Whats the best calibre rifle for 1000 yard target competition?

Question

Whats the best calibre rifle for 1000 yard target competition?

Answer 1

If you can only have one long-range precision rifle, it should be in .308 Winchester. Match-grade .308 ammunition is available everywhere, reloading recipes are well known and reloading it is easy, and in many rifles, the surplus 7.62x51 NATO ammunition from some countries will shoot 1.5 MOA or better, which is good enough for short-range (400 yards and closer) practice from less steady shooting positions such as offhand, kneeling, over barricades, or shooting at movers.

I am going to recommend three other calibers to use for practical long-range shooting. The first is .260 Remington. It fits in the same rifles and actions as 308, but has less recoil and superior external ballistics. The second is 7mm Remington Magnum. The last is .338 Lapua Magnum. There are a lot of other calibers that perform well at long range, but these additional three provide good stepping points of increased performance.

The Magnum calibers such as 7RemMag, 300WinMag, and 338 Lapua will provide improved ballistics, but at the expense of ammunition cost, barrel life, and increased recoil. The box magazines for these calibers hold fewer rounds than the short-action .308-based calibers. Follow-up shots will be slower due to the increased recoil and bolt cycling distance.

Answer 2

If you look at the 1000 yard benchrest competitions and 1000 yard F-Class competitions, the majority are being won by 6mm  and 6.5 mm based cartridges.  One of the winningest 1000 yard competitors these days, David Tubb, is using the 6mm XC cartridge.  The 6mm BR cartridge still dominates 1000 yard benchrest competition, and the 6mm/284 cartridge is the dominant 1000 yard F-class cartridge.

1000 yard Palma is dominated by the 308 Winchester with 155 grain bullets.  The difference between Palma and the other two disciplines is that Palma requires iron sights and the other two allow optical sights.

The other long range discipline is NRA Highpower Match where the long range is 600 yards.  Some highpower matches are conducted at 1000 yards on the long range leg. There are two divisions in Highpower: Service Rifle and Match Rifle.  Most of the time you see 30-06, 308 Win, and 223 Rem/5.56x45.  These days, Highpower matches are dominated by 223 with heavy bullets from fast twist barrels.

It is very hard to be competitive with larger cartridges than these.  The recoil of larger cartridges takes its toll.  In general, you want to shoot the cartridge that hands you the least amount of collective recoil in order to win.

You can learn a lot about 1000 yard competition at http://www.6mmbr.com/

Answer 3

.50 BMG it kicks like a mule, but its effective range is much farther.

Answer 4

Depends on any rifle or just hunting rifle. If it was a hunting rifle then i would say a 270. win, 22-250 rem, or a 30-378 weatherby mag. Most people say the 308. but that bullet drops alot faster then the guns i just named.

The 30-378. is not a popular rifle because it is so expensive but this calibre was made becuase the army wanted a better sniper rifle calibre then the 308. The reason they turned it down is because they thought it would have been a bigger rifle, almost as big as the 50. cal but it was around the same size as the 308. just better.

Answer 5

anything in a .308

Answer 6

A High grain .308

Or 50. Cal ( but i doubt that that would be in competition )

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Answer 7

In the military, Designated Marksmen, are train to use the M14. It fires the 7.62mm NATO and is accurate with proper training and practice. Just like the previous poster stated. The Calibers he mentioned are good but like every other type of caliber, you have to rememer that the farther you shoot, the less stopping power you are going to have on your target. My choices out of his selection would either be the .338 Magnum, or the 7.62mmNATO (if i couldn't get .338)

It is considered "overkill" but you can use a .50BMG rifle for your longe range lust. The best .50 cal rifles you can find though are going to be anywhere between $8000 to $14000 depending on brand and accessories.

If you decide that .50BMG is too much yet you don't want to step all the way back down to the .338 or lower... You could consideer using a .45-70Gov. It is a hard hitting round that is the closest thing you can get to a .50BMG. But, just like .50BMG, .45-70 cartridges are almost $10 a cartridge. (please someone correct me if my info might be incorrect on ammo cost)

Either way it is your choice, I'd recomend that you get a bolt action over a semiautomatic. Bolt actions have proven to be more accurate, but not by much.

Best of Luck.

Answer 8

A very popular round for long range shooting is the .338 Lapua.  Its a big round that travels far and delivers a heck of a wallop once its on target.

Answer 9

Most competition shooters use the 50bmg or 308 win

mostly because the military use them. So information on these rounds are not shy. If your going to shoot that far there is a lot you have to compensate for wind, temp, altitude, spin of the earth...many things so you have to do your reading. That’s why I say go with one of these rounds Information on these rounds ballistics is every where and since there so popular if you run in to any problems you can find someone that shoots the same round and might be able to help you. Also if your shooting this far you probable going to have to reload your own ammo since match grade ammo is so high.(Way cheaper)

All of this being said I cant tell you every thing but you will have to do your own reading just type in long range shooting in Google and start reading.

Answer 10

Look this website over.... Your answer will be there...

http://www.6mmbr.com/1000ydpg01.html

http://www.6mmbr.com/index.html