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long range shooting
44 shotdoctor
Member Posts: 10 ✭✭
IAM CURIOUS ABOUT DOING SOME LONG RANGE SHOOTING 400-600 YDS WHAT WOULD BE A GOOD CALIBER TO USE IAM NOT A RELOADER I WAS THINKING 22 250 OR A 6MM GIVE ME SOME IDEAS
Comments
I look at this as an accuracy standpoint, since that is my game. However, for informal shooting, the 7mm will do fine.
"My question is I want to push this gun out to 400 yds."
What do you want to accomplish, are you target shooting, hunting or just plinking?
Your load of Win. 760 and the 168 gr. HPBT MatchKing is below even the starting load recommended by Hodgdon's website. They have a Starting load of 44 gr. of W-760 and a Maximum load of 46 gr.
This is the link to their Reloading Center:
http://www.hodgdon.com/
I just went back through some of my notes from last year's development projects and the combinations that a hunting rifle set up liked was:
139 gr. Hornady InterBond with AA-XMR-2495
162 gr. Hornady AMAX with Ramshot Big Game
For plain old successful hunting there is nothing wrong with the Speer Spitzer bullets or any of the Nosler products.
More information as to what you want to do will help us get you better information.
Best.
The 7mm-08 was DEVELOPED as a silhouette (sp) round for competition shooting. The 7mm offers slightly better BC's than comparable 30cals until you get up in the 200gr+ range. It can make a superb 1000yd cartridge with a long enough barrel and heavy pills. You may consider having it reamed to 7mm08 Ackely Improved to pick up just a bit of powder capacity for launching the 168-180gr VLD pills.
Personally, I would be looking at using H4350x for your weight bullet. My best load in my 7x57 which is very comparable is 46 gr. of VV N160 out of a 26" barrel. This gives me a velocity of 2660 up here in Minnesota in standard temps. In cold weather the speed drops maybe 100 fps or so.
The rifle will shoot 5 inch groups at 600 yards.
175 Gr. Sierras;
Varget powder. Using just under max load. Seated .030 off the rifling...cannot feed thru the magazine loaded the way I like...just off the rifling.
The 40g load of 760 when using the 168 HPBT gives better groupings than the recommended min charge. When increasing the load the groupings spread. This gun was my fathers and he did a lot precison shooting and found this worked best for this gun. I am just taking this gun to the next level. As for the other questions I am currently using for optics is a Leupold 6.5x20. Will this work for these longer ranges? Or is there something better? Thanks for the reponses. 44shotdoctor.
JM[;)]
One thing I did not see asked is what is the twist rate of your barrel? Before you go heavier on the pills make sure your barrel is capable of spinning them right.
One combo you might try is IMR 4064 and a high end 140gr. bullet.
[:D]
To say that there is one combination that can be recommended that you can use in your rifle that would work perfectly would be a statement that is a step or two away from reality. Fact is the only way you can obtain your objective, or make progress towards, is to try various options as far as bullets, powders, primers and so on. I know, this sounds a bit broad. But finding what's the best has not, nor will not, come without some trial and error.
Here are several things I have observed, agree with and/or recommend after reading the responses and relying on my personal experience:
- you are obviously not using your current load for hunting or you would not be using the Sierra Match King bullet.
- 7mm loadings have good bullet selection with hi ballistic coefficients but are limited to some degree in the "match" department. Some folks may disagree but I have found Berger makes a very fine 168 and even 180 grain bullets that are capable of very fine accuracy. I shoot 115 molys in my 6XC out to 500 yards and have recorded groups, on my good days, as small as 5/8 inch for a three shot group. I shoot 190 molys in my 308 Ackley and at 100 yards can cover three shots with half a dime. All shooting was done off a very stable "hard" platform. Have not had the opportunity to stretch out the 308 as of yet. Just some food for thought.
- I agree with JustC in the option of "improving" your chambering to the 7-08 Ackley Improved. This is a simple procedure which is less than the cost of a new rifle. Also load density is important. I find my best target loads come from loads with high load densities but not necessarily compressed loads. Hi load densities give more uniform burning of the powder as it lays in the case during firing.
- Have the thoat checked for excessive wear. You mentioned that the rifle was used a lot in the past. Have this checked out. If you have the chamber rechambered to 7-08 Ackley the smith can check for errosion and set the barrel back, rechamber and eliminate all or most of the any errosion that may be present.
- PerryShooter is right on concerning external ballistics. Wind can be a killer if you don't know how to read it and adjust accordingly. Of course there are many other "conditions" that come into play when shooting long range such as lighting, temperature, mirage, humidity, and others that I won't get into. These conditions will have some effect out at 400 yards, depending on the degree of the condition, but can/will increase significantly beyond that range (600 to 1000 yards).
- If you don't have a chronograph, buy one. Checking your loads for standard deviation and extreme spread shot to shot can speak volumns concerning what your loads are doing coming out of the barrel and ultimately how your bullets print on the target. Load density, again, can be important factor.
There's more I could go into here but for the sake of brevity I'll leave it as it is. I have only just started getting involved in the forum, but from what I have seen there is a wealth of information that is provided from shooters and loaders with infinitely more wisdom and knowledge than I possess. I can only hope to add to anyting they may have recommended.
Vic