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When it comes to long-range shooting, the bullet is arguably the most critical component to hit probability. There are literally thousands of bullet designs out there, but I surveyed the top 200 ranked shooters in the Precision Rifle Series (PRS) and asked what bullets they run in long-range rifle matches. Would you believe that over 80% of the pros are split among just 9 bullets?! That included shooters using 22 caliber, 6mm, 25 cal, 6.5mm, 7mm, and 30 caliber cartridges – and still 81% of top-ranked PRS shooters circled around only 9 bullets!
For a bullet to be popular among these elite shooters, it must be capable of shooting sub-0.5 MOA groups and also have a very high BC.
What is BC? A Ballistic Coefficient (BC) is a number used to describe the drag on a bullet compared to some standard bullet. For example, a G1 BC compares the drag of that specific bullet to that of a G1 standard bullet. A G7 BC is comparing the drag to a G7 standard. The higher the BC, the better the bullet will be able to retain its velocity downrange and be less affected by the wind. It’s powerful to have a single number that represents how aerodynamic a bullet is. BC is seen as a performance metric, similar to horsepower in a car – the higher, the better! All things being equal (and they rarely are), a bullet with a higher BC will have a higher hit probability at long range. (Learn more about BCs, drag, and if you can trust the BC on the box)
These PRS shooters are regularly engaging relatively small targets at distances from 300 to 1200 yards. There are now up to 15,000 shooters worldwide competing in PRS-sanctioned matches – and all the data in this article is based on what the top 200 were using for the season that finished a couple of weeks ago. This article will share all the details of the bullets these elite shooters are using to consistently place at the top of the leaderboard match after match.
Best Brand of Bullets for Precision Rifles
I’ll break down the bullets in a few ways, but let’s start by taking a broad view of what brand of bullets these guys are shooting across all of the calibers.
76% of the pros choose to run Berger bullets! That included 7 of the shooters in the top 10, 21 of the guys in the top 25 (84%), and 41 of the top 50 (82%). So among those at the very top, the percent running Berger bullets is even a little higher. Berger has been the favorite among this crowd of precision rifle shooters since I started reporting on “What The Pros Use” following the 2012 season (view 2012 data). Berger is legendary for making very consistent bullets that are also very aerodynamic.
16% of the pros run Hornady bullets, including 2 of those in the top 10 and 5 over the top 50. All 5 of the shooters in the top 50 who were using Hornady bullets were using one of their A-Tip bullets. There were 6mm, 25 cal, and 6.5mm A-Tip bullets represented in the top 50, but no Hornady ELD-M bullets were represented among those in the top 50.
Berger and Hornady combined to represent 92% of the 200 top-ranked PRS shooters in the open division. I’ll provide a more detailed breakdown of the specific weight and type of bullets later in this article, but it seems like if you are getting into this sport – starting with one of those brands is a solid choice.
4% of these shooters were using bullets manufactured by Sierra Bullets, and 3 of those shooters were in the top 100 – but none in the top 50. That includes the Sierra bullets that are sold by other brands, like 25 caliber Blackjack Bullets and the 6mm DTAC bullets sold by David Tubb at Superior Shooting Systems. Since all those bullets are made by Sierra, I combined them all here under Sierra.
3% of the top 200 ranked shooters were using Nosler RDF bullets, including 3 shooters in the top 50.
Jeff Guerry took 8th overall in the 2024 PRS season standings, and he was using a Hottenstein 108 gr. Barn Burner. Jeff was the only shooter in this group using Hottenstein bullets. Hottenstein bullets are custom bullets that are handmade in Michigan for precision long-range shooting and short-range Benchrest competitions. There isn’t much info on Hottenstein bullets out there, but they’re available for sale through Bullet Central.
Lastly, there was one shooter among this group who said they were using Barnes bullets, and they finished 163rd on the season in the 2024 PRS Open Division.
Best 6mm Bullet
Now let’s look at what specific bullet these shooters were using for the most popular caliber, the 6mm.
39% of 6mm shooters were using the Berger 109 gr. Long-Range Hybrid Target bullet and 33% were using the Berger 105 gr. Hybrid Target bullet. Those two combined to represent 73% of the top-ranked shooters, including 5 of the 6 people in the top 10 who were running a 6mm! They were the most popular 2 bullets of any caliber – by a long shot (pun intended). Clearly, either of those bullets is a great choice.
The Berger 109 LRHT bullet is a relatively newer bullet design released in 2019. Ballistician Bryan Litz explains, “The 6mm 109 offers several advantages. Its ultra-sleek profile provides a higher Ballistic Coefficient (BC), resulting in less wind drift at all ranges. Berger’s proprietary Meplat Reduction Technology (MRT) technology also results in a higher and more consistent BC, which is important for reducing dispersion at long range.” Berger’s MRT technology applies controlled pressure along the nose of each bullet in the Long-Range Hybrid Target (LRHT) line of bullets, which they say produces “a homogeneous and repeatable profile for the industry’s most consistent Ballistic Coefficients (BC).”
“While a high BC is desirable to competitive shooters, shot-to-shot BC consistency is critical when engaging targets to 1,000 yards and beyond. Berger’s ballistic coefficients are all Doppler-radar verified with standard deviation unmatched by all other manufacturers.” – Berger Bullets
The Berger 105 Hybrid bullet is a relatively “older” bullet design compared to the others towards the top of this list. It was first released back in 2011. The Berger 109 LRHT is a newer design with a higher BC – but there is still something compelling about the Berger 105 Hybrid for many of these shooters. (More on that later in this article.)
The 3rd most popular 6mm bullet is the Hornady 110 gr A-Tip bullet, which was used by 10% of these pro shooters firing a 6mm cartridge. Hornady’s A-Tip line of bullets features some of the highest BCs in the industry, and they’re also made with advanced manufacturing processes intended to maximize performance at extreme ranges. Hornady says their “Drag Variability Reduction Technology (DVRT) aluminum tip design increases bullet drag uniformity for less dispersion and smaller groups at longer ranges. Doppler radar verified low drag coefficient (high BC) bullets are forgiving of twist rate, seating depth, and muzzle velocity.” The manufacturing process of A-Tip bullets is pretty unique, including minimal handling throughout production, and the bullets are packaged sequentially right off the press to maximize consistency from bullet to bullet.
Those 3 bullets, the Berger 109 LRHT, Berger 105 Hybrid, and Hornady 110 A-Tip, represent what 83% of the 6mm shooters ranked in the top 200 were running at matches. The remaining 17% of shooters were spread over 12 different bullets.
6mm Bullet BC Comparison
The table below lists all of the 6mm bullets this group was using sorted by the G7 BC from Applied Ballistics’ bullet library. How each manufacturer calculates or measures their advertised BC varies, so getting the numbers from an independent source where they’re all measured and calculated consistently is very helpful for an apples-to-apples comparison. The table also provides the weight of each bullet, along with a BC to Weight ratio. That basically draws our attention to the bullets that have a relatively high BC for their weight.
| Bullet | Applied Ballistic’s G7 BC | Weight (gr) | BC/Weight Ratio |
| Nosler 115 gr. RDF | 0.310 | 115 | 2.70 |
| DTAC 115 gr. RBT (Sierra) | 0.302 | 115 | 2.63 |
| Hornady 110 gr. A-Tip | 0.301 | 110 | 2.74 |
| Berger 109 gr. LRHT | 0.292 | 109 | 2.68 |
| Berger 115 gr. VLD Target | 0.289 | 115 | 2.51 |
| Berger 108 gr. Elite Hunter | 0.287 | 108 | 2.66 |
| Hornady 109 gr. ELD-M | 0.280 | 109 | 2.57 |
| Nosler 105 gr. RDF | 0.275 | 105 | 2.62 |
| Berger 105 gr. Hybrid | 0.273 | 105 | 2.60 |
| Sierra 107 gr. MatchKing | 0.271 | 107 | 2.53 |
| Berger 108 gr. BT Target | 0.267 | 108 | 2.47 |
| Hottenstein 108 gr. Barn Burner | 0.265 | 108 | 2.45 |
| Hornady 108 gr. ELD-M | 0.261 | 108 | 2.42 |
| Berger 105 gr. VLD Target | 0.260 | 105 | 2.48 |
You can see the Hornady 110 A-Tip and Berger 109 gr LRHT bullets are both towards the top of the list, and both have an outstanding BC to Weight ratio. The Berger 105 gr Hybrid is much lower on the list, with a BC that is 0.020 lower. So why do so many of these top-ranked shooters still choose to run the Berger 105 Hybrid? It is simply a special bullet design that seems to always group very tightly out of most rifles and is very consistent at long-range. So, while the numbers might not attract you to that bullet, it remains one of the top choices among the best shooters in the world. In fact, the Berger 105 Hybrid was the bullet that Ben Gossett used to win the 2024 PRS Finale and clinch 1st place in the 2024 PRS Season Open Division (see Ben’s ammo load data and rifle setup). The Berger 105 Hybrid remains one of the best choices in terms of consistency in connecting with targets at long range.
If it was purely about maximizing BC, then wouldn’t all these shooters be using the Nosler 115 gr. RDF? It clearly has the highest BC of these 6mm bullets. The fact is, these guys are considering more than just BC – including how the ammo groups and how consistent bullet drag is shot-to-shot. When all those things are summed up, most pros land on the Berger 109 LRHT or Berger 105 Hybrid.
6mm Bullet Muzzle Velocity
Finally, for context for muzzle velocities for these bullets, the table below has the average muzzle velocity at which the most popular cartridges are launching these bullets. These are all of the cartridge/bullet combos that had 5 or more shooters who reported muzzle velocities on my survey.
| Bullet | 6mm Dasher | 6mm GT | 6mm BR |
| Berger 109 gr LRHT | 2,835 fps (37 shooters) | 2,895 fps (8 shooters) | |
| Berger 105 gr Hybrid | 2,832 fps (30 shooters) | 2,848 fps (5 shooters) | 2,778 fps (5 shooters) |
| Hornady 110 gr A-Tip | 2,828 fps (8 shooters) |
Isn’t it crazy that the average velocity for a 6mm Dasher is +/- 4 from 2832 fps – regardless of the bullet weight?! The bullets above vary from 105-110 grains, but the average speed among this group is almost identical for all of them from a Dasher.
Best 25 cal Bullets
There is a trend of a few shooters moving over to 25-caliber bullets. A decade ago, 6.5mm rifles were most popular, and then 6mm cartridges became very dominant. Today, 6mm cartridges are still the most popular (by a wide margin) – but some of the top shooters are trying the 25 caliber to balance recoil with energy on target. Heavier bullets make it easier for you to spot the exact location you missed or even where you hit on a plate so you can correct your next shot to center.
The charts below show how the 25 caliber basically splits the 6mm and 6.5mm bullets in terms of bullet diameter and weight. The 25 caliber is basically 2 parts 6.5mm and 1 part 6mm – meaning it is a little closer to 6.5mm than 6mm.
Over the past 2-3 years, a few new high BC, match-grade bullets have been released for the 25 caliber, which makes it pretty compelling. Here are the most popular 25-caliber bullets among this group of pro shooters:
The clear favorite is the Berger 135 gr. Long-Range Hybrid Target bullet, representing 87% of those using a 25 caliber. That included 2 of the shooters in the top 10 (#3 Austin Buschman and #9 Chris Kutalek). The Berger 135 is part of the same Long-Range Hybrid Target (LRHT) line of bullets, so all of the same features and special manufacturing processes apply to it that I described for the Berger 6mm 109 LRHT earlier.
I will say that the Berger 135 LRHT bullet seems to be exceptionally hard to find in stock. I suppose Berger may have underestimated the demand for this bullet because it’s been hard to find for several months. Hopefully, they’ll produce a whole bunch more of these because I’d bet there might be more shooters using a 25 caliber if they could get their hands on high-quality bullets for it.
There was also a shooter in the top 10 using the brand-new Hornady 138 gr. A-Tip bullet, which was Clay Blackketter. Hornady just announced the 25 caliber 138 A-Tip six weeks ago, which is likely a big part of why more of these shooters weren’t using it. Clay is a sponsored Hornady shooter and must have been part of the early group to get their hands on that bullet because he was able to compete with it at the 2024 PRS Finale in early November. It still doesn’t seem to be available to the general public, so I’d expect more shooters may have picked this Hornady 25-cal 138 gr A-Tip bullet with its crazy 0.350 G7 BC had it been readily available.
One shooter said they were using the Blackjack 25 cal 131 gr. ACE Match Bullet, which is a bullet that was manufactured by Sierra for Blackjack Bullets. Blackjack was a pioneer in high-BC, match-grade 25-caliber bullets designed for competition use. I remember when that came out years ago, but I can’t remember exactly when. What I found online seems to put that release around 2018 – but it may have been earlier. The guys at Blackjack collaborated with Sierra to design the 131 gr bullet, and then Sierra manufactured that for them. But, Blackjack Bullets ceased operations around 2021.
Another shooter said they were running the brand new Sierra .25 caliber 131-grain HPBT-CN MatchKing bullet, which was released in mid-2024. It has an eerily similar weight and design to the bullet Sierra produced for Blackjack. There is lots of speculation in forums about whether it is the same as the Blackjack bullet or not, so I reached out to Sierra directly and asked. Here is their response:
“The Sierra 25-caliber 131 grain MatchKing we are currently producing is the Black Jack bullet with no changes made.” – Mitchell Demand, Ballistic Technician at Sierra Bullets
If you were a fan of the Blackjack 131, then good news – it’s back in production but simply has a new name. That is why I combined the results under the Sierra .25 caliber 131-grain HPBT-CN MatchKing bullet in all the charts and tables.
25 Caliber Bullet BC Comparison
| Bullet | Applied Ballistic’s G7 BC | Weight (gr) | BC/Weight Ratio |
| Hornady 138 gr. A-Tip | *0.350 | 138 | 2.54 |
| Sierra 131 gr. HPBT-CN MatckKing (aka, Blackjack 131 ACE) | 0.332 | 131 | 2.53 |
| Berger 135 gr. LRHT | 0.330 | 135 | 2.44 |
| Hornady 134 gr. ELD-M | 0.315 | 134 | 2.35 |
*Applied Ballistics doesn’t have a BC reported for the Hornady 138 gr. A-Tip yet (since it was just released), so I simply used the manufacturer’s BC. I compared Hornady’s advertised G7 BC to the Applied Ballistics G7 BC for the other 5 A-Tip bullets in 6mm through 7mm, and the average difference was less than .001, so it’s probably not off by much, if any.
25 Caliber Bullet Muzzle Velocity
Finally, here are the relative velocities that the popular 25 caliber cartridges are launching these bullets. There were only 5 or more shooters using the Berger 25 cal 135 Long Range Hybrid Target bullet, so it’s the only bullet listed.
| Bullet | 25 GT | 25×47 Lapua | 25 Creedmoor |
| Berger 135 gr LRHT | 2,719 fps (5) | 2,721 fps (11) | 2,835 fps (10) |
It is interesting to see that guys are running the Berger 135 at the same speeds out of a 25 GT and a 25×47 Lapua – even though the 25×47 has about 4% more case capacity than the 25 GT. I noticed that Austin Orgain, a 2-time PRS Champion and perineal top-10 competitor, started competing with a 25×47 Lapua in 2023 and then switched to the 25 GT for some time, but then started competing with a 25×47 Lapua again at some matches. I’m not sure the reason, but it’s interesting to watch these guys pioneer the 25 caliber for competition use and experiment with what case sizes are optimal to launch these 25 caliber bullets.
Best 6.5 mm Bullet
The next most popular caliber was the 6.5mm, so let’s look at what bullets those shooters were running:
The Berger 153.5 gr. Long Range Hybrid Target bullet was the most popular 6.5mm bullet. However, it’s interesting to see that none of the top 100 chose to run that bullet. Granted, there were only 3 shooters in the top 100 who were using a 6.5mm cartridge.
The Hornady 153 gr. A-Tip bullet was another popular choice, and that is what Austin Orgain said he was using out of his 6.5 Creedmoor at the end of the 2024 PRS Season to take 7th place overall in the Open Division.
Daniel Bertocchini used the Berger 156 gr. EOL Elite Hunter bullet out of his 6.5 Creedmoor to take 23rd overall on the season in the Open Division.
6.5mm Bullet BC Comparison
There are a ton of high-BC bullet options in 6.5mm, which is why it’s one of the most popular calibers in rifles today. Here is a comparison of the BC of all the bullets these pros were running:
| Bullet | Applied Ballistic’s G7 BC | Weight (gr) | BC/Weight Ratio |
| Hornady 153 gr. A-Tip | 0.359 | 153 | 2.35 |
| Berger 153.5 gr. LRHT | 0.349 | 153.5 | 2.27 |
| Berger 156 gr. Elite Hunter | 0.334 | 156 | 2.14 |
| Berger 144 gr. LRHT | 0.325 | 144 | 2.26 |
| Hornady 135 gr. A-Tip | 0.313 | 135 | 2.32 |
| Berger 140 gr. Hybrid | 0.306 | 140 | 2.19 |
| Berger 130 gr. AR Hybrid | 0.277 | 130 | 2.13 |
6.5mm Bullet Muzzle Velocity
There actually weren’t 5 shooters using the same bullet/cartridge combo for any 6.5mm bullet, so I included the velocities for 4 shooters below.
| Bullet | 6.5 Creedmoor |
| Berger 153.5 gr LRHT | 2,642 fps (4) |
Other Caliber Bullets: 22 cal, 7mm & 30 cal
93% of those ranked in the top 200 in the PRS Open Division were using a 6mm, 25 cal, or 6.5mm – but there were also a few shooters using a 22 cal, 7mm, or 30 caliber. Many of those guys were competing in the Tactical Division, which has limits on cartridges and bullets. But I’ll start by talking about the few that weren’t in the tactical division and still chose to run one of these caliber bullets.
One shooter was using a 22 Dasher to compete in the Open Division, Garret Preece who finished #95 overall on the season. Garret said he was using the Berger 22 cal 85.5 gr. Long Range Hybrid Target (LRHT) bullet out of his 22 Dasher. He reported a velocity of 3,080 fps. I’ve heard of other top shooters using a 22 Dasher in PRS matches before, but Garret was the only one surveyed who said he was running that in matches this year.
Two shooters were running a 7mm cartridge:
- #76 Mike Burdis: 7mm SAW with Hornady 7mm 166 gr. A-Tip at 2800 fps
- #195 Derek Webster: 7 SWC with Berger 7mm 180 gr. Hybrid at 2700 fps
Tactical Division Shooters
All of the other shooters running a 22 or 30 caliber were competing in the tactical division. Those competing in the tactical division must adhere to these restrictions:
- .308 Winchester with max bullet weight of 178 grains and max muzzle velocity of 2,800 fps
- 5.56 NATO/.223 Remington with max bullet weight of 77 grains and max muzzle velocity of 3,000 fps
The reason some of the guys shooting in the Tactical Division were included in this data is because they also placed high enough to be in the top 200 in the Open Division. For example, Matt Stiner won 1st place in the Tactical Division, and he was also ranked 75th in the Open Division. There were 2 tactical division shooters who ended up in the top 100 in the Open Division, Matt Stiner and Scott Peterson – which is very impressive!
There was only 1 shooter surveyed who was using a 223 to compete in the Tactical Division and ended up ranked high enough to be in the top 200 in the Open Division, and he said he was using the Berger 22 cal 75 gr. VLD Target bullet.
There were a total of 10 shooters who were using a 308 Win to compete in the Tactical Division that ended up in the top 200 in the Open Division. Here are the bullets they reported that they compete with:
- Berger 168 gr. Hybrid (2 shooters using this bullet)
- Berger 175 gr. OTM Tactical
- Hornady 174 gr. ELD-VT
- Hornady 176 gr. A-Tip (2 shooters using this bullet)
- Hornady 178 gr. ELD-M
- Sierra 169 gr. MatchKing
- Sierra 175 gr. MatchKing
- Sierra 177 gr. MatchKing
Matt Stiner, 1st place in the Tactical Division, was shooting a 308 Win and said he used “175-178” grain Sierra bullets at 2760 fps.
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Hi Cal
Another interesting article.
With 76% of the shooters using Berger bullets, that says a lot. But I don’t think anyone is surprised by that number. Either Berger or only Hornady A-Tip bullets. A little disappointing that Hornady ELD-M bullets were not used much.
If I understand it correctly 12 shooters were using 6.5mm bullets. But if you look at the weight of those bullets, they used 7 different bullet weights. 9 shooters used Berger bullets and 3 used Hornady bullets. The weight of the bullets run from 130 gr to 156 gr. That seems like a big difference, but then again 8 shooters used between 140 gr and 153.5 gr. so maybe its not. One of the reasons for using the 153 gr bullets is to see hits, are their others?
On the 6.5mm Bullet BC Comparison chart it states the BC, Weight and BC/Weight Ratio. Can you please explain why someone would want to know the BC/Weight Ratio?
Thank you
Paul Goggan
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Paul. I noticed the same thing about the 6.5mm bullets used. That is a pretty wide range of bullet weights. And sorry for my delay in responding. You asked a good question, so I wanted to put a little time into my response and run some calculations.
You’re right that the heavier bullet carries more energy and makes it easier to spot your own impacts. I ran the ballistics on a 6.5 Creedmoor shooting a Berger 140 Hybrid vs a Berger 153.5 LRHT, and the 153.5 has 14% more energy at 1000 yards. So it’s not like it’s double the energy, but 14% could be the difference in kicking up a little dirt or not seeing anything on a wet berm.
The other reason is the heavier bullets almost always have a higher BC, which gives you a little more error in your wind budget. The difference isn’t dramatic, but over hundreds of rounds the difference might result in a couple of edge hits with the higher BC that might have resulted in a miss just off the edge with the lower BC bullet. We aren’t perfect wind callers (or trigger pullers), so there will be a time at virtually every match when the wind picks up 2-3 mph and we didn’t notice it, and that is when the higher BC bullet might keep that shot on the plate, where the lower BC bullet might be blown just off plate. Again, the differences in BC don’t have to be dramatic to make that happen. I’m also not trying to say it will happen a lot. But, the statistics would say that it will happen over a lot of rounds.
I ran the Applied Ballistics Weapon Employment Zone (WEZ) analysis on that same scenario: 6.5 Creedmoor shooting a Berger 140 Hybrid vs a Berger 153.5 LRHT. I kept the muzzle energy the same, which means the chamber pressure should be roughly the same (a trick Bryan Litz taught me for more apples-to-apples bullet comparison). I ran the 153.5 LRHT at 2650 fps, since that is around the average of what these shooters were running. I then looked at the energy at the muzzle that bullet and velocity created (2394 ft-lbs), and figured out what velocity you could push that 140 Hybrid at to get a similar energy at the muzzle. That turned out to be 2770 fps. It makes sense that you should be able to run the lighter bullet faster, so that is basically how I accounted for that.
Then I said both rifles could shoot 0.3 MOA, and entered all the standard uncertainties, like knowing your range within +/- 1 yard, using ammo with a muzzle velocity SD of 5 fps, etc. Finally, I set the wind uncertainty to 1 mph. That is basically the SD of the shooter’s ability to call the wind correctly. 1 mph means you are an elite wind caller and can call the actual wind within +/- 1 mph 68% of the time, and within +/- 2 mph 95% of the time. Here are the results of running that simulation 1000 times on a 10″ circle at 800 yards:
So you can see the 153.5 LRHT bullet has a 4% higher hit probability at that distance than the 140 Hybrid. If a match has 200 shots, then that might mean we could hit 8 more targets. Now, a 10″ target at 800 yards is a 0.35 mil wide target, which on the smaller side of what you will see at matches, but is still realistic. I measured a couple of targets at every single match I went to this year that were around that size. And this kind of simulation assumes you did everything else perfect on all 1000 shots. So maybe you wouldn’t hit 8 more targets at a match, but there is at least a pretty good probability that it could result in more than 1 or 2. 51% of pro-series PRS matches in 2024 were won by 2 points or less! So that very small difference in BC could be the difference in winning a match and receiving 100 PRS points towards your season score or taking home the 2nd place trophy.
I don’t want to blow that part out of proportion. Most shooters aren’t trying to get those last 1 or 2 shots that might make the difference, because they likely drop 10-15 points at a two-day match because of mental mistakes and another 10-15 points from timing out on stages. But, a higher BC might still result in a couple more hits for them over the course of two days. It just would be lost in the noise of those other sources of misses.
So, I’d say the higher energy to spot impacts and then the BC thing especially related to giving you more budget to handle those unexpected wind gusts are probably the two biggest advantages to using one of those heavier bullets.
The only advantage to a lighter bullet is really range uncertainty. If you don’t have time to double check the exact range to each target, then that Berger 130 Hybrid is a great bullet. It’s much flatter shooting at most distances you’ll find yourself engaging at a rifle match or hunting. I have used a lot of those Berger 130 Hybrid bullets over the years when I was in those kinds of scenarios. But, in a PRS match you always have time to range the targets to try to get that range uncertainty down to +/- 1 yard the majority of the time … so there isn’t any meaningful advantage to a lighter bullet in these kinds of matches.
If anyone knows of another reason I missed for one or the other, please chime in.
Thanks,
Cal
is there any argument for using lighter bullets @ slower speeds in the non-pro realm
For the advantage of watching trace and seeing hits and misses, with reduced recoil, 6.5 130 gr @ <2800fps ??
(realizing the wind-defeating heavies are best)
Hey, Bill. That could theoretically be an advantage, but I’ve never heard any serious competitors say that was their strategy. Most guys run lighter bullets faster, but if you didn’t do that then you should have reduced recoil and maybe that would make it easier to stay on target. I’d say most of the pro shooters I know don’t watch for trace as much as people tend to talk about it. Even the top 10 guys that I’m friends with primarily watch for the bullet impact. They’d only “sell out for trace” on targets that might be skylined or if they miss there was be zero feedback. If it were me, I think I’d run a heavier bullet slow and get a really effective muzzle brake and really heavy barrel and make the entire rifle weigh around 23-25 lbs … and I think that gives you the best odds of spotting your impacts. But then again, I’m thinking about it from a competition perspective, but I think that is what I’d do and what most of these pros are doing. The only guy running a 6.5 130 gr bullet in this group was using a gas gun (AR). The Berger 130 gr AR Hybrid is designed to feed smoothly from a gas gun, so I bet that’s why he opted for that.
Hope that helps!
Cal