Best caliber for shooting 500 to 2000 yds?

[Jeff Heeg osoh]

Here's a 375 Snipetac equipped with a Vortex Gen II Razor 4.5-27x56 that is mounted on a 80 moa rail.
The system allows for 47.5 usable mils for aiming and is still capable of hitting a dot at 100 yards.
Very clean easy to use under pressure and no moving parts other than the turrets. The system is good for targets in the 3520 yards range unless shooting in extreme cold conditions where the DA is a negative.

Just a simple setup we have used for years on a few rifles.

iamosoh

 

[Rum Man]

Gonna be close. I can't with a 50MOA

I had a 100 yard zero with my 55 moa base . But the Scope has 125 min of elevation .I wanted a 60 moa base but couldn't find one at the time .

Rum Man

 

[Jeff Heeg osoh]

Rum Man
We had good results years back ordering custom picatinny rails from Mirage ULR if this helps someday.

iamosoh

 

[VLD Pilot]

Rum Man
We had good results years back ordering custom picatinny rails from Mirage ULR if this helps someday.

iamosoh

Mirage makes great rails. I have a 60 MOA rail for my TAC338. Worked great but I wanted a removable one that I could put on and take off leaving the 20 MOA permanent. Field & Cave makes good stuff also.

 

[Paladin300]

Because you mention going to at least 2000 yards we will use that for a recommendation. Anything that does 2000 will do 500. The other thing I will assume is that you want to be able to purchase factory ammo. Then you ask about economics. I would term that efficiency. One other consideration is being able to spot your misses. Your not going to do that with anything less than a 30 cal.

Taking all that into account there are really only a handful of factory offerings that foot the bill.

300 PRC (this would be my minimum), 300 RUM, 338 RUM (my personal choice), 300 Norma Magnum, and 338 Lapua (this is the least efficient of the group). Any of these will get you to 2000 yards and meet most of your requirements. If you hand load all of them can be loaded for around $2 a shot or less. Factory ammo will run $3-$5 respectively. There are other cartridges that will get you to 2000 yards but not very efficiently. Hope this helps narrow your search.

 

[Paladin300]

Old bull, young bulls.

Not all bullets tumble when going subsonic

I agree my experience has been that really any projectile north of 200 grains seems to stabilize through the transonic fairly well. However, if the limit is 2000 yards or less, there are so many cartridges and bullet combinations that stay supersonic beyond that I don't know that it is a concern. While it is not imperative that you stay supersonic it sure does help in adverse conditions, as well as having heavy for caliber bullets. At least in my experience. I am running a 338 RUM shooting 285 Flatline bullets w/o the tubb ring (haven't tried them yet) @ 2850. With a 968 b.c. We are supersonic to past 2400 yards. Running them over 85gr of R23 and federal 215 M primers and nosler brass, out of a 27"tube. They still go thump at 2000 yards.

 

[Jester560]

Mike300wby: at 1100ft elevation a high BC projectile (7mm rem mag - 338 Lapua) will start to become unstable at around 1300 -1500 yds. Example: I live at sea level and shoot a 338 Lapa mag. Pushing an 800 BC projectile at 2700fps. At approx 1400yds, physics dictate that the projectile will start to de-stabilize, wobble-tumble, do funny stuff? Taking it off of it's directed path. For me to try and make a 2000yd shot on target, the same bullet would have to be leaving the muzzle at 3500fps. This is not possible with a 338 Lapua Mag, 30-06, 6.5 anything?

To have a reasonable chance of making a shot at 2000 yds with my 338 lapua mag, and present load data, I would have to be shooting at an elevation of approx 9,000ft.

If your are serious about this, you might start researching ballistic web sites such as JBM.
Look in reloading manuals to see what velocity can be obtained out of various calibers. What the BC of various projectiles is. How these and environmental factors, such as air density, temp, humidity, play into the reality of making a 2000yd shot. Or even a 1000yds shot.

Good Luck!

Seriously? I routinely shoot my .300 Win Mag to 1800 and beyond without stability issues. I guess I am just lucky, huh?

 

[Paladin300]

This is what an efficient 2000 yard cartridge looks like. There is nothing economical about it. $2.55 per shot with once fired brass. But if you have good fundamentals and a good ballistics app it does make it easier, not easy. First pic next to a creedmoor. Second pic between a 30-378 loaded for hunting and the Creedmoor loaded for ELR (1500 yards). The gun has a wyatts box in it but you shoot these one at a time. Coal is 4.1. .010 off the lands.

Incidentally, the 30-378 takes 115gr of H50BMG to accomplish the same task and doesn't carry near the energy when it gets there.

 

[DMP25-06]

Old bull, young bulls.

P7M13 ,

Your quote sounds as though you heard the same joke about bulls that I heard some years ago.

"What are you doing , yearling , that big bull will kill you".
"I am just letting him know that I AM A BULL"!!!!!

DMP25-06

 

[DMP25-06]

This is what an efficient 2000 yard cartridge looks like. There is nothing economical about it. $2.55 per shot with once fired brass. But if you have good fundamentals and a good ballistics app it does make it easier, not easy. First pic next to a creedmoor. Second pic between a 30-378 loaded for hunting and the Creedmoor loaded for ELR (1500 yards). The gun has a wyatts box in it but you shoot these one at a time. Coal is 4.1.

Incidentally, the 30-378 takes 115gr of H50BMG to accomplish the same task and doesn't carry near the energy when it gets there.

Paladin300 ,

No disrespect to you sir , but comparing a .338 RUM to a .30-.378 Weatherby is like comparing apples to oranges , not the same .
Compare your 338 RUM with that bullet to a .338-378 Weatherby , using the same length barrel with the same twist as your barrel , shooting the same 285 gr. Flatline bullets , set-up with the same amount of free-bore , and seated at the same distance from the lands , running the same chamber pressure as your 338 RUM , and the .338-378 Weatherby will outperform your 338 RUM .
Your 338 RUM may be more efficient , but the larger volume of powder will propel the bullet faster .

I do like the looks of your cartridge .

DMP25-06

 

[Paladin300]

Paladin300 ,

No disrespect to you sir , but comparing a .338 RUM to a .30-.378 Weatherby is like comparing apples to oranges , not the same .
Compare your 338 RUM with that bullet to a .338-378 Weatherby , using the same length barrel with the same twist as your barrel , shooting the same 285 gr. Flatline bullets , set-up with the same amount of free-bore , and seated at the same distance from the lands , running the same chamber pressure as your 338 RUM , and the .338-378 Weatherby will outperform your 338 RUM .
Your 338 RUM may be more efficient , but the larger volume of powder will propel the bullet faster .

I do like the looks of your cartridge .

DMP25-06

No disrespect to you sir. But the question asked was what is the most basically efficient cartridge to get to 2000 yards consistently. I never said the 338 Rum was faster than the 338/378 weatherby. My point was simply one of efficiency. The 338 Rum and Edge will do everything the 338 Lapua will do with slightly less powder. 338/378 uses 20% more powder than the Rum or the Lapua and gets you about 200 more yards at supersonic levels. Remember we are only going to 2000. We don't need the 338/378 or it's sharp recoil. You can get there and I have with the 30-378 but it is not near as enjoyable, efficient, or cost effective as the 338 RUM and if you load the 338-378 down your SDs go all over the map. That is apples to apples. And thanks they are pretty sexy bullets. Not near as fat as those 30/378, 338/378s. But some like'um big!

Additionally several have suggested that you can do it with a big 7mm or 30 cal. And that is true but it is better served with a 338 cal bullet. IMO. If I were going to step up from the 338 RUM I would go Lapua Improved.

 

[Walt Pence]

If you want to shot those ranges and you have a very limited budget, look at the .338 Savage 110 with 26 inch barrel. It is not just an issue of getting there but also being able to down what you hit when the round gets there. This will not happen with a 30 cal or smaller. I am loading a 300 gr. SMK HPBT, w/ 101 gr. Ramshot LRT, Win Mag Primers, and getting 2810 fps. Great groups also. Attached are 4 round groups at 100 and 600 yards. I have also attached a link that helps you find the best deal. I paid around $1300 can get the single shot for around $900. Word of caution, if you do not reload, do not get .338 LM. Rounds are almost $5 each.

 

[P7M13]

P7M13 ,

Your quote sounds as though you heard the same joke about bulls that I heard some years ago.

"What are you doing , yearling , that big bull will kill you".
"I am just letting him know that I AM A BULL"!!!!!

DMP25-06

Haven't heard that one.
I was thinking about the old joke about the old bull showing the young bulls how to git-r-done, best told around the fire after 12 MGDs.
@jimbires qualifies as an old bull.

 

[CNC Apps Guy]

Gonna hop on the .338 bandwagon as well. My Savage 110BA gets the vast majority of lovin' in my safe... DEFINITELY NOT a safe queen. Fun, fun, FUN!

H1000 powder, 300gr HPBT projectiles, 215M primers and Lapua brass... that combination will let you reach out and touch stuff depending on elevation, etc.... obviously.