your preference on long distance rounds

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boosteddc5

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Hey everyone. the cartridges in question are the 308 win, 30-06, 300 win mag and 7mm rem mag. I've been wondering for awhile now which out of the 4 mentioned would be the ideal cartridge for getting consistent groups out to 1000 yards, being able to take down game out at extended ranges, and also from a military/law enforcement point of view, sniping. Now I know the 308 and 300 win mag are both used by military as sniper rifles. I also want to point out this is not a question of - which should I buy so I can be awesome and get 1 inch groups at 1000 yards or which should I buy to hunt deer/elk at 1000 yards? This is simply a question of, all things being equal, which cartridge would be ideal for the tasks posted above. Hoping this will turn into a good discussion here and not a flaming of "you can't shoot accurately at 1000 yards why bother asking" or "try shooting at 300 yards first then move up". I am not interested in these opinions so I can go out and buy the best long distance rifle. Just want opinions which would be better suited. Thanks everyone!
 
the one inch groups at 1000yds may take alot of doing,no matter what rifle you pick. i started shooting at long range in the early 60,s with a stock 1917 remington enfield in 3006,shooting at dark rocks in a quary wall about 200 feet tall(no danger to any one) with my brother spotting with my uncles unertle spotting scope and it was a eye opener. i did get good enough to hit a few dark rocks(8-9 hundred yards) that were the size of a big refridge or small car. when my brother would call a rock dust spurt that was low i would raise the sight higher and keep shooting untill i hit the dark rocks. alot of fun on a sat afternoon,the ammo was cheap surpluse ww-2 ammo in a belt in a can. eastbank.
 
I'm going to go with the .300 Winny. You get all the same bullet selection as the other two thirty's and it's faster. On the down side, it kicks more. For pure long range work though, you want a heavy rifle and recoil will be mitigated.
 
The more recoil a rifle produces, the harder it is to shoot accurately. I'e shot target rifles up to 300 Win mag and it's twice as difficult to get good groups vs a 308 or 30/06. How the rifle moves during recoil make a big diff in where the bullet lands.
The 7mm and 300 can fling higher SD bullets faster which will reduce the effect of wind in flight and reduce the drop. The drop is not so much of a problem with known or ranged distances but the wind is a real deal breaker at longer ranges.
I sold my 300WM target rifle but kept three 308's and one 30/06 (lightest=10# and heaviest= 14#) [weight is your friend if you're not living out of a rucksack] since I don't do much extreme range shooting anymore.
 
It depends on how many rounds you are shooting. A few for hunting the 7mm rem mag. Long shooting sessions with a hundred rounds fired the .308.
 
Most all of the professional longe range shooting for hunting gurus shoot 7mm Remington Mag, with slightly heavier 26" barrels in a synthetic stock. It just gives the best combination of velocity and recoil, with high BC bullets for best trajectory at long range.
 
I use a 300mag heavy barrel 26''. And a 7MM STW 26'' Both do a great job.1000 yds. is a pretty good poke but on a still day these will do it pretty easy & its alot of fun.:cool:
 
The best is probably the 300wm from a theoretical view, more bullet selection with high BC and good energy on target.

But the belted case can cause problems for reloading, the recoil is not nice either.
I'd recommend a 284 winchester, can produce the same if not better ballistics with less kick so no need for a muzzle brake or moderator.
 
For strictly target shooting, out of the cartridges you listed 308 win for the least recoil. Adding hunting into the picture I would say it depends on the animal you will be hunting for and expected max range. General big game out of your list I would say 300 win mag because of bullet selection. You can customize the load to use on most any animal in N.America that will perform well to very long ranges. The 7mm has a better ballistic coefficient for similar weight bullets and will give flatter trajectory (the difference in trajectory will only be beneficial at hunting out to about 400 yards, after that you will have to adjust your scope anyway to hit cleanly )
If you are open to suggestion look into the 260 and 338 caliber rounds. They also have good bc. Just remember that the farther it goes, the slower it goes, the less penetration it will get on an animal, and the more likely it becomes that the bullet will not perform as designed. Check out some ballistics calculator programs and see for yourself the difference between your choices at 1000 yards with different bullet weights and shapes. Hornady and Remington have them. I like the Hornady web site because I can get the bc for their bullets and run the calculator on the same site.
 
For target shooting at 1,000 yards, the 7mm RemMag at one time was the record-setter. Then came all the R&D on the .308 and the rest is history.

An '06 is a good Bambi killer to 500 yards, stipulating the hunter's skill in doping the wind, estimating the range and knowing the trajectory. With that? Piece of cake.

But I really don't care to tote a target rifle on a multi-mile walking hunt.
 
Look at the .300 Winchester Short Magnum (WSM) - it's one of the current 1,000 yard target favorites. The Army uses the .300 Winchester magnum as one of their main sniper rounds - so you could go either way.

I shoot one of the older 1,000 yard target rounds - 30-338. I also have a .308 that I use for 1,000 yards for precision tactical rifle - of course, the retained energy when compared to a 30-338 is not even close.
 
Most all of the professional longe range shooting for hunting gurus shoot 7mm Remington Mag, with slightly heavier 26" barrels in a synthetic stock. It just gives the best combination of velocity and recoil, with high BC bullets for best trajectory at long range.
Click to expand...

Not exactly true, the 7mm Rem Mag is a good cartridge in its own right but I wouldn't go and say most people hunting long rang use it. There are tons of long range rounds out there and everyone is marketing something for the LR hunter. The so called professionals are out there marketing a product and they'll recommend it to there watchers.

Grebull Precision chose the .243 Win, .264 Win Mag, and 7mm Rem Mag.
Best of the West likes the 6.5-284, 7mm Rem Mag, and .300 Win Mag.
Defensive Edge trademarked the .338 Edge.
Kirby Allen markets his own brand of Allen Magnum cartridges.
Remington, Winchester, and Weatherby all have their magnums that are used at long range as well.
 
I go with the 'pick one and practice' comment. If I were going to pick one and practice I'd take a heavy-barreled 7mm Mag. To me the recoil between the .308, 30-06 and 7mm Mag is almost indistinguishable.
If one really wanted to practice a lot the .300 WM might be a little better wind bucker than the 7mm, with the trade off of a little more recoil. I just really like the .284 bore.
I'd load the big 7 with 160gr bullets at about 3,000 fps. Probably with H4831.

I would never shoot at a game animal at 1000 yards. I might hit him, and if I did the odds are it would be a wounding shot. The vital area is just too small to gamble a 1000 yard shot on something as fine as an elk.
 
Write off the 308 and 30-06 now, they can make it but neither is ideal for 1k shooting. Yes I own a couple 308s.

Between the 7mm Rem Mag and the 300 Win Mag, you are looking at high BC bullets. I like the 7mm 175gr Sierra Game King for accuracy and long range performance, although Berger has come out with a line of Hunting VLDs for 30 caliber rifles as well.

Anyways, a .533 BC on the 175 SGK is going to get you easily to 1k with a premium hunting round. On the 300 Win Mag side of the house Sierra's 200 gr SBT bullet has a .560 BC which will also get you out to 1k handily.

All of this assumes that you handload. If you don't handload, then get the 300 Win Mag as it has a strong following in the tactical community, and commercially loaded 190gr HPBT "A191" equivalent loads are available from several sources.

Jimro
 
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