the bullet. A thinner skirt (larger pin) would likely perform excellently in an airgun. My molds for these all came from Rapine but sadly, I just learned, he has closed his doors.
Aloha... Tom
This is MY OPINION... I've been a .40, .451-452, or personal favorite today, the .58. However, for long range shooting, history should guide you. The British, back in the day of Whitworth and Rigby, did extensive study on bullets and ballistics, and the Whitworth Sniper Rifles of the day, or today some of the Volunteer variants, are (in my case .452) .451 or .452 calibers, for some reason. These were long range bullets, and I'm guessing that through the rigors of their study came up with a very long, heavy, bullet that had range potential of 1000 yards plus.
These were shooters. These bullets, are shot with 1-18 to maybe 1-22 twist, mine being 1-20. At 70 grains of powder, my bullets were barely supersonic, and quickly became subsonic and possibly unless the target were right at that transition distance from the muzzle, show absolutely no accuracy non-comformity out to over 200 yards.
So... my impression... mass times velocity is one thing, spin rate to stabilize is another. Get the spin right, and my opinion is that the rest is going to be all on the shooter... My recommendations for the .45 caliber is that with the right spin rate, meaning around 1-16 -1-20, these heavy 45's, and by that I mean from about 380 grains up to maybe 470 grains max, are (in my guns anyway... (muzzleloaders)) in my opinion the best hunting bullets (flat nose) you find without getting into the whole segmented, hollow point, or weight saving hollow-base bullets. I do shoot very heavy skirt hollow base minies, and these perform excellently with reduced power as well, as long as you can get enough energy to expand the bullet. A thinner skirt (larger pin) would likely perform excellently in an airgun. My molds for these all came from Rapine but sadly, I just learned, he has closed his doors.
Aloha... Tom
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