I'm looking for some opinions. My dad served on a rifle team in the service, and he passed on an interest in long range rifle marksmanship to me. His tool was the Browning BAR in 30.06. What do some of ya'll think for a real reach out and touch someone round?

Thanks in advance

"If he runs, he'll only die tired"

dairyman

You might want to check out this site. It is a dedicated long range shooting and hunting site. www.longrangehunting.com/...

There are a lot of good long range rifles, but choice of calibre actually depends upon your definition of long range. Six hundred yards can be long range for a 223 rifle and a thousand is long range for the 30-06 class of rifle.

Target shooting is different than shooting at game at long ranges. Good long range rifles are mostly bolt action guns shooting magnum cartridges such as the 7mm STW, 300 Winchester magnum, 30-378 Weatherby's and several others that can launch long heavy bullets at well over 300 feet per second with really good high power optics.

Drop is much more easy to dope than wind in most situations, especally in hunting. Target shooters usually have wind flags to give them some idea on a range where as hunters usually have to guess. If your off on a target you can correct, If your off in the field sometimes the animal just leaves.

Anyway long range shooting is a fun sport and very rewarding. Good luck in your quest.

.50 BMG., if you can afford it. .408 CheyTac is another good one. .338 Lapua Mag. .300 WinMag. 7mm RemMag, are all good as are the .30-06, .308, and 6.5-.284.

The most important things in long range shooting are the shooter's skill, and the rifle. Most rifles, either hunting or tactical, shoot better than their owners, because their owners don't dedicate the time and effort required to become a good long range shooter. The fun in becoming a good long range shot is getting there.

338 Lapua (sp) Mag.

Think there is a difference between range and real life. Set a target out at a known range, and I can dial in the right settings to hit it with a 45/70....if it's out to only 300yards, can dial it in and get hits with a 22LR. Gives a false sense of ballistic ability. Given the time, a good range finder, and previous experience (and some written notes, perhaps taped to the side of the stock) on that rifle and load, belive you could do good work well past any sensible range.

IF going for the best, look for high BC bullets at high velocity, and usually pretty large case volumes, noise, and recoil.

I'm looking for some opinions. My dad served on a rifle team in the service, and he passed on an interest in long range rifle marksmanship to me. His tool was the Browning BAR in 30.06. What do some of ya'll think for a real reach out and touch someone round?

Thanks in advance

"If he runs, he'll only die tired"
The .30-06 is a great cartridge, especially when hand-loaded to its full potential. Magnum cartridges, throwing more powder under more pressure can have some advantage, but the ballistics tables show minimal improvement until you get to really big cartridges.

Should you decide to handload, develop the most accurate load for your gun at its highest velocity. Often increases in velocity will lose accuracy, but this is not always true. I've shot big game animals in excess of 400 yards with my .30-06 handloads, but these were shots at known (rangefinder) distances, steady rests, and plenty of time to shoot. My handload printed 1/2" groups at 100 yards with a 150gr bullet at 2900 fps. My load will not necessarily work in your rifle, thus I don't offer it. But, some of the new "magnum" factory ammo from Hornady and the like may shoot accurately in your rifle. Check the muzzle velocity, then practice, practice, practice.

Good luck, Kerry

.308 vs 30-06.
Interesting article. From 1997, but interesting nonetheless.

http://snipercountry.com/Articles/AccuracyFacts.asp

A bunch of long range shooting info on there, but it could be updated a bit more often. If you go to the "duty roster" link, they have a sorta primitive forum set up with a bunch of active members.

More related to the whole sniper aspect (concealement, everything but bench rest shooting, etc)
Used to be more people on there, but it seems quite a few have gotten recalled and have less time to post. Seems pretty close knit. I'm not going to say all pros (i.e. in the service / police), but it seems a good portion of them are.

Generally the reccomendations
up to 800 meters - .308
800 - 950 - .300 Win Mag
950 - 1500 - blurry, but .338
1500+ .50BMG.

The Remington 700 /M24/LEO Variants seems to be favored over there, although they do keep an open mind.

The little .270 aint a bad shooter for range, either. Just a necked down '06 case.



perferator

.270 weatherby mag. Boattails. Flattest shooting of the .30 calibers.

look at the exterior ballistics of the .264 Win mag. good sectional density in the heavy bullets, and good terminal ballistics with the premium game bullets. this round is a legitimate 1000 yd cartridge and has seen use as such. loading for the .264 is not really for the inexperienced, because it's a fickle round, but this is one of the better long range cartridges out there.

monty