What is the best low recoil, flat shooting round for punching paper?

It would also be nice if I could use it for long range varminting. I'm sure all the rounds will cover this, but just to put it out there.
 
If you're just punching paper, you don't need to worry about the "flat shooting" aspect.

Pick a "low recoiling" cartridge, and call it a day.
 
Brass for .270 wsm won't be very cheap, and either one will probably have a little more recoil than you will want to shoot all day.

Pick a "low recoiling" cartridge, and call it a day.
I agree, as long as its not something you plan on shooting up near or past 4000fps with. .222 rem or .22 hornet are decent alternatives in the .224 caliber bullet.
 
FrankenMauser, the reason I want a flat shooting round is so I can varmint hunt with it. I'm not very good at range estimation, and I'm not going to spend money on a range finder any time soon...
 
The more I think about it...

The more I think about this thread, the more appealing the 6.5 Grendel becomes. As I stated before, it was designed for the AR-15 platform which constrains it to a lower pressures. The 6.5 Grendel has 8.9 ft/lbs of recoil when you are shooting a 120 grain bullet at 2,600 fps. That is very low recoil. Lapua, Hornady, and Nosler (Nosler start making brass this summer) make brass for this cartridge. Lapua and Hornady also make 6.5 mm 123 grain high BC bullets for cartridges like the Grendel.

This would be my choice for a low recoil gun out to 600 meters.
 
Listen to kraigwy, he knows about that which he speaks.;)

As far as "flat-shooting" because you're not good at range estimation and you want to shoot past 500 yards....

The only thing flat enough to make hits on varmint sized critters when guessing ranges at 500 plus, is a laser.

And I'm not kidding.

Run some numbers in a ballistics calculator. Even with ULTRA-flat shooting VLD, heavy for caliber bullets, like a 106gr .243AI loaded HOT at 3,340fps, not a load for the inexperienced or faint-of-heart, a misread distance of 30 yards is 4 or 5 inches. To guess within 30 yards at 500+ you'd have to be REALLY good, like trained and professional. If you're "not very good", which 95% of us aren't, no amount of "flat-shooting" will make up for it.

Besides that, you can get a pretty decent range finder for about $110. Well, well worth the money.
 
Yes kraigwy knows what he is speaking about. However, does the OP reload? If he doesn't who makes an 87 grain Berger load for the .243 Win outside of custom ammunition? If the OP doesn't reload I'm pretty sure that bullet and others similar in performance will be unavailable in commercial ammunition.

Second get a range finder if you want to shoot to 500 yards and beyond or you'll have to stick with shooting at a rifle range with the ranges clearly marked. The maximum point blank range on a 6" target with a .243 will be around 300 yards using kraigwy's load with Berger bullets at 3000 fps. After that you are going to have to utilize holdover techniques or turn the knobs on your scope to dial in the range.
 
Sounds like I better start saving up for a range finder!

How is the .25-06? For some reason, my local gun shop always has at least 2 boxes in stock, even though I've never seen anyone buy it. Is that comparable to the .243?
 
The .25-06 shoots just as flat as the .243 with similar, but slightly more recoil. Bullet weights range from 75-120 gr. and it flies about 300 fps faster give or take a few, if comparing bullets of the same weight. You may get a little more barrel life from the '06 but its a bit of a barrel burner as well.(around 4000 rounds average) Factory ammo isn't the cheapest but if you reload for it, the cartridge really comes to life and its super easy to find brass since .270, .280, and 30-06 can be used when re-sized to .257. 24-26" barrels see the best velocity, but I own one with a 22" that shoots very well, although I've never checked it with a chrony to see how much speed I'm losing. Id say about 80-100 fps less than a 24"

I'm experimenting with loads for my 25-06 right now using 100gr Nosler ballistic tips over IMR 4831.

While its my favorite deer cartridge, it would not be my first choice for a dedicated target shooting rifle. But it would work
 
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What about the .280 Rem?

I was doing so research on the Winchester ballistics calculator (Get yours now for Apple and Android!:D) and I found out that about of all the carriages on the app, the only cartridges that shoot flatter and with less wind drift than the .280 Rem in 140 grain ballistic silver tip were light 7mm Mag and 7mm WSM loads.

Why have I never heard about this? Has anyone? Is it just really rare?

Thanks,
Ken B.
 
Target rifle

I would get a Savage in .25-06 with a good scope. Its a sort of compromise but gets you in the door and started down the right path. Your next rifle will be what you want and the Savage will be easy to trade/sell to fund you at the next level.
 
F23Blackwidow2 said:
I was doing so research on the Winchester ballistics calculator (Get yours now for Apple and Android!) and I found out that about of all the carriages on the app, the only cartridges that shoot flatter and with less wind drift than the .280 Rem in 140 grain ballistic silver tip were light 7mm Mag and 7mm WSM loads.

Why have I never heard about this? Has anyone? Is it just really rare?

Mind you, that is with only Winchester bullets and loaded only how Winchester happens to load them.

The .280 Rem is not all that rare. It's not like .243 common but it's out there.
 
Well one rifle that might fit the bill is the Savage M-25 in the 5.45X39 Russian round.
This ammo is WAY more than it was before the Sandy Hook shooting, but it’s still only about .30 cents a round and you can't reload anything else on the market for much less than that.
 
.270 win is fairly flat shooting with 130 and 150 grain bullets. If you use lighter 83-110gr 6.8mm bullets, with a hot load, you can achieve even more flatness. Even the lightest 6.8mm BT rounds have decent BC's
 
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