500 Yard Rifle

Gotta feel sorry for Gumby. He opened with "Guys, I'm looking for a rifle to punch out to 500 yards. I plan on target shooting & possibly deer."

I hate to delete good knowledge and commentary, so let's get back to the subject of the thread, okay?
 
A .260 Rem's gonna do fine for game up to deer as well as paper punchin up to 500 yards. Easier to shoot accurately than a .308 as it's got less recoil. And a host of great bullets across the weight spectrum's hard to beat.
 
lol good call Art , I had to go back and read the OP to remember what this was about . :o I do not own either of these but I'm really becoming a big fan of the ballistics of the 270 and 7mm-08 . I have a 308 and they are more then capable for what you want .
 
I own both calibers and for Gumby's intentions the .270 is a better choice. I drop deer all the time with my .270 long rifle and my .308 handgun. The .270 is every bit as efficient with less meat loss. As far as ballistics, it out performs the .308 at long range as well.

.270 Swift Sirrocco 130gr, 1211ftlbs of energy, -38.2 (drop) at 500yds
.308 Swift Sirrocco 150gr, 1156ftlbs of energy, -46.0 (drop) at 500yds
 
I've read good things about the ruger GSR and she is a looker for sure...

If you plan on hunting deer at 500 yards you might want to think about working on your hunting skills, closer is better and far more rewarding
 
If you plan on hunting deer at 500 yards you might want to think about working on your hunting skills, closer is better and far more rewarding

Agreed, the skill factor in close quarters hunting has excellent allure. I think Gumby is referring to distance on paper.
 
For all practical purposes, anything in the 7mm08 through '06 class can give good groups to 500 yards. Any of them are "don't bother to think; just point it and pull" for Bambi to 300 yards.

Seriously tight groups come from tweaking a rifle and tailoring a handload, plus mucho practice.

For hunting, as near as makes no nevermind, sight in for two inches high at 100; that's near dead-on at 200 and about six inches low at 300. Going out beyond 300 means really knowing the distance and judging the wind.

But it's claimed that 90% of all deer are killed inside of 200 yards. Based on what I've done and seen, well, yeah, I wouldn't argue with that.
 
A-Bolt

I have a browning A-Bolt in a .300 Winchester magnum and love it. I'm sure you will be able to shoot out to 500 yards with it. I never had shoot that far with it Mainly because I do not have a deer field that big. there priced around 600 for standard once on the browning website, and you choice in many calibers, I got mine in stainless and camo stock with the Boss system. that ran me about 1000.
 
I'd suggest a Reminton 700 AAC-SD in .308. It has a 1-10 twist so you can shoot heavier bullets for the longer range. Mine will do .6 to .5 MOA at will with hand loads. 180 Hornady SST over 44 grains of H380 will stack 'em. Bergers shoot well too. I paid $670 out the door for the rifle and have added a timney trigger and B&C medalist stock. Nikon M308 glass on top. Well pleased with it for a total package under $1500.
 
.308's with 22 and 24 inch 1:12 twist bullets weighing 180 and 190 grains have won a lot of matches and set some records, too. 1:10 twist .308 Win barrels aren't needed unless bullets weigh more than 200 grains or the barrel's shorter than 22 inches.
 
Hey Bart what do you think of the yaw factor in spinning a bullet to fast . The Berger 30 cal 175gr VLD recommends a 1-13 twist or faster . Would 1-10 out of a 24" barrel be to fast ? Is there a chance the nose of the bullet will yaw at the longer ranges as velocity drops off . I hope yaw is the right term . I mean the nose of the bullet wants to lift up or stay up rather then follow the trajectory path
 
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Im building a mauser for half that cost. Cant beat a mauser action, ask the remington 700 guys :D

Got a beater mauser 98 for around 150. Get a shilen barrel for 250, hogue pillar bedded stock for 90, leupold mount and rings for 50. Doing as much of the work you can yourself will save tons of $
 
I hope yaw is the right term . I mean the nose of the bullet wants to lift up or stay up rather then follow the trajectory path

Metal God: I think you're referring to YeeHaw not yaw!:D I can tell you this the velocity of the thing-a-ma-jig propelled out of the whatcha-ma-call-it multiplied by the speed of rotation is proportionally relevant to the force of impact on the kanorbitz, but only after accounting for friction and heat expansion of the thing-a-ma-jig against the increase, or decrease in atmospheric conditions dependent upon elevation, wind direction, humidity, and polar alignment of the stars.

Sorry to kidnap the thread guys, for the most part it's been interesting reading.
 
I hope yaw is the right term . I mean the nose of the bullet wants to lift up or stay up rather then follow the trajectory path
Actually, that's pitch, or vertical deviation from the intended path. Yaw is lateral/horizontal deviation from the intended path.
 
I think Metal god's referring to as yaw is actually the coning motion of the bullet's nose about the trajectory axis. As the bullet's spin axis is always parallel to the trajectory, its nose will always be a tiny bit above the trajectory; so will the center of its tail. That happens when the bullets are not perfectly balanced about their form axis. As 99.9% of all bullets are not perfectly balanced, each one will have a bit of coning motion, or nutation as it's sometimes called, about the trajectory axis. The more nutation a bullet has, the more drag it has. More rpm's caused by fast rifling twists causes more centrifugal forces that cause that nutation. Which means the BC will be less than those perfectly balanced ones. The center of that coning, or nutation, will be above the trajectory axis.

Most of the best bullets will have up to a 1% spread in BC at most, but it's still enough to open up groups non-linearly as range increases. When this adds to the velocity spread's effecting bullet drop, it's no wonder long range groups do not subtend the same MOA value the ammo had at short ranges. Those well balanced bullets leaving at the lowest velocity can strike the same point on target as a bullet a bit unbalanced leaving at the highest velocity. The opposite happens when things are reversed; bigger groups.

There is some evidence that when bullets are spun way, way too fast, they tend to stay more paralled with the bore axis and do not nose over like passed footballs do enroute to the receiver. At this extremely high rpm rate, the normal unbalance of bullets will then cause disasterous effects on accuracy.

Sierra Bullets' has had excellent info on this stuff in their reloading manuals. Even time of flight measurements showing how different twist rates for the same load change the bullet's BC.

Short range benchresters shoot their bullet with the slowest twist possible for best accuracy. They'll adjust the powder charge a tenth or so for temperature changes; cold air's thicker than hot air and bullets need to be spun a bit faster to stabilize them so they add a tenth (or one click on their powder measure). 120-gr. bullets in the .30BR shoot great from 1:17 and 1:18 twist barrels.

A 1:10 twist from a 24" long .308 Win. barrel's a bit much for any bullet lighter than 200 grains, in my opinion, for best accuracy. In sub zero weather, however, it may be about perfect.

csmsss says that's pitch, or vertical deviation from the intended path. Do you mean the bullet takes a higher or lower arc to the target than normal?
 
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While Mauser actions are the basis for so many others, I think they've got two shortcommings.

One is their trigger. An aftermarket one will greatly improve that area.

The other is lock time. Way too long for precision shooting. It turns a centerfire rifle into a rimfire 22; you have to hold it still for 3 times as long as other modern actions. However, a titanium firing pin and extra strong spring, it will be much, much better.

Both mods is what some folks did with their single shot FN Mauser target actions. Once upgraded in these areas, they were as good as Win. 70's and much better than any Rem. 7XX action.
 
Guys, I'm looking for a rifle to punch out to 500 yards. I plan on target shooting &you possibly deer.

Whatever you choose, if it's going to be shot at deer @500, it needs to be fast and efficient, and not just for a flat trajectory, but for time of flight: you need to be reasonably sure the animal will not move between the time the bullet leaves the gun and the time it arrives at the target animal.

A 168 gr .308 Win SP bullet leaving @ 2800f/sec will take more than .6 sec to reach 500 yards. Unless it's laying down, you can't be reasoanbly sure the animal won't take a step in that time, no?
 
Thanks Bart , yea that's what I was getting at . If I understand you correctly from what your saying . For the cheaper bullets with less quality control . You really don't want to over spin them . Not that I plan to shoot cheap bullets long distance , just saying .
 
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