Newbie questions on Long Range Shooting

bhale187

I am thinking of trying my hand at some longer range shooting. I'm a complete newbie to this realm of firearms and looking for some opinions. I will probably be sticking to shots well under 500 yards, mostly around 300 yards. With those facts in mind I have a couple questions.

First I am thinking of buying, as the name suggested, a Savage 110GXP in 30-06. Any thoughts on the model and the caliber?

Second, the one I am looking at has a Simmons 3-9x40 mounted. How is Simmons quality, and are the optics right for those ranges?

JustC

The savage will be good,..but your scope will need to be of much better quality to be repeatable. Think Burris Signature, luepold LR, IOR Valdada etc in decent rings and bases.

reindeer

WILL YOU BE RELOADING? REINDEER

CapnMidnight

Plus 1 on the scope, you get what you pay for, Leopold or Nikon at least.
For what it's worth.
W.D.

dfletcher

I really like the 30.06, but at 300 yds you'te much better off with the 308. If I could suggest a Savage that will serve you well, it would be the 12 BVSS in 300 WSM or 308.

Knowing your rifle and how it shoots is much more important than an advantage gained via caliber or type of rifle.

11b6r

06 is good round, altho can be a bit punishing from the bench. 300 yards is not THAT far- You may want to consider lighter round- Rifle a good choice for the money. Scope is hunting grade- spend a bit more on glass and mounts for glass. And have fun. Oh- and buy a good SPOTTER scope- walking back and forth to the 300 meter target may be good exercise, but when a day at the range involves a 10 mile hike, gets old quick.

bhale187

quote:Originally posted by reindeer
WILL YOU BE RELOADING? REINDEER

perhaps in the future, but not for awhile anyway.

reindeer

Savage makes a fine rifle. Leupold makes good scopes. Do not cheap-out on the scope. Also at 300 yards, do not cheap-out on a spotting scope either. One writer noted that .30-'06 or .308 is painful. Depending on your age and physical condition this is a factor. A young man can shoot a 30 cal for 30 years. If you are a shooter in a wheelchair or of slight build and getting older by the minute, a smaller caliber might just be the ticket. Me, I am old, overweight and would not shoot anything but 30-'06 or .308 in high power. reindeer

jtmarine0831

Definately go better on the scope! The rifle is a good choice, Savages are good rifles and very accurate for an out of the box rifle. The 30-06 is a GREAT round, but as mentioned before can be alittle punishing. There are several calibers out there that are great for mid-range shooting. My favorites, 222Rem, 223Rem, 243Win., 22-250, and 308Win. These are all popular hunting and varmit calibers and factory ammo is readily avaliable and mostly accurate. Here is a post I made on a similiar topic and I'll share it with you, these are my opinions!

quote:Shooting the long distance huh! I am with several of the guys here when I say "start out with a 308Win"! The reasons being it is a very accurate round, mild recoil especially in a target rifle where you have the extra weight. You can handload fairly cheap and even Factory Match ammo is cheaper than regular ammo in the big mags. Don't get me wrong the big mags are a blast, but the main reason I recommend a 308Win is right here. Information! The 308Win. IS the most popular Long Range Sniper round to this day. There is so much info and data(Dope) on Match and Long Range rounds that I could fill a high school gym! The reason being is reading wind, humidity, temps, etc. is hard to remember no matter what caliber. So every bit of research that was done by the military and ammo manufacturers has been documented and is readily available. This makes it a great caliber to learn how to "read" all the elements that come into play with long range shooting. Almost every load ever developed for this round has a ballistics chart so all you have to do is look, calculate a little, compare, adjust, and shoot! And Hit The Mark! Yes you can get out there farther with your 300WinMags and 338laupas and some of your 22PPCs and 6.5s are a lot more accurate. But you will have to do almost all the load and trajectory research yourself while trying to learn how to judge wind, temp affect, mirage, uphill/downhill shooting, etc. and that is an awful lot all at once. Spells headache and a lot of back-tracking because of forgotten info to me. I just said the 308Win was a good place to start and learn, not that it was the BEST round for long range shooting.

Start small and end Big!

Good Luck and Good Shooting!

Like I mentioned before, the rifle is a good choice, but the scope needs reconsidered. But you choice of scope and its options should be tailored to what you are going to be using it for. I personally recommend a mil-dot. Reasons being that it will help you learn to judge distance( if shooting on non-specific range targets) and is much easier to use hold-overs with less guessing. Usually scopes equipped with mil-dots have a 30mm tube for better light transmission and are built a little tougher and almost entirely waterproof. Like I said, these are my opinions and do not have everyones agreement. You most likely find a good one for less than $300-$400 and up, but if you want the most accurate shot placement you can get you will need precision and quality.


As vdms55 mentioned, a range finder and GOOD spotting scope is a must. You can get by with ouy a range finder if you are shooting pre-established distances but if not I recommend one. I forgot to mention before(darn kids keep interupting) but it seems like a lot more hunters are going to Tactical scopes for hunting. Mainly due to the durability of their construction, but also for their ranging capabilites and ability to assist in holdovers with less guessing. Here is a link to some guys that are always testing different scopes and equipment, mostly leaning toward the tactical shooting but all can be used in hunting apps also.


http://www.snipercentral.com/

vdms55

all good advice but i would also add... look at a ballistic s table and see the drop differences for different weighted bullets at different ranges. this might inspire you to use a range finder, and a scope with a tactical elevation torret. do you intend to hunt with the rifle or target shoot?

bhale187

I can't hunt with a rifle in my home state, so the VAST majority of my shooting will be at paper.

A few years back I purchased a Remington 700 in .308, and never got to the range with it before I traded it off. I hope to follow through this time around.

I was thinking of going with the 30-06 over the 308 as sort of pre-planning in case I started shooting longer distances. What is the reasonable range for the 308 in comparison to the 30-06?