Long distance shooter

[spartanpride]

I've been wanting to get into long distance shooting, and was wondering the best set up. Right now I have a Remington 700 ADL in .308 stock except for I glass bedded it and did a trigger job. Optics wise I have an old Redfield 4 power.
So with that set up, usually the best I can do is to hit a milk jug at 600 yards, using my own 168 grain reloads. What are the limitations to the .308? Is it possible to shoot out to 1000 yards accurately with one?
I was thinking if the .308 has the capability that I could put a new heavy barrel with a higher twist rate, free float it, put like a 6-15 power Nightforce on it with the quick adjust turrets.
If not, what would you recomend for shooting out to 1000+ yards? What setup and cartridge would word the best (excluding those very expensive and hard to come by rounds that are useless except for on a car... you know what I mean)
Thanks

 

[Bobarino]

.308 is certainly capable of punching paper at 1,000 yards. (at least, i hope it is. i just built one for this purpose!) accuracy is dependent on the usual factors. quality of the barrel, action, ammo, optics and shooter.

sounds to me like if you want to get out to 1k with your gun, you may have to rebarrel it with a heavier and/or longer barrel, relieve the stock or get a new one, free float it and you should be good to go. in other words, use your action and build a 1k yard gun around it.

you may want to go with higher magnification than 15x for 1,000 yard shooting. i'm using 25x and find it to be just about right.

there are several 155 grain bullets that, when loaded to less than max pressure, still stay supersonic past 1k yards eliminating transonic instability problems, and they have nearly as good BC's as the 175 SMK's.

1:10 seems to be a pretty common twist rate for long range .308 being as it will stabilize the longer/heavier bullets like the 175's and 190's. mine is a 1:12 and seems to favor the 155 grain offerings.

 

[Bart B.]

You'll need a 29 or 30 inch barrel to shoot 155's fast enough to stay supersonic through 1000.

Shorter barrels do well with heavier bullets.

 

[spartanpride]

Thanks for the input fellas!

 

[spartanpride]

So what brand is top notch, one to get because if I'm doing this, I'm going to do it right, and all in!
Also what ballistics computers, calculators, or tables would work good for this, or a book or website to read so that I can learn how to calculate my adjustments when I'm trying to place a bullet on a melon at 1400 yards? What other modifications would you recomend, anything on the bolt or trigger?
Thanks again

 

[Bobarino]

you don't need that long a barrel for 155's to stay supersonic past 1k. Hornday's 155 A-Max's will do it from my 26" barrel at 2900 fps. the 155 Lapua Scenars are even better.

if it were me building, i'd get a Kreiger 26-28" barrel in .260 Remington to shoot that far. your action and bolt will work just fine since it's just .308 necked down or a .243 necked up, take your pick, either will work. then you have the advantage of using some of the super high BC 6.5mm bullets like the 139 grain Scenar. you can push it to 3,000 fps if you want and it'll have plenty of legs to reach 1k and beyond. you can send your barreled action off to kreiger, have them true it, square it, blueprint it, rebarrel it, then pick your favorite stock, optic and trigger and viola!

you can also use 6.5 Creedmore or 6.5x47 Lapua with the same bolt and action. all three will give very similar performance.

the stock trigger can be good if you have a smith tune it or you can replace it with an aftermarket unit for $130-250.

i would love to have a Nightforce optic. out of my budget range though. can't go wrong with them, that's for sure.

1400 is asking too much of a .308. you're getting into at least .300 Win Mag and more likely .338 Lapua Magnum territory then.

let us know what you decide and good luck.

Bobby

 

[Zak Smith]

You'll need a 29 or 30 inch barrel to shoot 155's fast enough to stay supersonic through 1000.

My 24" seems to work fine at 1000 yards.

To the OP, here is my best advice


article | Practical Long-Range Rifle Shooting, Part I - Rifle & Equipment

Bobarino is pretty much dead on.

1400 yards is in "Hail Mary" territory for .308, even at 4000' altitude. When I shoot at a 2' disc at that distance with my 308, about half the bullets don't make it accurately. With my .260, they all drop right in.