Most accurate caliber?

[Pulsar]

I'm probably opening pandora's box with this question, but here it goes.

I'm getting ready to do a new project gun, I'm gonna try and make a P17 enfield a 1000yd shooter. I'm picking the enfield because of how strong the action is, it can take almost any ammo I decide to shoot through it. I'm leaning towards .338 Lapua or .338 Remington for there heavy weight and high muzzle velocity.

Any other good ammo suggestions would be appreciated. And please feel free to comment on my project, always looking for ideas.

[Matt-man]

At a thousand? Currently, the 6.5mm cartridges are real popular in the long range target arena (I'm talking about Palma style matches, shot prone with open sights). The benefits of the 6.5 are bullets with good ballistics, and low recoil. 6.5-284, 6.5-06, and 6.5-08 are popular choices. 6mm seems to be gaining some ground too. There's a forum at http://www.long-range.com/ that might be of help.

Is your intent to kill stuff? If so I can see the rationale behind a 338. But if you're just punching paper, a 338 is going to beat you up. 338s have some slippery bullets too, but good god, I can't imagine shooting a match with 250gr bullets at 2900.

How accurate can you realistically make a P17? Serious question. Seems like a Savage bolt-action would be a good way to go... easily sub-MOA accurate, cheap, and easy to work on (you can change barrels yourself, for example).

[C.G.]

I'm probably opening pandora's box with this question, but here it goes.

I'm getting ready to do a new project gun, I'm gonna try and make a P17 enfield a 1000yd shooter. I'm picking the enfield because of how strong the action is, it can take almost any ammo I decide to shoot through it. I'm leaning towards .338 Lapua or .338 Remington for there heavy weight and high muzzle velocity.

Any other good ammo suggestions would be appreciated. And please feel free to comment on my project, always looking for ideas.

The most accurate caliber? The one you can hit with!
Sorry about being a smart ***, but that is the standard line.
Too late for the 50.BMG probably, so pretty much the two choice left are .338 Lapua or .408 Chey-Tac for 1000 yards or beyond.
Here's a good forum for that: http://www.snipershide.com/cgi-bin/u...ultimatebb.cgi
Plenty of reading and if you run out there are many more links

[Pulsar]

Thanks for the links guys. And I'm leaning towards the enfield for another reason. I'm currently enrolled in the lassen community college gunsmithing program, and an enfield is one of the guns I need for working on next semester. That also means I've got access to all the goodies for making a very nice rifle.

[jlmurphy]

Go with the Enfield. I have a 1917 heavy barreled in .308, I put in a surplus Savage varmint stock, absolutely beautiful. It will require a lot of work, but when you are done you'll have something to be proud of, not just another production gun slapped in a plastic stock. I also recomend the 6.5 caliber, in that action it will be considerably more pleasant to shoot than a .30 cannon. I have both and I find I shoot my 6.5 x 55 a lot more than my .300 Win Mag, also you can varmint shoot the 6.5 .

[Pulsar]

I'll have to look into it. I"m not too worried about the work envolved. I've gotta tear it down to nothing but the action and build a new gun. I'm thinking of using some nice maple burl I've got laying around to use for a thumbhole stock, or possibly making it look "tactical" and building my self a synthetic stock. It's still about 4 months out, but it's never to early to start coming up with ideas.

[artherd]

Paper? Get one of the various 6mm/6.5mms.

Don't get me wrong I love my .338Lapua, but at just 1000yds it's still like "hey guys, where's the party?"

Conversely, if you want to bag *ELK* at 900yds, I know a guy who does so regularily with his .338Lapua

[Rascal]

Hey Pulsar, How's it going at school. Did you ever get a picture of that cube you were supposed to make by hand?
Make sure you learn about BHP's, then when you finish school, I can have you do some work on mine.