Thinking of my next caliber.. help...

[ducks-and-bucks]

I usually build my rifles into long range prone set ups / bench shooting set up.. for hunting and target shooting. Aside from that I am in a toss up on another caliber to tackle. Here's my ideas, but I'm not limited to anything. You input is welcome!

264 win
284 win
6.5-284
7 mag
7 STW

or an improved form of the mentioned... The 6.5-284 kind of gives me a con because of barrel life... Thats about the power/ caliber range I want to build in for this build. Any other cartridges that fit into this range I should look into let me know!

 

[rubbershotgun]

ive been having a ton of fun shooting a .284 win (chambered with lapua brass in mind) , and i would recommend it to anyone for pretty much any purpose.

the same goes for the 6.5x47lapua

 

[people]

The STW has a pretty short tube life also.

 

[Forum Boss]

A .284 Shehane is the biggest-capacity cartridge I'm interested in shooting...

I like the idea of a 6.5x47 -- accurate and versatile.

If you don't have a straight 6BR yet, I can't think of a better cartridge for most of what recreational shooters do at the range. My idea of fun is bustin' clay birds at 500. 6BR does that very very well with good barrel life and (relatively) inexpensive bullets.

 

[jkats]

The 280AI might be a fun one to play with.

 

[stinnett1981]

A .284 Shehane is the biggest-capacity cartridge I'm interested in shooting...

I like the idea of a 6.5x47 -- accurate and versatile.

If you don't have a straight 6BR yet, I can't think of a better cartridge for most of what recreational shooters do at the range. My idea of fun is bustin' clay birds at 500. 6BR does that very very well with good barrel life and (relatively) inexpensive bullets.

Thats my idea of fun too. 6"x 6" steel plates hanging by chains, golf balls, clay birds, penny's @ 100 yards and anything else that strikes my mind! The 6mmBR is my next choice for sure!

 

[bozo699]

Caliber doesn't even really matter to me as much as a 180 grain bullet does for this build. I have things that shoot 52 gr 100 gr 123 gr 150 gr 300 gr.... but I don't have a gun that shoots in the higher 100s grain bullets. Its just my addiction to guns yes... but I need the most inheritly accurate cartridge for 180 grain bullets at 1000 yards plus.

I am not sure what your saying here, so caliber doesn't matter as long as you can shoot a 180 grain bullet? so you could go 30 caliber, or 32 caliber or even 33 caliber, I am not sure if they make a 180 grain in 35 caliber or not but you could check into it, although I highly doubt a 35 caliber bullet in the 180 grain class would be very proficient at 1000 yards and beyond!
Wayne.

 

[stinnett1981]

The largest caliber I ever shot was a 300RUM. I didnt like it. Too loud, too much kick and flat out not fun. I prefer small to mid calibers that have little kick. The 6mmBR is the top dog. It is flat out awesome in every aspect possible. Its extremely accurate, has very little kick, very easy to load, very long barrel life, cheap to load and you can hunt everything from ground squirrels to whitetail deer with it. I dont own one, but that is 100% for sure my next build.

How far are you wanting to shoot??? 1000yards or farther? I know the 6mmBR is the KING from 200 yards to 600 yards. I dont know what the best 1000 yard cartridge is? Good luck on your decision!

 

[bozo699]

The largest caliber I ever shot was a 300RUM. I didnt like it. Too loud, too much kick and flat out not fun. I prefer small to mid calibers that have little kick. The 6mmBR is the top dog. It is flat out awesome in every aspect possible. Its extremely accurate, has very little kick, very easy to load, very long barrel life, cheap to load and you can hunt everything from ground squirrels to whitetail deer with it. I dont own one, but that is 100% for sure my next build.

How far are you wanting to shoot??? 1000yards or farther? I know the 6mmBR is the KING from 200 yards to 600 yards. I dont know what the best 1000 yard cartridge is? Good luck on your decision!

He could take the 6mmbr and blow it out .100 and make it a Dasher or 6BRX and it would be a top contender at 1000 yards, there what are winning where I shoot 1K BR,...You NEVER see a 7mm with 180's on the line and you never ever see one win over a Dasher! just saying what I see where I shoot.
Wayne.

 

[alf]

I think most guys, me included some times, go about it the wrong way.

Define the purpose, in this case target and hunting. Hunting what? Groundhogs or moose? At what maximum distance? Kinetic energy comes into play, as does impact velocity. Of course, accuracy is always the first requirement.

Next up is the bullet, or class of bullet weights, as in 7mm 160-180. Don't built specifically around 1 bullet....you could be sadly disappointed, BTDT. Play with the ballistic calculators, looking more at wind drift and energy, than drops. A good ranger finder make things more even between cartridge/calibers.

Next up, pick the velocity you want to run them at, which is where barrel life comes into play. Just like tires, you can have performance or or tread life, but you can't have both. Compromise at play....how much of one will you give up to get the other?

Now is the time to pick the cartridge. Focus on the one(s) that give you the performance(velocity) you want w/o gut busting pressures, which will help on the barrel life.

Recap......bullet....velocity....case....gun....in that order....

 

[TheSnake]

I totally agree with Alf and would add one word:

Recap......purpose....bullet....velocity....case....gun....in that order

 

[bozo699]

Mule deer hunting, a hunting shot up to 600 yards. Target shooting capable of 1000, 1000 plus is a bonus.

Bullet: Berger 180 match Hunting VLD, and Berger 180 match Hybrid - BC= .65, and .67

Velocity: 2800-3100?

Case: ?

Gun: Custom built stainless steel defiance machine long action, heavy varminter (kreiger, benchmark, or lilja) contour barrel, jewel trigger, stock is unknown at this time.

I am totally confused?????? yesterday you said caliber didn't matter and now your back to .284, if your stuck on .284 then caliber does matter!!! so with that being said your velocity range varies to much your talking from .284 win-7mmRUM there is a huge difference there in weaponry and from out to 600 yard deer gun to 1000 yard + target rifle, your wanting a dual-dual purpose gun,....there ain't no such thing! If money is no bother buy a couple barrels, chamber them in 7 stw or 7 RUM and you will be able to drive those 180's over 3100 and out to 1K easy and of course a 600 yard deer no problem if you can hit it where it counts when it counts! To be really accurate at really long ranges you need a very light trigger, for hunting that could and probably would be a dangerous thing. It is hard to have that versatile of a rifle and have it really good at both things. If it were me I would build a .280AI I would lower my velocity thoughts a little and have a very efficient cartridge that could go out to a 1K if needed with out all the recoil and powder use as the really big cases which would give reasonable barrel life but that is just me.
Wayne.

 

[alf]

A 7 mag will fill that gap with little fanfare......

 

[bozo699]

There has been a lot of success over the years with them, brass is the biggest problem right now but if you could find some Lapua or RWS brass you would be in business but you could also do fine just sorting Win brass.
Wayne.

 

[219Zipper]

Hey guys, new to your forum but not completely new to guns, in fact am just getting back into collecting after taking about 15 yrs off. (and shocked at the price changes since then, lol)

I am thinking about building up a 7mm STW myself, thinking that it would hold up at long distances without much kinetic loss, and be something I could use for almost any big game. That and it would be fun to run through the chronometer and see what it is pushing for FPS.

I used to shoot a heck of a lot and got away from it while I was building a new home and as anyone that has done the same, you know that your spare cash disappears during that phase of your life...so the expensive hobbies had to take a break. Now that the house is done and the wife upgraded to (and ran off with) a Dr, I have much more time and spare cash than I did back then.

 

[alf]

[quote author=ducksanbuckslink=topic=3804076.msg36166130#msg36166130 date=1359053461]Correct me if I am wrong, but the standard 7 mag is a great caliber and capable of long range. But, how does it do with accuracy? [/quote]
Probably as good as you can load for it or shoot it....

825 yards:

Of course I don't know which shot dropped low, but the 4 go into 5 1/2", 5 in 11 3/4"


Back to 1036:

Four shots go into 5 1/2", all five go 12 3/4"


Let's go back a bit more....1207 and I'm at the fence:

The group is a flat 12 inches, and those three nestle into an even 3".

 

[alf]

This one was running the 162 A-Max at 3150...hardly a slouch.....

 

[TheSnake]

Nice setup Alf and nice shootin. Thanks for the pics. Now if you could just get on the other side of that fence.

 

[Romulus]

I've had a lot of rifles and my straight .284 Win is by far my favorite. 30" tube. I shoot at 2815 fps but have gotten the gun into the high 2900s but I could not find a tight spot there.

It's a pleasure to shoot out to 1760 and I have less recoil and spent energy than my friend's 338 LMs, 7 Mags, and 7 RUMs.

 

[midnitelamp]

Vincent Bottomly of the UK did very well with a 7mmwsm per a story elsewhere on the site.