Newbee: How do I choose a caliber for long distance BR.

M

MaddDawg

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Newbee:
I have 2 - 30.06s, a Vanguard Deluxe and a Custom w/Husqvarna action; and will start-off with these for now. But - how does one decide on what caliber to shoot BR?
TRRC has 100/200; and sometimes competitions at I think up to 600. Tks, MD
 
glad you came...(your original post said long distance...so my answer is based on the origial post)
short range is often open to factory class...but i doubt that you will like shooting 25 plus rounds of '06 off a bench.
for short range br...go to the br or competion forums
to continue

i built a 300 win mag on a rem action...300 wm is kinda old school...
some guys shoot big fat 30's and 338's, and some shoot little 6.5's with some 6's doing very well
i'm sure a bunch will jump in with what they shoot.
( just to clear up one point, shooting off a bench is not COMPETITIVE BENCHREST. most guns are custom built shooting BENCHREST or semi custom bullets. light gun is 17 lbs and under with a muzzle brake allowed, heavy gun is from there up...guns often wiegh in excess of 40 lbs...tho lots of guys shoot thier lite guns in the heavy class. scopes go from 25 x or so up to 80x...yes i said 80...)

sit back and read

mike in co
 
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Do you mean "caliber" or "chambering"? Almost all calibers have won, and anything from 6mm to .338 has done a fair bit of winning. In the 6mms, anything from the plain Jane 6mmBR to the 6/06 have been successful. In the 6.5s, anything from the 6.5x47 to the 6.5/300 Weatherby. In the 7mms, anything from the 280 Ackley to the 7mm Dakota (shortened up .404 case). In the .30s -- oh, just about anything. At 600 yards, a .30 BR has even won. In the .338, anything from a .338 Win Mag to a .338 Lapua improved. For all I know, someone's tried a .338 on the 505 Gibbs case.

Go to a few matches. I suspect you're not even talking about benchrest, and different competitive disciplines favor different calibers (and chamberings). You're about to spend significant money. Internet reading will save you far less than going to a couple matches of whatever you want to shoot.
 
( just to clear up one point, shooting off a bench is not COMPETITIVE BENCHREST. most guns are custom built shooting BENCHREST or semi custom bullets.

MIKE-WHAT??So you are saying that 1000yd Br is not competitive benchrest???? shooting off a bench in a match is BENCHREST shooting-competitive or not.Alot of guys start at groundhog matches or club shoots which are in their own way a competitive benchrest match.

MaddDawg-- i'd think your06's would beat you up at bit and you mite be out gunned(by bench guns)but go and have fun and get your feet wet.Then see what other guys are using at the match and make your decision,it also wouldn't hurt to talk to a good gunsmith in your are and see what he says.
My opion-WHICH WE ALL HAVE-is to read some post here and on 6mmbr.com and try to match a caliber/chamber to your needs a 6mmbr sound good for what you're describing,heck even a 308 win will doo fine.Good luck
 
Newbee: Benchrest.............. Chapter 2

Tks Guys - appreciated the lead-ins! Discussed with local BR gunsmith and he confirmed visiting a match, bought some books and joined NBSA. I'm looking at starting off with a new Savage model 12 Benchrest in 308.
 
you missed the fine point......shooting off a bench vs BENCHREST SHOOTING..( capitals intended to show competitive BENCHREST SHOOTING)
IT HAS BEEN DONE THIS WAY ON THESE FORUMS FOR YEARS.....shooting of a bench( at your local range) is not the same as competitive BENCHREST shooting.
so is that now clear ??
he asked for long range, and then mentioned local club does 100/200/600.....so that changes the big picture.
matts52 said:
( just to clear up one point, shooting off a bench is not COMPETITIVE BENCHREST. most guns are custom built shooting BENCHREST or semi custom bullets.

MIKE-WHAT??So you are saying that 1000yd Br is not competitive benchrest???? shooting off a bench in a match is BENCHREST shooting-competitive or not.Alot of guys start at groundhog matches or club shoots which are in their own way a competitive benchrest match.

MaddDawg-- i'd think your06's would beat you up at bit and you mite be out gunned(by bench guns)but go and have fun and get your feet wet.Then see what other guys are using at the match and make your decision,it also wouldn't hurt to talk to a good gunsmith in your are and see what he says.
My opion-WHICH WE ALL HAVE-is to read some post here and on 6mmbr.com and try to match a caliber/chamber to your needs a 6mmbr sound good for what you're describing,heck even a 308 win will doo fine.Good luck
Click to expand...
 
MaddDawg,

As Charles points out correctly, nearly every imaginable cartridge has been used successfully by somebody, somewhere, even 22's and 17's which he didn't mention. Every LR BR cartridge choice involves a set of compromises. These include but are not limited to recoil, barrel life (bigger bores last longer), availability of good brass, availability of good bullets, BC of available bullets, cost of consumables (small bullets cost less, small cases cost less and use less powder) and utility over a range of different competitive events, anticipated accuracy and state of development of good known load information and ease of loading.

Taking all this into account, for a first LR bench rifle I happily recommend your chambering be a no turn neck 6mm BR in an 8 twist barrel. With this choice you will be pretty well equipped for everything from ground hog shoots egg shoots, balloon shoots, clay bird shoots (and shooting pasture poodles) to 1K BR to F-Class (a IBS/NBRSA/Williamsport 6mm BR LG doesn't need a muzzle brake and is also legal for NRA events). In my opinion, there is not a better choice than 6mm BR for 600 BR. The same LG gun will work very well for HG, especially at 600 yards.

So there you have it with no ambiguity. 6mm BR with a no turn neck.

Greg
 
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I wouldn't dispute Greg's choice. If you don't have any emotion invested in what you choose, the 6BR is a very good good starting point.

As an opinion only, were I to build a 600 yard rifle, it would be a .30. Not in fashion right now. I prefer a certain kind of bullet, and there are more choices in .30.

Just for giggles, we shot a 200 yard score match Saturday, in central North Carolina. The heck with Irene. It was educational. The right side of the range is protected for the first 100 yards. All the winners came from the that side. (I was on the left). You'd be amazed at how far a 30 mph, rapidly switching wind (trees and berms) can move a bullet. Should I specialize in shooting during hurricanes, I'd build a .338, after spending some time investigating recoil absorbing solutions.
 
Charles E said:
As an opinion only, were I to build a 600 yard rifle, it would be a .30. Not in fashion right now. I prefer a certain kind of bullet, and there are more choices in .30.
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I'd love to see you campaign a 30 at 600, and a 30 cal can certainly get it done, witness John Lewis's 0.404" HG IBS record group with a 308 Win. Tooley did a lot of good shooting at 600 in years past with his BOO BOO, especially in blustery weather. But as you have pointed out in the past, score pays as much as group and the extra recoil of your (and other's) beloved 187 Bibs might work against you. Time of flight at 600 yds is less than half of that at 1K and finding and refining your bird bank zeroing hits in the scope is more problematic (at least at ranges like Piedmont with no pits) than with a longer TOF or lower recoil. But hey, go for it. You and I have never been shy about bucking convention and maybe that new 338 of yours will render 30 cal recoil a non-issue for you. But for a single all around LR bench rifle, especially for someone relatively new to LR BR, my advice remains the same. But you're not that guy.

Greg
 
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Just to clarify, the bullet type I prefer is a tangent ogive, not esp. the BIB. In the 6mms, in the custom bullet realm, I believe only R.G. Robinett (BIBs) is making a tangent ogive. The semi-custom Berger 108, a recent addition to their line, is also essentially a tangent ogive where it counts most. And when Sierrra gets out a good lot of 107s, nothing is better.

This opinion comes from watching years of shooting. When a barrel "likes" a secant ogive, they do offer, with the high numbers like the 15-cal secant "VLD" design, a real advantage. Older problems of secant bullets were lot to lot variation, and the difficulty of consistency in their manufacture. I'm not sure these "older problems" have all been solved. Rightly or wrongly, I still label VLDs as "fussy."

Brian Litz's addition to the Berger team has given us the hybrids, with some of the properties of a tangent ogive. I haven't shot them except a couple times in my new .338 rifle, so am entitled to no opinion here.

So the 6mms I know of that offer tangent ogives: the BIB 95 and 108 grainers, the Berger 108 (sort of), and the Sierra 107. Too, you may get a barrel that shoots the secants just fine. This begins to rival the .30 bullet selection. I've no quarrel with Greg's recommendation.

BTW Greg, not to hijack the thread too much, but it is an interesting experience shooting a bullet that only looses 900 fps over 1,000 yards, as with the new Berger .338, 300-grain hybrid. I'm not sure I'd want to shoot a 4-target agg with one in a 17-pound rifle, though I guess it's not any worse than shooting two 1K matches in the same day, where you win your relay in both matches.
 
Charles E said:
And when Sierrra gets out a good lot of 107s, nothing is better.
Click to expand...

Boy howdy do I agree with this. A wad of 107 SMK's that I got on a deal to use in less demanding score games and for my step daughter's shooting proved to be the most accurate and uniform, by a large margin, bullets I've ever had. Wish I had appreciated them fully when I first got them and budgeted them out a little more conservatively. They're almost gone now.


BTW Greg, not to hijack the thread too much, but it is an interesting experience shooting a bullet that only looses 900 fps over 1,000 yards, as with the new Berger .338, 300-grain hybrid. I'm not sure I'd want to shoot a 4-target agg with one in a 17-pound rifle, though I guess it's not any worse than shooting two 1K matches in the same day, where you win your relay in both matches.
Click to expand...

If I won both LG relays on a two match Saturday with a big 338 I would find a way to suffer through two shoot-offs. I hope it's suffering you get to enjoy frequently.

Greg
 
Charles E said:
Do you mean "caliber" or "chambering"? Almost all calibers have won, and anything from 6mm to .338 has done a fair bit of winning. In the 6mms, anything from the plain Jane 6mmBR to the 6/06 have been successful. In the 6.5s, anything from the 6.5x47 to the 6.5/300 Weatherby. In the 7mms, anything from the 280 Ackley to the 7mm Dakota (shortened up .404 case). In the .30s -- oh, just about anything. At 600 yards, a .30 BR has even won. In the .338, anything from a .338 Win Mag to a .338 Lapua improved. For all I know, someone's tried a .338 on the 505 Gibbs case.

Go to a few matches. I suspect you're not even talking about benchrest, and different competitive disciplines favor different calibers (and chamberings). You're about to spend significant money. Internet reading will save you far less than going to a couple matches of whatever you want to shoot.
Click to expand...

The 338 EXTREME!! I want one so bad.
 
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