308 and a mile target

[meatbal6]

I am looking to try my .308 at a mile target. I have a 30 inch barrel with a 1 - 10 twist any good ideas on a bullet. thanks

 

[TonyR]

Interesting question. You will almost certainly need a bullet that remains stable as it goes transonic. I have heard that the Sierra 175MK is one. Some of the new Berger Tactical bullets may also do so.

 

[bheadboy]

give Sierra a call and ask the tech guys their opinion as the which bullet they have that willdo the trick, they are very helpfull -their web page has the contact phone

Bob

 

[gme]

you'll need a bunch of elevation in your scope and on the scope rail to get there, put the target in a very large clearing too so you can see the impacts
Gary Eliseo

 

[schumi]

WOW! Anyway you go you are going to need a lot of taper in the scope base! A .308 is always a hard one to work with for a thousand yards because of case capacity, let alone a mile! I always used my 300mag for the mile. I agree with Tony about the 175SMK. But realise, it has been proven over and over, velocity vs. bullet weight, weight wins. A heavier bullet (though traveling slower at the muzzle) retains more velocity at 1,000yds. than a lighter one. Food for thought, but the guys at Sierra will definitely help. Please keep us informed of your project and good luck.

 

[meatbal6]

I am using 185 grain berg vld for 1000 yard pushing out the barrel around 2800 fps I have a 20 moa rail not sure about total elv I would just love to see if i can do it

 

[gme]

looks like you'll need to come up about 68 MOA from your 1K zero, and your bullet will arrive at the target going a little over 900 FPS
Gary Eliseo

 

[abishai]

Try some tracer rounds this winter. Its a good time for all, before long you will want to see if you can hit stuff at 2 miles!

 

[cmillard]

since you have a 10" twist barrel that is 30", you might want to try the 210 berger vld. that should work nicely. use some varget or even some imr 4064.

 

[meatbal6]

thanks for the info I will try the 210 bullet and both powders

 

[TonyR]

You might also PM Bryan Litz about the transonic stability of various 30 cal bullets. He can certainly tell you which Bergers would be best and probably knows a lot about the Sierras and other possibilities.

http://forum.accurateshooter.com/index.php?action=profile;u=574815

There was also a long discussion about transonic stability either here or on the US Rifle Teams Long Range Forum where a number of bullets were discussed.

 

[hogan]

Not really much to recommend your undertaking this experimentation unless you are simply stubborn.

David Tubb video, The One Mile Shot may be of interest to you. He uses a 6.5-284 for the task and a 6.5-20x Leupold longrange scope plus 142gr SMK bullets.

The .308 when fired from a short-action receiver rifle cannot deliver any high BC bullet with enough velocity to reliably repeat impact at 1700+yds. Maybe a pressure-maxed load with a 220 or 210vld could begin to do so, but need a LA receivIer and especially throated barrel.

40moa base, plus a 130moa vertical scope like 16x Leupold mk4 might enable you to score a hit at that distance, but for a .308bore weapon to do so reliably, you are looking for something like a .30-378wby with fast twist barrel and a very good muzzle brake.

 

[JohnMill]

Thanks Hogan,
I felt like the 308-and-a-mile was folly but could not get off the mark to explain why. I came out of the Marines thinking the 308 could do anything that really needed doing. My education started much later. The 308 is fairly adequate for the military cartridge it was designed as. It is back of the line for practically everthing else. (IMHO)
I hope the op continues his quest for the mile shot even using the 308 for your initial experience but then continue with somethong with greater capabilities.

John

 

[dodgefan]

Pick a calm day to do it. I've seen it done multiple times with the 175 SMK, but it was at 6400 feet ASL. The 190 SMK out of the 300 WM doesn't seem to transition as well as the 175 does.

 

[bighorn06]

hogan, can you explain the reason for the difference in a short action and a long action in making the mile shot and would it apply to other cartriges? This seems odd to me, but I learn something new every day. Thanks, Mike

 

[Nodak7mm]

Maybe this has been mentioned already, but there is an article in the VHA magazine, prob 10 yrs ago that outlines two fellas quest to do farther than a one mile with a 308 Ack Imp. I am pretty sure they busted 2000 yards with it.

The article(s) spoke heavily to the scope mount set up, quite specialized & unique, loading and etc.. But the rifle wasnt all that special. If I recal, they were using bullets in the 190-220 range. The guys name was Bruce Artimus, a smith from CO.

I know I have the magazine buried somewhere if interested..

Oh Yeah, it is also in the Precision SHooting Magazine book, "Precision Shooting at 1000 yards". Just verified....

Rod

 

[cmillard]

kreg slack and bruce artus were their names. i believe bruce took that 308 ackley with 220 sierras out to 3120 yards. he was shooting a 28" obermeyer barrel with 1-8" twist at about 2450 fps. this is coming from memory--i have read that book several times and need to read it again. great read!

 

[alf]

I thought they were shooting the 240's.......

 

[hogan]

hogan, can you explain the reason for the difference in a short action and a long action in making the mile shot and would it apply to other cartriges? This seems odd to me, but I learn something new every day. Thanks, Mike

Long action enables heavy & long VLD bullets to be most effectively seated and still function through magazine.

I think if I were going to play with extra-longrange .308 bore and .473 boltface, would go with the .30/284. I have experimented with the .308AI and .30-06AI. The .308AI is not generating enough oomph, and the .30-06 case length is longer than necessary if can go with the .284 case....

Anyone serious about shooting a non-magnum at over 1200yds is going to be shooting a 6/284 or 6.5/284.

Could probably almost equal the performance of the .308 with 240gr smk, with a .338 Whisper and 300gr Berger; just have to have enough elevation in the sighting system.

Probably could setup a .22-250 or .220 Swift with a 6.5 twist barrel and shoot 90gr JLK to one mile. Unless you already have the 140moa scope and 40moa scope base, what is the point of obtaining them just to prove a .308 could do it? The windage factor is one which in real world likely cannot be overcome. Don't recall the windage moa of the 16x Leupold mk4 but they aren't much more than 50 or 60, iirc.

Interesting discussion.

 

[4runnerman]

Meatbal6 --Go for it. Im right on your heals with the same test. Savage 308, 24 inch barrel. 175 SMK,CCI primer and 44.8 Gns of Varget are giving me MV of 2730 FPS. I am going for it next summer as this summer i was working on 800 yards. New to the forum here and first post. I found this forum because i was googeling 1 mile shots with a 308. In my expirence the 308 is more than capable of a 1 mile shot with fairly good accuracy too. I have a 10 x 40 x50 scope on mine. Don't give up and if ya don't mind e-mail me when you give it a shot and let me know how it went as i will be very much waiting for next year to come.

Hogan-- These one mile shots are being made by a 223 Win these days with 14 inch groups. Shooting a 75 Gn bullet at 2800 FPS. A one mile shot is not a impossable thing to do. I say go for it.