New to LR shooting..

[MatthewW]

Hello all, I've been perusing the forums for awhile and finally decided to join.

I've been hunting and shooting rifles my whole life, but just the basics a .308 at 100-200 yards and nothing more. While I predominantly just bow hunt these days I do have some friends that enjoy LR shooting at our ranch in Texas and I'm going to start joining them on some trips to shoot and will probably be doing some out of state elk hunts in the next year or two where I'll need a setup designed for longer distances.

Currently leaning towards a 7mm setup to get started with, the goal is to have something somewhat universal for whitetail and then elk or other big game when the opportunity arises. If anyone has some insight or rifle suggestions I'd be happy for some opinions/recommendations.

Thanks!

 

[Gwine]

Welcome. You can learn a lot from knowledgeable individuals willing to share on this forum. I know I have.

 

[Hand Skills]

Welcome, this really is a great forum. I'm pretty new to LR myself, but the membership here has a great depth of experience and a genuinely helpful attitude.

I reloaded for a number of years, and then just kinda stopped about 10 yrs ago. Factory ammo got a lot more competitive, bullet construction improved, and free time became harder to come by. Now that I'm trying to hit things at 500+ yards, I'm back at the bench. There is a host of good 'match grade' ammo available off the shelf, but in most cases tuning a load to an individual rifle will yield much greater potential for accuracy.

This is not to say you need your own reloading bench - maybe a friend is setup for this, or maybe you're interested in sending your rifle to a professional and having them do the load development for you.

My point is, feeding a LR rig is expensive, and arguably as important as the rifle itself.

I think 7mm is a really good choice - I don't currently have one, and I'm looking to remedy that. There are so many options here; short mags, belted mags, 28nosler, or even some variant of a 30-06 case (.280 / ai / Sherman).

7mm rem mag is a classic. Easy to find, easy to sell (if you find a different direction). Built on a Remington 700 (or clone) you don't need an extra long magazine or worry about single feeding to use heavy, high BC bullets.

Lot of semi-custom 7mm RM's with a low round count available in the classifieds, and you could recoup most of your investment if you decide it's not for you.

How far do you want to shoot? How much do you hope to spend? Keep in mind you can't hit what you can't see, and it might be wise to budget as much for an optic as you do for the rifle itself.

Cheers, and good luck in your quest.

 

[MatthewW]

Welcome, this really is a great forum. I'm pretty new to LR myself, but the membership here has a great depth of experience and a genuinely helpful attitude.

I reloaded for a number of years, and then just kinda stopped about 10 yrs ago. Factory ammo got a lot more competitive, bullet construction improved, and free time became harder to come by. Now that I'm trying to hit things at 500+ yards, I'm back at the bench. There is a host of good 'match grade' ammo available off the shelf, but in most cases tuning a load to an individual rifle will yield much greater potential for accuracy.

This is not to say you need your own reloading bench - maybe a friend is setup for this, or maybe you're interested in sending your rifle to a professional and having them do the load development for you.

My point is, feeding a LR rig is expensive, and arguably as important as the rifle itself.

I think 7mm is a really good choice - I don't currently have one, and I'm looking to remedy that. There are so many options here; short mags, belted mags, 28nosler, or even some variant of a 30-06 case (.280 / ai / Sherman).

7mm rem mag is a classic. Easy to find, easy to sell (if you find a different direction). Built on a Remington 700 (or clone) you don't need an extra long magazine or worry about single feeding to use heavy, high BC bullets.

Lot of semi-custom 7mm RM's with a low round count available in the classifieds, and you could recoup most of your investment if you decide it's not for you.

How far do you want to shoot? How much do you hope to spend? Keep in mind you can't hit what you can't see, and it might be wise to budget as much for an optic as you do for the rifle itself.

Cheers, and good luck in your quest.

Thanks for the reply! I was looking at the 28 nosler too but the rounds seem to be harder to find and the cost is crazy compared to the 7mm, that and the barrel life seems to be a lot shorter as well.

Fully agree on the optics, been browsing the classifieds for a good setup, perfectly happy with starting with a used rig with optics already set up. Budget is $2-3k. I haven't really focused on a range yet, it would be fun to eventually shoot at some 1k targets but for hunting probably half that.