Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting 500-600 Yd. hunting rifle

Buying rifles and scopes is fun, but I'd try to figure out why there are good shooting days and not-so-good days. Is it your technique, the rifles, scopes, or loads? If technique, is it really your shooting or wind reading? Wind kicks everyone's ass.

Any of those rifles will perform to 600yds with the right bullet, the right load and the right shooter.

For me, the question as to caliber choice would depend on if you reload or not?

If you reload then you can make those calibers, or just about any other caliber work, if not, then your choice is limited to what ammo is available to you.

I would also keep the 7 SAUM it is kinda a do all and much more efficient than the wsm.

Yes I reload. I have been for over 15 yrs.

Chris,
I'd sell the .338 and keep the 7SAUM.

Only bad thing about the SAUM is brass availability. Otherwise I would keep it.

If it's a Rem 700, magazine length in not going to be you friend.

Excellent!

Then you are good to go. I would keep all three rifles and research good bullets and loads before I spent more money on barrels of a new rifle. A 1" moa rifle is all you need.

7 Saum is a 280 AI, or better, in a short action. It's probably one of the better cartridge designs, maybe the best design that the market didn't like, and a top pick for the Remy. I'd keep that rifle as is.

Matrix makes a 165 270 bullet that is a top notch long range bullet, but then the 270 Win already was a LR rifle. A 140 AB will get you to 600 yds without a lot of effort. I have a few friends that like the 270 for LR.

Anyway, you can make all three rifles work, but you might need to tune your rifles and glass. Maybe bedding or a new stock if necessary, but all you need is a rifle that shoots into an inch...a good load will do that.

Of course one of the better ways to tune up a rifle is to put reliable glass on it...it will make you a better shooter too. (SWFA SS $300)

+1 on the Swfa. And if keeping the saum, I'd try 180 scenars or 168 berger hybrids.

Yeah, I wouldnt sell the 7 SAUM. It'd be my first choice to go to six hundred, the 270 last, at least for elk. In fact if you must sell one I'd be inclined to sell the 338.

But good glass is going to be crucial to going six hundred too. You're going to need a good ballistic reticle or twist turrets and I'd prefer the latter; that's assuming you have a good LRF.

Thanks for all the input. I believe in getting as close as possible but now that I have 9 points in CO & 7 points in WY for elk & mulies, I do not want to leave anything on the table when I cash those in. I hope I never have to take a 600 yd shot and I can work closer to the animal but you never know.

Glad that you can shoot so well with the 338 off the bench. I think Jeff_O was also very impressed with that round. It must be a real killer.

The 338 with a good bullet loaded pretty stoutly is a good gun to kill elk at 600 yards and the 270 can do it. If you were going to go out and buy a dedicated elk killer for that range neither would be my first choice.

I switched from 7mm Remington Magnum to 300 Weatherby to get a little more long range thump a couple of years ago not because the 7 wouldn't kill them but we hunt close to a private ranch that will claim any animal that ends up a foot over the line.

Even if you don't have an [bleep] rancher in your area putting elk on the ground quickly is an advantage when they already start a ridge away.

A big 338 - Rum, Lapua, 338/378 or any of the 300 Magnums would be my first choice for a long range elk rifle.

Eurooptics has the Zeiss Conquest HD 5 3-15x50 with the Z800 reticle on sale for $699. To my way of thinking the optical clarity and ability to shoot accurately past 500 yards quickly make it a heck of a good long range elk hunting tool.

I used mine to kill a nice cow at 550 yards this year. The first shot caught her right behind the shoulder when she turned the 2nd hit her center chest and she did a backflip down the hill. Its much faster than dialing and true all the way out to 800 on the 300 Weatherby.

I would keep the 7mm SAUM or re-barrel to 6.5 and sell the other two. I might trade you the 6.5-06 you sold me a few years ago for the 7mm SAUM depending on the action.

This sums it up.http://whitetail.winchester.com/2013/the-myth-of-minimum-impact-energy/
So if you want to stay cheap and low recoil go with a good high quality 30-06 and sell all the others and make the wife happy. With the high bc .308 bullets in the 200 to 220 gr weight the 200gr ELD-X MV 2700 will hold 1925 fps and 1646 ft lbs at 600 yards and time of flight is 0.79 seconds. If you use the 212gr ELD-X MV 2646 at 600 yards it 1928 fps and 1749 ft lbs and time of flight is 0.798 seconds.

Pardon me for being a huge stick in the mud, but..

Unless the OP has plans for a brown bear he doesn't need a 338,good though it is.Seems, like most of us the OP is a sometimes elk/mule deer hunter. What else he does I have no idea.

The SAUM is another wonderful short action 7mm which seems to have brass issues itself. Despite the ink for these off beat factory rounds, they aren't terribly popular which makes the factory ammo/component issue raise its head.

Personally, I'd dump them both,and find a good 7mm Rem Mag,for which I could still find lots of brass and factory ammo in a pinch. It does everything a SAUM does and more if hand loaded and tuned properly.I'd keep the 270 because it kills fine despite all the "advice" on here.I've killed with mine to 400 yards.But if it makes some nervous past 400, take the 7 rem mag.

The OP could talk to Dober whom, as I recall dumped a 6x6 on its nose at 710 with a 270 and 130 gr X bullet.I will ask him next time we talk.

I shot 300-600 yards 3 times last week with a garden variety 7 Rem Mag. Range time and round count are more important than any of the other stuff and a 7 Rem Mag uses all the good bullets.

The scope is important, too.

Same old schit...in that it's never difficult to cypher who shoots and who doesn't.

IF the ShamWow is a 700,I'd DBM it to eek the added COAL at 2.950",kiss a 162 A-Max with '17 and steer them with a 6x MQ Fixed Fhuqker.

If it isn't a 700,I'd trip the works and go Montucky scoped same and in 280AI with a modest leap of like projectiles.

Distances cited are very modest.

Oh I shoot but I am a hunter first. I get as close to the game as I possibly can but that is my style. Nothing wrong with dropping at a set distance to start the process for dialing in a long shot. As stated before, I hope I never have to attempt a 500-600 yd shot but stuff happens on a hunt and I want to be prepared and confident I can make a shot like that. Contrary to the tv shows, long range ability is earned not bought. I get that and hence the inquiry to start me on my journey to practice, practice and practice some more at the range. If some are curious why I picked 600 yds as my max distance that is because that is the longest range I have access to shoot.

Practice practice practice.
1st cold shot accuracy trumps groups.