The Kings Armoury Articles

Rifle Ballistics Summary

This ballistics summary includes only the most common calibers.

There are dozens of loads for any given bullet weight in any cartridge that will produce different velocity and energy figures. And different rifles seldom produce identical performance, even with the same load. So the figures in any ballistics table should be taken as approximate. Never-the-less, the table below gives a reasonably accurate comparison of the basic ballistics of most popular rifle cartridges.

The velocity and energy figures in this table are taken from various sources including the Federal, Remington, Weatherby and Winchester ammunition guides and the 9th Edition of the book Cartridges of the World by Frank C. Barnes and edited by M.L. McPherson.

In the table below bullet weight is given in grains, velocity is given in feet per second (fps) and energy is given in foot pounds (ft lb). General abbreviations used below are: MV (muzzle velocity), ME (muzzle energy), V (velocity), E (energy), yds (yards), Wb (weight of bullet). Abbreviations of bullet types are: SP (spire point), Sp (spitzer), BT (boat tail), HP (hollow point), FP (flat point), RN (round nose).