flounder33

A friend of mine and I were having this discussion.
Two bullets are fired at a target 150 yards away. There is a crosswind blowing at 30 mph. One bullet is a 495 grain conical which has a muzzle velocity of 1400 fps. The other bullet is a light pointy bullet of 200 grains with a muzzle velocity of 2000 fps.
I think that a heavy conical would be less affected by the wind because of the greater inertia of that heavy load.
He thinks the lighter bullet would be less affected because of the greater velocity.
What do you think and why?

Gm54-120

50-495gr 1400fps and 30mph@600ft=19.01" of drift BC estimated at about .278

Assuming the 200gr is a 40cal SST with Hornady's rated .265 BC (pretty high IMO)
40-200gr SST 2000fps and 30mph@600ft=15.1" of drift
40-200gr XTP HP with a rated .199 BC =20.23" of drift

45-200gr FTX@2000fps is more like 27" of drift with Hornady's rated .151 BC.

http://www.handloads.com/calc/

Other variables may change these numbers.

Muley Hunter

Those are extremes. The best would probably be something in the middle.

A 300 gr slick fast bullet. Thor?

MountainDevil54

heavier bullets are less affected by wind. Thats why when the mountain men went west, they used a heavier ball not only due to the bigger game, but due to the longer distances shot. Wind blows the lighter weight bullets off course faster.

A copy paste off of wikipedia.
Wind

Wind has a range of effects, the first being the effect of making the bullet deviate to the side. From a scientific perspective, the "wind pushing on the side of the bullet" is not what causes wind drift. What causes wind drift is drag. Drag makes the bullet turn into the wind, keeping the centre of air pressure on its nose. This causes the nose to be ****ed (from your perspective) into the wind, the base is ****ed (from your perspective) "downwind." So, (again from your perspective), the drag is pushing the bullet downwind making bullets follow the wind.
A somewhat less obvious effect is caused by head or tailwinds. A headwind will slightly increase the relative velocity of the projectile, and increase drag and the corresponding drop. A tailwind will reduce the drag and the bullet drop. In the real world pure head or tailwinds are rare, since wind seldom is constant in force and direction and normally interacts with the terrain it is blowing over. This often makes ultra long range shooting in head or tailwind conditions difficult.

flounder33

Gm54-120
That's an interesting program you linked to. I am truly surprised that the heavy bullets don't fare better.

Gm54-120

Change the bore to .451 and keep the other values the same and they do fair better. Sectional Density helps plow through whatever the resistance may be or where it may be coming from in relation to the bullets trajectory.

Those 451 Whites and big conicals slam hard even past 200 yards with a relatively low muzzle velocity.

lemoyne

Weight is not the only consideration. The BC of a bullet not only determines the drop but also the wind drift and if two bullets with the same or close to the same have a major difference in velocity the slowest one is in the air being affected by the wind much longer. The 50/40 200gr Shock Wave with a BC of 265 and a SD of 179 is a very good hunting bullet a lot of us like the 50/40 200 gr bullet which there are several to chose from. Now I do not recommend this load especially for any one shooting something other than an Encore or a Knight. With my Endeavor and a load of 140gr of Blackhorn I clock close to 2350.
I sight in at a "0" of 170 yards I am 2.5 inches high at 100yards and 2.5 inches low at 200 yds since I do not hunt in a wind stronger than 20 mi I figure my wind drift at that speed, 100 yds drift is 3.25 200 yds wind drift is 15 inches.
I consider any thing with in 3 inches pointblank. I try very hard to use hunting skill to get close rather than shooting long distance because of the time factor. If a deer has time to take one step before the bullet gets there it can turn a good double lung shot into a gut shot.

Muley Hunter

I find getting closer is easier for me than trying to figure out where the bullet is going at long distances.

Must be old age.

Semisane

Aw Muley, that's just BS. We all know you don't shoot at long distances `cause at 100 yards your eyes can't tell the difference between a moose and a SUV.

sabotloader

Flounder, velocity is a big equalizer... Consider shooting that 200 grain bullet @ 2300 fps as I am with 120 T7 and the factor changes more.

The 300 grain bullet was suggested also.. You might be surprised when you comput that with @ 1950 fps, even with a lower BC. Deep Curl is .233 but most other than pointy bullets would be in the area of .200 -.220.

Plus the velocity helps keep the FPE up there with those heavy connicals...