Muzzle: 2,158 ft-lbs 500m: 1,047 ft-lbs 1,000m: 436 ft-lbs 1,500m: 222 ft-lbs. With available projectiles ranging from 40 grains up to 90, MVs could also range from 3400 to 2600 fps. That still is a general rule of thumb today. 1,500m: 295 ft-lbs. However, for less bullet size, you can get a much better performing Long Range caliberand for a lot less money too. After seeing such success with its flagship cartridge, Hornady wanted to take the Creedmoor to the next level. MasterPiece Arms BA Lite PCR 5. I made my selection of long range calibers based on my experiences hunting, shooting, and competing with these loads. Learn More . That still is a general rule of thumb today, but they have come a long way. The ammo was considerably lighter, meaning the rifles could be lighter. If you take away anything from this article, no matter which caliber you choose, make sure you know how to operate that rifle. All in all, if you are new to the LR community and have an heirloom .243 in the family and that is it, re-barrel it and work on fundamentals. The .260 isnt too informationally unavailable to offer a great learning caliber to the average new shooter. However, the more compact 6.5 PRC case isat least theoreticallymore conducive to better accuracy. That is an on-the-spot selection. When the Remington 700 and similar actions start chambering in .224, I think the caliber will be a viable option for more experienced re-loaders who are seeking a low-recoiling 1,000-yard build. Below, is an example of a Range Card computed by the Applied Ballistics software. No cartridge since the .30-06 has had such a fundamental effect on the way American precision shooters view long-range shooting as has the 6.5 Creedmoor. Again, this round is such a classic. But isnt that what makes it awesome? This concept relates exactly to how a projectile fired from a rifle achieves accurate, sustained flight. Too much felt recoil can build bad habits like target flincheven for experienced shooters. A new .244 Valkyrie 90-gr Sierra Matchking projectile yields a 0.563 ballistic coefficient. The process of forming the brass is laborious. With low case volume and slower MVs, the Grendel is an ideal cartridge for barrel life. I had some elevation issues with target six because of the 17 to 26 mph 4:30 wind. Mag. This cartridge will always hold a special place in my heart. But thats not the case. It is indeed a gratifying experience to know you can direct a bullet to a beachball or even a smaller target at such an incredible distance. to maintain sustained Long Range flight. Without, this cartridge should be shot by older more experienced enthusiasts. 1,500m: 776 ft-lbs. This is one of the most helpful and actionable articles I have seen. They will also fit any .308 Winchester bolt face; meaning that to obtain a 6.5CM, all you need to do is swap a barrel, making this cartridge extremely modular across bolt and gas guns. On the downside, the Dasher can be finicky with respect to feeding since it is so short and has a steep 40-degree shoulder. Mag. History: The history and service-record behind the .308 goes all the way back to the 1950s. As more and more interest in the Long Range community, one thing has become apparent. I am interested to see how the price of such systems will come down and become more readily available to entry to novice level LR shooters. 500m: 2,364 ft-lbs. Created in 2007 by a ballistics team from Hornady, the 6.5 Creedmoor was designed as an improved Long Range target cartridge, based on the .308 Winchester .30 TC (Thompson Center). Average price per round$1.00. I expect barrel life is better than the PRC, yet probably not as good as the Creedmoor. For those lucky enough to be able to own and fire a .338 rifle, you know what I mean. What I can tell you is that choosing the right caliber in relation to recoil can make or break your performance as a shooterespecially if youre new to the game. Ammo Availability: Shockingly, the average price per round is $4.75. by Tactical-Life. Cross-Platform Use: This cartridge can be found in semi-auto AR-style rifles. Factory ammo isnt heavily available; expect to pay around $1.75 per round. 1,500m: 776 ft-lbs. I see another wildcat come to the limelight. Buying a $1000 rifle and a $1500 optic will bring you more success than a $2000 rifle and $500 scope. At 5,000 feet altitude? I like that the caliber is being offered in high-end AR-10 platforms for the gas-gun enthusiasts. The learning and spending curve is steep in the LR community, especially in the top tier. No. You cannot pick a better round for the beginner Long Range shooter. A pencil barrel and light-weight wooden stock, the .308 can feel pretty sharp. Barrel Life: Because projectile options can range anywhere from 120gr to 230gr, projectile weights and MVs vary greatly. The numbers dont lie. The market has followed. Its an excellent choice for shooting groundhogs out to 500 yards. All Rights Reserved. Remaining Energy: Muzzle: 4,029 ft-lbs. That same rifle can shoot my hand-loaded 175 grain Sierra Match Kings at 0.4-0.5 MOA at 100m. The average price per round is $3.00-$4.25. Cross-Platform Use: A big selling point to the 6CM is that from its inception, and from the help of GA Precision, its use in the AR-10 platform has been immensely popular among PRS shooters. Again for the best LR option, 140gr Hybrid Target MV: 2,780 fps, Using above projectile, G1: 0.607 G7: 0.311. Remaining Energy: Muzzle: 4,677 ft-lbs. Here Are the Best Long Range Rifles 15. Several factors like powder temperature sensitivity, barrel length, ammunition consistency, and atmospheric conditions will all change your MV value. This caliber filled a very necessary rule in the combat space. Remaining Energy: Muzzle: 2,832 ft-lbs. MY DAD raised me on 30-06, and I have a hard time looking elsewhere. That includes numerous elk, and more deer than I can remember. Recoil Condition: This caliber is known for providing excellent Long Range performance with very light recoil. What is your goal? On the plus side, barrel life is outstanding. Ammo Availability: .243 Winchester is still a viable option for most East Coast White Tails and Mid-West Prairie Dogs. Ive also dabbled in the world of ELR shootingmeaning Extreme Long Rangeshooting to 2,000 yards and beyond with the Remington Custom Shop 300 PRC I had built for that purpose. I ended up going with a 6.5 PRC for target shooting, and this article was a factor in that decision. MOA vs MRAD Rifle Scopes Which is Best for Long Range? Soft shooting 6mms give the most bang for the buck when comparing their long-range capabilities with how (relatively) affordable they are to reload. Even though primarily technical, it somehow makes a very enjoyable and mentally stimulating read. At A Glance: Our Top 5 Picks For Long Range Calibers in 2022. Anecdotally, PRS shooters are having to change barrels once per year. New LR shooters also often skimp on glass and what I see most often is that someone buys a cheap scope so that they can afford other goodies for their rifles. 500m: 1260 ft-lbs. I would also give a nod to the 6mm ARC, as I am seeing more of this on shelves. Give this round a few years for the market to catch up. If you are inexperienced, youre in luckbecause todays Long Range shooting community is being flooded by great, streamlined, low-recoiling cartridges. A good hunting cartridge. Its an excellent choice for shooting groundhogs out to 500 yards. MVs vary between 2,600 fps and 2,900 fps depending on projectile grain weight. Yep, no more, I put a brake on it. Caliber Comparison: 7mm Rem Mag vs 30-06 Springfield. I am here to share what knowledge and experience I have to help you pick a viable option. headspaces off the belt and has a significant amount of slop at the shoulder (about .004 in. Thats not to say you cant be a long-range sniper with a .308 Winchester or a .300 Winchester Magnum, but this new crop of cartridges has been purpose built tomore efficientlystretch the effective range of the rifleman. You get excellent Long Range performance, with recoil slightly less than the .308 Winchester. A column writer for. Published Mar 29, 2021 5:12 PM EDT, We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Meet the all-new Taurus Judge Executive Grade, a revolver featuring a hand-polished satin finish, presentation-grade wood grips, a brass rod front sight and an exceptional hand-tuned trigger. It has ample killing power for all but the largest of game, it is easy to shoot well, the cartridge is inherently accurate. Mag., and .300 Rem. Mag. Not ideal for beginners or those who do not reload. However, because of the lack of interest in the market, ammo is pretty expensive and interest in the caliber is limited to bench rest shooters. How do you want your rifle to perform? The name .30-06 refers to the caliber, .30, and the year, 1906when this round was developed by the US Army. Some products out there exist for use in an AR-10 platform but the PRC is born within the bolt-gun family. Extreme-distance shooters typically opt for obscenely powerful cartridges such as the .338 Lapua, .375 Cheytac and .416 Barrett, but I crunched the ballistics of the 7mm SAUM pushing a 180-grain Berger VLD at 3,000 fps in sea-level atmospherics and again at my home elevation of 5,000 feet. 1,500m: 264 ft-lbs. We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. The .308 Win case has a nice even powder burn and has readily available brass for reloading. The interest in long-range precision shooting continues to rise; it seems like everyone wants to ring steel targets that are 10 football fields away. 1,000m: 437 ft-lbs. For a more modern, cutting-edge option, Sierra and Hornady now both produce composite-tipped match bullets that provide significantly higher BCs while maintaining similar levels of accuracy. At least a dozen or more superb match loads are available from Hornady, Federal, Barnes, Nosler, Winchester, American Eagle, SIG Sauer and a plethora of smaller boutique ammo companies. Comfortable price point. Since the beginning, the 6.5 has taken off as one of the best LR cartridges to date. Keep your gear handy when it's not on your belt. The caliber took the LR community by storm. All images on our website are the property of their respective owners. Not many production rifles exist in a budget option. Dont want to handload? Impressive, comprehensive, is packed with useful information. It combined flat-shooting ballistics with hard-hitting bullets in a package with lighter recoil than the .300 Weatherby Magnum, which debuted in 1944. Its built along the principles of modern cartridge design. If that describes you, then definitely give this caliber another look, because its performance rocks. It wont keep up with the 6 mm ARC, but its still a great long-range performer in an AR-15, and there is a good selection of Grendel loads to choose from. The projectile still punched through steel at one mile! Back in 2013, Mike Stinnett bested a benchrest record that stood for nearly 40 years when he shot a 5-shot group in competition at 100 yards that measured .0077 inches. So, why do so many top PRS competitors choose to shoot the 6mm Creedmoor? As a serious LR shooter who intends on needing terminal performance or wanting a modern tactical build, I would leave the .243 behind in the 20th century where it belongs. No one denies how incredibly devastating this caliber can be, but for the average tactical and competition guy, this caliber is overkill. Are you operating a bolt or gas gun? Why even mention such an antiquated round? 5. We prioritize field testing and objective data when reviewing products. Projectile manufacturers are even still making their high-end rounds in .243. Its bullets will remain supersonic out past 2,000 yards. Unfortunately being such an older caliber, new-age tactical guys will not see this cartridge on many platforms. It has been a proven competitor in the PRS circuit. Most service rifle matches include stages at 200, 300 and 600 yards, from various positions, some timed, while others are slow-fire. It features a micro-fine crosshair with a standard target reticle, plus side focus parallax adjustment and standard target turrets to help you focus at 1000 yards. Mag. These are all with commercial brass available, 300NM, 338NM, 338LM , 375CT , .408 CT and 416 B all shoot very good out to and passed 2000 yards. With proper handloading technique, the Dasher delivers muzzle velocities with minimal shot-to-shot SD (standard deviation) and ES (extreme spread). No issue finding it. And since it uses the ever-popular 6.5 projectiles, components are relatively cheap. Muzzle: 3,819 ft-lbs. With help from the civilian market led by Winchester, the .308 took the world by storm. Cross-Platform Use: In the future, maybe the Over .30 Cal Club will find some traction in the AR- world. It is a product of natural selection and evolutionthe best features of several classic LR rounds fused into one. As said before, the standard rifle manufacturers have not caught up the .224 Valkyrie. Vastly improved barrel life by having a good case volume to bore volume ratio, and pushing longer bullets through the tube. When firing with the .300NM at 1,000m, you get that same feeling. After seeing such success with its flagship cartridge, Hornady wanted to take the Creedmoor to the next level. The next chart includes ALL LG and HG Relay Winners from years 2000-2006. 1,000m: 1,451 ft-lbs 1,500m: 722 ft-lbs. An MOA equals one inch per 1000 yards. | Prior to this round, there was no bridge between 7.62x51mm and .50 BMG. The downfall? The retained velocity at 400 yards is 2,261 fps, providing plenty of punch for hunters who like to shoot with a point-blank zero. Ideally, projectiles that have a higher BC, will retain their MV over a longer range. Ballistic Co-Efficient: The projectile designed specifically for Long Range shooting is the 90 grain Sierra Match King. Ammo Availability: The biggest issue for calibers this new and this niche, is Hornadys ability to keep up with the demand. As with most of the modern cartridges designed for distance, the cartridge case is short enough to allow for long, high BC bullets to still work with common magazine lengths. Budget speaking, the 6.5 Grendel is much more of a value in rifle and ammo costs than the AR-10 class of calibers. We all know that AR-10s of the past could never keep up in accuracy with a bolt gun. Thank you for your service. Although common sense describes how RE will affect your ballistic performance, if youre a steel or paper target shooter, RE does not play a large factor. They are great long-range guns, but not known by the our Armed Forces community. For someone considering PRS matches, this rifle is not for you. Very nice article. Introduced to us in 1955, the .243 was designed as a sporting and target rifle round. This round is special just like the other 6.5mm projectiles in its class. An AR-10 firing with a suppressor, the .308 will recoil slightly more than an AR-15. A BC number can be represented in several different, values or standards. One good thing about switching between the M24 to the M110 was that snipers were already familiar with the M118LR round. So keep this in mind when choosing an LR round for you. To this day, the .300WM is still a very popular choice amongst Long Range hunters and military snipers. With less powder capacity than a .300 WM, the WSM is still manageable. Initial Thoughts: Ive always liked the .260. Home Tactical Gear Reviews 17 Best Long Range Calibers in 2023 (Ranked by a Marine Sniper). For hunting it makes more sense to run with something a bit stouter. He would then fire-form the brass in a barrel dedicated to that process and then run that brass through a die with a .30-caliber mandrel, at which point he turns the case neck for uniformity and trims the brass to the right length. Shortly after leaving the Marine Corps, McMahon became a contractor for the US Army, testing small arms and large caliber weapons for potential military contracts. The 6.5 Lapua is primarily a bolt-gun only caliber. If not, this is one less thing you have to worry about. Due to its age and relevance today, the .308 has proven itself for over 65 years! Its arched trajectory can make a rainbow look flat, and a grasshoppers sneeze will drift its bullets off course, but if its all youve got, you make the most of it. For the hunting world, yes. Better, more expensive builds make this advantage a wash, but in my experience, it is fair to say the .30-06 is generally more forgiving. All in all, this cartridge changed the tactics of the US military, and later, NATO allies. Another rapidly growing competitive discipline is the .223 only PRS-type match. On the fifth and final shot at 3,592 we didnt see where it went, so I grabbed my gear and left the firing line thinking I had missed. I had no issue staying on target for a follow-up shot. still possess remarkable capabilities. That changed in 1997 when Remington standardized many 6.5 wildcats based on the .308 Winchester. Garmin Tactix 7 Pro Ballistic Solar-Powered GPS Smartwatch: First Look, Wilson Combat SFX9 5-Inch Solid Frame 9mm Pistol: First Look. Ultimately, we cannot deny that this round was replaced by better options. The history lesson was GREAT! is not typically viewed as a competition cartridge. Muzzle: 4,029 ft-lbs. 500m: 2,621 ft-lbs. The bench rest shooting community usually pushes the boundaries and concocts the wildcats. History: Plant yourself in post-2015 and you will see an explosion of the 6.5mm family of projectiles, thanks to the 6.5 Creedmoor. If I was building a rifle on this caliber, I would expect to look at bolt-only options. G1 BC: .563 G7 BC: .274. Overall Practicality: For the Long Range hunting community, I would argue that the .30-06 still has a place in this world. The two dominant calibers among Relay Winners are: 30 Caliber (.308) at 60%, and 6.5mm (.264) at 27%. Easy and fun to shoot. Because the .224 is so new, the market is still catching on. Fortunately for them, older stalwarts like the .308 Win. Since 1898, OL has been a leading authority in testing and reviewing hunting gear, fishing tackle, guns and shooting equipment, and much more. But with some tuning of the magazine that issue can be mostly mitigated. Here are the seven best new precision long range cartridges. You will HAVE to use very slow burning propellants to push a 175 grain bullet out of a .277 bore, and will HAVE to have at least 26 of barrel to most efficiently burn said powder. Federal Gold Medal Match can be had in a 175 gr SMK variant for $1/round or less from Palmetto State Armory. Unless you will be loading subsonic rounds, all standard Long Range rifle calibers maintain supersonic flight (Mach 1 or greater than 1125 fps). Remington simply took the .308 case and necked it down to house the 6.5mm. Now, this parameter may not be too important to most of you out there, searching for the best Long Range caliber. Corporal McMahon is a former 0317 Scout Sniper with 1st BN 2nd Marines. Tons of different build options exist and the knowledge pool to learn from is immense. Sig Cross Rifle 14. The new big bore pistols feature industry-first capacity, with a standard 15-round capacity and 22+1 rounds of 10mm or 18+1 rounds of .45 ACP from the extended magazines. Think of it as the bullet's ability to maintain velocity as it sails through the air. The cartridge was designed for reliable feeding in battle rifles, not efficient powder burns for consistent accuracy. 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Like the classic 06 did during the Great War, this efficient, mild-mannered, high-performance 6.5mm has opened the eyes of shooters to a new realm of possibilities.
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