Check the energy your load carries.

Your projectile. Your responsibility.

These are recommended minimums, not guarantees. The hunter is responsible for selecting a suitable projectile, verifying its performance at the expected impact velocity, and deciding whether to follow these recommendations. Meeting a minimum does not establish an ethical shooting distance.

What to enter

Choose the exact projectile from the bullet catalog or enter its weight, ballistic coefficient, and G1 or G7 drag model. Add muzzle velocity from your rifle and altitude. Temperature defaults to 65 F and humidity to 50%; you can change both. Station pressure is calculated from altitude.

The bullet catalog includes target bullets as well as hunting bullets. A catalog entry does not verify that a projectile is suitable for your animal or shot.

Recommended minimums you can change

Species presets use the North American table in One Outdoors' caliber-by-species chart. They are published reference recommendations, not universal biological cutoffs or legal requirements. Select the species, then edit the energy minimum if you want a different reference.

You can also enter the minimum impact velocity specified by the manufacturer for your exact bullet. If you leave that field blank, the tool checks energy only. It does not assume the bullet will expand at that velocity.

Bullet construction and impact velocity affect expansion and penetration. See Hornady's terminal ballistics explanation for context. No single energy figure covers all bullet designs or field situations.

Read the comparison

Red rows and an asterisk (*) flag a value below either selected minimum. The reference range is the last one-yard sample meeting your chosen minimum. The readable table shows rows every 25 yards.

If a limit is not crossed by 1,000 yards, the tool says so. That does not mean your hunting range is 1,000 yards, or that the load meets the reference beyond the calculated table. “Within limits” is only a numeric comparison.

Use the same reference on a purchased tape

Turn on hunting reference marks in the tape's appearance settings. Distances below your chosen energy or velocity minimum are shown in red with an asterisk. Your included purchased-load drop chart uses the same saved limits, actual sight height, and conditions. These options are off by default and do not change your ballistic inputs.

Live-fire verification, shot placement, wind, field conditions, and the rules where you hunt still matter. The decision to shoot remains yours.

Browse the free tools, make a printable drop chart, or read the ballistics input guide.