Difference between .600 BC and .500 BC?

[Snowfighter]

Ballistic Coefficient?

Working on a loading project. Trying to make my .280AI shoot. Building it for my dad.

I have tried the Burger 168 vld and the 162 a max. Neither want to shoot both accurate and fast. they will group real good if I slow them down. But then I loose reach. I would like for my dad to be able to harvest deer at about 850 or 900 yards.

So the question is: how much is lost in a value of .050 BC or so. The difference between a bullet with a BC of 600 compared to .550 or so. I'm thinking I need to go smaller bullet to gain speed, but I don't want to loose a whole lot of accuracy. :-\

 

[Keith Glasscock]

I guess it depends on how much faster you can push them.

For boattailed bullets, I'd strongly suggest that you use the G7 BC's. JBMballistics.com uses the G7's for a variety of bullets. They are identified with (litz) after the bullet name.

I'm not certain what your goal numbers are for 850 yards, but I know for certain that the bullets you are describing will reach out and do the job out of a standard 280. What kind of velocity are you getting, and what are you looking for?

 

[Steve Blair]

Loading similar form bullets to equal pressure in a given cartridge, the higher B.C. will always give better wind drift numbers. Do as Busdriver suggests and compare them using G7 coefficients. JBM will quickly tell you what you need to know.

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

The title says difference between .500 and .600 but your text discusses a 50 point difference.

In the same caliber and for a similar shape, the higher BC bullet will be heavier than the lower BC bullet since BC is a function of sectional density amongst other things. This usually means the higher BC bullet will not start off as fast as the lower BC bullet, but downrange things change, which is wht LR shooters generally shoot heavy-for-caliber bullets.

That said, if you can get the bullet to shoot well, then the BC value increase is worthless; it will just fly faster off course.

I would also be very leery relying on BC values from manufacturers; some have a tendency to "enhance" their values and remember that BC values are dependent on velocity so manufacturers sometimes show values that are derived from higher velocities that are perhaps unrealistic for your cartridge.

What you may want to do is decide on the performance that you need at the target and work back from there. For example, you may want to have a minimum velocity at the target of 1700FPS for a specific bullet or 2000ft/lbs of energy at 800 yards. Select the bullet and minimum muzzle velocity required to achieve that and start load development from there.

If you cannot achieve these requirements with your combination, change things around or reassess your goals.