Hunting & Bench Shooting Calibre

Goose25

Goose25

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Although similar questions have been asked previously, I would like to know what is your favorite calibre, capable of hunting most of NA large game (whitetail, moose, blackie, no grizzly) also succesful at long range bench shooting (1000 yards) ?

In other words... what calibre will give you the best of both worlds?
 
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Another option would be the .300 Weatherby. No hassle, common, great variety of bullet weights, and powerful, . Don't exactly know what you mean when you say efficient for shooting 1000 yards. Many shooters are using improved versions of the .300 Weatherby and doing quite well with them at 1000 yards.
 
.300 win mag, packs enough punch for all of those animals out to a fair distance. Has one its share of medals. Readily available factory ammo, and reloading components. Wide selection of .308 cal bullets. It's my favorite anyway.

John
 
I'd say 300 Winchester just because the brass is cheaper than the Weatherby and you get damned near the same performance. Plus there's a wide variety of 30 caliber bullets (maybe the most bullets of any caliber).
 
.308 will kill everything that you listed and you will have way more data available to make loads for 1k yards than you could read in a lifetime
 
One thing here though, I don't see me using my F-class rifle hunting, and don't see my hunting rifle in F-class . So anyone else follow what Iam sayen.
But you could , I just don't think I would. The weight differance is quite a bit.
Frank
 
The good old Swede 6.5x55. Nice selection of bullets for anything from varmints to big game to 1K target work. Will out perform the .308 and not a nasty to shoot in a match as the bigger .300's most 6.5 pills have better BC's than even much heavier .308 caliber bullets.
 
Levi Garrett said:
One thing here though, I don't see me using my F-class rifle hunting, and don't see my hunting rifle in F-class . So anyone else follow what Iam sayen.
But you could , I just don't think I would. The weight differance is quite a bit.
Frank
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Depends on your hunting style I suppose, I use what boils down to full race F class 300 for hunting, at under 1500 yards, the my 62 Lb 50 comes out when I really want to reach out and touch something. Neither are bush friendly however.
I still vote 300 Win Mag as most versatile for most hunting in the long range areas of 800 to 1200 yards.
308 Win is a great killing caliber, but I do not believe it has anywhere enough retained energy past 800 yards to reliably take down game
 
I was wondering after looking at this thread , if the question pertain3ed to shooting targets AND hunting at 1,000 yards.
If so, the big 300 or the 300WSM would be okay, but I am not sure if you want to hunt at 1,000 as well.If not, a 308 would be a far greater advantage for a few reasons.
You can get rifles that will pack well enough , but will still shoot well at 1,000.
The Tikka we recently raffled had a 2-12X IOR on it , fully adjustable stock, and studs for bipod as well as side mounted studs for easier packing.
It was in .308.
Animals at reasonable ranges for its ftlbs at a given range of enegy would be fine.
A Savage, Remington, or similar rifle set up like this would be fine for short jaunts into the bush, but would still be okay for shhooting targets out to 1,000 yards.

I would not have a problem taking it to a precision match, however, it wouldn't be my choice for an "F" class rifle for the the big show at Cannaught!
Something to ponder because when target shooting is mentioned, we sometimes automaticlly think competitions, when the person is actually mmeaniing recreational shooting.
Cat
 
alberta tactical rifle said:
The way I understood, Goose, was inquiring about a caliber to do both.
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well then, in that case, ANYBODY who has gone long on both knows that only the big magnums will do!
The .308 is a fine round, as are the 6.5x55 , the wildcats on the .284 case and the '06 case.
They don't cut it for decent killing power near or around the 1,000 mark however.

Any of the big magnums in a rifle designed for the long stuff will do.

Some fellas don't real;ize that the type of hunting changes however.
A fella would not want to lug a 14 lb rifle around still hunting, for long!:D
Dragging it out of a pick up or boat and seting up for a long shot is a ddifferent kettle of fish....
Cat
 
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