Advice Please??

M

MattMPhoto

New member
Hi All,

I'm looking for advice please? I live in Southwestern PA just outside of Pittsburgh. I'm looking to buy a new rifle and I'm overwhelmed trying to decide what caliber to get it chambered in. I'm looking for something mainly just to go out and have some fun shooting targets at various distances from 100 to 1000 yards, but I also want it to be heavy enough to go after black bear or white tail deer in-state and to take out west for elk, mule deer, or antelope etc that would be able to reach out there at distance and make an ethical kill. I know the "old reliables" out there of 300 win mag, 7mm rem mag, and 30.06. But what about the newcomers(I haven't shot a rifle since 2012) to the party like 6.5 Creedmor, 6.5 PRC, 7mm PRC, and 300 PRC? What are they useful for and will any of them fit my needs? Or should I just look for a 7mm or 30.06 and call it a day? I'm not looking for any advice on firearm manufacturer only caliber advice only.

Sincerely,

MattMPhoto
 
I grew up in Zelienople, but I spent a decade in SE Idaho. I killed all my game there with a 7mm Rem Mag. But the dominant round out there was the 300 Win Mag. Both are a little much for Pennsylvania, but my Dad did kill his last deer there with that 7 Mag. The 6.5 Creedmoor is the current darling, but it was originally a target round. Personally, I would get something bigger for elk. The PRC rounds are all pretty robust, all would do out West. Remember "the 30-06 is never a bad choice".

My advice: go tried and true with the '06 or 7 Mag if you must go with one rifle. Oh, don't forget the 308. And the 270. But, considering that you'll spend a fair amount of money to go elk hunting, don't rule out buying a rifle for that purpose.
 
6.5 Creedmoor, 6.8 Western, 270 Winchester or 280 AI will do what you need. 270 Winchester & 280 ai will be hard to get in an appropriate twist or head height.
 
No problem with the .270 twist.

It's been reliably killing game from grizzly to whitetail deer for 100 years.

The 130 grain for whitetail and the 150 grain for elk or griz.
 
Head height is the cartridge side of freebore. It is the amount the projectile sticks out of the case. If you want to seat a bullet long or with high head height, you will need more freebore. The PRC’s and the Creedmoors all have longer throats and higher head height than std rounds. This allows them to shoot heavy for caliber bullets and mono metal bullets without intruding as much into the powder capacity.

I’m sorry about using that term. I think I got it from my ballistics reading and now cannot find a source. Even AI doesn’t know!
 
7mm prc is having some teething issues, id steer clear for now.

About all the cartridges you mentioned will get the job done, given proper bullet selection. Id steer clear of the belted magnums. Recoil is more than its worth if you want to shoot it regularly.

If your throwing elk into the mix, id say 270, 30-06. 30-06 . Thats also pretty manageable to target shoot imho.
 
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This covers it pretty well. Basically the tight chambers are causing pressure issues, factory ammo leaving ejector swipes and flattening and cratered primers. This is also causing fast carbon ring buildup and throat erosion necessitating frequent cleaning. And some issues with ammo producing lower than advertised velocities, particularly hornady. And recoil is stout.
hhttps://youtu.be/Mr9i3igADEI?si=KVueDmFeIQdyBsb9
 
Shadow9mm said:
And some issues with ammo producing lower than advertised velocities, particularly hornady. And recoil is stout
Click to expand...

Ron Spomer got the Hornady to admit they changed the powder in the 7 PRC. Which makes it about 200 fps slower than advertised on the box. They didn't change the listed fps nor did they tell anyone that they did this. Hornady claimed it's a powder supply issue.

Anytime you launch heavy bullets at high speeds you'll produce more recoil, and 180 grains at 3000+ fps will hammer on both ends. So you have to compensate with a muzzle brake or suppressor to reduce felt recoil. Especially if you're using a lighter weight rifle.
 
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I'm looking for something mainly just to go out and have some fun shooting targets
at various distances from 100 to 1000 yards, but I also want it to be heavy enough
to go after black bear or white tail deer in-state and to take out west for elk, mule deer,
or antelope etc that would be able to reach out there at distance and make an ethical kill.
I know the "old reliables" out there of ... 30-06
Click to expand...
For more reason that I have fingers & toes, you can stop right there....
;)
 
If you want to seat a bullet long or with high head height,
Click to expand...
That's kinda confusing--I always think of a cartridge's head as being the bottom portion of the case.

My answer to the OP's request: buy two different rifles.
 
taylorce1 said:
Ron Spomer got the Hornady to admit they changed the powder in the 7 PRC. Which makes it about 200 fps slower than advertised on the box. They didn't change the listed fps nor did they tell anyone that they did this. Hornady claimed it's a powder supply issue.

Anytime you launch heavy bullets at high speeds you'll produce more recoil, and 180 grains at 3000+ fps will hammer on both ends. So you have to compensate with a muzzle brake or suppressor to reduce felt recoil. Especially if you're using a lighter weight rifle.
Click to expand...
Im clear, they cover all that in the video. But those are things to be considered when picking a cartridge.
 
Head height. Left is 243win, middle is 6mm creed, right is 6.5 creed.
picture-of-243-vs-6mm-creedmoor-vs-6.5-creedmoor-compared.jpg


243 has low head height vs the newer calibers.
 
fun shooting targets at various distances from 100 to 1000 yards
Click to expand...

If you are looking for a round to shoot that is fun at those distances, I would recommend .308 Winchester.

The recoil is mild and the round is very capable. It will force you to learn to read the environmental conditions, proper rifle set up, and shooting fundamentals. There was a reason we trained with 7.62mm NATO despite having access to .300 Win Mag and just about any caliber we wanted. In fact, 6.5 is now in the inventory.

Special Operations Snipers Put 6.5mm Creedmoor Into Service
Click to expand...

https://www.gunsamerica.com/digest/special-operations-snipers-put-6-5mm-creedmoor-into-service/

.308 has difficult trajectory with a high max ord and requires good wind calls, correct scope data, and good fundamentals to hit at those ranges. You have to make good wind calls to hit consistently at 1000 meters.

There is a lot of data on the round and it will give you are very good foundation for building/improving your Long Distance shooting skills.
 
If contemplating going the -06 route, you might consider the 338-06; new powders and bullets make it a much improved cartridge from what it was when first wildcatted.
 
I quite like the 6mm ARC that I have recently put together an upper for. Even it is on AR-15 platform, it is quite capable of 1k yd. Not sure about hunting big games though.

For added power, I would go for .308 based calibers. The original 7.62 NATO is quite good. The newer 6mm - 7mm variations may give you additional advantages in certain areas.

-06 based rounds need longer actions. Unless it is necessary, everything costs more.

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
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