footballplaya

ok, here is my question and i DESPERATELY need help b/c this will be abig factor in which rifle to buy and what caliber... first, from a 100(my zero) to 300 yard, what will be about the bullet drop w/ a 26 inch(rem sendero rifle or something w/ 26 in barrel) no the following calibers... .308, 300 win mag, 300 ultra mag(would any ultra mages be good rifles?), 7mm mag, 7mm stw, 300 wsm, 7mm wsm

People use duct tape to fix things, god used nails.

stubblejumper

For a rifle that will not be used for shots longer than 300yards forget the ultramags.The 308 and wsm's do not usually come with 26" barrels.For a general purpose cartridge for 300 yard or less shooting I would choose the 7mm mag from the choices you have given.It has plenty of power and recoil is very manageable.What will this gun be used to hunt?

Quilly

under 300yds you really don't need a MAGNUM. nor do you need a 26" barrel.


30-06sprg. 270win. 280rem. 308win. 7mm-08rem. 7mm rem mag

handloader1

300 RUM Good luck.

oldrgr

'Playa. You didn't say what game you would be going after but here's a few sense worth. I've taken deer and elk with the venerable .30-06 using the 150 and 180 grain bullets respectively. This caliber is the most popular in our elk camp which averages 14-16 shooters each year. You can make an .06 shoot like a magnum (greater energy at extended ranges) by using the 165 grain bullet as opposed to a heavier one and using the "point blank" technique for sighting in. This will put you withing a deer or elk's vital region from the muzzle out to your 300 yard stated limit. There was a good article on this in Outdoor Life about three years ago. Rick Jameason in the Shooting Times had an article early last year (believe it was Jan. 01) on the point blank method. You can go to galleryofguns.com and do a search for his article.
Having said all this, I got a Rem .300 RUM last year. My .06 was fine but got too lustful. It's a bruiser in terms of raw power. I'm hoping to get an elk in the recticle this year.
What I discoverd in comparing my .06 and the RUM was that the 26 in. barrel and added muzzle break on the RUM give it a very different feel from my 24 inch barreled .06 BAR. I end up doing a lot of practicing at snapping the RUM into an offhand position to get used to it's longer barrel and different balance.
In addition to the .06 and my RUM, shooters in our camp also use the .308, 7 mm Rem Mag and the Win .338 Mag. All work fine and all have taken elk.
You really can't go wrong with any of the guns mentioned in the posts above. Good luck

footballplaya

i'm hunting whitetails in mississippi... what kind of drop can i expect from these calibers in say a remington 700 sendero w/ the fluted barrel...

People use duct tape to fix things, god used nails.

stubblejumper

Here Are a few samples;
7mmrem mag-140gr ballistic tip at 3200fps
100yds +1.2" 200yds 0 300yds -5.7"
7mmstw-140gr stw-140gr ballistic tip at 3400fps
100yds +1 200yds 0 300yds -4.9"
7mmultramag -140grballistic tip at 3450fps
100yds +1 200yds 0 300yds -4.7"
308 win-165grballistic tip at 2700fps
100yds +2 200yds 0 300yds -8.5"
30-06-165gr ballistic tip at 2800fps
100yds +1.8 200yds 0 300yds -7.8"
300win mag-165gr ballistic tip at 3200fps
100yds +1.2 200yds 0 300yds -5.7"
300ultramag-165gr ballistic tip at 3400fps
100yds +1 200yds 0 300yds -4.9"

The velocities given are for common loads and average rifles for all cartridges.In some rifles certain handloads will result in slightly faster velocities and slightly less drop.For a rifle that will be shot out to 300 yards a 200 yard zero is quite common.As you can see the ultramags offer very little gain at these distances and provide much more recoil and have shorter barrel lives.The best compromise for trajectory ,recoil and barrel wear at these distances would appear to be the 7mm rem mag.


Edited by - stubblejumper on 09/22/2002 14:50:59

LARRY338

As you can see from the above drop figures, there is only a little over three inches difference at 300 yards between the super screamers and the lowly 308. The groups a hunting gun will shoot are seldom going to be that small, so from a practical standpoint there is little to be gained by magnums over standard cartridges in terms of making a hit on game out to 300 yds. Whatever you buy, you should practice with it alot.

propmahn

get a .308 its cheaper to shoot with milsurp ammo

propmahn
you can never have too many guns