Wow, didn't mean to ruffle so many feathers! I never said that I intend to shoot long range with the rifle. I will not personally shoot at anything over 300 yards. That's just my comfort zone. And I also have plenty of other rifles that I shoot to keep my form. The point I was trying to make is this........if a guy has several rifles in his battery, and he only uses each one occasionally, he will never shoot the barrel out of the 26 Nosler. Why does everyone automatically assume that a guy can't just buy a rifle because they like it? What's wrong with having a rifle for every day of the week? Isn't variety the spice of life? It would be a boring hobby if we only bought guns we had a purpose for.
Besides, if a man's rifles are all set up the same as far as optics and trigger pull, does it really matter which one he is shooting as long as he is shooting one of them? I don't think it does, but I'm no expert. As long as your fundamentals are sound, and you practice like you hunt, I don't see an issue.
Why would you set up a Long Range rig exactly like all your other rifles? A 6.5x20 works well on a plains rifle, but it's too much magnification for a general purpose rifle that may be in and out of the woods. A long barrel will add velocity a person can take advantage of in the open, but again, it's less then optimum in the bush.
Once your on the windswept plains of Wyoming and Montana, it's not the distance your fighting, it's the wind. Distance is a constant. Within certain limits, you can dial it and forget it (until the game moves), but wind is a variable, and spin drift can cause bullets to do strange things at distance. Change the caliber, you change these behaviors. When you start dealing with this, computer charts and tables will only get you so far, the rest you have to figure out the hard way, shooting your LR rifle at distance under varying conditions.
Besides, if you plan to set up every rifle exactly the same, you might as well just have a .300 WSM with a 180gr NBT, and a .223, and be done with it.
