Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Looking for info on a long range type rifle in 338 lapua

Ya'll remind me of videos of Basilisk and frill-necked lizards erecting their crests and fringes in response to another male "infringing" on his territory.

You ALL have good contributions that are capable of teaching others a great deal IF ya'll would start cooperating instead of shooting at each other.

CONSIDER THIS. HOW MANY of you have no trouble hitting a squirrel at 100 yds with a scope sighted 22 LR rifle sighted in to that range??? I'm half blind, twitchy from age but I have little trouble hitting sage ratz at that distance with my scoped, 6" High Standard auto using CCI Stingers...cold barrel OR hot...about 50% of the time anyway.

I can stretch that distance to 150-175 with ANY of my several scope sighted 22LR cal rifles with Stingers OR standare LR and be 90%...and when I bring out my 17's or larger cal varmint rigs with 20x scopes and a range finder, that range goes to 400 minimum and be 100% unless the wind is blowing a gale...and I'm no where NEAR the shooter I was 40 years ago.

A sage rat has a instant kill zone about 2" x 2"...don't get nitpiky. Most of the deer/Elk/antelope I've killed have a kill zone about 10 times that...20 x 20", some larger, some smaller.

If you can take a sage rat at 100 yds first shot, anytime...you can do the SAME THING to a deer at 1000 yds as long as you have the right equipment, understand just a small amount of ballistics and can punch buttons on a calculator or cell phone...it's nothing but a ratio thing...a deer at 1000 yds looks about the same size and has the same relative size kill zone in your scope as a sage rat does at 100 yds.

If you haven't learned how to use the scope reticle as a range finder you need to learn how to do that also.

ANYONE can calculate drop, MRT, PBR, etc, for ANY bullet, for ANY range, for ANY BC/VELO, at ANY TIME...and with todays technology you can carry that information/program in your shirt pocket OR cellular phone EVERYWHERE you go.

ANY rifle with a minimum of .5 MOA is a chip shot for those ranges and well beyond. ALL my varminting rigs do MUCH less than .5 MOA. Even my big bore rifle will do > .5 MOA with certain bullets. When I get bored smacking ratz I start on pine cones, flower heads, rocks, lizards etc. You want nice small targets, try Lodgepole pinecones...they run golfball size and blow up nicely. If you DON'T understand this, you need to stop arguing and start learning, because you are WAY behind the curve.

The ONLY unknown variable is the wind. Doping the wind is 50% luck and 50% knowledge...by guess and by golly most of the time because the wind can shift the moment you pull the trigger. The laws of physics AND MURPHY'S law always apply and love to combine to humble and embarrass you.

No matter WHAT the caliber, a bullet with a specific BC and specific MV will drop exactly the same distance and take exactly the same time to target. That's just simple physics.

A bullet with a BC of ~750 with a MV of ~2800fs will take ~1.34 seconds to 1000 yd target and will drop ~80.5", at 1500 yds it will drop ~517" and take ~2.38 second. The bullet will drop from 485" at 1475 yds to 517" at 1500 yds. That's about 32" of drop over a distance of 25 yds or ~1.28" drop per yd of distance and while the bullet is pointing relatively level, it is coming in at a fairly steep angle.

YOU BETTER HAVE A VERY ACCURATE RANGING DEVICE because 32" of drop in 25 yds means you will miss if your ranging is off by 25 yds. Even with knowing the exact range and having your rifle zeroed at 1475 yds, the difference is STILL ~24" of drop or ~1.5 MOA zero between 1475 and 1500 yds.

AGAIN, don't get nitpiky...these are just calculated figures for illustrative purposes...what happens in real life YOU have to work out.

The main point I'm trying to make to the nay sayers is; ANYONE with the right equipment and an accurate rifle and the ability to whack a squirrel at 100 yds and do the same to a deer at 1000 yds...it AIN'T NO THANG, BRO.

And for the "Elitists"; It's great to have the equipment and the rifle and the capabilities to do these neat things...but IT AIN'T NO THANG, BRO...people have been doing it the HARD way for MANY years...WITHOUT all the fancy toys. Be proud, but be humble at the same time. Use your knowledge to your advantage and the advantage/advancement of others who like this part of this sport and climb down amoung us mortals.

AND...don't forget you DON'T have to have a full blown "long range" rifle OR load to the max in ANY caliber, to have lots of fun. I shoot 300 gr Sierras MK in my 338-06, it actually fits the long throat better than the 225 Hornady, but has to be single loaded...there are some hi BC 375 and 416 cal bullet available now that might turn my big bores into real bugholers and even single loading the old "thuty-thuty" with a long VLD will surprise you with just how accurate a Win 94/Marlin 336 can be with a little work.

Don't let your vision or interests narrow so much you forget about the rest of the world of shooting in headlong pursuit of whatever "long range" means to you.