Beginner To Long Range - rifle, caliber, scope?

[Daddypants]

I am a beginner to long range hunting. I have always hunted whitetail in brushy country so most of my knowledge is mostly 200 yards or less. I have always shot .222, and .22-250 but I am wanting to start shooting long range targets and hunt in west Texas where there are long range shots on mule deer.

Requirements: 1000 yard capable rifle, affordable as possible, light enough to pack around all day, affordable ammo (until I start reloading).

I am looking at the Savage 11/111 lightweight hunter or long range hunter. Which do y'all think would be better? Would the recoil on the lightweight be a deal killer? Would it be better to lug around the heavier rifle anyway? Would I need/want a bipod?

I thought I wanted .308 or .30-06, but I am starting to be interested in the .300 WM, the .300 WSM, and the 6.5 Creedmor. Is there any significant advantages of these? I would like a caliber that has a flat trajectory that is fairly easy to determine drop.

What kind of scope? No 3x9 red field, huh? Lol.

I want to do this affordable as possible because I really want to do some practicing, which means shooting a lot.

Thanks for your help.

 

[wiiicgun]

Savage long range hunter should work in either300 win mag or short mag. Don't know about your scope preferences but for 1000 yd say 24x or so. Check out SWFA. There are a number of good threads and polls here as we'll that may prove useful.

 

[roninflag]

the answers to most questions here are : remington 700 sendero, leup 6.5-20 ; vais muzzle break; kenton knobb.

 

[roninflag]

since i compete in f-class out to 1000 yards. the words - "light weight " do not go with : "target " and any yardage over 500 like "1000" . i carried a stainless fluted sendero to hunt rocky mtn bighorn. it was not as light as my titanium remington 700. not even close.

 

[azsugarbear]

The 7mm and 6.5mm bullets generally have better ballistics than the 30 cals. There is a great article somewhere on LRH about the differences. I believe either Brian Litz or Eric Stecker from Beger Bullets authored it (I apologize to the correct author, if I am wrong). In short, the article showed that you need to shoot 230 gr. bullets in a 30 cal to get close to what the 7mm and 6.5 can ballistically do. They simply buck the wind better and have a greater window or margin for error with wind and elevation at 1000 yds due to higher BC bullets.

Having said that, the 30 cals can arrive at 1000 yds with much more energy to whallup big game. The 300 WinMag and it's shorter cousin 300 WSM don't have real impressive velocity when it comes to the 230 grainers. The 300 RUM
is the ticket for this bullet.

So - tastes great or less filling? Which is better: more forgiveness with the wind (better accuracy from higher BC bullets), or foot-pounds of energy delivered? So many of us got tired of having to choose. We ended up with the big 338's - Edge, Lapua, RUM, Norma, etc. Now we get both higher BC's and energy delivered. The trade off is heavier rifles/recoil and generally more cost in terms of powder, brass & bullets.

If you're talking targets at 1000 yds - go with one of the larger 7mm or 6.5mm caliber offerings. If you're talking big game at 1000, then the 30 cals in magnum pkg.