Best caliber for deer out to 800 yards

[Hawkes]

I'm looking for info on what caliber would be good on mule deer, whitetail, and pronghorn out to about 800 yards. I don't plan on shooting at game past about 600 yards. I am looking at the 30 calibers and the 6.5 mm. Any help will be appreciated.

 

[Buano]

If you are shooting mule deer out to 800 yards and limit yourself to 6.5 or .30 cartridges I would recommend a .300 Win mag as my first choice and a .300 Weatherby as my second. Advantage of the Win mag is cheaper ammunition while the .300 Weatherby shoots a little flatter.

If you want a shorter action, the .30 WSM is also a good choice.

If you were to remove the limits on caliber of choice I would have included the .264 Win mag and a 7 MM Rem mag as excellent choices.

There is no justification for any of the ultra-mags at this range.

 

[Hawkes]

Is there any justification for a custom built rifle at this distance? Also is a 165gr Barnes a good bullet at this range?

 

[rick523]

Get a Rem. sendero in either 7mm rem mag or 300 win mag put some good glass on it and start practicing. Should be all you need.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Any 7 mag with a 180 VLD should work fine. Any .308 mag with most 180-210 bullets should work fine too.

Some smaller calibers would work with good shot placement but it's always nice to have a little extra horsepower when shot placement isn't perfect.

A custom rifle isn't "necessary" but an accurate rifle is. You can only know how your rifle/ammo shoots at distance by actually shooting at that distance. A rifle that shoots 1.5" @ 100 yards will almost always shoot groups more than 8X larger or more than 12" @ 800 yards despite what the math tells you. (1.5" X 8 = 12")

Barnes bullets probably need 2,000 ft/sec on impact to expand reliably. What would the impact velocity be from your 165gr Barnes at 800 yds?

 

[LongRangeBangin]

+1 on the 300 win mag as a choice. Gobs of choices in bullet grain sizes from all the manufacturers.

 

[Hawkes]

Well a 165gr bullet is traveling at 2235 fps and has 1830 ft-lbs on impact. So what would be the best type bullet to shoot at these distances at this type of game?

 

[LongRangeBangin]

This will all come down to ones opinion. I shoot 165 grain Sierra spitzer boat tails (game kings)outta my 300 win mag. And have had great results on deer and elk both. Mine shoots about 3240 fps at the muzzle.

 

[deltafunction]

I kind of went thru the same search and am currently waiting for my new gun to be finished. I already had a 300wsm for elk, so I was looking for a primary deer rifle. I havent seen many people on this site like the caliber, but I ended up going with the 6.5 creedmoor. The ballistics were better than the 25-06 I was looking at. Yes there are other 6.5's out there, but with barrel life, quality factory ammo and components for reloading that are fairly easy to get, it seemed like a good choice.

 

[Daveinjax]

6.5x284 in a savage longrange hunter.

 

[carpetman2]

Bummer....I was going to tell you to try the 270 WSM with 150gr. SST's or 140 gr. Accubonds or Bergers. But since you settled on an inferrier caliber I'll keep my mouth shut.

 

[Greyfox]

Your criteria for game is identical to mine. While my typical long range shot averages 500-600 yards, I've shot several deer over 800 yards, longest 998. Coyotes out to as'far as I can range them. I switched from the magnums to the 6.5x284 several years ago for this kind of shooting. Besides beng extremely accurate, and having sufficient energy to kill deer at 1000 yards, the light recoil in a comparably lighter/shootable rig than the magnums has been more amenable for this kind of hunting for me. My 10.5 pound Cooper can be carried all day and still provide a stable platform to make consistent long range shots. IMHO.

 

[winmag]

If you want a shorter action, the .300 WSM is also a good choice.
***as is the 270WSM***

If you were to remove the limits on caliber of choice I would have included the .264 Win mag. **(.264) That is a 6.5** American vs Canadian math. Kinda like 7mm/.284 or 7.62/.308 or 6.8/.277 or 5.56/.223 etc.

The two I use most frequent for that exact purpose are the 270WSM shoving 140Accubonds at 3100(factory Win-70 fwt) & my custom Win-70, 300WSM shoving 180Accubonds at 3100+

I've had outstanding performance with both.

 

[Catahoula]

300 Win Mag works great. I shoot Hornady 190 BTSP with H1000 & it will make a little cloverleaf at 100 yards if I do my part. Absolutely crushes black bear, deer & elk.
Kirk