What Caliber for 600yd Whitetail? (New rifle Build)

[Blkrflguy]

I'm looking to build a 600yd hunting rifle. I'll be starting with at Rem 700 LA left hand, trued. I'm planning on a 24" bartlein barrel. I'm not scared of wildcats or Ackley Improved either. I reload so, I'll be developing the loads. The current rifle is a 270win, but I'm thinking there is more bang for the buck in LR performance and aftermarket support. Most of my hunting is within 350yds or so, but I'm wanting a reliable option out to 600yds. This will double as range gun for some fun and probably run 2-300rds per year on the high side.

I'm leaning towards a 260rem or 7mm 08 in the LA. These guys not restricted to mag length can be pretty impressive.

I currently load for:
308, 7mm Rem mag, 7mm 08, 270 win, 223
And I have a 6.5 Creedmore on order for my son. We'll be loading for it as well.

Must haves:
-Long Range Support in brass and projectiles, at least in the manufacturing side. I'm not expecting everything to be in stock. (I'm not against fire forming good brass)
-Decent barrel life ~1800-2000rnd minimum
-Enough kinetic energy for deer at 600yds

Would like to haves:
-cross over powders or projectiles to current reloading stock
-Factory ammo options are nice, but not required.
-Something that is powder efficient
-No one ever complains about low recoil...

Feel free to add details of barrel length, twist, reamers, and load data.

Thanks very much for the info!

Your question says 600 yds for whitetail. Heck my DD with an 18" barrel in 556 is quite accurate out to 725 yds and will still deliver enough ft per lbs with my 77 gn bullet. Practically anything centerfire except a 30-30 haha... I'm not surprised you have 7 pages of answers here. This is like asking what kind of scope should I buy for deer? You said you reload, so you should understand ballistics and the ft-lbs to kill your prey and what they are at 600 yds. My apologies... I guess I've seen so many open ended questions and a gazillion answers to each of them on line. If you reload you're smart enough to figure this out on your own.
Here's what I'll say, and share with you. I have a friend who guides elk and mule deer hunters here in the Rockies. I asked him this question over TG dinner in Nov. "What's the best caliber that you've seen for Elk?" His private ranch takes a couple hundered Elk every year, he should know, as he watches them get shot every year. He said, he likes 7mm mag the best, 270 is a good choice, and he also likes the 300 short mag. When I asked about the 6/5 because EVERYONE likes the 6/5, he and his guides call it the "6/5 NEEDMOORE". HAHAHA tells all the fan boys right there. Yea you can kill em' with that but. There's much better choices.
If you're building a gun for 600 yds to hunt with and you like LR shooting, you may find yourself in the west hunting bigger bodied animals at some point. Might as well have the right stick!

 

[Flyingdaddy]

I'm looking to build a 600yd hunting rifle. I'll be starting with at Rem 700 LA left hand, trued. I'm planning on a 24" bartlein barrel. I'm not scared of wildcats or Ackley Improved either. I reload so, I'll be developing the loads. The current rifle is a 270win, but I'm thinking there is more bang for the buck in LR performance and aftermarket support. Most of my hunting is within 350yds or so, but I'm wanting a reliable option out to 600yds. This will double as range gun for some fun and probably run 2-300rds per year on the high side.

I'm leaning towards a 260rem or 7mm 08 in the LA. These guys not restricted to mag length can be pretty impressive.

I currently load for:
308, 7mm Rem mag, 7mm 08, 270 win, 223
And I have a 6.5 Creedmore on order for my son. We'll be loading for it as well.

Must haves:
-Long Range Support in brass and projectiles, at least in the manufacturing side. I'm not expecting everything to be in stock. (I'm not against fire forming good brass)
-Decent barrel life ~1800-2000rnd minimum
-Enough kinetic energy for deer at 600yds

Would like to haves:
-cross over powders or projectiles to current reloading stock
-Factory ammo options are nice, but not required.
-Something that is powder efficient
-No one ever complains about low recoil...

Feel free to add details of barrel length, twist, reamers, and load data.

Thanks very much for the info!

IMO, anyone shooting deer at 600+ is simply demonstrating that he doesn't know how to hunt.

 

[preventec47]

You said you already loaded for a 7mm Rem Mag. Why are you out scrounging around for hamburger when you have prime steak in the freezer ? ? ? Or is your post just a sick joke on the rest of us ? I have had a 7 rem mag for 20 years and have not been tempted by anything that has come on the market in that time.

 

[DoneNOut]

Or is your post just a sick joke on the rest of us ?

He got us! Easy trap getting us to talk about guns n stuff1

 

[Hard rock]

I definitely agree wit the 6.5x284 but have significant reservations about using SMKs to hunt with. Had enough problems with 30 cal SGKs in Africa with over mushrooming , poor penetration and jacket/core separations at 100-200 yds to know that a bullet constructed to only hit steel or punch through paper was not engineered or tested to perform like a real hunting bullet. The SGK is supposedly a hunting bullet but yet, in my experience is not consistent at adequately penetrating animals. Even though they are a "hunting " bullet they perform unreliably within 200 yds especially when pushed hard. Accuracy was not an issue.

Xs2

 

[VinceMule]

Being practical-minded, choose a cartridge with readily available Brass, dies, and reamers.

No downside to a std 280 with 160s at 2930 with IMR 7828 and Fed 210s.

280 AI is the easy button, formed brass can be hard to find, try forming your own out of Lapua 30/06 brass where you do not lose primer pockets at top-end accuracy nodes.

Another easy button is the std 6.5/06, and I am shooting the 129's at 3150 with R#26 into very, very tiny groups, CCI 250s. 127g Barnes long range was very easy to tune, .050 off the lands, 129g Nosler long range accubond, and 129g Hornady SP(a bullet that never lets you down). All the bullets in this weight shot so well with R#22, I never worked up a load with the 140-ish bullets.

The 6.5/06 seems to be an idiot-proof case to work with when tuning a load. I am running Win and PMC '06 formed cases in the 6.5/06.

270 Win brass would be a better choice to form brass with in regards to the 280AI and 6.5/06 AI, but you use what you have on hand. The formed neck is a tad shorter than the chamber, and the use of the Teslong bore scope allows you to see the carbon build up in the neck and easily remove it with a few twists of a bronze bristle brush of the appropriate size.

6/284 Lapua brass is a thing of the past, as of right now...Europe is preparing for war with Russia.

Russia is about to kick the war into another gear, more of our own reloading supplies will disappear, aka PRC brass....maybe.

Concerning Match kings, I lost a really good buck a few years ago during the rut. He stuck his head out on a power line, the range was 320 yards, chip shot for my 7 Mag's MV of 3150, 150g MK. Buck was knocked down, I saw the blood on his shoulder blade through the 6-24 scope. He got on his feet, and was never to be found after two days of looking.

 

[Gobbler256]

My Remington 700(s) factory, with Gentry muzzle break, Boyd's pillar bedded stock, Jewel trigger, barrel free-floated,

140g Nosler ballistic tips shoot 2.5-3" at 600 yards,
140g Nosler BT
Rem brass
9 1/2 primer
bullet seated to just barely touch the lands, not a jam
65.5-66g of IMR 4350
3200 fps plus depending on the barrel
100 yard groups are a bullet hole opened up
Scopes are high power, 6x24 and 8x32

150g Nosler ballistic tips/150g Nosler C/T
Rem brass
WINCHESTER Mag primer
72-73g of R#25, Start your load work up at 68g, SD is less than 9 fps
Bullet just barely touching the lands
3200 fps plus
Groups at 100 are a single bullet hole, opened up
Groups with the 154g Hornady Sp are tiny also
Hint, sort bullets by ogive length, and keep the copper out of your barrel.

Same barrels
168g Berger vld hunting
71g of Retumbo
Fed 215
Rem brass
Play with bullet jump
3050-3100 depending on the barrel, start your load work up at 68g

You will not shoot these small groups IF your barrel is loaded with carbon and copper. My cleaning regiment is down to bare metal every 20 shots to keep these barrels shooting this way. When shooting off of a rifle rest, Hold the forearm down instead of squeezing the rear bag with your left hand.

7mm Rem mag, thanks Taylor!

I also did not mention the 175g Nsoler long range accubond. Brother and I found nodes with

R#22 at 2850

R#26 at 3030

Bug hole groups with each. The 175g Nos LRAB likes to be seated no more than .005 off the lands in 5 different 7 mags, we do have to sort the bullets by ogive lengths. These 175g N LRAB really put a lot of shock on deer, great penetration on quartering shots coming and going.

VinceMule- what caliber is your data for?

 

[VinceMule]

7 Mag, Remington 700 and Browning stainless stalker.

 

[Hard rock]

IMO, anyone shooting deer at 600+ is simply demonstrating that he doesn't know how to hunt.

I would say , that is a wrong statement to make on a long range hunting forum . If you can effectively shoot 600 yds , you probably can shoot even better at 300 yds . I can't believe you posted that n this forum, WOW

 

[Rick Richard]

IMO, anyone shooting deer at 600+ is simply demonstrating that he doesn't know how to hunt.

Maybe, but more than likely we know how to shoot. Just saying…this is Long Range forum. Lol.

 

[VinceMule]

Hunting power lines, Gas lines, bean fields, and Timber cutovers can lead to some long shooting...bucks running the edges chasing does during the rut.

 

[diddlyv]

6.5 PRC is no slouch

 

[AZ Patriot 17]

6.5-300 Bee. Hardest hitting, flattest shooting 6.5 on the market.

Bullet drop is only about 20" @ 500 yards.

 

[BD1965]

Agreed. 7mm08 150 eldx@2800fps remains supersonic to 1040yds and retains 1000ft/lbs energy to 725, and no disrespect on building LA but the beauty of 7mm08 or 260 etc is in a compact Short action rifle and typically highly accurate round off the 308 case