seeking advice on long range hunting rifle and scope best scope/caliber/reloading/ect

[toddcox35]

Im looking to find a good hunting rifle setup.... i'm leaning toward a 7mm Rem Mag. but im not sure. also i would like some feed back on reloading what is the best BANG for the buck...

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[MicroManager]

What ya planning on hunting? A friend let me shoot his .260 Remington and I was EXTREMELY impressed. Very low recoil, but the round packs a punch. Take a look at what Wikipedia has to say about. Seems like folks have used it to kill everything from elephants to mice. My first two shots with this rifle hit a two-inch dot at 200 yards. Pulled the third one a couple inches to the left. Yup, I got a little cocky. Then we switched to the 300 yard lane, and I was able to hit the same two-inch dots at this distance with only - from memory - .8 mil compensation. Granted, this is not an inexpensive rifle (Surgeon action, McRees Precision chassis, YHM barrel, Vortex Razor optic), and I assume its owner spent quite a bit of time working up the load, but if I were in a position to change calibers, .260 is the way I'd go.

 

[orygun]

Hmmm. A 7mm Remington Mag is a good round, but how well do you handle recoil? What kind of range do you really think you'll shoot at? If that range is more than 200 yards, are you willing to practice a lot? What animals do you want to hunt?
If you buy that 7mm Remington Mag and practice a lot with it, you will be capable of hunting anything in the lower 48.
If you think it's a magic laser and that it will make up for your lack of skill you are sadly mistaken, will be disappointed and will lose animals.
If you don't handle recoil well, the previously mentioned 260, or the 7mm-08, or the 270 will serve you very well within reasonable distances (300 yards) on pretty much anything you will hunt in the lower 48. Next up is the 30-06. A little more kick, a little more power. (don't start this conversation with 270 shooters).
As far as reloading costs, the short action cartridges (260, 7mm-08, 308) take less powder than any magnum. The 270, 280 and 30-06 are next in line. The 7mm (and up) mags take more powder and are therefore a little more expensive to reload.
If you are new to "real" hunting rifles and are sensitive to recoil, I'd suggest the 7mm-08. If you can handle a shade more recoil I'd veer toward the 270 or 308. A little more recoil? 30-06 or 7mm Remington Mag.
In my house we shoot the 7mm-08 and the 30-06. What we shoot dies. You pick any of these, learn to shoot it well, you will be fine and your freezer will be full!

 

[toddcox35]

thanks orygun....I hunt a lot of elk and deer mostly but if i do eventually venture up north id like something to hunt sheep and possibly caribou. I plan to practice quite often which is why i asked about reloading as well.... recoil isn't a major issue but i don't think i need an ultra mag cartridge to be effective or do I?

 

[clambo]

Orygun said it well. You don't need a Ultra mag for anything. Actually, no one does, but what fun would that be ? Every couple years the major players in the gun game have to make us all think they have reinvented the wheel in order to sell more rifles. After 50 years of this a lot of guys are absolutely convinced that you can't kill anything without the magnum ( or gimmick ) of the week. Many of these newfangled hotrod rounds last 2 or 3 years then go the way of the dinosaur, you will see for yourself. I like the .30-06 but I also like most other reasonable calibers too. I've owned or own most of them and they all work just fine. Never lost an animal with any of them nor have I had to shoot most of them more than once. For elk I use an old .300 H&H magnum because I have one and I'm in love with it, but I have also shot elk with a .30-06 and .270 just as dead. I do own a .338 Winchester magnum, bought when I was in my early 20's but I no longer shoot it. It's too light and frankly kicks way too hard for fun.

Next thing....forget everything you see on TV and magazines and message boards about 1000 yd hunting. People do it, it can be done, but IMHO it's stupid, unethical, and unsafe. If you want to shoot super long range...knock yourself out, it's a lot of fun, but save it for a range or Afghanistan. I feel 300 yds is a good distance to limit ones self to...maybe 400 under ideal conditions, but most average joes can't shoot accurately much past 300 yds. Me ? I'm an average joe. I make nice pretty little groups off a bench at 100 yds over and over and over, but honestly I don't get to practice shooting longer distances that often, hence my self imposed 300 yd. limit

Next comes optics. Most guys here know a lot more about scopes than I do. I grew up on Weavers and they served me well but I've never used a newer one. I have one Bushnell 4200 which is a fairly inexpensive scope and that too has served me well. Everything else I own is a Leupold. That keeps it pretty simple. Also, every cheap *** scope I have ever owned has failed me sooner or later. spend a few buck, buy quality here, you won't regret it.

Finally, reloading. A fun and inexpensive hobby that somehow got out of hand. I am lucky I was born into it and a whole garage full of stuff to do it with. I think I learned to read from an old Hodgdon or DuPont manual. I kept my dad broke....UPS delivered bullets and primers to our house in bulk. I don't know how I would advise someone new to get into it or what they need to buy. I guess I would just tell them to get with someone experienced ( and safe ) to learn the ropes.

Always think safety....and practice, practice, practice.

Good luck and have fun !

 

[Silver Hand]

oddcox35 - You are talking about long range, the caliber you are looking at is a 7 mm Rem Mag - Next is a re loader
Your choice of caliber 7mm in the Rem case has very distinct advantages. Bullet selection is limited for hand loading when compared to .30 cal bullets for instance. In the end we may only settle on one bullet in particular. If you can live with that. The 7MM Rem Mag is not a big kicker, more of a pusher when compared to its closest competitor of the era 1962/63 respectively. The .300 Win.Mag which when loaded to full house will blur your eyes.
I have had use for each of these weapons in my life time. There will be no real difference at range with either of these calibers except the harsh recoil and slight mathematical differences involving the .300 win mag. I must admit I did a lot more killing at long range with the .300 win mag. I was young and a glutton for punishment. Spend as much as you can on a scope and a one piece base mount, if it will fit under your scope. 42mm is plenty 3.5-10 Leupold ^600+- yards and beyond, one of my favorites! 4-12 is also nice, much more magnification has it problems during warm days with mirage .

Reloading - OK you can use a big press and this is a good thing, once obtained you will be good to go all the way back down to .25 cal pistol if you wish. One of the most popular is the Rcbs Rock chucker its built stout and features a compound lever ram for large cases,
as opposed to the Rcbs JR. press which is single a throw ram more for smaller rifle and pistol cases in general. You might want to use one of these for large belted cases but why start out that way. Pay a bit more money for a scale if I remember there is a 5-5 and a 10-10 I use each of them the one that has the rotating tenths scale locks tight the blade does not on the lesser. My electronic scale requires an investment of $24.00 for spcl battery's four of them. My magnetically dampened scales weigh just about as close and have been in use for forty + years.
Loading big cases like this you will be measuring down to one piece of powder and there four you can rule out All Progressive Loaders [they do not produce the kind of accuracy you will be looking for]
Recently Lee produced a factory crimp die with a collet that will allow just the right touch in bullet crimping. The die shows some real potential as my bullets and loaded rounds are more concentric and at a fraction of the price of bench rest dies.
I mentioned .300 win mag for a reason. The .308 caliber [the Bullet .308] is probably the most widely used bullet in the USA. The one hitch you have in your choice is verity of bullet selection. You will be taking a big step here as a long range shooter will you have a use for the various bullets available for the .308. requiring many sight adjustments and lots of time just experimenting or will one or two do it all in the 7mm Mag
Silver Hand

 

[mosinguy1]

Another one ya might want to look into is a 6.5 x55 or 6.5 284 they will get ya out there like a wont believe.

 

[Silver Hand]

.264 Winchester Magnum was superseded by the 7.mm Rem Mag rendering the 6.5 MM Magnum almost obsolete. Bullet limitations, as there are very few choices for the re loader.
140 grain bullets are amongst the largest that will stabilize in the 6.5 caliber.
Silver Hand