.308 Hunting Rifle

J

JustThisGuy

New member
I'm considering a .308 rifle for target shooting out to no more than 1500 yards.

I'm impressed with the Thompson Center ICON Precision Hunter. It has a good bedding block, a floating barrel and great accuracy. I also like the Remington 700 and the Savage 110 series and I also like the looks of the Weatherby.

I like wood stocks for the aesthetics. The ICON PH is sub-MOA (1/2" @ 100 yards) out of the box. I'm willing to pay up to $1200 for the rifle and just put the best long-range scope on it that I can afford (somewhere up to $600).

Any recommendations on these rifles and appropriate scopes would be appreciated.

I listed the Thompson Center ICON url for those who are not familiar with it: http://www.tcarms.com/firearms/icon_precision_hunter.php
 
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So, a hunting rifle for 1.5km target shooting in .308? You're asking a lot from that round, let alone the other hardware.

Since I cannot shoot that far, I'm simply tagging for future reference. Might ask Zak his thoughts as he is one of the long range shooters here.

http://demigodllc.com/
 
.308 is a 1000 yard round, and even then you're pushing it to the limit. Even a .300 Winchester Mag is limited to about 1200 yards.

want a 1500 yard round? .338 Lapua Mag.

As far as equipment goes. To make those long range shots be prepared to spend at easy $1600 on a scope alone. As far as a rifle is concerned, you will be hard pressed to find a stock, out of the box rifle that hasn't been touched by a gunsmith that can shoot that far with any kind of accuracy.

You're looking at a $5000 setup for those kinds of ranges at the very least.
 
6.5x55 would be better but if you have the money to spend on the scope and the time to learn how to shoot that far you can make it work. I hope you have an idea how far 1500 yards is.
 
My .308 is a Icon PH, and I have no doubt that it can be a 1000 yard gun. With that said, it takes a LOT of practice and range time to become a consistent shooter at those ranges.

I would also invest into a very good scope to put on the rifle as well. Some where's along the line of a Leupold Mark 4 Long Range/Tactical which is a$1000-$1500 scope.

I would also start reloading my own ammunition as well.

1000 Yards is a loooooong way.
 
go outside. now walk almost a mile. you've gone 1500 yards.

the mile long and farther kills that military snipers make are with rounds such as the .50 bmg (falling out of favor), the .416 cheytac and the .338 lapua magnum. these rounds were designed entirely with extremely long range shooting in mind.

i think you will find that the .308 round is inadequate for 1500 yard shooting. i doubt the round would still be supersonic at that point, and would probably be tumbling.

and, if you are looking to hunt at 1500 yards (which the name of this thread implies), you had better think twice. first of all, the .308 round is REALLY inadequate for hunting at that distance. second, it would be completely unrealistic to try to make a 1500 yard field shot. bench shots are one thing. but hunting in the field is not bench shooting. 300-400 yards is a LONG field shot. maybe if you were shooting from a blind or a stand, and had a bench, and the animal walked right into your crosshairs and stopped. but not with a .308, even then.

so, to sum up:
1. the .308 round is inadequate for target shooting at 1500 yards. i have heard 1000 as a general number, and have also heard of handloaders shooting as far as 1200.
2. the .308 round is REALLY inadequate for game at 1500 yards.
3. do not try to hunt at 1500 yards.

as far as rifle suggestions go, my money is on savage's 11 ("Hunter") series or their 10 ("law enforcement") series. i think you can find what you need there for around $1200. http://savagearms.com/firearms/models/

EDIT: sorry, was in the middle of typing this when you said "1000 yards. Got it." so i didnt see it.
 
Thanks everyone.

I really only want to hone long-range skills to the limits of the caliber. You have given me an education and I appreciate that.

I'm not interested in larger calibers at this point. Maybe after I can be precise at the practical range of the .308. Perhaps I should have asked what is the practical range of the .308 instead.

All good info.
 
308

1760 yards is a mile the 308 will do it but pretty much at that range only good for breaking paper. I shoot mine at 1000 yards to 1300 or a bit farther kind of regular just picked up a .338 Win Mag for shooting paper out to 1800 yards. Right now working on some 300 gr. loads when I get them figured out and I'm setup I'll let you know how it turns out.
 
SecGuru, if you're really interested in learning long range shooting I would suggest getting the books, "The Wind Book For Rifle Shooters" and, "The Military and Police Sniper: Advanced Precision Shooting for Combat and Law Enforcement"

Both are good books to read and you'll learn a lot from them. Just be ready to spend some much $$ on ammunition b/c to get consistent at long ranges calls for a lot of lead down range.

BTW, the longest I've been able to shoot with my Icon PH is 400 yards and I can put 10 shots in a 6" circle. With a better scope I could probably do better, but it is what it is.
 
Thanks everyone.

I really only want to hone long-range skills to the limits of the caliber. You have given me an education and I appreciate that.

I'm not interested in larger calibers at this point. Maybe after I can be precise at the practical range of the .308. Perhaps I should have asked what is the practical range of the .308 instead.

All good info.
Click to expand...
Practical or effective range is based more on shooters skills and not the gun. I shot 1000 yards with a .308 and iron sights and while I didn't set the world on fire I kept them in the scoring ring. Effective range for most people is between 200 and 300 yards, most good marksmen will make that 600 yards as would I with my old eyeballs and creaky bones. That is why I now use a higher powered rifle and a scope that cost more than most of my rifles.

1000 yards is doable but you need to learn to read wind, light, mirage, and most of all understand the ballistic properties of the bullet you are using.

Google David Tubbs and find his videos and books on the subject to get a good education on the subject. It will be worth the time and money doing the classroom part of the subject before getting on the range. In the meantime do a lot of small bore shooting at 100 meters with a 22LR rifle. The skills required for one will help with the other and the small bore is cheaper to practice with.
 
@post #8...

I thought that .308 was the "hotter" (velocity and pressure) of the two.
Isn't .308 rated at 62,000 psi max, and 7.62 NATO at 50,000?
 
Secguru:

I'll share with you my experience shooting 1,000 yard matches. When I shot on several Marine Corps' rifle and pistol teams, I shot the both .308 Winchester and the 30/06 Springfield at 1,000 yards. For the service rifle match I used both the M1 Garand and the M14 with their peep sights. If I did my part in reading the wind and keeping the sights aligned I shot possibles. However, for the any rifle any sight match I shot a Douglas heavy barrled Winchester M70 in 30/338 caliber wearing a 16x Lyman target scope. I was competing in the mid 1960's when there wasn't as many specialty rifles, scopes and calibers as there are now. I never shot past 1,000 yards so I can't comment on it.

Semper Fi.

Gunnery sergeant
Clifford L. Hughes
USMC Retired
 
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I have hit targets at 1800 yards. A rifle package that he will need will cost him $7000 and up at a minimum. I'm talking a repeatable shot, round after round. The 338 Lapua is a great round but at $6.00 per round, it gets expensive. Living in Lebanon, I doubt if his country would pass the US State Department's ITAR rules for him to get a US made weapon of that type there.
 
Thanks everyone for all this wonderful information. I will get all this training information, and more. I always begin any project with classroom study.

I don't shoot in Lebanon. Bad idea for an American to be doing here. But I'm retiring soon and I want to get back into shooting in a big way when I do. When I was a kid I shot a cheap old Montgomery Ward single-shot .22lr out to 200 yards with iron sights with acceptable accuracy (6"-8" at 200 yards). My older brother was shooting a scoped .22 and I had to keep up with him.

I still remember the feeling you get when you center a target at long range. Now that I'm older I want to improve on those results and with a larger caliber. The advice given on shooting .22lr is solid. I intend to do that. We bought a CZ 452 SMT for just that purpose. My wife is also interested in learning to target shoot and she is also enthusiastic about the CZ. Great iron sights and long shot accuracy. Just the thing for training. After the 100 yard shots are solid, then I'll scope it and go longer.

One thing I know from decades of failure and success. If you don't push the envelope, you'll never exceed average results. You might fail, but you have to fail to succeed. There is no shame in failure. There is only shame feeling entitled to succeed without the work necessary to be a success. And that includes many, many failures before success is achieved.

The ICON PH seems like the best rifle out of the box that I have seen. 0.5 MOA @ 100yards is pretty acceptable. It's also an aesthetically pleasing rifle. And I love the look of wood stocks. Certainly, a good rifle in bad hands yields bad results. But a better rifle in good hands will yield better results. I'd rather not buy a string of ascendingly better rifles to get to one that can give me good results by the time my skills are where I hope I can get them to. Its obvious that I also need to learn a lot more about scopes. Back to the classroom again.

TFL has the best, most knowledgeable and most considerate group of shooters with long-time high-quality expertise that I have found on the internet. I'm truly grateful for everyone who posts here.

Thanks again to everyone for your excellent help.
 
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Most long-range shooters will find the need to customize their stick at some point for greater accuracy.

Whether it's an aftermarket stock, or a gunsmith to true the action, "accessorizing" is important to consider.

You will have a very limited market for aftermarket accessories for a T/C versus the more popular makes like Remington, Savage, and even Howa/Weatherby for all this "stuff"...

When buying my son his first rifle to build on last year, this was the overriding factor when I decided on a Remington 700 over the T/C.
 
"...seems like the best rifle out of the box..." Have a look at the heavy barreled Savage rifles. Some of 'em are actual target rifles.
The targets in 1,000 yard matches aren't exactly small. The 'Bull' on an F Class target is 10" with a 44" black and a V Bull of 5". Total size of the target frame is 3 meters. Still requires good ammo and being able to read the wind and mirage.
 
I have a Savage Model 110(and some letters) in .308. It comes as a package with a nice Bushnell Scope on it. 3-9x40. The recoil is pretty tough and will give me an achy shoulder the next day so I just got a Shooter's Friend recoil pad and I can shoot it all day. I love the rifle.
 
The 308 is a great round but thats alot to ask.Think i'd do alittle more home work there are better choices for that kind of work.;) good luck
 
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