Long Range Calibers

Which Long range caliber?

  • .308

    Votes: 55 47.4%

  • .300 Win Mag

    Votes: 28 24.1%

  • others (please post)

    Votes: 33 28.4%
  • Total voters
    116
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Other:

Model 700 in 30-06

Been reloading for 40 odd years. My first deer was with an 03A3.

To old to change now.

Real easy to reload to. Just fill the case with IMR 4895 and stuff an A-Max 178 on the end :)
 
Among my favorite long range calibers are the .300 Winchester Magnum the 6.5 Swedish the 7mm Remington Magnum the .300 Weatherby the .308 and the .280

It always nice to be able to find off the shelf ammunition and not have to give up an organ to pay for a few cases of factory ammo.

There are other choices that are better for LONG range but they tend to be a little more spendy and hard to find and unless one is willing to handload costs can add up fast.

A higher ballistic coefficient adds up to better long range performance some calibers offer higher numbers and more choices in bullet weights and styles than others.

In a medium bore I would go with either a .338 Lapua or .338 Remington Ultra Mag

In a smaller bore (.30 caliber or less) I would pick one of the common .300 mags or the 7mm Remington mag as one may want to hunt Elk or Moose or Bear one day.

For shooting only targets and paper punching a magnum is not required.

For sheer fun I love my Old Swede Mauser it may not be the fastest gal in the race but don't tell her that.:evil:
 
I presently have the 7mm Remington Mag but don't have all the distance in the world to shoot it in. There are ranges but from where I live it let's just say it would take a while to get to open country. Presently I load her down to acceptable and respectable levels for 100-200 yards.
 
I'm with Bartkowski, the .30-06 for .30 caliber, and the 6.5x55 for 6.5mm. I reload for them, and have been using both in 1,000 yard F Class competition for the past 5 years. With the .30-06, I use a 190SMK at 2900fps, while the 6.5x55 sends 139-142gr bullets at up to 2950fps. When looking for a long range cartridge, consider these 3 things: is quality brass (Lapua) available; is there a good selection of quality, high BC bullets available, and does the case have enough capacity to drive the bullets at a suitable velocity.

Don
 
"500 yards and doesnt reload" also compition means many practice rounds Im thinking low recoil short action. 308,7mm-08, 243, 260.
 
I like the 7mm. As others have stated they simply have better B.C. than .30 cal. bullets. A 180gr. Berger VLD at 2900+ FPS is about as good as it gets. The 7mm Rem. Mag. or anything of similar capacity will get it done.

The 308 Winchester is also a good round until it runs out of steam. What is your elevation? What is the maximum distance you want to be able to shoot?
 
I don't want to sound like a smartass, but if you were ready for a 300WM, you probably wouldn't be asking the question. Try a 308, I have several of both, but the 308 is real hard to beat, cheap, easy, accurate. You can pick up cheap but still very accurate used Palma style rifles from rifle clubs here, no doubt you would be able to get a good used one as well. When you have sorted out what you really want, you will probably not drop much money on it when you upgrade. I bought an old Omark/Sportco single shot target rifle for $150 and the target sights cost $100. It shot the Winchester factory ammo with the Sierra 155GN Palma bullet into 0.7 moa off the bench. Definetly $250 worth.
 
500-750 yards is the more likely distance i will be shooting and at targets like steel animals and i will have to knock 5 targets off the rail in 30 seconds starting from chickens to rams
 
@S&WKING

Another possible option for 6.5 Grendel in a semi-automatic platform is the Robinson Arms XCR. Wolf are providing the ammo as well as Alexander Arms and Black Hills so commercial as well as reloading options are available.

Alex Robinson is currently taking input of what users want in barrel lengths and types for the round.
 
try the .300-.378 Weatherby Magnum.
I prefer the performance of the .338-.378.
Click to expand...

I would recommend you stay away from this caliber if you don't reload, haven't shot it, don't have tons of money for ammo, and don't like recoil and very loud guns.

Also for target shooting out to 1000yards, you obviously want a very accurate gun, and with the 500-1000 round barrel life, you will need to be able to afford new barrels or guns often.

You could always go with the .220 RUM or one of the Dakota's..... either the 7mm or the .300.....
Click to expand...

You could, but the lack of ammo, and the barrel life is something that would turn me away from guns in those calibers.
 
If you are shooting 308, I'd pick the 155gn Lapua scenar over the 175 SMK. The same BC, and the lapua can be pushed much faster. From my 20 inch 308, I can get to 1000 with only 34 MOA elevation from a 100 yard zero.

I'm building another rifle for tactival long range matches, and going with 6.5x47. The BC on the 6.5 is insane as long as you have a twist like 1:8 that will stabilize the heavies - 142gn SMK is 0.595, 144 Lapua Scenar at 0.636, 140 Bergers at 0.640. 6.5-284 is the ultimate LR IMO, but it is a barrel burner, and won't fit into an AI magazine. Plus Lapua brass is about as good as it gets.

YMMV
 
it really seems like you have your heart set already. you seem to be asking a lot of questions pertaining the 6.5 grendel. sooo. do yourself a favor, and do some homework and BUY WHAT YOU WANT. it you buy something that everyone else says you need, you will never be TRULY happy with your purchase. make sence??

the 6.5 grendel is a very good round. it will out-perform the 308 out to 600 yards. and that being the distance you are shooting, i say it will be vary ood to you. i do not personally have one, nor have i shoot one. this is all based on months of research, and asking questions. i want one, but dont have to dough right now. i also have a 7 rem mag in the works, so i think that they long range nich is filled. for now at least.

i would say that the 24" grendel barrel will be the best at squeszzing all the potential out of the 6.5 round.

do you already have an AR-15 platefrom , or lower? if so, you can get the upper, grendel's very own DESIGNATED MARKSMEN upper, which is a 24 " ss barrel with all the bells and wistels. though this does run 2300.00$. thats alot, but if you are wanting to win in compititions, upi have to spend some money, tiem and lots of pratice pratice practice.

hope this helps, brian.

also, check out http://65grendel.com/ and go to the forums page. theres a lot of great guys there that will more then be happy to answer any question you have. i know, i have asked a lot there myself. brian
 
6.5 Grendel will only outperform 308 if you slant the comparison like Alexander Arms does. They compare 6.5 Grendel using a high BC bullet (144gn Lapua Scenar at 0.635 BC) to M80 ball. The 144 LS represendts an extremely heavy for caliber bullet' For a fair comparison, compare the two with bullets of a similar BC, the 6.5 LS 144 with a BC of 0.636 and the 308 SMK 210 with a BC of 0.645

Reported velocity of the 6.5 Grendel with the 144 LS is 2450 from a 20 inch barrel. To reach that velocity with conventional propellants requires pretty high pressure (around 77,000 PSI with 28.9gn BL-C(2) according to quickload). 2265 is a more reasonable number

Calculated velocity of the 308 210 SMK from the same length barrels is 2300 fps. With a higher initial velocity and slightly higher BC, the 308 will have more energy at all ranges.

But if course these numbers come from an apples-to-apples comparison, not the slanted numbers Alexander Arms gives you.

Compare the 260 Remington or 6.5x47 Lapua to the Grendel for a real 6.5 head to head. Both leave the Grendel in the dust.

The only reason to pick 6.5 Grendel for long range sghooting is that you are restricted to the AR-15 platform. If you just need a semi auto, and want the AR style, an AR-10 in 260 will beat an AR-15 in 6.5 Grendel in every way, and cost about the same. And the ammo is much easier to find.
 
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ya know, i did not know that alex arms did that. thank you for clerifying.

i have always been a fan of the time proven 6.5 sweed (6.5x55) people in europe use this round for hunting very big game. like moose. that gives you a pretty good look at this bullet and what it can do.

thanks, brian
 
Just to throw this in here. If you do not plan on reloading (and even if you do) in the future you are going to encounter many money and time expensive encounters down the road in long range shooting (That is if you are serious about it). You are going to have to put money down on a new gun, commercial long range ammo, Range trips if it costs you, and if you decide you want to get into reloading, then all the equipment necessary. Plus all the time you are going to put into this, as practice is needed. Im not trying to talk you out of it, but you probably don't want to put all this money down and then decide you don't like it.
 
Why don't you take a trip to the range with you friend and see what the competitors are shooting. Some of them might even let you put a few rounds down range so that you get a feel for recoil of different calibers and rifle weights?
 
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