Firearms Stack Exchange Archive

What is a good commonly available long-range cartridge?

• posted by: Mashashin on 2011-11-11
• tagged: ammunition, rifle, precision-rifle
• score: 5

I am interested in playing around with some long range shooting and am wondering what a good cartridge to build a gun around cheaply would be. By regular cartridge I mean something common and widely available like .308, .270, 30-06 or something along these lines as appossed to a .338 lapua or a .222 magnum.

Answer 520

• posted by: Bryson on 2011-11-11
• score: 11

I’d stick with .308 for the following reasons:

• Popular in many circles, from competition to hunting to military and law enforcement
• Looooong history, giving it plenty of available information from reloading recipes and scope dopes to ballistics and wound profiles in all manner of target types
• Available from basically every single manufacturer of everything to do with ammo, from reloading components to factory loaded ammo
• Available across many platforms, from fighting guns like the SCAR-H, low- and high-end bolt-action rifles made by everybody from Remington to Accuracy International, and semi-auto precision guns from a number of makers
• Large orders of factory loaded ammo can be purchased for usually cheaper than many other calibers with smaller followings, allowing you more practice for less money
• Huge aftermarket for things like suppressors and muzzle brakes
• For killing living things it can be good all the way out to 600 meters very reliably, and depending on your skill (luck) to 800 meters — you can extend its usable range with more practice
• For killing paper or steel it can be good out to past 1,000 meters
• It’s a good intermediate caliber with easily-managed recoil and muzzle blast, meaning you can get more practice without beating yourself up
• Can be used on almost all the things you’ll be allowed to hunt in the lower 48 of the United States

You specifically mentioned .338 Lapua, I would recommend against this as it’s the opposite of nearly every point I made above. It is very expensive, meaning you will practice less. It is a hard-hitting round on both ends, meaning you’ll beat yourself up quicker and you’ll practice less. It’s good out to way past 1500 meters, but until you’re a hot-shot precision shooter you’re just going to be throwing money into the wind at those ranges.

I’d stick with the .308 simply because while it may not be the best at everything, it’s really really good at a lot of things and if you’re still learning, you won’t push its limits for a good long while. It has a lot of intangible benefits that will make learning more enjoyable (easily managed recoil), easier (tons of available ballistic/reloading info, aftermarket, flexibility of platform), cheaper (reloading components and factory ammo massively available, flexibility of platform), and faster (you’ll practice more).

Answer 518

• posted by: blsub6 on 2011-11-11
• score: 5

I like .308 and 30-06 both.

.308 has a little more drop at range than 30-06 because of a lower muzzle velocity but .308 has a shorter action which I like

I don’t think you could go wrong with either one of these cartridges

Answer 1119

• posted by: BusterBoondock on 2012-03-02

• score: 0

• Paper Targets @ 1000+ yds/M .308 win or .300 Winchester Magnum 180 to 220 grain Balistic Tips
• Elk/deer @ 600 yds/m .300 Remington ULTRA Magnum 7 or .338 Winchester Magnum 180-200gr Barnes TTX, Nosler 180-220gr partition

.300RUM is best all around cartridge for all sports! It’s accurate at long ranges and is a freight train when it gets there!

308 is out of energy and really drops fast after 400 yards!

A few words on CHEAP FAST GOOD. You only get two of the three! Cheap and fast isn’t good; cheap and good isn’t fast; good and fast isn’t cheap! I find this is a reality of life and haven’t got all three of these at the same time yet! Applies to shooting, hunting, and quality of life!

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