Any tips and thoughts for a long range rifle?

[Pepperboy]

Hey guys im looking for tips and advice on a new long range rifle for ranges of 650 to 900 yards for a mix target practise down on the range and hunting of elk and deer mainly done within northern sweden the environment is extremely similar to that of canadas.​

I was looking at either the Remington 700 XCR tactical long range in 308. and the Remington 700 sendero also in 308. and outfitting the rifle with either a Huskemaw or Bushnell scope. Any tipss or advice will be much appreciated.
My budget is around $2500 to $3000​

Thanks
gun)​

 

[mopar440]

just a few questions might help people with advice do you reload and are you open to wildcat cartridges and is your budget just the rifle or include the scope probably going to need a big magnum 300or 338 rum or wm to hunt at 900 yards

 

[winmag]

your 308 will be plenty accurate at the distance you stated, but it will run out of steam pretty fast. Im with Mopar on this one. If elk/stag are on your Long range menue(900yds) youd be better off with a 300mag or 338mag of some sort.

 

[Chas1]

308 on elk/stag pass 400 yards isn't my idea of a good idea. Out to 900 yards a 300wm would be my minimum. I wouldn't argue with a 300 rum or similar 300 calibers but, IMHO I prefer 338's. You could go with a 338 rum or 338 wildcat but wildcats can get expensive.

 

[Shooter264]

I disagree totally with those who believe a magnum is needed to shoot elk/stag at 900 yards. Using Berger bullets with a high BC and shooting something that is comfortable to shoot leads to good shot placement = dead critter every time. I have killed a 350 BC Elk at 902 yards with a 6-284 with a 105 grain VLD and have witnessed a 330 bull killed at 1115 yards and a 372 bull killled at 735 yards with this same cartridge. All these bulls were killed with one shot and only one traveled more than 10 yards after being hit (that one hit the ground so hard he slid down a hill approximately 50 yards!!). There are several calibers out there by using the right components are fully capable of killing elk size critters at extended ranges that are not Magnums.. 6-284, 6.5-284, 6.5-06AI are just a few of great choices for a person who doesn't want to put up with obnoxious breaks that seem to accompany magnums along with their ablility to produce flinching tendencies. Check out the Trophy Page on www.cloudpeakgunworks.com .

 

[Chas1]

CPGfan, great shooting. Thanks for sharing your opinion.

 

[blipelt]

cpgfan you are correct about shot placement. One thing most don't contemplate is as they get better they want to shoot farther. I am not saying hunting maybe just smacking some steele at say a mile. The farther you practice the better you become IMO.

Draw backs of a magnum:

cost more to shoot(powder, barrel life etc.)
muzzle break
heavy and cumbersome (30" barrel etc.)

Benefits:

Higher bc bullet makes less wind deflection
increased velocity which will cause less flight time for less wind effect
longer distance to shoot.
more down range energy.


So some important questions might be:

How much can I spend on this hobby? $2500
How many rifles am I going to have?
What kind of hunting do I do? (this can be a big deal carrying a 15lb rifle)
What distance am I going to shoot in the future? (practice etc.)

I like the idea of having a cheap long range rifle for practice and varmints 6X47lapua. I also have a 7wsm and 284Jazz(7-338norma mag improved) for larger game. I am having a semicustom 6.5X284norma savage accurized for a knock around gun. The 112bvss is a cheap way to get into long range shooting. Make sure it has a fast twist barrel though to stabilize those heavy high bc bullets. Maybe the 7wsm would be a better choice, my gunsmith was shooting his out to 1900yds.


Brent

 

[blipelt]

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f17/1918-yards-shoting-yes-i-said-1918-yards-40446/

Brent

 

[Pepperboy]

just a few questions might help people with advice do you reload and are you open to wildcat cartridges and is your budget just the rifle or include the scope probably going to need a big magnum 300or 338 rum or wm to hunt at 900 yards

Yeaahh 300 or 338 thats what i thought about yesterday as after posting and my budget includes the rifle and scope and the remainder of the budegt will be used on bipods etc.

 

[Pepperboy]

hanks for the replies guys

Ive read all the replies and i can see the sense in using either 300 or 338 and it would seem that is the easiest option as Berger is virtually unknown in scandinavia but 300 and 338 are very common.
the budget im doing is around 1000 to 1500$ for the rifle and around $1000 for the scope so my budget is starting at around 2500 but it can be stretched to $3000 and no i dont reload

So ive had a look at the remington sendero and the xcr tactical long range any other suggestions for a rifle? and what of the bushnell and the huskemaw scopes?

 

[Chas1]

Alot of folks here have a Sendero and seem very pleased with it.

 

[Sako7STW]

I am newer to the more extreme long range shooting. i have shot Antelope and stuff past 500yrds but I am looking to stretch out to 1000+. like you I am asking questions and trying to learn and doing some upgrades to my shooting set-up.

I hate to say it since they are a site sponsor, but I was not impressed with the Huskemaw scopes. Great idea and philosophy but the glass sucked in every one I have looked through. Being from Europe, you have extremely better options over there for the same money. I dont feel you get your money worth with their scopes. Probably made some of the guys upset with this, but I am just being honest about my opinion.

Also, go magnum and dont look back. Too much is better than to start with not enough and its alot cheaper than to do it twice.

 

[shooterpunk2]

I would call up Kevin Rayhill at stockade stocks andhave him put together a custom Savage in whatever caliber for right around 1500. Then you have an awesome gun you know will shoot like a house on fire.

Also wait for the new Vortex Viper pst scopes or look at the Sightron sIII line of scopes.

 

[Pepperboy]

Once again thanks for the input the more help the better the choice i make.

Yeahhh i totally agree that alot of the people on this site are very pleased with the sendero, but not everybody has the same opinion and ive seen loads of good reviews for that rifle but the xcr has several things which are appealling to me the 40x trigger free floating barrel with trinite encoding and the stock.

Ive been summing up these helpful tips and I am certainly going in the magnum direction, not all targets are going to be at extreme distance but i would rather take a 800 yard shot with confidence in a hard hitting round which will drop the target quickly.

And for a custom rifle i will look into that for sure, and for the huskemaw i kinda sensed the glass would be bad but its the simplicity of the thing which makes it what it is. I will check out all of the suggested optics manufacturers asap.

Thanks - Jay
gun)