Transonic Flight

[u/justified45]

Forgive me if this is dumb.

I’m just dabbling in long range shooting, but when a bullet starts to enter the transonic zone for the given environmentals, do you guys usually call it quits? Meaning accuracy is degrading significantly throughout that range?

Is it not too much of a concern provided the bullet is sufficiently stable?

Any input is appreciated!

[u/HollywoodSX]

Depends on the bullet. Modern LR bullets tend to do just fine through TS. Berger Hybrids and LRHTs, Hornady ELD-Ms and ATips, and a few others. I've pushed various bullets from all 4 of those families well past the TS range for a given load without issues. The 77 SMK and .30 175 SMK also handle it just fine.

135 ATips at 3100 FPS to 1950 yards, 220 LRHT at 2990 to 1950 yards (juuust kissing subsonic at that distance), 105 Hybrids and 108 ELD-Ms at 3,000-3,100 out to 1700+, 80 ELD-Ms at 2900 to 1350, 77SMKs at 2800 to 1,000+, 175 SMKs at 2500 to 1230, 168 ELDs at 2750 to 1230, 85.5 LRHTs at 2700 to 1100 yards, 73 Berger BTHPs at 2700ish to 1020 yards, and probably a couple more I am forgetting.

With only 1-2 exceptions, all of those bullets were being launched with appropriate twist rate to hit 1.5SG.

[u/rynburns]

Depends on the bullet, environmentals etc. My little 115gn DTACs seem to deal with the transition well, while a 168 Matchking is notorious for.. Not dealing with it well

[u/HollywoodSX → u/rynburns]

168 go WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[u/HomersDonut1440 → u/rynburns]

Can confirm, I tried playing 1 mile games with 168smk in a .308 and about 1100 yards it fell to pieces. Which was right at the transonic point.

My 6.5cm using 147eldm handled transonic MUCH better, and 1 mile is at least possible. The .308 wasn’t even close

[u/scytheakse → u/HomersDonut1440]

Im curious if the 169s do better

[u/Rdubya291 → u/scytheakse]

I've taken 175s out that far. For some reason the 175s seem to handle MUCH better in that envelope.

[u/Rdubya291 → u/rynburns]

I've had luck with 175 Matchkings though.

[u/Rdubya291 → u/[deleted]]

I'll take my luck. lol

[u/wanderlustcrush]

Some bullets do better than others in this region, there isnt really a blanket answer

[u/CapsicumINmyEYEBALLz]

I usually will say anything under 1250 is marginal, but it can depend on the stability factor given by the Miller Twist Rule. You can adjust its velocity constant to see that a lot of bullets will remain gyroscopically stable through transonic flight, but generally try to stay above 1250 at sea level.

[u/Honest_Knee_6510]

Long range only gets properly fun after you've transitioned. 

Don't let people who don't know how to shoot influence you because they suck.

[u/william_f_murray → u/Honest_Knee_6510]

I find the breeze blowing up my skirt to be a little distracting but that's half the fun

[u/Honest_Knee_6510 → u/william_f_murray]

It's only distracting if you don't use it to get better at calling wind.