AusVarmint

Hi all,

I have been considering having a crack at centrefire silhouette, and was looking at an omark 44 in 308 to do the job. I have since been told that a 308 is "a 50 percent gun", ie, they only knock over half the rams they hit at 500m. I don't know if that comment was fair or not, but figured there would be knowledge in this forum that could say if the comment was justified.

But the real question is, what is the recommendation for a calibre that will have the energy at 500m to knock over rams with a fair measure of confidence? I have a preference for factory loads, so relatively common calibres are what I'd be after, but outside of that, I'm open to suggestions.

thanks, curan.

curan wrote: what is the recommendation for a calibre that will have the energy at 500m to knock over rams with a fair measure of confidence?

105 Howitzer should do the trick!!! on a serious not 300wm should do it with no worries..but i cant see why a 308 wouldnt do it either...

in saying that i have never shot a 308 out to 500m...

just my 2c


cheers BB

Curan,If you hit the ram in the correct position the ram will go down with a 308.The 7mm-08 is popular for metallic silohuette.
6.5x55 will also do the job.A lot depends on the stock and how recoil tolerant you are.
A lot run different loads for the two longer ranges.
I'd suggest reloading as a fair degree of accuracy is needed at 500 to get the best results.
Best of luck,
Macca

Your adviser is way off the mark, 308 will knock down as many rams as anything else you want to stand behind for 40 or 80 shots, 243 is more of a 50% cartridge, bigger bullets are always better.
I have been using a 308 for 20 years on silhouettes and it is as good as anything else out there, 7mm08 is as good.
The benefits of a 7mm is lighter recoil, 6.5's are lighter again but leave a few more rams standing.
The majority of shooters need to hit more rams before they worry about the ones that don't fall down.

Seems like I should stick with the original thought and have another look at the 308. I certainly feel more confident after reading the replies.
Thanks for the responses, fellas.

regards, curan

have an accurate load that allows you to hit the rams
have enough techinique and stamina to be not knackered by the time you get to the rams
thats 90% of the battle as I have been told

much more important than whether the 308 will or will not drop rams. if a 150 grain 308 load wont drop the rams- go upto a 168 or 175 grain load

Later
p

The hot ticket in the US for sometime now has been the 6.5 BR. Fuckall recoil so it is easy to shoot over extended matches, the 120 grainers are used for the chickens pigs and even turkeys, with the 139/140/142s used on the Rams. The ballistics of this little cartridge is quite astonishing and is right up there with the best of them. A good mate in Cantberra has been using one for a few years now and he tells me he wouldn't use anything else and he tried just about everything in years gone by. The side benefit of this cartridge is that its accuracy is second to none and with around 30 grains of powder per shot, very efficient with the 140s nudging past 2700 fps. The later Nosler handloaders manuals have this cartridge listed in their handgun section, and in mine the hangun used had a 14 inch barrel and the listed loads made me rethink this cartridge as at first i thought someone was havin a go at me. Not so.

Tony Z.