1000+ yard deer hunting

[7mm rem ibex down]

doesnt matter what big callibre you use 7 mm rem mag can do the job to but it takes a hell of a lot of skill to keep the sight steady let alone hit the vitals. l regularly take down beozar ibex from 650 metres. but a thousand yards is a long way specaly if you are shooting from cliffs which is prety much impossible to get a deasent shooting position.light bulb

[bruce55]

Hi. was wondering if you gave any thought on the .338 win mag as a 1000+ yd deer rifle. I am about to buy a second hand Ruger in that cal which has had only a few rounds down it since new. I am going to use it for Sambar deer and Northern Territory Cape Buffalo. all the material i have read on the pro's and cons between the .300 and .338 win mag the .338 comes up a better caliber to use. what is your or anyone else who may comment think about this.

[liltank]

In my opinion a 338 WM with a 250grn match bullet will fit the bill. If you can get it up to 2750fps + you will have a killer for quite a distance.

As far as the other question many good answers have been posted, so I will just give another thumbs up for the 7mm's. A 7mmRM with a 168 or 180 Berger will do the trick without sacrificing your shoulder.

Tank

[MontanaRifleman]

C'mon GG, I ran the numbers for a 100 gr bullet with a BC of .45 and MV of 3000 and @ 1000 yds it has a velocity of 1321 fps, KE of 388 and momentum of 18. No "hunting" bullet that I know of will expand at that velocity let alone very poor energy and momentum for penetration. This is a recipie for a pencil hole wound and no exit hole or blood trail at all.

Regards,

-MR

[MontanaRifleman]

For you guys who are saying the 7mm RM will do the trick @ 1000 yds, would you care to share your rifle specs, load data and predidicted terminal results for the bullets you are using? A 162 gr A-Max is about the only bullet I know of that will expand @ 1000 yds shot out of a 26" (or less) 7mm RM.

-MR

[MontanaRifleman]

Longshot, this question gets asked all the time and the choice is yours to make. It all depends on what criteria you are looking for to kill game with.

Do you want a rifle/cartridge/bullet that will penetrate, expand and exit or do you want to put a pencil hole in the side of a deer? You can easily do the math with an online balistics calc.

External Ballistics Calculator

IMO, for a "hunting" cartridge to "effectively kill" deer size game with @ 1000 yds, you should be shooting a minumum of a 7mm STW with a good MV and high BC bullet to get you to 1000 yds with enough velocity for expansion and energy/momentum for penetration. With most bullets, a 7mm RM, WSM, 300 WM, WSM, 338 WM will not get you there.

Your choice....

Hope this helps,

-MR

[liltank]

Manufacturer: Berger Description: VLD (Litz)
Caliber: 0.284 in Weight: 180.0 gr
Muzzle Velocity: 3010.0 ft/s Distance to Chronograph: 10.0 ft
Sight Height: 1.50 in Sight Offset: 0.00 in
Zero Height: 0.00 in Zero Offset: 0.00 in
Windage: 0.000 MOA Elevation: 0.000 MOA
Line Of Sight Angle: 0.0 deg Cant Angle: 0.0 deg
Wind Speed: 10.0 mph Wind Angle: 90.0 deg
Target Speed: 10.0 mph Target Angle: 90.0 deg
Temperature: 40.0 °F Pressure: 29.92 in Hg
Humidity: 20.0 % Altitude: 1000.0 ft
Vital Zone Radius: 5.0 in
Std. Atmosphere at Altitude: No Pressure is Corrected: Yes
Zero at Max. Point Blank Range: No Target Relative Drops: Yes
Mark Sound Barrier Crossing: No Include Extra Rows: No
Round Output to Whole Numbers: No
Output Data
Elevation: 3.317 MOA Windage: 0.000 MOA
Atmospheric Density: 0.07650 lb/ft³ Speed of Sound: 1095.8 ft/s
Maximum PBR: 377 yd Maximum PBR Zero: 319 yd
Range of Maximum Height: 174 yd Energy at Maximum PBR: 2491.6 ft•lbs
Sectional Density: 0.319 lb/in²
Calculated Table
Range Drop Drop Windage Windage Velocity Mach Energy Time Lead Lead
(yd) (in) (MOA) (in) (MOA) (ft/s) (none) (ft•lbs) (s) (in) (MOA)
0 -1.5 *** 0.0 *** 3014.8 2.751 3632.0 0.000 0.0 ***
100 -0.0 -0.0 0.4 0.4 2872.9 2.622 3298.2 0.102 17.9 17.1
200 -2.7 -1.3 1.8 0.8 2734.1 2.495 2987.3 0.209 36.8 17.6
300 -10.1 -3.2 4.0 1.3 2598.8 2.372 2698.8 0.322 56.6 18.0
400 -22.6 -5.4 7.4 1.8 2467.1 2.251 2432.2 0.440 77.4 18.5
500 -40.8 -7.8 11.9 2.3 2339.1 2.135 2186.5 0.565 99.4 19.0
600 -65.4 -10.4 17.5 2.8 2215.1 2.021 1960.7 0.697 122.6 19.5
700 -97.1 -13.2 24.5 3.3 2095.0 1.912 1754.0 0.836 147.1 20.1
800 -136.7 -16.3 33.0 3.9 1978.9 1.806 1564.9 0.983 173.1 20.7
900 -185.2 -19.7 42.9 4.6 1866.2 1.703 1391.8 1.139 200.5 21.3
1000 -243.7 -23.3 54.6 5.2 1756.7 1.603 1233.2 1.305 229.7 21.9

Recipe from reloadersnest.comBerger VLD
BulletWeight 180 grs
Powder Hodgdon Retumbo
PowderWeight 71.5 grs
Primer Federal GM 215M
Brass Make Remington
Barrel Length 28 (inches)
C.O.L 3.433 (inches)
Velocity 3010 fps
Group 0.2 (inches by 3 shot at 100 yds)
Submitted Date 12/10/2006 2:22:00 PM
Submitted By McTank
Gun Info Ruger M77 MKII V/T
Comment 28" Pac-Nor Barrel

This is what I could find and using JBM. This is why I have decided to build my big mag in a 7mm RM. As you can see with this load it exceeds the minimum energy necessary for deer at 1000yrds. I also calculated at 2800fps and it to exceeds the minimum by 21ft lbs. The temps and humidity I chose is to try and duplicate the temperature and humidity I might be hunting in this season in PA.

Tank