A buddy of mine would like to purchase a rifle to take advantage of the new straight-walled cartridge hunting law in Ohio. He wants to be able to reach out to a max of 325 yards to take down whitetail deer with minimal drop in elevation. I told him that might be a problem with the following list of Ohio approved cartridges:

.357 Magnum, .357 Maximum, .38 Special, .375 Super Magnum, .375 Winchester, .38-55, .41 Long Colt, .41 Magnum, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, .444 Marlin, .45 ACP, .45 Colt, .45 Long Colt, .45 Winchester Magnum, .45 Smith & Wesson, .454 Casull, .460 Smith & Wesson, .45-70, .45-90, .45-110, .475 Linebaugh, .50-70, .50-90, .50-100, .50-110 and .500 Smith & Wesson.


From this list I'm guessing a .45-70 might be the best choice? I really don't know much about the above calibers. Opinions?

I would go with the 45/70... commonly available, uses similar powders compatible with .223 and .308, and can be very accurate at longer range.

But... even with reloads it really doesn't shoot all that flat.



That is one of the higher BC bullets I could think of.

I would suggest that the pistol calibres would really not be viable for the sort of range you are talking about.  

You missed out .38-55 which might also be a possibility.  

Of the rifle calibres you list, the .45-70 is probably the most popular, and therefore easiest to find loads, cases etc. for.  The longer old Sharps calibres (.45-90, .45-110, .50-90 etc.) will work, but you won't find brass for them everywhere.

Don't know anything about .444 Marlin or .454 Casull.

454 or 460 out of those calibers, although 45-70 is a great caliber it does have its fair share of drop.

Those two pistol rounds (460 esp) are high velocity and should minimize drop (as much as possible). Both are very expensive though.

The 460 and 500 are pretty damn fast and flat for what they are. 45/70 can be decent with some loads but I have never run the numbers out that far against the 460/500.

Either way that's a long shot for those rounds if drop is his primary concern.

This technology may yet prove to be the savior of big fat slow bullets:

http://www.burrisoptics.com/eliminatorIII.html

Perfect!!!!!

Big fat scope for big fat bullets

.45-70 rifle and some sabots.

Link

Integrated laser rangefinder that automagically calculates bullet drop & moves the red dot down to compensate for range.

It has to be one of the listed calibers if he's using a rifle.  450 Bushmaster is not an option for a rifle, he could use that with an AR15 pistol I guess.

A pistol can be used if it's any straight walled caliber .357 or larger...

It's pretty clear the intention is really to just allow lever/pump action rifles.

.500 S&W does about 2,000 FPS from a pistol, it would be moving from a rifle.  Not a lot rifles chambered for it though.

45-70 is probably the best bet.

Oh I am very familiar with them. They are giant and heavy and ruin a otherwise sleek light rifle.

The technology is impressive though. Have shot them and they work as advertised.

Yeah, they're not light or small.  But as they improve the technology, it'll get smaller & lighter.  The history of military calibers in the 20th Century is mostly about moving to lighter faster bullets so less and less range estimation is needed by the draftee.  This technology obviates the need for range estimation, and hence, light fast bullets.  It's not perfect yet by any means, but for some hunting, it looks like it works.

There's always .475 NE....just saying...

Not in Ohio...

I would go 45-70 . It can easily do 325+ yards and has a ton of data available