Which Long Range Caliber for 1600 Yards?

I'm fortunate to have a buddy that has a pile of land, and a hunger for long range shooting. He supplied the space, I donated the steel. We've got a Cortina deer, and blackjack rack at 500Y along with a permanent Shotmarker frame. There's a KYL rack at 750Y, targets from 4" to 16", KYL at 1061Y with 6" to 18" plates and a Shotmarker frame. A full size steel bear at 1472Y, 24" plate at 1595Y and a full size elk at 1762Y. The elk has an 18" or 1moa hole in it, with a separate impact plate behind it. If you hit the body/head/legs of the elk, you get a red flasher. Thread the needle and hit the .97moa, you get a green flasher. Then lastly there is another bear at 1890Y. There's other random steel scattered around, and more targets will be added in the spring. All of this is 17 minutes from my door, a covered 10'x20' deck on top of a sea can with the most amazing view.

With that said, I've been doing more shooting this summer than I have in the last 10 years, loading piles of ammo weekly, for sometimes 4 visits a week to this spot. We've hit the elk at 1 mile with .22 ARC, 6CM, 6.5CM, 6.5x47, .260, 6.5 PRC, .308, .300 PRC and .338 Lapua. The 6.5 PRC is the comfortable 1 mile round, the .300 PRC eats the .338 believe it or not. I've had new shooters out, and my GF and niece both had first shot hits after I set up the .300 PRC with 3.8 mils of wind and 15.8 mils elevation, 225 ELDM.

I've built and shot a LOT of .338 Lapua, and thought it was the best thing ever, then I tried the PRC. Don't get me wrong, I like the splash from a 300 gr bullet, but ballistically, the PRC is better. The 300 will fit on a 'normal' action, I don't think the lapua case belongs in a 1.062" thread tenon, that's why I went 1.162" on the Timberwolf. Brass for the PRC is a lot less than .338, 10 or so less grains of powder, bullets are cheaper too. Less recoil, less wind drift, flatter trajectory, farther transonic distance. The .300 PRC is a great long range round for the average person.

Now, that 6.5 PRC, my buddy absolutely slays on the KYL's, and has shot a 10" group on the 1890 bear. He's come a long way in the last year with his shooting ability, not to mention wind reading and kestrel operation. I've been coaching/spotting and talking with him a lot. We're pushing each other, and we'll be adding some longer targets to further stretch things out.

Watch the 'La Perla Challenge' series on youtube, and see what rifles and calibres guys are using. There's longish targets as well at the 1 mile yeti that some guys go for. Also note how some of them absolutely drop the ball with zero/dope as well as feeding issues. Learn from their mistakes, and see all the different things that guys get right and what they get wrong.
 
PGW Steve said:
I'm fortunate to have a buddy that has a pile of land, and a hunger for long range shooting. He supplied the space, I donated the steel. We've got a Cortina deer, and blackjack rack at 500Y along with a permanent Shotmarker frame. There's a KYL rack at 750Y, targets from 4" to 16", KYL at 1061Y with 6" to 18" plates and a Shotmarker frame. A full size steel bear at 1472Y, 24" plate at 1595Y and a full size elk at 1762Y. The elk has an 18" or 1moa hole in it, with a separate impact plate behind it. If you hit the body/head/legs of the elk, you get a red flasher. Thread the needle and hit the .97moa, you get a green flasher. Then lastly there is another bear at 1890Y. There's other random steel scattered around, and more targets will be added in the spring. All of this is 17 minutes from my door, a covered 10'x20' deck on top of a sea can with the most amazing view.

With that said, I've been doing more shooting this summer than I have in the last 10 years, loading piles of ammo weekly, for sometimes 4 visits a week to this spot. We've hit the elk at 1 mile with .22 ARC, 6CM, 6.5CM, 6.5x47, .260, 6.5 PRC, .308, .300 PRC and .338 Lapua. The 6.5 PRC is the comfortable 1 mile round, the .300 PRC eats the .338 believe it or not. I've had new shooters out, and my GF and niece both had first shot hits after I set up the .300 PRC with 3.8 mils of wind and 15.8 mils elevation, 225 ELDM.

I've built and shot a LOT of .338 Lapua, and thought it was the best thing ever, then I tried the PRC. Don't get me wrong, I like the splash from a 300 gr bullet, but ballistically, the PRC is better. The 300 will fit on a 'normal' action, I don't think the lapua case belongs in a 1.062" thread tenon, that's why I went 1.162" on the Timberwolf. Brass for the PRC is a lot less than .338, 10 or so less grains of powder, bullets are cheaper too. Less recoil, less wind drift, flatter trajectory, farther transonic distance. The .300 PRC is a great long range round for the average person.

Now, that 6.5 PRC, my buddy absolutely slays on the KYL's, and has shot a 10" group on the 1890 bear. He's come a long way in the last year with his shooting ability, not to mention wind reading and kestrel operation. I've been coaching/spotting and talking with him a lot. We're pushing each other, and we'll be adding some longer targets to further stretch things out.

Watch the 'La Perla Challenge' series on youtube, and see what rifles and calibres guys are using. There's longish targets as well at the 1 mile yeti that some guys go for. Also note how some of them absolutely drop the ball with zero/dope as well as feeding issues. Learn from their mistakes, and see all the different things that guys get right and what they get wrong.
Click to expand...
what are barrel lengths and twists on .22 ARC, 6CM, 6.5CM, 6.5x47, .260, 6.5 PRC?
 
PGW Steve said:
I've built and shot a LOT of .338 Lapua, and thought it was the best thing ever, then I tried the PRC. Don't get me wrong, I like the splash from a 300 gr bullet, but ballistically, the PRC is better. The 300 will fit on a 'normal' action, I don't think the lapua case belongs in a 1.062" thread tenon, that's why I went 1.162" on the Timberwolf. Brass for the PRC is a lot less than .338, 10 or so less grains of powder, bullets are cheaper too. Less recoil, less wind drift, flatter trajectory, farther transonic distance. The .300 PRC is a great long range round for the average person.
Click to expand...
I didn't gel with the 338 LM. I am loving the 300 Norma Mag though. It is much nicer to shoot and ridiculously capable at long ranges. The Norma Mag produces just a bit more velocity than the PRC does. It only consumes 4 or 5 grains more of powder in the process.

IMO a shorter, fatter case will produce better accuracy than a long, thin case. The most accurate bench rest cases are short and fat for their caliber.
 
I Dont Care About You said:
I didn't gel with the 338 LM. I am loving the 300 Norma Mag though. It is much nicer to shoot and ridiculously capable at long ranges. The Norma Mag produces just a bit more velocity than the PRC does. It only consumes 4 or 5 grains more of powder in the process.

IMO a shorter, fatter case will produce better accuracy than a long, thin case. The most accurate bench rest cases are short and fat for their caliber.
Click to expand...
Interesting point on case geometry, but it sounds like you are copy-and-pasting short-range, 100-to-300-yard point-blank benchrest theories (like the 6mm PPC or 6mm BR) and trying to force them onto an extreme, mile-plus ELR magnum setup.

Microscopic powder ignition uniformity matters when you're shooting tiny groups at 100 yards, but out past a full mile (1,760+ yards), the atmosphere only cares about the golden rules of ballistics;
Velocity needs powder!
&
Distance needs weight!

When you place the two side-by-side under heavy-for-caliber, high 245gr.30-calibers), the 300 Norma-Mag holds 104 to 105 grains of water capacity and the 300 PRC holds 113 to 115 grains.
That's a MASSIVE ~10% shortfall in volume deficit in the tinier Norma-Mag!

Furthermore, because the Norma case is shorter, seating those ultra-long, high-BC match bullets forces the projectile tail deep into the main body, physically displacing even more of your remaining powder room and tanking your muzzle velocity runway.

So the question for the room is simple:
How exactly is that 10% deficit in raw chemical powder energy being mechanically compensated for over a full mile without pushing chamber pressures into a volatile, high-pressure case-head expansion danger zone, or turning that aggressive 30-degree case shoulder into a concentrated plasma torch that melts the rifling lands right out of the barrel throat?"
 
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