Thread: Economical Gong Gun cartridge?

Originally Posted by Friwi

22lr

Standard or high velocity? Long or short?

Why not run your 6.5x47L?

Originally Posted by nor-west

Why not run your 6.5x47L?

The correct answer to most questions on choice of cartridge.

The main variable cost of reloading is the projectiles. Find your sweet spot of projectile price that will do the job and work back from there.

I think that one of the most affordable and economical gong rounds would have to be the .308, if you take the standard 155 grain projectile shot out to 100 yards competitively (these can be had for as little as 42c).
Marry that to 2206H or 2208 ( that can also be had for around $120 a KG )
You will have a round that is a little under 1$ to make and is capable of hits from 100 to 1000 M and further.
If you load that into Lapua cases that are the cheapest Lapua's to buy compared to other calibers of similar power and effective range, you can get 15 to 20 firings so that also makes for cost effective target shooting and gong shooting.
And barrel life is way out there, even when you pump them up to 3000fps you can still expect 5000 rds.

same as ryan what about 6.5 grendel

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Originally Posted by Puffin

The correct answer to most questions on choice of cartridge.

I reckon it has to be a good sweet spot of enough bullet weight for seeing splash/hits, lower powder charges than the slightly larger cases that are popular, but still enough ballistic performance to be useful/not putting yourself at too greater disadvantage.

I would suggest going with a 223 and heavy bullets(69, 77gr)
Or 308W components are freely available and if you want to buy ammo, some pretty good stuff its available.

.223 if you only shoot on still days.

If you are not a reloader ,off the shop shelf,308=147gr,$125=100rds,very accurate and good to 300 to 400yds on a calm day.

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

What about a grendel? I've always thought one would make a neat little reasonably cheap to run gong gun, pleasant to shoot, inherantly accurate, good brass available and a variety of reasonably priced projectiles along with good barrel life and an efficient case

+1 something in the 120-130gr range with a decent BC in the Grendel would go well

I would suggest something in .257 or .270 calibre then as these are not popular you might actually be able to buy projectiles unlike 6.5 cal currently

Good luck with .257 cal projectiles or factory fodder.

For a centrefire the only really cheap option is 223, maybe 204 Ruger or a 17cal but you are limited on projectile choices and not available as cheaply as 223.
223 can do very well as a gong rifle and is pleasant and cheap to shoot but will be severely limited in windy conditions.
As Dirk said 223 will be limiting in a competition, I was the guy with the 6.5CM and my mate had the 223.
My mate is a fairly good shooter but the 223 past 300m in switching winds definitely held him back.

A 6mm ARC or 6x45 could be a good compromise, better performance than 223 but a bit cheaper to shoot than a "proper" 6mm but isn't going to be the best of anything.
The price difference between shooting a 6mm ARC and your 6CM will probably be so little that factoring in a new rifle would take many 1000s of rounds before it was any cheaper.

Personally I'd build a nice 22lr, CCI Standard Velocity at $65 for 500 rounds cannot be beat and you can get reliable hits on reasonable targets at 200m+ even in twitchy wind.
A 22lr in the wind at 200m will be better practice than a 6 or 6.5CM at 500m. You can then use the money you save to feed your 6CM for longer range shooting.

I don't bother shooting my 6.5CM for practice or gongs closer than 300m as it's basically cheating, even a moderate wind under 200m requires so little hold its basically just point and shoot.