To 1,000 yards and beyond!

[JMP]

That's the big problem with the traditional .338 Lapua is that the low velocity lends itself to a long time in flight. So, for its outer limits it becomes quite tough. With more modern bore-riders, you can reasonably get the velocity up to about 3,000fps with a BC higher than the more common 300gr jacketed bullets. It makes for quite a large improvement for shooting on the longer side.

[kcstott]

I learned the hard way, and don't understand why the bullet companies use a G1 profile. G5 is more accurate for 90% of the rifle bullets on the market and well bullets marketed with a G7 either have a good amount of invested testing behind them or a lot or marketing.

I think Sierra uses a G1 for the MK's as just being conservative. Kinda like Remington only willing to commit to 1 MOA on their 40X rifles and everyone knows they are far better then that

[DarkSoul]

For the "beyond" and "just for fun", money not being a big issue, get a big bore like a .375, .408, .416. These rounds are good out to 2000 yards and beyond. Certainly not cheap to shoot, if you reload, it's somewhat bearable, but lots of horsepower and what they do to "stuff" at shorter ranges is a riot.

Again, expensive to shoot, and usually pretty unwieldy heavy, and I can probably only shoot about a dozen rounds comfortably in a period of a few hours, but I'm giggling on every shot 😛

[spamsucker]

Everybody thinks they can and everybody wants to try 1000yards until they find out how big a PITA it is to try and make the shot. How hard it is to make a useful wind call, how expensive the ammo (or even just components) is, how you can't just take any ol' deer gun out and do it well, how just because you can get a bullet to a distance means exactly nothing because you still have a target to hit and a dozen other realizations that will inevitably drive the vast majority that try it away from LR shooting. A few will find out that 1000 yards isn't even that far and that there's ELR too. A few more will find out how dreadfully expensive and difficult it is to move beyond 1000yrds and fewer yet will actually do it.

Trying to use surplus guns with iron sights for 1000yrds is super funny to see n00bs even thinking about. It shows they've not even begun to think this through.

7mm heavy (180gn) VLD bullets are about as good as it gets under .338cal for ballistic coefficient, mass and sectional density. You can drive them at modest velocity from a 7mm-08 and make 1000yrds or jump to the 7mm Rem Mag and be able to take things out almost 50% further (sometimes even more).

If you are serious, start by watching Sniper 101 by TiborasaurusRex on YouTube. It's like 89 episodes so far but you'll learn a lot of what you need to know from book-learninz and you'll understand the equipment and terminology better.

The practical limit is the distance at which the projectile drops below 1200fps (appx. 1.2Mach). 1200fps is the top end of the transonic zone where a lot of shots will get unstable and where calculated solutions start to be less and less reliable. Some shooters luck out and manage to get deep into the transonic zone without negative side effect. I do routinely but for beginners you should consider the distance at which the bullet drops below 1200fps to be at or extremely near the end of your practical range.

A lot of people harp on endlessly about how awesome .308 is but if they were thinking clearly they'd probably understand exactly how opposite of true that is.

[JMP]

For the "beyond" and "just for fun", money not being a big issue, get a big bore like a .375, .408, .416. These rounds are good out to 2000 yards and beyond. Certainly not cheap to shoot, if you reload, it's somewhat bearable, but lots of horsepower and what they do to "stuff" at shorter ranges is a riot.

For REALLY far, .338 and .375 are where it's at. If you need more than the .338 Lapua, you can step up to the .338 Lapua Improved or the .338 SnipeTac. Then there are good .375 wildcats like the CheyTac or Viersco Mag. .408 and .416 will pretty much get handled by the big .338s and .375s. Take a look at the bullets available for .408 and .416 vs. .338 and .375. There's a better selection and these can be driven faster. For the larger calibers, you'll need to step up to a .50 BMG descendant to get the velocity. These are more difficult to tune and are very expensive. If you look at the .416 Barrett, you don't really save much reloading over factory. The bullets you'd likely use cost $2/each, you need a .50 BMG primer at $0.35/each, and you'll need about 200gr of powder. I've personally not had much success with .416 Barrett. I am sure it can be done, but expect difficulty and high expense. But, if your targets are light-armored vehicles and enemy infrastructure, then .416 Barrett is a good choice for you.

[flyer898]

I went to YouTube and watched the first two Sniper 101 videos. I thought they were very good and I will watch more. Thanks spamsucker.