Precision Shooting To 500 or so

Overkill338

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Realistically speaking, here in Virginia, especially where I live, shooting to 1k+ is out of the question. I've been thinking about a new rifle, and I'm trying to be "realistic" about it.

Knowing my ranges will usually top 400-500, I'm thinking for me "Precision" practice could be served just fine with a .308. Thinking about something like the 20" Remington SPS Tactical, or the 5R.

I'll keep hunting with my .300 Win Mag, forever probably. But for a range only toy, would I be best served with the smaller powder charges? My goal, as of now, is to be able to hit a skeet, cold bore at 500. I think even the 7mm-08 would be fun, as it's a favorite of mine. You just don't hear much about it for Precision work.

At some point, I'm sure I will take some road trips to shoot farther. But for now, might as well work with what (distance) I have. Any thoughts on this?
 
overkill ,,, you might be one of the smarter guys on this forum ,,, and truth be known most of us serious western hunters, seldom shoot big game beyond 550 yards anyway ,,, if you are looking for something more powerful than a 300 win mag, move up to the 300 RUM if cost is a factor ,, if you want the ultimate regardless of cost, move up to the Lazz 7.82 (.308) Warbird caliber ,,, there really is not much else in the .30 cal world that is practical except for the .308 win and 30-06 ,,,,,
 
I'm no "long range" guy... but I'm in a similar boat as you. In central Ky I'm sub 500 yards. There are places I could reach out further, but nowhere I can consistently shoot 600+... the longest shot I have on our farm is 600. I'm more of a hunter/Varmit killer than gong or paper shooter... but this place has sparked my interest to play a little more with some distance. My elk gun is a 300wm and I'm comfortable to 500 on it. I have an 06 and 308 for deer and a host of other stuff that was all lost in a tragic boating accident to play with. I don't care too much about getting into reloading, so I'm sure I'm severely limited by that, but I'm with ya on the 308 or even 06 for a practical intents and purposes "long range" gun. At least for me at this stage...

I do have a 7mm saum I've never even shot... maybe it would be a good option to play with and expand on down the road.

I'm prolly not much help here... but I'll smile and shake my head in agreement with your thought process on this one.
 
1) 6BR, can't hardly shoot the barrel out on these, cheap to load for, accurate as can be, they are used in competitions for a reason. A joy to shoot. Great for varmits and reasonable range hunting deer size critters
2) 6XC or Creemore- less barrel life than BR but more fps. Extremely effective for hunting too
I thought about the 6mm Creedmoor, but that rules out a factory Remington. If building something, then that just makes my gears start smoking lol 6.25 Creedmoor ? .338 Federal? .33 Creedmoor ?! .285 Creedmoor?! See how my indecisive mind works?

The Savage Desert Tactical can be had in 6mm CM, 26" 5R barrel. 1 in 7.5 twist.
 
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I'm no "long range" guy... but I'm in a similar boat as you. In central Ky I'm sub 500 yards. There are places I could reach out further, but nowhere I can consistently shoot 600+... the longest shot I have on our farm is 600. I'm more of a hunter/Varmit killer than gong or paper shooter... but this place has sparked my interest to play a little more with some distance. My elk gun is a 300wm and I'm comfortable to 500 on it. I have an 06 and 308 for deer and a host of other stuff that was all lost in a tragic boating accident to play with. I don't care too much about getting into reloading, so I'm sure I'm severely limited by that, but I'm with ya on the 308 or even 06 for a practical intents and purposes "long range" gun. At least for me at this stage...

I do have a 7mm saum I've never even shot... maybe it would be a good option to play with and expand on down the road.

I'm prolly not much help here... but I'll smile and shake my head in agreement with your thought process on this one.
I finally realized no matter how powerful my rifle is, it doesn't stretch the ranges lol I dont even miss my .300 RUM. But the smaller cartridge is more comfortable for long practice sessions, easier and cheaper to load for, and I could feed it target bullets exclusively.
 
The 6mm CM has made my light bulb blink. I think that is the one! I can zero at 100, so I get practice dialing in ranges out to 500. Even with the 100 yard zero, it only needs 34 clicks up at 500. Hornady says 2960 with the 108 ELD-M.
.536 (G1) .270 (G7).

That Savage might be just the ticket. Its threaded, so I could add a brake. Switch the stock maybe? Every Savage I've had was always fantastic in the accuracy department.

Screenshot_20191114-235744.jpg

I could use the Mil-Dots as a BDC.

Screenshot_20191115-000942_Strelok Pro.jpg
 
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I finally realized no matter how powerful my rifle is, it doesn't stretch the ranges lol I dont even miss my .300 RUM. But the smaller cartridge is more comfortable for long practice sessions, easier and cheaper to load for, and I could feed it target bullets exclusively.
All very true... despite the disadvantages of a small a caliber. My truck gun (ruger m77 compact .223) gets shot more than anything I own. It's cheap, comfortable and realistically most things I'm shooting are within 300-400 yards.. usually sub 200. I'm not well read enough to comment on the advantages and disadvantages of some of these off calibers. But despite any and all of the bs and finer details.. what's easiest and most affordable is what gets shot most often... and that's what you'll be the most proficient with, particularly given our limited ranges.
 
All very true... despite the disadvantages of a small a caliber. My truck gun (ruger m77 compact .223) gets shot more than anything I own. It's cheap, comfortable and realistically most things I'm shooting are within 300-400 yards.. usually sub 200. I'm not well read enough to comment on the advantages and disadvantages of some of these off calibers. But despite any and all of the bs and finer details.. what's easiest and most affordable is what gets shot most often... and that's what you'll be the most proficient with, particularly given our limited ranges.
It might be the perfect platform for the 110 grain A-Tip. Its has BC's of .604 % .304. Probably 2850-2900 fps. Might be fun! Heck it stays supersonic to 1700 yards. But its soooo tiny!

Screenshot_20191115-002828.jpg Screenshot_20191115-002809.jpg
 
I've been shooting the 7mm-08 for 35 years now on NRA High Power Silhouette Competition. It out performs the 308 and thats why most shooters changed to the 7-08 back in the 80's, so we could knock down the heavy rams at 500m, something the 308 struggled with.

It had to be precise because you are shooting off hand and the bullet needs to land exactly where you put the sight at. The 150gr and 168gr Sierra Matchkings were the best for this and they still work great.

If you try some of the newer higher bc bullets than probably perform even better.

I use a Rem 700 long action so I can seat the bullets a little longer.

You just can't go wrong with this cartridge
 
The 6mm CM has made my light bulb blink. I think that is the one! I can zero at 100, so I get practice dialing in ranges out to 500. Even with the 100 yard zero, it only needs 34 clicks up at 500. Hornady says 2960 with the 108 ELD-M.
.536 (G1) .270 (G7).

That Savage might be just the ticket. Its threaded, so I could add a brake. Switch the stock maybe? Every Savage I've had was always fantastic in the accuracy department.

View attachment 157979

I could use the Mil-Dots as a BDC.

View attachment 157985

If you really want to learn to shoot distance, this cartridge would be great. You will learn to read wind, conditions, and wont break the bank to shoot it
 
Realistically speaking, here in Virginia, especially where I live, shooting to 1k+ is out of the question. I've been thinking about a new rifle, and I'm trying to be "realistic" about it.

Knowing my ranges will usually top 400-500, I'm thinking for me "Precision" practice could be served just fine with a .308. Thinking about something like the 20" Remington SPS Tactical, or the 5R.

I'll keep hunting with my .300 Win Mag, forever probably. But for a range only toy, would I be best served with the smaller powder charges? My goal, as of now, is to be able to hit a skeet, cold bore at 500. I think even the 7mm-08 would be fun, as it's a favorite of mine. You just don't hear much about it for Precision work.

At some point, I'm sure I will take some road trips to shoot farther. But for now, might as well work with what (distance) I have. Any thoughts on this?
With 500 yards as your limit for the time being, I would avoid the efficient 6mm's that most like for target shooting. Wind effects are pretty minimal at this distance, and if you're training, you'll want to get the most out of the distance you got. It may be counter-intuitive, but shooting a round that has little recoil and bucks wind easily won't teach you much.

A short barrel 308 would be a good choice since factory ammo is cheap and good, barrel life is great, and the lower velocities will help exaggerate wind conditions. Recoil on a 308 is about perfect in my mind since you still need to manage it, but it's not anything crazy. I've got a 20" AAC-SD that shoots 1/2 MOA groups with factory 175gr FGMM, and I run it out to 1,000 yards without problems. For 500 yards, you might consider the 16.5" barrel version.
 
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