What cartridge would you choose for long range big game hunting?

[Socrates]

Good news is if you hit your target, it would retain a LOT of energy.

I knew there was a reason I wanted an open site, short range rifle....
I can't see my 270 yard drives land most of the time, now....

[pbrktrt]

Norma now offers their custom rifle in .280 Ackley improved. that should meet your requirements.

[45Marlin carbine]

I have an '06 Ruger I consider max range humane shot with 400 yards if I was to practice at that range, I have it sighted at 100 and never had to shoot at game past about 150 so far.
I'd choose the .300 Weatherby myself and practice with it.

[chuckscap]

If you sight in a 500g bullet at 2400 fps (assuming 470 Capstick Swift A-Frame) 2.5" high at 100 yards, you're dead on at 25 yards, don't have to worry about hold over out to 200 yards, then 6" low at 250 about 12" low at 300. I wouldn't shoot that cartridge further than that and only of course at plains game past 100 yards. Why hunt dangerous game if you're going to shoot them from more than 25 yards away?

Chuck

[Socrates]

Chuck:
Would you please run numbers on 500 and 600 grain bullets, maybe 550's too, in 458, and .475, at 500 yards zero?

Maybe 400's too. 400's at 2900 fps would make a real intresting cat and buffalo load...

[Wildebees]

Just to post something- I am bored with reading only...

Bought some meat at a butcher's during my holiday in the Eastern Cape. Kudu country, very dense bush, so shooting (hunting?) is slope to slope across the valley. This guy had many photo's of himself and his dead kudu in his meat shop, taken over the years, with distances like 733 yards, none closer than 500.

Talked to him a little and I came to the conclusion he was an excellent marksman but not so good in range estimation..

But it is true, some guys regularly shoot springbok with their .270W at 300 yds. They also wound some.

An animal shot at such long distance accross a valley may jump and run away and when you get to the position where he stood, and if you can find it exactly after the 600 yards slog through the dense bush (if you even take the trouble to go there) you may not be able to follow the tracks. To make certain that it was NOT wounded is rather necessary, I believe.

I once went out with a hunting party in Namibia, all members of a local legal firm - they in fact chartered my aircraft to take them there - so I hunted with them, except that I walked on my own. I am not a corporate man.

I hunted each area the day after they had hunted it. Found one of each kudu, gemsbok and hartebeest and a few springbok carcasses, most of them with perfectly placed shots.

Lesson? If the animal does not drop dead at your shot it does not say that it was not a perfect shot. So one must take the trouble and check out carefully. But worse, it may have been a low or a high shot, or the wind may have put it into the stomach (although the slap of the strike is unmistakable)(Of course I've done it.(Twice!).

Problem is, with that LONG shot you may not find the exact position where the thing had stood and then you have a problem to get all the facts.

[HiBC]

I am not advocating extreme range gameshooting,but as a toolmaker I built a rifle for the task you describe.
First,I selected a projectile.I wanted a high ballistic co-efficient,good penetration and a broad range of performance velocity.I chose a 200 gr Nosler accubond,30 cal. Cartridge is 30-338.Velocity 2900.
I had a Husquvarna magnum bolt face action,so I trued and lapped the locking surfaces,squared the receiver ring,and surface ground the reciever bottom.
I put a 26 in Lilja #3 stainless barrel on it.

Hi-tec specialties stock,,ss pillars,steelbed,freefloat,canjar trigger,blind box.

Scope is a Leupold 3.5-10 x 40 mm,Boone and Crockett.

If I zero center crosshair @300 ,the B+C gives correct zero @ 4 and 5.I have not bench verified longer ranges,but I have useful aiming points to 600 meters.

My crosswind value comes up 12 MPH for the B+C ladder.

At over 700 yds,this will still hit like a 30-40 Krag at 100 yds.(I live @5000ft,and the elk are uphill from here).

I have whacked a deer and a pronghorn with it,less meat damage than my .257 AI.
But,last year when I went Elk hunting,I carried my 21 in bbl 375-338.I wasn't figuring on shooting at elk past 300 ish.

[langenc]

Why do so many want to shoot deer and elk out to 500 yards-others coyote out to 400??

Perhaps many of those 400 yd shots are really 135 yards.

[HiBC]

Appologies for going off topic.

Using the example of my .257 AI,115 gr a 3055,chronographed,the 6x42mm leupold on it has a 2 mil,or approx 7 MOA duplex.A brisket to whithers fit in the duplex means a little over 200 yds.I zero it dead on @ a measured 300.I can estimate and kentucky a bit with that rifle till an antelope is nearly small enough to be a crosshair to post fit,then I know we are approaching 400 and it is a wrong idea.I also use a Leica laser,so in either case,I am not just eyeballing range.I have access to a 4 section ranch and I have places measured out to 1090 to practice,and at that range I have put 3 rounds through a bleached out cow scapula that woulkd have made about a 6 inch group.I practice shooting at long ranges.
Once,lasered,layed over my pack,not much breeze,I did a 430 yd antelope shot.One shot instant kill,but no brag shot.Hit it in the neck,aiming heart lung.
Could have been an esophagus shot,or an anteloped stepping on his intestines real easy.It made me think.
The wind is in threads,it is a constant variable.Ref the book "Position Rifle Shooting",he says sandbag a riflescope on a target a 600 early in the morning.
Wait for the mirage to build.You may find your target "moved "3 feet.

I described building a 30-338 in a post above.I actually used Leupold data for the scope values ,loading manuals,and my Sierra ballistic software to design the trajectory of the cartridge to match Leupolds reticle before I built the rifle.I also knew I wanted a minimum impact velocity of 2200 fps@ 600.

I can make a hit at long range,but I still believe Hunting,past about 3 one has to be willing to say,no,it is iffy.Sometimes a little over 4 can be pushed,but there is chance.
Don't get me wrong,I can most likely get a one shot kill on a deer at 800,but I don't accept the risk because wounding is too ugly.
I watched some elk hunt video about crossing hilltops and shooting across valley at 4 to 6+ hundred.One hunter got a one shot kill.The rest shot the legs,butt,guts,reloading and needing 3 to 5 hits to bring down an elk.
Just not my style.
I want to know where my bullet is going to hit,not hope it hits.

I love the technology of rifles,but the HUNTER,can use a 30-40 Krag or a .303 and get 150 or less away and kill anything.

[Art Eatman]

I'll stick a comment in here about range estimation. My uncle was a gunsmith, and often sighted in rifles for people at his 100-yard range. His common sight-in was for 2" high at 100 yards, which works quite well for almost all of the non-magnum deer cartridges and for the typical distances at which 90+% of all deer are shot.

So a customer comes in, complaining that Joe's sight-in didn't work. He'd missed a deer at 300 yards. Joe takes him and the rifle to the bench. "Yeah, that's it! That's 300 yards," the customer exclaimed. They darned near got in a fight over it, with the customer refusing to believe that the "long distance" was only one hundred yards...

[Wildebees]

Friend, don't do it. It is not necessary. If the game in any area is so spooky that you have to shoot at it beyond 300 yards they may need a rest, don't you think?

This not meant as criticism, just my little two cents worth of honest opinion.

[Water-Man]

.300 Weatherby Mag.

[JGC]

since you reload i would think a 300win mag would fit the bill, same bullets or heavier than 308 and 30-06 going faster a + for long range, you keep repeating the term "long range" and its hard to argue with what will make the distance because mostly all will, the question is how will they behave in the wind/conditions and what type of energy will that round be able to deliver, all basic ballistics if you ask me, look it up and compare drop charts/wind/energy it will soon start to be clear which outshines who for "long range", what type of game are you taking? a 300 win mag will take anything in the u.s if not nothing else can do much better or theres always the 338 lapua being you want to go custom, get a stiller with a krieger and a aics with a nightforce and there you go how much do you want to spend and how far do you want to go? a 250gr will devastate and do its job on elk and anything even close to that size, a 300gr should be good medicine of a grizzly, but a good 210 or 230gr 300win mag(since you reload) should do both really well and at distance you wont be facing a charging animal, doubt any of them will make it past 50 yards with a solid hit.

[Jack O'Conner]

My Remington .308 carbine took down this pronghorn buck at approx 325 yards. At the shot the animal toppled right over and kicked a few times.

Jack

[Daryl]

I've been hunting with a 7mm rem mag since 1986. Long shots have been rare, but do happen where J hunt. Longest shot in that time was 472 yards on. A coues deer down in sonora,

[Bigfatts]

I'll put a plug in for the 6.5x55. Pretty flat shooting and enough wallop to put a deer down at 500yds.

[5RWill]

7 WSM or .284 winchester. Throwing 180gr Bergers


http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubb...Number=2924905

[farmerboy]

30-06 or a 270. alot of bullet choices for the 06 and can find commercial ammo for both pretty much everywhere.

[publius]

A .300Mag. would be my choice out of what you listed but I really dig the .264 Win. Mag.

[arch308]

If it can't be done with a 30-06, it probably can't be done.
I believe that's a quote from Jeff Cooper.

[603Country]

The caliber I'd think about would be the 6.5-06, which is like the 260 Remington with a little extra muscle. The recoil would be reasonable, so that practice wouldn't be unpleasant. I'd then get a really good rangefinder and a really expensive scope with dial-the-distance turrets. All that would be wasted, however, on somebody that hasn't hunted and target shot for years (a comment NOT aimed at the OP). That'd be a decent set-up for deer, coyote, and pigs. I doubt that's enough power for larger animals. As for shooting game at 500 or 600 yards, that's up to each person, but I"ll pass. I'll shoot at a coyote at 400, but I keep the deer shooting at about 300 max, and only if it's under ideal conditions. For me, 500 yards is just out of the question for several reasons.

[MOshooter65202]

I really like my 7mm rem mag for Elk and Deer.

[Stick_man]

If you are talking of an Uberdistancesmashemboomer, and cost is not part of the equations but a less common caliber is, why not go for a .308 Norma Mag or a .30-338 or even one of the H&H's?

Personally, my choice would probably be the 7mmSTW for those times when you absolutely, positively, without a doubt needed to reach out and touch something.

Now, if you are wanting some real knockdown power out at long range, check out the custom built 700 a friend made. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFYXTH7Gdhk

[Art Eatman]

I tried really, really hard, but my time mosheen wouldn't go back four years.