your preference on long distance rounds

My "tactical" long range rifle is a .308 . The round and rifle are consistant and able to make good hits out to the ranges you specify. But even though the .308 is my favorite cartridge, alas, For you I would recommend the .300 WM.

Simply because, I have complete faith in the .308 making accurate hits at 1k yards, I dont think it has the power to ethically hunt at ranges past about 700.

I dont own a .300, but if I were looking for a rifle or round with your specs in mind, I would have to grudgingly give the nod to the .300.

Good luck!
 
All things considered, the .300 has and always will be an excellent long range round. It still holds a few 1000 yard records if you look it up at Camp Perry. The shooter and rifle must always be outfitted properly for long ranges, but most importantly is the sighting system. If you don't have quality optics designed for enough w/e movement, then you're wasting your time with any of those calibers.

-7-
 
Some serious 1000 yd shooting has been done wth cartridges like the 45-70,44-90,etc using lead bullets and black powder.The folks who were doing it that way shot some remarkable groups.
http://www.longrangebpcr.com/TCFacts.htm
My point,its more than the cartridge.

A lot have serious folks have pursued the idea of the "best"1000 yd round.

I suggest read up on 1000 yd shooting matches and see what the winners use.

Some folks prefer using the 6mm VLD's,the 6.5 Creedmoor was a 1000 yd project,and the 6.5/284 is now a Norma cartridge,I believe.

I built a 30-338 over a 300 Win as,given common magazine lengths,the shorter .338 parent case allows longer bullets without deep-seating.

I easily get 2900 fps with a 200 gr Accubond.Flies pretty good.Its in a light hunting rifle.Rocks some.

Generally,look at what bullets are available.Look at Berger,Sierra,Lapua.Look at high ballistic coefficients.Consider your target.If it is paper,a .633 BC 6.5 bullet will fly about the same as a .633 BC .338 bullet..Likely the guy shooting the .338 will get tired first.

But shooting rocks across the canyon,a .338 Lapua makes better dust puffs.

At some point,more performance equals shorter barrel life.Can you live with replacing your barrel after 1000 rds?

I believe there are folks shooting 1000 yds single loading 80 gr plus bullets in AR's

And,I suspect a Sharps vs Rolling Block 45-90 match is as much fun as any.

I've just been a plinker with access to long range,I do not compete.I do have some fun.
 
Some things to consider for ones long range rifle....

If it'll be fired off your shoulder, note these issues:

* The more recoil there is, the harder it will be to shoot accurately. Heavy kickers move more while the bullet's going down the barrel.

* The heavier it is, the harder it will be to hold it still on your target. 10 to 12 pounds is about the limit.

If it'll be fired in free recoil virtually untouched except for a finger on its 2-ounce trigger, here's some issues:

* You need to have a very repeatable "return to battery" stock so it can be positioned exactly the same for each shot.

As far as an action's concerned, none have shot any more accurate than the Winchester Model 70's. Some equal it but none shoot smaller groups than a 70 can produce properly 'smithed to a good barrel and stock.

Barrel life gets less as more powder's burned for a given bore size. .308 Win. gets about 2000 rounds of pristine accuracy and 3000 for acceptable for long range. 30 caliber magnums get about 1/3 as many rounds. The 6.5x.284 and 7mm Rem Mag gets 1/4th as many rounds. This is for rifles and ammo the shoot no worse than 1/4 moa at 100 yards, 5/8 moa at 1000. Less accurate systems will get longer barrel life.

30 caliber magnums are popular these days for free recoil benchrest rifles. And for rifles fired off the shoulder, the 6.5x.284 and 7mm non-belted magnums are popular. . .even with short barrel life, they do what's needed.
 
Art says:
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.
Click to expand...
It was the other way around.

R&D on the .308 started in 1963 as far as a competition round's concerned.

In 1970, a good friend won the 1000 yard scope sight match at the NRA Nationals with a borrowed 7mm Rem Mag rifle and ammo setting a new record (42 shots inside 20 inches) and therefore boosting Remingtons sales of rifles for that cartridge. Sierra Bullets had made a prototype run of 7mm 168-gr. HPMK's for the cartridge from an exceptional lot of jacket material and the rifle was owned by Sierra's head ballistic technician. Those bullets tested in the ones in their 100-yard range in California. It was almost 15 years before consistantly good bullet jacket material allowd such long jacket 7mm bullets to come out of their forming dies. Very few lots of Sierra's 7mm and also 6.5mm match bullets introduced then that shot good enough for competiton were made. A good shot with a decent .308 Win. rifle and ammo could easily out score anyone with a 7mm magnum until the late 1980's most of the time. But Norma's 139-gr. 6.5mm nickel plated match bullets in 6.5-06 and .264 Win Mags gave the 30 caliber Sierras a run for their money.

Meanwhile, the 30 caliber magnums ruled the long range matches with shoulder fired rifles in the prone position until the late 1980's when both 6.5 and 7 mm bullets were available that shot as accurate as the 30 caliber ones.
 
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Never owned a 300 winny. Owned a .30-06 and traded it because I didn't care for it. Having said that my first choice would be a .308 with a heavy barrel. Very easy to shoot. Next choice would be a 7mm rem mag. with a heavy barrel.
 
Here's the equivalent of two 30 shot groups at 1000 yards with .30-.338 Keele Magnum (Winchester .300 Win. Mag. cases full length sized with a .30-.338 Win. Mag die). Necks are about 1/4" longer than a .30-.338 has.

Each load was alternately fired. First a Sierra 190 in once fired full length sized cases with necks uniformed to .0125" then a 200 grain Sierra HPMK in virgin new cases with no case prep at all. Bullet runout about .0025" max. 15 shots with each. Two sighters fired to center group then let the barrel cool down to ambient temperature. Group shots were fired about 20 to 25 seconds apart. Rifle fired from prone with a Weaver T20 scope with the fore end and stock toe resting on rice bags. Holding area was about 1 inch in diameter from my pulse beat.

Both groups are about 4.6" extreme spread. Note where they centered relative to each other; the 200 grain load with a grain less powder went only a few inches lower than the 190's. X-ring's 10 inches in diameter. Note the 200's held a bit better elevation than the 190's. No corrections for wind was made during the 30-shot session.

4198676118_3ab2c51373_z.jpg
 
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Great responses but again, i am not planning on buying one of these rifles and "hunting elk at 1000 yards". like i said im just wondering what you would prefer as a long range cartridge whether it be hunting, plinking or high power rifle matches. my opinion for getting consistent groups at 1000 yards would be a 308 win and then 7mm in second. another question is... which out of the 4 mentioned will shoot more consistently as in which round will/has get the tightest groups consistently out at 1000 yards?
 
Either of the magnums. Shooting 308 at 1K is fine if you use the 155's from a long Palma barrel (or 175s, or 190s...)

There are some guys out in Montana shooting 190 SMK's at 2900 fps from custom 30-06s with handloads (which is a pretty stiff load from a pretty long barrel).

On a good day, any of the cartridges you mention will hold a 5" group at 1k from a heavy barrel target rifle (assuming quality handloads). On a windy day the edge will go to the cartridge with pushing the highest BC bullet the fastest, meaning the magnums.

If recoil is an issue I would choose the 7mm Rem Mag, and use something like the Hornady 162gr AMax (G1 BC .625) or HPBT (G1 BC .610) instead of a 210/220 bullet from the 300 Win Mag.

Jimro
 
Between a 7mm rem mag and a 300 win mag, which one will shoot a higher bc bullet? I dont mean being equal weights, i mean which is higher... the highest bc 7mm, or the highest bc 300 win mag? Ive shot 7mm rem mag before and it did kick quite a bit. Does the 300wm kick a lot more? If so that might play a big role in ones decision between the two. Anyhow, out of 308, 7mm rm and 300wm, which would shoot more consistent groups at 1000 yards, and which holds more records at 1000 yards?
 
boosteddc5,

It isn't just about BC. It is about BC and velocity combined with low standard deviation. For example the 300 win mag could push a 155 gr Scenar bullet well over 3,000 fps and easily get to 1K without a hitch, or the 308 could push a 175 SMK at 2600 fps and barely make it there supersonic and get equally tight groups (on a calm day).

If you handload, then I would go with the 7mm Rem Mag, as you can get a high BC bullet going sufficiently fast to produce tight groups, with less recoil than a 300 Win Mag. If you don't handload then you need to get either the 308 or 300 Win Mag because they have plenty of match loads available.

But, no matter what equipment you choose, it won't do the shooting for you. My advice is get an DCM legal AR and try shooting cross the course High Power to see if you are any good at long range shooting before dropping twice that coin on a long range rig you don't know how to shoot.

Jimro
 
It want in your list but .260 Rem is a good target round even at 1k yards. If you plan to kill an animal at that distance, forget it and go .300 WM.
 
Thanks for the posts everyone but again this thread isnt asking for advice on which caliber i should buy. More of a poll of which you prefer for long range work and why. A friend and i were discussing which of these is an ideal long distance round and we both have different opinions (mine being 7mm rm) and so i wanted to see what everyone else thought. Thanks for all the advice and knowledge though, id still like to see what people think is better at long range target practice (and maybe some long range hunting) out of 7mm rm and 300wm.
 
Target shooting? 7mm because of lower recoil.

Long range hunting? 300 WM because of heavier bullets retaining energy better at distance.

Although if you fall into "bullet must retain 1000 ft pounds of energy to cleanly take an animal" school of thought, neither the 7 or 300 will do that at 1000.

Jimro
 
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