500-600m Flat Shooting Gun >.25Cal Ideas Please.

[Buffy]

I can attest to the 300 rum being flat! No problem smoking buff with 180gr core lokt PSP either

[Buffy]

112gr of 2225 and your on your way he he he

[kjd]

112gr of 2225 and your on your way he he he

JEEZUS haha with great power comes a great amounts of powder I guess!

[Brad Y]

If your shooting known distances on steel gongs its just dial up and shoot so flat cals arent of real value. A few more clicks on the scope is no effort. Flat can be interpreted as fast for 300m with light bullets (then drop like crazy due to crap BC) or flat can be lob heavier bullets slower but make up on drop and drift at further ranges. Most cals can be made to shoot "flat" at shorter range with light bullets. Some can be made to shoot flat at longer range with heavy bullets. But not all can be relied upon to deliver accuracy at longer range. 308 is the preferred round of choice out to 800m I believe for quite a few armed forces in the world and for a reason. Its an accurate caliber and would be my pick to match in with your criteria. Cheap easy to get winchester match ammo through your nearest NSWRA clubs and I think federal make gold medal match rounds too. People shoot 26 inch barrelled 308's to 1000yards with 155gr match bullets fine. Heck lots of people do very well at long range with a 223 and 80gr bullets too. Both are similar in drift in F class, no reason why in field situations that cant be the same. If loading grab some 175gr match bullets to get better wind bucking performance and your sorted. The rest is reading the wind. Factory guns like a T3 varmint will do you fine if you dont want to build something. The 308 wont beat you up and will be easier to spot hits or misses compared to magnum cases. Barrel life is great with a 308 as well. Not sure how many accurate rounds you will get out of a magnum caliber factory barrel especially if your sending down 10 or so within 3-4 minutes, but it wont be many. Brass is always cheap and easy to find. Put a 20MOA rail on to make sure you can shoot out further but a sightron SIII in either 6-24 or 8-32 will be fine. For field use get a mil dot or moa type reticle so you can follow up your misses with a quick hold off if you dont ring the gong first hit. Forget a brake as installing things like muzzle breaks to tame recoil is going to cost you money you could be better spending on building an accurate gun or at least more ammo for practicing your LR shooting. Also think about bedding jobs adding to that figure. You could buy something like a 300WSM or 300WM, shoot 200gr+ bullets you wont have to worry about reading wind so much but to me in LR shooting, reading the wind is the challenge you choose to put yourself against. You have to ask especially in a factory gun in those cals what is available, what price and really is it going to ring that steel any better than a 308. And is it going to be worth replacing that barrel after a short amount of shooting.

I get a bit of a feeling after the weekend (and Im jealous looking at the pics) your after a big boomer for a bit of fun shooting at ranges than you normally shoot. And possibly your mind is made up on a magnum cal. But the options are worthy of consideration especially when it comes to a cases inherent accuracy, availability of ammo and components, barrel life and how long you can tolerate shooting it for in a factory weight rifle.

If they made factory rifles in 6BR, that is precisely what I would recommend. Its built for 500m shooting with 105gr bullets. Improved versions of it hold sub 2 inch records in 1000yd long range benchrest. Its accurate as hell, period. But the 308 is a darn good case for shooting out to 800 or so metres for targets.

Now if it were me and I wasnt restricted and for ranges you are asking, I would grab a single shot action (an omark or neilsen would be a cheap way to start) an 8 twist 6.5mm HV profile barrel, chamber in 6.5x47L at 28 inches, run 130gr berger hunting VLD bullets around 2800-2900fps with 2208 and CCI450's, 8-32 power sightron with the MOA reticle, 20MOA rail and use an davies type bipod on a detachable rail within the stock so its easy to cart around yet stable as hell on the ground. Build it to about 8kg so the recoil will be stuff all and you can spot your hits day in and day out with heaps better ballistics than a 308. Awesomely accurate caliber too. Would be a great LR varmint rig that could cross over into fly shooting, LRBR and F class. Building a rifle will in most occasions guarantee better accuracy at longer range but its entirely your choice. And if you did it on a budget you could probably come in at a price similar to the more expensive rifles like sako. Of course you still have to buy scopes and mounts. Sometimes for a fun rifle, a T3 or howa varmint is hard to beat for the bang for buck value.

Once you start long range shooting for fun it gets addictive and I have fooled myself into spending alot more money than I should have. I thought a rem700 sps 308 varmint would do me for f class. Then I got a match barrel fitted and new stock. Then I got an F class bipod. Then I got a new stock and front rest. Then I got another barrel. Then I got another action and barrel for it... it went on and on. Really if I had of spent 8k straight up it would have got me 2 decent actions (I have a pierce now the other is a trued rem which cost almost as much as the pierce at the end of working on it) both fitted up with quality barrels, stocks, scopes etc and I would have been fine. Ive gone well over 10k and still needing another 2 barrels and a scope. Ah the joys of shooting! Buy once cry once!

[adamjp]

112gr of 2225 and your on your way he he he

JEEZUS haha with great power comes a great amounts of powder I guess!

Yep, and a fairly short barrel life. We all say barrels are a consumable, but I don't recall many 264 Win Mags poking their heads up on this forum.

The rule of thumb is that an accurate 300 Win Mag will be shot out under 1500 rounds.

The 300 RUM will be lucky to last 1000 rounds of gong ponging fun at 800m. Still better than the 7mm RUM, it is usually insufficiently accurate at less than 700 rounds.


Seriously, go with a 300 Win or a 7mm Rem in a 700 Sendero or similar (Savage do some nice stuff here and barrels are easy to change). Both are damn good cartridges and you will practice with them. Long story short, I have seen plenty of fellows try the long range thing with those large cartridges and whilst the trajectory is flat, long range hits come from practice, practice and more practice. If you are not putting rounds downrange every week in real conditions you can't hope to have the skills needed when it counts. Normal folks don't practice much with something that gets 800 rounds and then a new barrel, because even though they are 'consumable' they are a $700 consumable part and few of us working stiffs can afford three barrels every two years.

For this reason a Savage F Class rifle in 6mm BR would be the best way to go, or a Ruger 77 VT/Predator in 6.5 Creedmoor. To be capable at this work you really are going to need to handload.

Now if you only want it for fun and giggles once or twice a year, go the RUM!

[220]

Some good advice but I know my next purchase will still be a 257roy.
I'm probably looking for a rifle to cover similar uses to yourself.

The odd medium game shot that might be 4-500y
Occasional varmint session
Bit of informal long range target work.

Now I had a 7mm Rem Mag for about 10years I used for similar uses.
Found the 7mm a bit to much gun for a comfortable varmint session, sure recoil isn't bad but by 20 or so shots prone I found it uncomfortable.
25/06 will do everything I want, used one prior to the 7mm but I just want a Roy

[Buffy]

Keith, let's put things into perspective here...... all the BR/F-Class people will push you towards spending a million dollars...... In reality though, with some basic scope adjustments and great spotting (Thanks Jason) I hit the 707m gong with my stock standard rem 700 vssf in .308 win with a nighteater scope. The load consisted of me picking a number on the ADI site between the starting and max load for a 150gr pill and it was put together with a lee anniversary press and lee dies. the OAL was whatever fitted in the mag......

food for thought

BB

[JasonF]

Hmm,
Interesting.. I just noticed Remington do a SPS Long Range in 25-06, 7mm Rem, 300win and 300Rum...
Never a fan of Remington's but considering the application and all the go fast bits that Rem's have it could be a worthwhile option. . .

This looks like a good option. You can upgrade bits as you can afford them. The 7RM or 300WM would be my pick of cartridges. I wouldn't be shy about adding a brake either to allow you to spot your shots.

My Rem 700 SPS varmint in 223 shoots very very well in a HS stock, with only a simple recrown.

[macca]

Economical suggests a 308. Flat shooting suggests the opposite.
There are as many options as there are calibres and chamberings.
I use a 7mm and 300 mag because I had a sendero action. It does the job. I have managed a six inch group at 1km.
Pick a good projectile and find a savage or rem heavy barrel, or tikka etc etc and just do it. If the first doesn't work, sell it and go again. I have many times.

Cheers

[kjd]

Exactly what I'm thinking mate Id out a brake on it before I would shoot it. I have ruled out the 300Rum just a bit to much gun I think.
And seeing as you endorsed the rem SPS is the reason why I'm considering one!
They are really cheap too!
I'm thinking 300wm but could be swayed to the 7mmRM.
It is a long way off but hope to have something by the next meetup!

Hmm,
Interesting.. I just noticed Remington do a SPS Long Range in 25-06, 7mm Rem, 300win and 300Rum...
Never a fan of Remington's but considering the application and all the go fast bits that Rem's have it could be a worthwhile option. . .

This looks like a good option. You can upgrade bits as you can afford them. The 7RM or 300WM would be my pick of cartridges. I wouldn't be shy about adding a brake either to allow you to spot your shots.

My Rem 700 SPS varmint in 223 shoots very very well in a HS stock, with only a simple recrown.

[kjd]

Economical suggests a 308. Flat shooting suggests the opposite.
There are as many options as there are calibres and chamberings.
I use a 7mm and 300 mag because I had a sendero action. It does the job. I have managed a six inch group at 1km.
Pick a good projectile and find a savage or rem heavy barrel, or tikka etc etc and just do it. If the first doesn't work, sell it and go again. I have many times.

Cheers

Haha I'm thinking very seriously about it mate!

[kjd]

Keith, let's put things into perspective here...... all the BR/F-Class people will push you towards spending a million dollars...... In reality though, with some basic scope adjustments and great spotting (Thanks Jason) I hit the 707m gong with my stock standard rem 700 vssf in .308 win with a nighteater scope. The load consisted of me picking a number on the ADI site between the starting and max load for a 150gr pill and it was put together with a lee anniversary press and lee dies. the OAL was whatever fitted in the mag......

food for thought

BB

DW mate this will be put together on a budget and I doubt I will even go to the range with it. It is purely a plaything!

[Ackley Improved]

Being flat as hell doesn't mean accurate! End of a day accuracy wins! Factory ammo, hard to go past the NRA 308 target ammo. Priced good, hear it shoots great in a number of rifles! Got lots of rifles to choose from too!

[Brad Y]

Being flat as hell doesn't mean accurate! End of a day accuracy wins! Factory ammo, hard to go past the NRA 308 target ammo. Priced good, hear it shoots great in a number of rifles! Got lots of rifles to choose from too!

And this is coming from someone who has built and used a few very accurate long range rigs Keith. Great advice, and yes that NRAA ammo is really good stuff.

I would still advise if you want a gun on a budget, an omark or neilsen with a good barrel on it will be a good investment. Or if your buying, a T3 will go well. Anything else I think you might be sadly dissapointed in its consistant long range performance unless you luck onto an accurate gun.

[Ackley Improved]

I'm well and truly over velocity! Rangefinder and dial in is the go. 260 is only at 2840fps with a 130 berger, 21" barrel. It goes alright.....