Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting build me a long range bear rifle

Nice bear!

Scenarshooter, that is a very nice bear, and an excellent choice in a long range round.
My LR rifle is a 13lb 7 rem mag. Those high BC 180 gr. VLD's cut through wind on a different level than even the 140 gr VLD's I'm shooting in my 270 WSM. But if I were going up in caliber, it would be to one of the big 338's. I've been shooting marmots with that 8lb, scoped, WSM, out to 600. It does pretty good even out to 750, but gets blown around pretty good if there is much wind. I have had pretty good success out to those ranges with sporter weight rifles, as long as I'm using high BC bullets, but for me, that is about the limit for a lighter rifle.
The OP specified a max range of 750. Given a good caliber and the right bullets, this is entirely do-able, IME. At long range wind becomes much more difficult than range. Gravity is pretty stable and easily compensated for.
As one poster mentioned though, without lots of practice and the right tools for the job; range finder, anemometer, ballistic charts or computer, it is not as easy as some can make it look.

Good to see ya back John!

Bob

Smartest thing you've ever posted and 100% correct.

Logging in on my phone. So I can't go through the thread very well to respond to any positive or negative feedback. In fact I can barely load this page haha
But I thank everyone for their input. I know there has been some good posts made sense I last logged in.

I'm still looking to build a "long range" bear rifle. But after watching a seasoned shooter wound 2 bear on shots over 800 yards....that just is not an option for me. While I do want to be able to make those shots with confidence, I just don't see me putting myself in that situation to leave an animal wounded...at any range

My new objective is building a rifle for bear hunting. But I'm keeping my shots under 700 yards (if my range finder can't read the distance 750 yards max. I have no reason to be shooting). 700 yards is a pretty reasonable limit with regular practice.

I still expect people to criticize that distance. But I shoot that on a regular basis. And again I know my personal limitations.

I'm not sure about which rifle/caliber/scope setup I would go with.

Pat did you reach for the .338 based on external ballistics or concerns about terminal ballistics at that distance?

That bear was killed with a 250gr scenar at just under 3100fps at the muzzle. With a .6+BC it was the best choice considering the spot I hunted. I've since found an even better load with the 300gr Berger Hybrid with a .818 G1 BC at 2840fps. I have other rifles that deliver enough snuff at that range to kill a black bear clean, but the Lapua just gets the bullet there with a lot less "swag".