Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting new long range rifle

I'am pondering a new long range outfit for varmints (groundhog,fox,coyote) and deer. Since I favor Weatherby's, my selection is a mark v arroyo in 7mm weatherby magnum. Doe's anyone have any experience with this caliber? I reason this caliber would be the best balance of accuracy, recoil, and barrel life. Any and all opinions are greatly appreciated, Thank You.

Your reasoning is fugged up.......

I'm not nearly as eloquent or erudite as huntsman but I have to agree with his astute assessment. I'd go with a lesser caliber and a smaller cartridge. Since your criteria include balancing accuracy, barrel life, and recoil for varmint hunting I don't believe a Weatherby mag represents a good balance.

You didn't mention velocity in your list of criteria, and velocity would be the only advantage of a Weatherby round. And you don't need velocity to hit at long range anyway so you're probably better off leaving it out of the equation because velocity comes with recoil. Seems to me a moderate-recoiling cartridge in .243 or .260 would better fit your criteria; much less recoil, better barrel life, accurate, and much more pleasant to shoot. I'd also be looking at the rifle platform too. When I think varmint hunting, a Mark V is not what comes to mind but that's just personal preference.

Not sure there is anything good about barrel life and 75-80 grains of powder down a .284 bore. I assume you are reloading either that or you own a mint as to feed that thing would be crazy spendy with factory ammo.

I agree a 6.5 x 300 Weatherby would be much better and 6.5 is the best caliber in the world now.

I don't know about woodchuck hunting because they are very rare here, but the chances of wearing out a barrel on a big game rifle shooting at foxes and coyotes is close to zero. Recoil for a few shots a day means nothing. Off-season and incidental in season coyote shooting with your big game rifle is about the most meaningful field practice you can get.

If you were asking about gophers or prairie dogs I'd have a completely different view on the subject.

Your choice of the 7mm Weatherby is just fine for your use; better than a few and no better than many others. We're constantly shooting pests from coyotes to beavers to porcupines with the rifle at hand; most of which end up being something in a magnum persuasion between .257 and .300. Despite not having a 7mm Weatherby I do have it bracketed with 7 Rem, 7-300, and a pile of STWs in 7s, and they all are equally adept at hunting deer and ruining a coyotes day. In Weatherbys the .257, .270 and 300 do the same. In 6.5s my .264 Win and 6.5-300 Win have yet to bounce off coyotes.

Your caliber choice is fine for what you want to do and comes in a rifle you like.

25-06 is a great caliber for both varmints and deer. There is a good selection of varmint bullets as well as heavier, stronger bullets for deer for this caliber.

That's all true as far as it goes but when you combine it with "long range rifle" then you're not talking a few shots a day. You're talking some amount of trigger time at the range shooting in different wind conditions if you want to hit what you're aiming at.

So recoil and barrel life figures into that. Velocity from a Weatherby round not so much.

We're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. An Arroyo is a Accumark with a paint-job, and isn't a lightweight rifle. A 7mm Weatherby is a gnat's whisker away from being a .270 Weatherby with a better selection of bullets. Same case, same rifle, 7 thousandths of an inch difference. Knowing for a fact that my .270 Weatherby Accumark is a laughingly easy to shoot, light recoiling rifle, its not much of a stretch to conclude that the 7mm is going to be the same.

Barrel life is a different thing. Few people shoot out barrels so for them all calibers are tied at infinity. Those who routinely shoot out barrels accept it as part of the cost of shooting just like wearing out tires is part of the cost of driving. Barrel heat can be handled by rotating rifles at the range.

I would lean towards 6.5 x 284 with a heavy single shot bolt action ,probably a Bat action too ? niteforce scope

If going with the weatherby, I'd suggest 6.5 creedmoor.

If not stuck on weatherby, consider Fierce rifles. Also suggest 6.5 CM for your application.

http://fiercearms.com/products/fury-models/fury-lr

You are describing the want for a 223-243ish cartridge and planning on a world wide capable allround hunting cartridge.
I am sure the other contributors will elaborate.
John

1:8 twist (or faster) .223 or 22-250 shooting whatever bullet that is appropriate for the varmints or deer you are hunting..
Max. caliber would be a 6mm and it should have 1:8 twist as well..

I would give the new Blaser M18 a serious look , a true Mauser action for 699.00 new. Several calibers to choose from.

I think you are over gunned if your largest target is deer and the rest are coyotes and foxes. I have owned a 7mm Weatherby Mag and it's a handful. I'd opt for a 25-06, 260 or something like that before you pick up the 7mag.

cat, probably before most of the guys on this site were born, riflemen in Pa. were shooting deer, bear, woodchucks at 1000 yards plus.. This was in the 60's.. Their rifles centered around the 7mm Rem. Mag. and various .300 mags.. some were target rigs with others having about a Douglas 5 or 5a barrel on them.. They had scopes with adjustments.. I am not sure how far you plan on shooting,but these guys were doing this successfully before the creed and other new hot shot caliber of small diameter.. You still need energy to take down game at longer distances.. I kind of think lots of comments are people who punch paper, and not shoot animals..

Right. The thing is, if you want to shoot groundhogs at long range, you're gonna have to shoot some steel (not paper) first.

smoke, these guys must have shot a lot of paper.. I knew a couple of them..They could really lay them in there.. I don't think any of them ever shot at a steel target, but that would be a fast way to learn.. I forgot, one of the hot shots of the time was the 6.5/300 WEA.. I remember the bullet of choice for that caliber was a 139 gr. Norma match.. They drilled holes in the ends when they wanted to shoot game.. Serious shooters..

Woodchucks with a 7mm Wby?

Now, where is John Burns video of an elk with a 243 at 650 yds.........

And woodchucks with a .300 Wea.. One guy had a old model 70 bull gun rechambered to .300 wea. for this shooting.. If you look at a lot of those videos, the game was bloated by the time they reached it..