Caliber Question?

[JW74]

I wanted to ask some opinions for caliber choice for my next build? The rifle will be used for shooting long steel and also hunting elk and deer at some point. I live out in CO and shoot at altitude so we have been able to get out pretty far during our steel shooting sessions. So far I have gone 1320 yards with my .308 (1100 yards very consistently) and with my 6.5 Creedmoor we have stretched out to 1800 yards (1400 yards consistently). Our shooting altitude at our two ranges varies from 5280' at one to 7000' at the other. This explains the outstanding distances with these two rifles.

I want something that hits harder than the 6.5 and 308 for hunting and also a caliber to reach out to 2000 yards on some long steel! It will be a Remington 700 build and right now I am deciding between the 300 WSM, 7 WSM and 300 Win Mag or 7 Rem Mag. I like the idea of the short action as I have had good accuracy with those in the past but it seems like the 7 WSM is a dying cartridge. I never see it in the stores anymore whereas the 300 WSM is everywhere. I like the idea of the 7 Mag for its long range steel capability and lastly the 300 win mag seems like the tried and true magnum of all time. I don't want to go with a 338 Lapua. My buddy has one and its awesome but it's expensive to shoot and too much gun for what I plan to hunt and for extended target sessions. Thanks for any feedback!

 

[snox801]

300 win mag is your best bet. I know short action are good I just haven't jumped on the band wagon yet. I would vote 300 win mag just picked up one for the same reasons you want

 

[Supermag]

I'd go with a 7 STW or 300 Ultra and shoot some of the high BC heavy for caliber bullets.

 

[WildRose]

I wanted to ask some opinions for caliber choice for my next build? The rifle will be used for shooting long steel and also hunting elk and deer at some point. I live out in CO and shoot at altitude so we have been able to get out pretty far during our steel shooting sessions. So far I have gone 1320 yards with my .308 (1100 yards very consistently) and with my 6.5 Creedmoor we have stretched out to 1800 yards (1400 yards consistently). Our shooting altitude at our two ranges varies from 5280' at one to 7000' at the other. This explains the outstanding distances with these two rifles.

I want something that hits harder than the 6.5 and 308 for hunting and also a caliber to reach out to 2000 yards on some long steel! It will be a Remington 700 build and right now I am deciding between the 300 WSM, 7 WSM and 300 Win Mag or 7 Rem Mag. I like the idea of the short action as I have had good accuracy with those in the past but it seems like the 7 WSM is a dying cartridge. I never see it in the stores anymore whereas the 300 WSM is everywhere. I like the idea of the 7 Mag for its long range steel capability and lastly the 300 win mag seems like the tried and true magnum of all time. I don't want to go with a 338 Lapua. My buddy has one and its awesome but it's expensive to shoot and too much gun for what I plan to hunt and for extended target sessions. Thanks for any feedback!

If you want to go all the way to 2000yds you're going to need to step up to probably at least the 300 Rum, One of the big 338's or even larger.

If I were serious about 2000yds and beyond I'd probably go with the 375 Cheytac.

 

[jpd676]

+1
The 300wm is awesome but I doubt it will be consistent at 2000 yards. To go that far it cost a lot to get there. I would vote for a 300wm if 1500 yards is more realistic for you.

 

[turkeyfever]

I think that you need to rethink your post. You want to shoot steel to 2,000 yrds and hunt elk and deer with that rifle. I believe your buddy has the rifle you should be shooting. If you are going to shoot anything to 2,000 yards consistently it is going to be costly. Just my 2 cent.

 

[JW74]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I may need to go back to the drawing board for a while or wait on shooting 2000 yards from the sounds of it.

 

[JW74]

I was crunching some numbers on my Ballistic AE app for fun this evening just to see some results.

I used the 7 Rem Mag shooting the Swampworks 180 gr JLK (.735 BC) @ 2900 fps.

With my local conditions I have it dropping 71.97 MOA at 2000 yards. Trans sonic distance is 2233 yards. With these numbers I think this load is rock solid for steel out to 1500 yards and would be decent to 2000 yards as long as the wind isn't too bad. The 7 Rem Mag with this load drops 5.5 MOA less at 2000 yards than a 338 Lapua with 300 gr Bergers does (according to the Balistic AE app). Now when comparing energy there is no comparison but when shooting steel energy is mute really.

Now for hunting shots I would personally consider 500 yards my upper distance as I am conservative that way. Just thought I would share some of these numbers for fun.