Best grouping at 300M

[Muir]

My .308, 500M Metallic Silhouette rifle would put 10 shots into 3.5" at 300M on a good day shooting in high desert. My friend shot a custom 30-06 that would do that at the 500M mark. When I was at gunsmithing school, the machine shop instructor -an ex US Army riflesmith for their long range team- showed me files of targets shot from Winchester M-70, 300 Win Mags at 300M. Thirty shots in 1 inch from a machine rest. He said the ammunition was hand loads, but not reloads. They had full time people air gauging bullets, sorting fully prepped brass by weight, and then hardness, and them loaded on custom machines built especially for them.

He said that the rifles were accurate but no better than what students under his supervision could turn out in class. It was the emphasis on absolute consistency in components and loading that delivered the highest degree of accuracy they obtained. By this example, I'm lead to believe that the groups you get are the product of what you put into it.~Muir

 

[RickoShay]

amazing that the 308 is very seldom used in target shooting nowerday....

. Not forgetting that it is the calibre of choice (as 7.62mm) for Bisley etc....

 

[Triggermortis]

Am guessing but 308 probaly holds more records than any other caliber.am sure somebody on here will know,shoot me down if I am wrong

Out of interest, i was told the other day that the humble .222 holds more records than any other calibre (i don't have one but have shot foxes with one in the past) i do think 300m would be pushing it for what was for many years the foxing calibre of choice? what do you think?

 

[nowler]

. Not forgetting that it is the calibre of choice (as 7.62mm) for Bisley etc....

it's the caliber of choice for target rifle shooters or match rifle shooters because they have to use that caliber. go to f-class open and i doubt you'll see anyone using a .308 if they are competitive.

i'm not saying it's not an accurate caliber as it is. i've had 2 of them and they both shot half inch groups at 300m on occassions, but it's no more accurate a caliber than any of the others......

 

[nowler]

if it's ultimate accuracy you're talking about out to 300yards, then you're in the realms of benchrest shooting and the 6mmPPC closely followed by the .22PPC has all the records i'm afraid.

 

[stag1933]

My .243 Win. Sako HB Varminter may have even done better than most. [ One inch squares here.]
I had better sight in those days.
HWH.

 

[Claret_Dabbler]

.....the humble .222 holds more records than any other calibre....

Nothing humble about the 222, finest round ever developed.

 

[Milligan]

Lot's of big claims here, I'd be really keen to see some of the maestro's in action here.
I organised a scaled down F Class target for 300yds for my club recently - 1 minute bull, 1/2 minute v-bull.
Not many v-bulls scored. High score was 18 ex 20 Bulls with 5 v's with a .308

amazing that the 308 is very seldom used in target shooting nowerday and even sporting shooting.times move on mate even though the 308 was one of the most popular hunting and target caliber.the 7mms have taken over the realy long range stuff as the little 6mms have blizts the sub 300 yards comps
each to there own i suspose

This made me snort my lager so I had to read it again. Couldn't make out if you were serious or trolling - given the tone of your other responses.
.308 is easily the most popular cartridge in FTR and TR - the two mainstream classes. F-Class open might be cool but there aren't many people who actually shoot it.

 

[Thar]

In reality any deer legal calibre will group more than accurately enough in any factory rifle to shoot a deer at 300m if you are up to the job. It is the wind that will open up your group, in long range target shooting with consideration for you wanting to shoot big deer then a 6.5 or 7mm calibre will be superior to a 308.

The reason the 308 is so popular is that it is our military/NATO calibre, but the British Military have found in trials going back to 1912 that a 7mm rifle would have been a better bet, it was only the Germans starting WW1 and then the Americans not wanting anything other than a 30 cal that stopped our troops being issued with a 7mm 100 or then 60 years ago.

The old 270 is between the 6.5 and 7mm calibres so if you couldn’t decide which one to go for then it is worth thinking about.

Of cause if you really want to top everything then do what my mate has, order a 338 LapMag Barret (£5,000) and get it passed for big deer, he says that nothing beats it for bucking the wind.

But why do you think you need a super accurate rifle to shoot deer at 300M? A rifle that shoots 1.5” group at 100M will have a 4.5” group at 300, deer heart 5” then you have lungs as well, job done.

ATB

Tahr

 

[Thar]

This made me snort my lager so I had to read it again. Couldn't make out if you were serious or trolling - given the tone of your other responses.
.308 is easily the most popular cartridge in FTR and TR - the two mainstream classes. F-Class open might be cool but there aren't many people who actually shoot it.

I thought for FTR/TR you could only use a 223 or 308, and even with 308 some use a very fast twist barrel with 210gn VLD bullet loaded to the max' to try and keep up with the 6.5 and 7mm boys.

ATB

Tahr

 

[Brough]

Well said that man

 

[Milligan]

I thought for FTR/TR you could only use a 223 or 308, and even with 308 some use a very fast twist barrel with 210gn VLD bullet loaded to the max' to try and keep up with the 6.5 and 7mm boys.

ATB

Tahr

Correct. Hence easily the most popular.

 

[swarovski]

I am at bisley tomorrow,I will kick the asses of the 260 and 7mm boys with my 308 no sweat

 

[nowler]

there is a lot of confusion going on here. tr shooters and ftr (i think) are limited to 155gr bullets i believe. match rifle shooters use the faster twist and heavier vld .308 bullets. neither of which can really compete with a 7mm or even a 6.5. a larger .30cal is a different story, but they are using much heavier bullets to achieve higher ballistic coefficients and recoil becomes an issue for the shooter.

at blair atholl they have the longest civilian range in the uk going out to 1233yards. the scottish match rifle boys shoot 1000, 1100 and 1233 yards here with their .308s loaded to the max. there is only one person in the world that has ever shot 20 straight consecutive bulls at 1233yards on this range in over the 100 years that the range has been running, and they were not using a .308, they were using a 6.5-284 shooting 139grain lapua scenars!!!

now nobody is knocking .308's. they are very popular with many factions of the shooting world, but they are no more accuracte than most other calibers, and they are less efficient than a whole load of calibers.

put a fast 7mm against any .308 at 1000yards with the same caliber of shooter behind the bolt and the .308 won't have a look in.

 

[Brough]

Alot of confusion indeed including yourself .
Read the original post and then read post 29 . THE END

 

[nowler]

What sort of grouping is achievable at say 300M with a top of the range stalking rifle outfit(for larger deer)Is there a chambering that shoots an inherantly tighter grouping?

q1. top of the range deer stalking rifle with well tuned loads and a competent shooter? 1/2" to 1" in decent conditions.
q2. there is not really a chambering that shoots inherently better than any other. recoil, bullet choice, ballistic co-efficient, bullet speed start to come into play at 300m. a fast 6.5 chambering would be my choice for 300m.....

apologies for going off topic in my previous post, but i wasn't the first to do so.........

 

[ejg]

I think a 308 is very efficient. For the ammount of powder and cartridge size.
Loaded with 180gr it'll leav a 6.5 for dead when a boar comes running at you and still only be a tiny bit less accurate at 300m.
Just started building my third 308, this time an ultra light tactical build.
One has to draw the line somehwere, if a large 7mm is better at long range then a even larger 338 might be even better...or a 50 cal...
edi

 

[lister]

most rifles group better than me
lister

 

[triggersqueezer]

i did my first shoot at the fly shoot at diggle in august my first group was 3.3 " at 500 with my 223 the second groups opened up with the wind but i felt it was me holding the rifle back.in the field its about .80" at 300 yds.i'm a fan of .223 but i have no experience with larger calibres.

 

[woodmaster]

I would say that if the op was trying to find out what a sensible size group would he need to be consistently achieving at 300 yds to shoot LARGE deer. Secondly what caliber would be suitable for this purpose. I would say that a 3-4" group with a SUITABLE bullet of 6mm up would kill. Paper targets don't matter I think he is looking for answers to real life hunting. As many have said on other posts shooting paper with clover leaf accuracy is ok in principle but we should all be putting in more practice off the sticks/bag and in less favorable positions than at the bench. We should then be capable of taking consistent humane shots at deer. I now only use bench to test accuracy of loads, then go back to the sticks or bag as this is what I will have when out shooting.