Thread: calibre advice

Anyways back on track with the thread...

@sika77
It sounds like your question might have been better worded to say “I don’t know why I loose consistency in my shooting past 1000 yards with my 7mm08/.308/.270. I think it is the rifle/calibre I am using. I would like a new gun that I can comfortably hunt deer with out to 800 yards or so but will still be ok for targets out to 1600 yards. Can anyone offer some advice?”

None of the calibres you mentioned are typically used for long range shooting past about 1000 yards and there are good reasons for this – none of them really push a projectile with a high enough BC with enough velocity to keep them supersonic much past 1000 yards. Once your projectile goes trans-sonic and into subsonic it is expected it will suffer some in-stability which I turn will affect it accuracy. There are exception of course with the 7mm08/.308/.270 but typically they involve long barrels 28" plus, and heavy "uncommon" projectiles for that caliber.
Another reason you might be experiencing inconsistency at the longer distances is simply the sum of all the errors is starting to catch up with you. Rifle accuracy, bullet stability, shooter's ability, wind call accuracy, reloading accuracy, velocity variations, neck tensions, temperature/pressure variations, ammunition temperature variations, etc. All of these come into play at the longer distances more and more with increasing distance and with lower and lower BC.

Hunting wise the non magnum "short/medium" action calibers are good on animals out to about 600yards or a little further in the right hands as you have mentioned. Past about 700-800yards i think hunting wise you are much better off with a magnum caliber in 7mm or bigger. Saying a 7mm08 is good on deer to 800 yards is similar to saying a .223 is fine on deer to 200m - it is, in the right hands under the right conditions. For consistent shooting past about 1000 yards then i think you need to look seriously at the 338s or larger if they fit in your budget.

In steel target competition with my .260 i only feel disadvantaged past about 800-900 yards - it is at this point i think the magnums and particularly the .338s really start coming into their own for accuracy and consistency. Their higher BC projectiles certainly give you the edge in wind and to a degree in elevation as they hold their velocity better.