7mm or 30-06 for the long shot?

better on paper

As in better groups. I would like to just shoot paper at 1000 but be able to shoot animals at 500. And it will be from a remington 700, I dont think they make a 6.5 for the 700s
And I ment 7mm rem mag
 
7mm or 30-06

The 7mm Rem. Mag will shoot a little flatter than the 30-06, making hold over VERY slightly less critical.
 
The .30-06 and 7mm Mag are not as popular as they once were, for long distance. Afaik the 6.5-284 is the current fave.

Of the two, I like the .30-06. That's mostly because I've been shooting it for a few decades.
 
Long Range Shooting

I see that you live in Austin. You might check with the Camp Bullis military base north of San Antonio. I've shot at 1,000 yard matches there back in the 70s. I'm pretty sure they still host matches there where civilians can shoot.

Even just watching one of the matches should give you a good idea of what works well and what kind of rifle you should get for such shooting. These are pretty specialized rifles, but not so much so that they can't be used for hunting or other shooting. They are shot from the prone position with sling, many with aperture sights. No sandbags or bipods are permisable although handicapped shooters can use such aids.

I've only shot the 7.62 NATO and the 300 Win Mag at 1,000 yards in military rifles (M-14NM, M-24 SWS and the Mk 13 SWS). Believe it or not, the 7.62 does pretty well way out there and barrel life is significantly better than with the hotter rounds like 6.5/284.

Do a Google for the Texas State Shooting Association too. They should be able to get you oriented to a long range match or two.

The standard National Match course goes from 200, 300 to 500 or 600 yards. You might look into that option. Most shooters use their NM rifles for the long range 800, 900 and 1000 yard matches.
 
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I live in the great state of North Carolina. And I was thinking of maybe just going with nd -06 or 308, but the 7mm is something I have never owned. 30-06 is rather nice, only shot a .308 in a semiautomatic, and never shot 7mm mag, is it compairable as far as recoil? And will it hit animals equally as hard? I dont like tracking blood trails as it makes for a longer drag ;)
 
Darn Austin. I saw the Austin in your moniker and made the assumption that you lived in Austin. My bad!

Check in with the North Carolina State Shooting Association. They shoot quite a bit of high power down there. When I was stationed at Fort Bragg, a few of our troopers drove out to Butner and shot there regularly.

Here is a link to the NCSA rifle schedule:

http://www.ncrpa.org/events/2010_NCRPAJr_schedual.pdf

As for the 7mm Remington Magnum, I had one in Colorado. While I was set up for long range shooting with it, all the deer that I shot up in the Uncompagre Plateu near my Dad's place were all less than 100 yards. To be honest, I didn't see much difference between it and a 30/30 at those ranges, although had I ever needed the power or range, it would have been better. I had it sighted in with 139 grain Hornady bullets about 3" high at 100 yards, was about on at 250 and was something like 4 or 5 inches low at 300 yards. It didn't seem to be as flat shooting as people liked to think that it was. It was dead on accurate though. It easily held MOA out to the 300 yards that I shot it to.

In the years since, I've settled on the 30/06 for most of my shooting at game over the size of a coyote.

If I were to build up a 7mm today, it would be a 280/7mm Remington Express. I think that it would nip at the heels of a 7mm Remington Mag, but do it with less powder and longer barrel life. I could also form cases for it from my stock of 30/06 cases that I've accumulated over the years.
 
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i have something better. 300 RUM

I have a 7mm Rem Mag. Too much dead-space in the case where ignitions can vary.

I went up a notch to the 300 Remington Ultra Magnum. With a great muzzle break, it kicks like a .308win. Superbly awesome rifle coming in at 7.75lbs with scope. Custom Remington 700.
 
I would choose: .308, 260 Rem, 6.5 Grendel, 6.5 Creedmoore, 7mm WSM, 300 WSM, 300 Win Mag, 300 RUM, or .338 LM for long range shooting.
 
Depends on a lot of factors, so there's no way to give you a recommendation yet.

Do you handload?

How important is barrel life to you? (expense and time lost at the 'smith)

Is cost of ammunition a factor for you?

And I'm sure there's still some things I'm forgetting to ask...
 
Between any 7mm magnum and the 30-06 the 7mm wins every time. From coventional 22-24" barrels a 7mm Rem mag will shot a very aerodynamic 160 gr bullet to 3000 fps. About the best you can do with a 30-06 is shoot a much less aerodynamic 180 gr bullet to around 2800 fps.

By the time both bullets reach 500 yards the 30-06 will have 1487 ft lbs of energy and drop 45" with a 200 yard zero.

The 7mm Rem mag will still have 1735 ft lbs of energy and will have dropped 36"

Push the range to 1,000 yards and the 30-06 will have 650 ft lbs and will have dropped 337" compared to the 7 mags 850 ft lbs and 260" of drop.

With some of the other 7mm mag rounds you can get a little more velocity, and it is possible to shoot heavier bullets in very hot loaded rounds through really long barrels and do a litttle better with the 30-06, but any of the 7 mags will easily beat a 30-06 at long range.

In fact if pure flat trajectory is your goal most of the 7 mags will shoot flatter than most of the 300 mags. The 300's will come close in many cases, and offer better energy numbers at close to medium range, but once you get beyond 500 yards the 7mm mags really shine. And do it with a lot less recoil. Recoil between a 7mm Rem mag and a 30-06 is very comparable.
 
Not enough realistic difference to matter for hunting to 500 yards. In either case you must know the trajectory.

Until the advent of VLD bullets in 30 caliber, the 7mm had the edge for 1,000-yard targets. Better ballistic coefficient and sectional density.
 
7mm still has better bullets with higher BCs for the weight class you would shoot in a 30-06 anyway. The 180gr Berger VLD hunting has a G1 of .659 and a G7 of .337. .30 cal doesn't really get to those types of BCs till the 210+ grain bullets. The 7mm mag will produce far better ballistics out to 1000yds due to its ability to retain so much velocity. Guy on the hide has taken a elk at 1380yds and hits on steel out to 2000yds with his 7WSM. 6.5 grendel doesn't really compare to a 7mm mag and honestly neither does a 30-06 as far as long range is concerned. The .300 win mag would be a better comparison. So between those two I vote anything 7mm whether it be .284win 7WSM or 7mm mag.

The new Berger 7mm 195gr hybrid has a G1 of .794 and a G7 of .406 and a G7 form factor of .850
 
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Either one of the two calibers you mentioned, 7 MM and '06 could and have made excellent 1000 yard guns.

You wont see a whole lot of difference between the two as in long range shooting its the shooters ability to judge conditions the make or brake a 1000 yard gun.

Having said that, If I was to choose (and have chosen) between the two I would go the 30-06 route, simply because there are more components and loads for that round out there, meaning the cost of shooting goes in favor of the 30-06.

Yes the big magnums will work better in wind but you loose that advantage in the fatigue department (ask me how I know that, my best 1000 yard scores were with a 308). And they cost more.

And the 6.5s ma.y have an slight advantage over the '06 except in the cost of shooting department.

The cost is a huge factor since to learn long range shooting one needs to practice long range shooting, the cheaper that practice the more you shoot and the better you'll be.

Don't discount the 308 and 223s for 1000 yards shooting, they'll be cheaper yet then the '06 and they both work fine at 1000 yards.
 
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