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Old July 7, 2013, 12:11 PM   #1
crazydawg
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340 WBY Long range shooting?

Has anyone ever tried the 340 for extreme long range shooting?
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Old July 7, 2013, 07:50 PM   #2
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How extreme is extreme? My best friend shot a 37 1/2" 5 X 5 muley last year at 591 yards in a 40 mph crosswind. Does that count?
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Old July 7, 2013, 11:55 PM   #3
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338 Lapua, 338 Rum, 340 Weatherby are all pretty much the same ballistically. The difference is in the ammo cost. But you could do it, sure.
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Old July 8, 2013, 01:44 AM   #4
Jimro
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Yes, one of the instructors at a well regarded civilian sniper school has used a tactical 340 Wby. It works just as well as the Lapua if you handload.

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Old July 9, 2013, 12:27 AM   #5
handlerer2
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I own and reload for 340WBY. It has loads of long range potential, and plenty of quality match bullets now.

In a sporter weight rifle, w/o a brake, it will beat the snot out of you at the bench.

I own a late 60's MkV Deluxe my uncle left to me and I keep it in my brothers gunsafe in Spokane. I have fired it maybe 60 times and never hunted with it. It is accurate, but not that easy to shoot consistantly, because like I said, it a hunting rifle and will punish you at the bench.
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Old July 9, 2013, 11:41 AM   #6
Brian Pfleuger
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If your posts disappeared... long range hunting ethics is not the topic.
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Old July 9, 2013, 01:48 PM   #7
Bart B.
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The .340 Wby Mag's got too much recoil to shoot really well to point of aim when hand-held and fired off ones shoulder. If you drag a shooting bench afield complete with sand bags to put on its top for the rifle to rest on, then it would do a little better.
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Old July 10, 2013, 04:47 AM   #8
Jimro
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Bart B.,

I don't know anyone who does "ELR" shooting with heavy magnums from anything but bipods and sandbags. Only Palma and LR High Power shoot at 1k with slings, and they are generally not using 338 caliber bullets.

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Old July 10, 2013, 07:39 AM   #9
Bart B.
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Regarding the "shootability" of ELR rifle cartridges, a former USN SEAL Team Commander emailed me some months ago about a recent military test of sniper rifle cartridges at ranges up to 1500 yards. Several former Palma Team members as well as top qualified military snipers did the tests both slung up and using bipods/bags. The .300 Win. Mag. had the highest first-shot-on-target results and best accuracy compared to the .338 Lapua Mag. But the US Army was so darned hung up on maximum muzzle energy and maximum down range energy, they picked the .338; a miss with more energy was more important than a hit with less.

The more recoil a rifle-cartridge system has before the bullet leaves the barrel, the harder it is to shoot accurately from any position. Off bipods or bags does make the miss distance from aiming mark's mean radius smaller with either cartridge, but it's the smallest with the milder one. Hence, the 24 and 26 caliber medium cartridges are favored for any off the shoulder competition at long ranges and dealt the death knell to the 30 caliber and larger magnums. In contrast, in free recoil, the accuracy advantage will always go to the most accurate system regardless of caliber or case size. Which is why the best compromise seems to be the 30 caliber ones for benchrest at 1000 yards.

Last edited by Bart B.; July 10, 2013 at 08:28 AM.
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Old July 11, 2013, 07:38 AM   #10
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Of course, some LRH people swear by the 338 Edge (338-300RUM), slightly larger than the factory 338 RUM.
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Old July 11, 2013, 09:58 AM   #11
Jimro
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Quote:
Regarding the "shootability" of ELR rifle cartridges, a former USN SEAL Team Commander emailed me some months ago about a recent military test of sniper rifle cartridges at ranges up to 1500 yards. Several former Palma Team members as well as top qualified military snipers did the tests both slung up and using bipods/bags. The .300 Win. Mag. had the highest first-shot-on-target results and best accuracy compared to the .338 Lapua Mag. But the US Army was so darned hung up on maximum muzzle energy and maximum down range energy, they picked the .338; a miss with more energy was more important than a hit with less.

The more recoil a rifle-cartridge system has before the bullet leaves the barrel, the harder it is to shoot accurately from any position. Off bipods or bags does make the miss distance from aiming mark's mean radius smaller with either cartridge, but it's the smallest with the milder one. Hence, the 24 and 26 caliber medium cartridges are favored for any off the shoulder competition at long ranges and dealt the death knell to the 30 caliber and larger magnums. In contrast, in free recoil, the accuracy advantage will always go to the most accurate system regardless of caliber or case size. Which is why the best compromise seems to be the 30 caliber ones for benchrest at 1000 yards.
Bart B. I know the study you are referring to. The desired endstate of that program is a 2000 meter sniper system, which is why the Army is pushing for the 338 Lapua. You know this too, we've covered it before.

What your buddy doesn't tell you is hard numbers. I had a buddy in the USMC test a 7mm sniper system out to 1900, and he reported back some very interesting results. Still, having shot high power with the NSWC Crane contractor who came up with the new A191 load (220 SMK over H1000) he seems to think that SOCOM will continue to use 300 Win Mag until someone manages to come up with the terminal objective 2000 meter round.

Heck, the Army has even tested the 408 Cheytac, but found that it went unstable like a 50 BMG around 1,400 meters.

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