Long range multi purpose rifle

[kinoons]

500 yards with a good rifle and optics isn't that far of a shot. My 70 year old enfield sniper can hit a 16" square plate at 500 with boring regularity. Just dial the scope up to 500 yards and start producing hits.

My choice of a good all around caliber was the 6.5 Grendel. I wanted something that would work in my 5.56 lower, but have better range and performance out past 400 yards.

 

[FiveInADime]

I shoot my .243 Win. out to 500 yards often. This is a youth model 70 with a 22" tube, nothing fancy. I fired a few rounds out there to see where the point-of-aim is at that distance and now i can easily pop a milk jug first try with my handloads (off of a ironing board with bench bags or a bipod prone). I can spot my hits on milk jugs at that distance with the .243.

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[Water-Man]

6.5x55 SE. Preferably in a Tikka.

 

[NXMR]

If I could build my ideal rig for this criteria I'd base it on the 7mm Rem Mag.

 

[Picher]

Large hogs at 300 yards would probably require a .270 Win with 130 grain bullets. It shoots flatter than the .308 and .30-06. Accuracy is also very good, and handloading brings out the best in the cartridge.

I use Hornady GMX 130 grain bullets that penetrate deeply and expand well. They group well under 1 MOA in my Remington 700, pushed out at 3,200 fps.

For target shooting, I use Sierra 90 grain HPs ahead of a mild load of IMR 4895. That load shoots to the same POI at 100 yards as the GMX hunting load, but are easy on the bore and my shoulder.

 

[troopcom]

I'm thinking about a 7mm wsm or 7mm remington mag.

 

[hooligan1]

Hell I like all those mentioned,,, but maybe the 7mm rem mag,,,,,, no the .270 win,,,,,, no no,,,,, the .243 win,,,,no the 30-06,,,,,

 

[jlbpa]

7mm rem mag for long range multipurpose because it's no fun trying to follow blood trails.

 

[CarbineCaleb]

While not the most intriguing, the most common rounds have two advantages:
A. They're the most common for a reason - they're widely appreciated
B. The ammo is inexpensive, because of economy of scale

Basic soft point rounds from major manufacturers for the common .243 Win, .270 Win, and .30-06 mentioned sell for less than $20 a box. That's a big help if you want to shoot a lot, and all 3 of these are pretty flat shooting.

If you want to see trajectories for common rifle rounds, Winchester has a really nice online app that allows you to visually compare a group of them. There you can see the above 3 are basically the same at 500 yards if sighted in at 200 yards, and even the zippier 7mm Rem Mag and .300 Win Mag not much flatter. .308 Win falls off a littler quicker than the above though, it's the outlier.

http://ballisticscalculator.winchester.com/

The new high-stepping rounds like .243WSM and .270WSM do shoot flatter, but the basic ammo costs nearly double what it does for vanilla .243, .270, and .30-06.

 

[sc928porsche]

I have no problem with 300WM. Especially at the longer distances. I also have no problem with the recoil which is the main objection of most people. Will a 243 get out to that distance? Yes. Will it have the energy at the point of impact? NO! Ammo for the 300WM isnt terribly expensive. Usually less than 260 remington or 6.5x55 etc. Remington core-lockt usually runs between $20 and $25 a box. I reload, so price in not a consideration.

 

[Steel Talon]

25-06 is my favorite caliber....

 

[PawPaw]

you do realize that the caliber of choice in texas for hogs is .223 right?

There ain't no telling what a Texican is apt to do.

If I could build my ideal rig for this criteria I'd base it on the 7mm Rem Mag.

My son has a Savage 111 FV that they used to catalog. FV stands for synthetic varmint in the Savage lexicon, and it's a factory rifle in 7mm RemMag. Varmint? 7mm Mag? Really? Yeah, it's a heavy-barreled rifle and it does quite well at extended yardages.

25-06 is my favorite caliber....

It's not my favorite, yet, but it's wearing on me. I've been doing some reloading with this caliber and I really like those skinny bullets. It may be the nearly perfect whitetail deer caliber, which means that it would also do well for hogs.

 

[4runnerman]

10 inch plate at 500 yards. That opens you up to a whole mess load of rifles.
223 on up to just about anything. Cost wise i would go with 243,308. Also look at 270,30-06, 300 WSM.

 

[Steel Talon]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steel Talon
25-06 is my favorite caliber....

PawPaw
It's not my favorite, yet, but it's wearing on me. I've been doing some reloading with this caliber and I really like those skinny bullets. It may be the nearly perfect whitetail deer caliber, which means that it would also do well for hogs.

Well would be an understatement

Partitions are my favorite bullet style to use in the 25-06. I've taken Hogs, Antelope,Mule and Whitetail deer. and Elk with the 25-06. THe accuracy and DRT distances achieved with this caliber are phenominal.

The penetration achieved with the Partition are just as amazing.

 

[Brotherbadger]

I was looking for a rifle for the exact same reasons you were(long range, flat shooting, and have enough power to knock down larger game at long distances), and i settled on the 7mm rem mag. It's extremely flat trajectory and still has a ton of power out to 500 yards. I love it and wouldn't trade it for anything. Sure, the rounds are a little expensive(which is why i started reloading), but not too bad.

 

[MOshooter65202]

243 is a good round,i've had a 6mm rem for quite sometime and really like the 24 cal.
However my favorite round for reaching out and anchoring game at 500 yards?,is the 7mm Remington Mag. which has proven itself time after time for over 20+ years now and of course will also shoot itty bitty groups.

Good luck on your long range rifle quest.

 

[Colonel Custer]

May I suggest a mil surp?

A Mosin Nagant can be bought for $80 to 120 and in 7.62x54 cal the ammo is cheap. 440 surplus rounds for $100 ain't bad. Hunting ammo is $9 to $20.

A more accurate option would be an 8mm Mauser dif makes and models mean you can get one as cheap as $150 and hunting ammo ammo is $20 to 40.

Either will put down a 400lb hog.

 

[kraigwy]

A 10" plate at 500 yards is 2 MOA.

Any good quality rifle, Winchester, Savage, Remington, to name a few, is more then capable of 2 MOA off the shelf. Any good quality 4-6 power scope would also work. Pretty much any good quality factory ammo would work too.

Magnums arn't necessary but do distract from good shooting due to the recoil and muzzle blast.

A 243 would probably work at 300 yards but for optimal game weight (assuming a 300 lb hog) the 308 would be more then enough.

Mosins are fun, and most are capable of 3.5 MOA with good (not cheap surplus) ammo. Shooting a 10 inch pie plate and 500 yards would be tricky at best.

Don't get the ideal you have to spend several thousand dollars to do what you listed as your intentions.

 

[emcon5]

6.5x55 SE

Yeah, this sounds tailor made for a 6.5, either a Swede, or a 260 Remington. Wide variety of .264 bullets available, from 85-100gr for varmints, to 140-142 Match bullets, as well as 120 or 140 grain spitzer or 160 gr RN hunting bullets suitable for any game animal in North America short of big bears.

 

[BIG P]

I have 2 rifles I use out over 500yds. A 7mm STW & A 300wm.Both use a good bit of powder,not that cheap to shoot.But they will let the air out of most anything way out there.