Caliber for 300-1000 yard Large Game Rifle

Agreed with above posters. Start by blowing up milk jugs and groundhogs at 400.

I don't think I've ever seen a deer at 1000 yards.

HB

One suggestion regarding bullet weight. The big advantage of the .300 mags it their ability to throw heavy for caliber bullets at meaningful velocity. If you study the ballistic charts you will see that the heavy bullets outdo the lighter slugs at extended ranges. So for the .300 magnums, I would go with 180 grain or even 200 grain slugs.

Funny, you asked for comments from those that have experience and when they tell you that it's unethical to attempt a kill at 1000 yards you call them judgemental. I've shot long range for quite a while and I like to hunt large game. I've lived and hunted in Arizona, Utah, and now Montana and I'll tell you that shooting game at long range in the mountains is simply stupid. Sure you can sit and watch an animal for a long while, you can shoot multiple times at him until you get lucky and hit him, but when you do it may take you several hours to get to where he was and by that time he'll be long gone if you only wounded him, which is more probable than you having made a kill shot. The wind is the true spoiler for long range shots and in the mountains the wind changes all the time, not to mention that shooting up or downhill will require adjusting your point of aim, so if you know the range you still have to adjust for the wind and shot angle.

I'm not being judgemental, I'm simply telling you that from my experience I know for a fact that it's not ethical or reasonable to make these long range shots at game, it's simply a stunt that people do to make themselves the center of attention.

No, you have totally missed McGrumpys point.

It takes a while for a bullet to fly 1,000 yards.
In the mean time, the game can take one step and you will hit it in the gut instead of the chest.

Then it will run off and die somewhere else in a day or two.

But even if you kill it DRT?

By the time you hike down one side of a canyon and up the other to where you think you shot it??

You won't have a single clue what you are looking at when you get there.

So again, the animal will be buzzard food more then likely.

Hunting at 1,000 yards is neither ethical, sporting, or wise.

And I don't care who ya are!!

rc

Looking at the Speer ballistics chart, a .300 Win Mag bullet will be down to the muzzle velocity of a .30-06 in 100-150 yards. So that is how much range advantage the magnum has. You can learn a lot with your '06 before you have to buy a magnum.

600 yards is difficult shooting. But farther than that is a whole new ballgame.

Around here, a trip out west to hunt and a kill at 400+ yards gets you bragging rights.

A friend took several successful hunters out to a surveyed range. They did ok to 300 yards but after that, results were erratic. Nothing you would want to count on for a clean kill.

I wish folks who talk about long range hunting would put down the laptop, go outside and step off 1,000 yards. i think there would be fewer of these threads.

You got to realize that if you ever took a shot on an animal at, 600, 800 or 1,000 yards, and after you get to where you think you shot it, the the real work begins when you have to start tracking it. There's a lot more to hunting than pulling a trigger

I wish people would quit with the assumption that a miss is any more a miss because it was at some magical distance. If you've hunted the mountains much you'll understand that knowing where you are on that mountain is at least as important as the distance away from target. A bad hit at 50 yds with the animal on the edge of a gorge could be much worse for all concerned than one on a open hillside where a follow-up is possible and a road exists at the bottom.
I'd say the same goes for locating after the shot, there are simple methods that can put the hunter in his targets tracks from any distance.

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Fair enough X-Rap.

The OP asked for "practical" feedback. I believe most experienced hunters would say that a shot taken under nominal conditions has a greater chance of hitting it's target the close it is to the hunter. But as you say, a bad shot is a bad shot. No arguing that. I think it's also hard to argue that the margin for error decreases as your distance increases.

The kind of hunting you're talking about requires skill, experience and knowledge of your terrain. You don't get that on internet forums or at the gun counter at Cabelas. You get that in the field. Hence, my suggestion, go outside and walk off 1,000 yards and realize just how far a shot that is.

The issue is that the odds are far better for a miss than a hit when the range increases, and what's more, the probability of a miss increases exponentially as the range increases. It's way more than twice as hard to hit at 800 yards than 400 yards and far harder to hit at 1000 than 500. I'm a retired Marine and I earned my Expert marksmanship designation almost every year partly by being able to hit silhouette targets at 500 yards/meters and I have made hits on 20" targets out to 1100 yards with my M14 style rifle so I know what it takes to make a kill shot at realistic targets at that range and I can tell you that no matter how good you are you are going to need a little luck do it consistently.

The reality is that people get their feelings hurt when they hear things that they don't want to hear. Even snipers avoid long range shots because they know that the chances of wounding the target rather than killing it is far greater. Can a kill shot be done at long range? Absolutely. Should a kill shot be taken at long range? Not if you can avoid it, why take a chance of missing when you can almost guarantee a kill at shorter range. It's a matter of practicality.

The sport is called "hunting", not killing.

I've had a 100-yard range at my home since the late 1960s. From 1983 to 2013, the bench rest was on my front porch. Around 1997 I added a 500-yard range to the playground.

My first time to try 500, I was zeroed at 200. So, per the book, that was four feet of holdover for my '06. Next problem: Wind.

I was lucky in my assessment of the "breeze". I held about two feet left of center on the plate. I was nearly right on my guesstimation of four feet over.

First shot, five inches low at 6 o'clock and 1/2" right. Second shot, one inch low and centered.

That justified a smug feeling and retirement to the refrigerator for a Shiner Bock.

In previous years I'd had one one-shot kill at 450 and similarly at 350, long before laser range-finders. No way on God's green earth am I confident of proper hits much beyond those.

I like one-shot DRTs.

It all boils down to the shooter. I've known guys who would take standing shots under pressure that they

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Hadn't practiced for and others who are meticulous with their conditioning, preparation.

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Nature Boy is right! If most longrange wantabes paced off 1000yds they would realize just how difficult a shot it is. Now to make that shot consistantly one needs very good rifle, optic, ammo & range finder. I killed adeer at 1185yds with a Sako TRG 338 Lapua, which had an Elite Iron suppressor on it,topped with a Nightforce ACTAR. This setup is sited in at 100yds with 300gr handloads. Data is entered into a Ballistic program with info such as bullit BC, barrel twist and alot of other stuff. Then the setup is taken out and shot at 300,500,&800yds for real world drop and the Ballistic program is checked and adjusted as needed. So now the setup is ready to shoot 1000yds but is worthless without a very good rangefinder which for me is a Vectronics plrf 15, as the corrcet range is criticle. With this set up you range the target, check your ballistic program, dial up the proper setting on the scope, adjust or dial for wind then put your crosshairs where you want the bullit to hit, pull trigger! The drop for the bullit is 278", wind drift with 10 mph cross wind is 53.7", hang time is 1.392 seconds. This is the way to shoot 1000yds consistantly and yes it's expensive.

I love Shiner Bock. Nothing finer than a cold Shiner.

Keep in mind that per John Plaster's Ultimate Sniper book, if you had a very generous 36 inch stride and walked one step per second, it would take 16 1/2 minutes to walk 1000 yards.

A. Long. Way.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

I got a sweet deal (I hope, havn't shot it yet) on a like-new Brown. A-Bolt Stainless Stalker with built in BOSS. Got it, w/ a Bushnell Banner 4x12x40 scope (which I have already replaced for now w/ a Viper Vortex 3.5X10X50 that I bought on sale previously and had available) hard case, sling and a box of winchester 150 grn. ammo all for $500. It has a sweet trigger, and I think it may be the A-Bolt 2 actually, based on its having a sleeve over part of the bolt that dose not move when the bolt is raised.

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That rifle is pretty light, generally speaking. A heavier rifle would be more stable, and absorb more recoil. If you find it isn't working for you, I'd look into a M700 Police in 300WM. The weight gain would be worth it. Prob top out at 11 pounds of so, scoped. That will absorb more of that recoil.

My 30-06 is prob pushing 12 lbs, not at all bad to run 20-30 rounds through it in a session.

On one of the last elk hunts I made, I had this opportunity:





I lasered the bulls across the head of a canyon at 514 yds. Due to the terrain and the likelihood of other bulls between me and those pictured, I decided a stalk wouldn't be wise. And although I had a drop chart taped the stock and knew much how much to hold over, I decided against the shot, but was thrilled with the opportunity to snap a few photos.

A short time later the two bulls drifted off, ironically in far less time than it would've taken me to stalk them. Shortly after they disappeared in the timber I was rewarded the bull I described having taken in Post #18.



Although at the time I was actively competing in High Power competition and was very adept in the use of a sling, the shot at a little over 350 yds. was by no means easy. I still remember the crosshairs waving over his right shoulder as I squeezed the trigger.

Moral of the story: focus on the hunt and shooting efficiently at reasonable ranges rather than planning on insanely long shots.

35W

damn...35W that one deserved a few Shiners.


and truth be told last time I even thought about 1000 yard shots it was either at something with a tripod or I was shooting a 120mm.

.338 Laupa would be the way to go.

300 gr bullet at 2700 fps.

Deaf

And even with all the experience noted in the example above, I am struck by the flight time of 1.4 seconds. Anyone who has hunted much knows that a animal could move quite a bit in 1.4 seconds. Tough, tough gig.

wind drift with 10 mph cross wind is 53.7",

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And mis judge wind speed by a mile or 2 per hour and direction over the entire 1000yd flight and you have? ....
A miss or wounded animal

No offense meant, but not one man in 10,000 is capable of making a clean kill at 1,000 yards -- and that man knows how iffy such a shot is, and would ethically refuse to take such a shot.

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Absolutely agree. The rifle and ammo must be as capable as the man/woman. A rifle that shoots 1 MOA, only groups to 10 inches or so at 1000 yards. That is assuming you have doped the wind perfectly and have a perfectly still hold.

Your average man shooting your average off the shelf rifle and scope couldn’t see an oil drum at 1000 yards much less hit it.

A couple of my shooting buds have precision rifles (300 Win Mag) with high power, high dollar scopes. With custom hand loads tailored for the rifle, they hit 2x2’ steel plates at 1400 yards. Bullets are 208 Amax and 210 Berger’s. It usually takes 3 or 4 shots to get it dialed in. And the is after doping it up with our ballistics programs.

We paint the steel bright white but you still can’t see it without magnification. I have a custom 7mm Mag built on a Rem 700 action. It shoots sub .5 MOA but I have yet to need to shoot anything over 400 yards. I have hunted all over the USA for the past 40 years.

The first time I ever looked at a target at 1000 yards, I was truly amazed at just how far it was. Still fun as all heck to lob them way out there!

10 consecutive shots (two groups) with my 7mm. Kept the first 9 at about .5”. Tenth shot flew out.

What brand of 120mm do you suggest?

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Given his forum name, I'm going to go out on a limb and say The Rheinmetall 120 mm smooth bore

Killing game is fun (that's why we go hunting), but just sitting quietly watching a herd of cows pass by, or a lone bull graze or a couple of bulls spar as in the above picture, without them knowing you're there is simply priceless. Most don't realize just how much there is to be learned by doing nothing more than just watching and listening.

35W