300 wsm Ballistics help

razorrt5

Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2022
Messages
19
Hey all, Hoping someone would have a good answer for me about some mid-range ballistics.

Situation: I'm shooting a Savage 110 Ultralite 300wsm (1:10 twist) with a Omega300 sup. and pairing that with Federal Terminal accent 200gr. I've chrono'd my rifle and averaging 2804 ft./sec. (ammo box states 2810) using both the Hornady ballistics app and the vortex LR calculator to get a dope but the calculation results are not correct. see below for calc

Hornady Ballistics calculator (Vortex calcs within .1 MOA)
100yd - 0 MOA
200yd - 1.31 MOA
300yd - 3.51 MOA
400yd - 6.09 MOA

But data from actual shooting at the range is telling me the following:
100yd - 0 MOA
200yd - .8 MOA
300yd - 1.65 MOA
400yd - 3 MOA

am I missing some big factor on the ballistic apps? I'm consistently hitting a 4" plate with a 3MOA adjustment when the calculators tell me 6+ MOA... I'd like to trust the app so that I can make adjustments in the field out to that 500-600 yard range. Thanks for your helpful knowledge in advance! - Ryan
 
I've chrono'd my rifle and averaging 2804 ft./sec.
How far was the chrono from your muzzle?

Is your scope height set right in the app?

Did you use the right Drag Function in the app?

When I see these discrepancies it usually means bad data was inputted somewhere. Bad in equals bad outputs.
 
How far was the chrono from your muzzle?

Is your scope height set right in the app?

Did you use the right Drag Function in the app?

When I see these discrepancies it usually means bad data was inputted somewhere. Bad in equals bad outputs.

Thanks for the response.

1. I was about 6-8' from the Chrono as suggested in the manual due to muzzle blast.
2. Scope height is 2.25"
3. Drag, using G1 at .608

I did double check and they are all set correctly. I fiddled around with the variables just for kicks and I would need to be at 3500ft/sec. to get near the same dope but that's clearly not the case
 
Id use a g7 bc, but you are getting discrepencies that dont quite add up. You wouldnt get close to that trajectory at 10000' elevation.

You might try a box test at 100 to confirm your scope is adjusting correctly.
 
Last edited:
The BC isn't going to make a ton of difference at 400 yards. I'd bet your zero is not perfect (a little high) and your actual velocity is a little higher and possibly your scope doesn't track correctly.

What kind of scope do you have?

How many shots and how big are your zero groups?

Also, 2.25" sight height seems off. I have high UM rings on my hunting rifle which gets the scope up higher than most hunting rifles out there and I'm below 1.8" height above bore. That isn't causing 2 MOA of error but you might as well get that right.

Down drafts, shooting a a steep angle and not compensating for that are other possible causes of error.

Probably shouldn't be shooting out to that 500-600 range at game.
 
Last edited:
Also, 2.25" sight height seems off. I have high UM rings on my hunting rifle which gets the scope up higher than most hunting rifles out there and I'm below 1.8" height above bore. That isn't causing 2 MOA of error but you might as well get that right.
Nailed it.

This is way off, 2.25” to the center of the scope is some extremely high rings. Are they see thru rings?
 
The BC isn't going to make a ton of difference at 400 yards. I'd bet your zero is not perfect (a little high) and your actual velocity is a little higher and possibly your scope doesn't track correctly.

What kind of scope do you have?

How many shots and how big are your zero groups?

Also, 2.25" sight height seems off. I have high UM rings on my hunting rifle which gets the scope up higher than most hunting rifles out there and I'm below 1.8" height above bore. That isn't causing 2 MOA of error but you might as well get that right.

Down drafts, shooting a a steep angle and not compensating for that are other possible causes of error.

Probably shouldn't be shooting out to that 500-600 range at game.

I'm using a Vortex Viper 6.5-20x50 BDC. I double-checked the scope height and it is correct at 2.25" from the middle of the barrel to the middle of the scope. I'm shooting 3 shot groups and my zeros are within a half dollar on or touching the bullseye. I've adjusted for elevation, temp in the calculators as well recalculated with G7 and the results are no different. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills lol
 
I would make sure you have a good zero. There is no way you're dialing a true 1.65 moa for 300. Something is wrong with your zero, scope, or rifle
 
Almost every rifle is going to be right around 3 moa for 300 yards give or take maybe .5 moa. I can guarantee you that 1.65 is not correct
 

Forum statistics

Threads
113,280
Messages
2,015,563
Members
36,085
Latest member
RandyM72
Back
Top