What calibre small arms ammunition has the highest muzzle velocity?
According to the site linked below (and I haven’t checked out the research myself so take it with a grain of salt), the 22-250 Remington has the highest at 3,750 feet per second. Some close contenders are the 6mm Remington (3,470 FPS) and 25-06 Remington (3,440 FPS). For comparison the .50 BMG only achieves a 3,044 FPS velocity, and the 5.56 round gets around 3,330 FPS. My personal favourite, the .40 SW, clocks in at a measly 1,205 FPS. If you’re looking for damage potential, please keep in mind that these fast rounds are sometimes much lighter, and go faster simply because of their weight. Edit- Wildcat cartridges (rare or non-standard cartridges) of course have these factory loads beat, and some would still consider cartridges like the 22-250 a wildcat round.
