Whiskey11
Member
Hey, welcome to THR from another person in Nebraska!
.308 is a really good caliber to get into PRS. Most will argue otherwise, but cost (overall), performance and longevity make it one of the most versatile cartridges in use today. Load data is extremely easy to find, powder choice is extremely broad, and it is a 1000 yard capable round with the right pills going down the tube.
I may catch some flack for this, but I really think a 20" barrel is hurting your long range dreams more than you might imagine. One of the hardest parts of long range .308 shooting is wind drift and bullet drop. Chopping off 4" hurts your velocity so much that you'll have to run higher pressures and use more components to hit 1000 yards. A 175gr Sierra MatchKing needs about 2550 FPS to hit 1000 yards supersonic. Heavier bullets will need more umphf behind them to get them to 1000 without insane amounts of drop.
Barrel stiffness, ehh, if you are really serious, you'll be swapping barrels to something more rigid anyway and what changes in barrel stiffness between lengths will be more than made up for by a higher quality barrel.
.308 is a really good caliber to get into PRS. Most will argue otherwise, but cost (overall), performance and longevity make it one of the most versatile cartridges in use today. Load data is extremely easy to find, powder choice is extremely broad, and it is a 1000 yard capable round with the right pills going down the tube.
I may catch some flack for this, but I really think a 20" barrel is hurting your long range dreams more than you might imagine. One of the hardest parts of long range .308 shooting is wind drift and bullet drop. Chopping off 4" hurts your velocity so much that you'll have to run higher pressures and use more components to hit 1000 yards. A 175gr Sierra MatchKing needs about 2550 FPS to hit 1000 yards supersonic. Heavier bullets will need more umphf behind them to get them to 1000 without insane amounts of drop.
Barrel stiffness, ehh, if you are really serious, you'll be swapping barrels to something more rigid anyway and what changes in barrel stiffness between lengths will be more than made up for by a higher quality barrel.