New long range hunting setup

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Hello everyone, looking for opinions for a moderately inexpensive long range hunting rifle for deer and elk being able to shoot an animal to 7-800 yards. I will be using factory ammo as I am not equipped to reload at the moment what ever rifle I use will be mounted with a leupold vx5hd. I’m pretty set on. 300win based on ballistics and energy at range. I’ve been looking at a weatherby vanguard, tikka t3x lite, or a Christensen mesa. What rifle would you suggest given the parameters. Thanks!
 
I would suggest that 700-800 yards is not a realistic goal with factory ammo and a lightweight hunting rifle. Especially something with heavy recoil like a 300. All of your choices are too light in factory configuration for precision long range shooting unless you are extremely skilled and experienced at managing recoil. I’m shooting around minimum 1000 rounds a year and have my own long range spot to shoot..700 on game is a serious poke. Let alone 800. The more you shoot the more you realize how much can and does go wrong beyond 500 yards.

That being said any of those rifles will give you enough “mechanical” accuracy to make the shot. 500 is more attainable but I would plan on spending more on ammunition than your rifle and scope combined.
 
I would suggest that 700-800 yards is not a realistic goal with factory ammo and a lightweight hunting rifle. Especially something with heavy recoil like a 300. All of your choices are too light in factory configuration for precision long range shooting unless you are extremely skilled and experienced at managing recoil. I’m shooting around minimum 1000 rounds a year and have my own long range spot to shoot..700 on game is a serious poke. Let alone 800. The more you shoot the more you realize how much can and does go wrong beyond 500 yards.

That being said any of those rifles will give you enough “mechanical” accuracy to make the shot. 500 is more attainable but I would plan on spending more on ammunition than your rifle and scope combined.
Thanks for the input, I shoot a lot and have killed several animals between 4-500 yds out with my current set up on a sako85 in a 270. That gun is around 8 pounds without the scope. I get what your saying about those guns being on the lighter side. What would your suggestion be for a longer range rifle? I have found the factory loaded Barnes ammo to be extremely accurate in several of the guns I shoot, reloading is in the near future for me but I’m not quite there yet.
 
I’m partial to tikkas personally. I’d consider one of the newer, factory threaded roughtechs in 300wsm or WM. Christianson would be a good choice as well. If it’s hard to shoot well I’d put it into a KRG bravo stock for the extra weight and stability with recoil. I like my LR guns between 9-11lbs. See if you can find something other than Barnes..they do not expand very well at distance in my experience. Terminal performance is not very impressive. And the BC is low and will make it harder to make hits at long range. If you can find ammo that shoots well buy up a case of it so you can practice in a variety of conditions and winds.

Things get exponentially more difficult past 500 yards..it’s not as simple as knowing how much the bullet drops but do some practice and see how it goes.
 
I treat long range more like archery in that it takes a lot of practice and technique to become proficient..and I’m far from an expert. I just shoot enough to know its not as simple as squeezing the trigger.
 
I’m partial to tikkas personally. I’d consider one of the newer, factory threaded roughtechs in 300wsm or WM. Christianson would be a good choice as well. If it’s hard to shoot well I’d put it into a KRG bravo stock for the extra weight and stability with recoil. I like my LR guns between 9-11lbs. See if you can find something other than Barnes..they do not expand very well at distance in my experience. Terminal performance is not very impressive. And the BC is low and will make it harder to make hits at long range. If you can find ammo that shoots well buy up a case of it so you can practice in a variety of conditions and winds.

Things get exponentially more difficult past 500 yards..it’s not as simple as knowing how much the bullet drops but do some practice and see how it goes.
I totally agree on weight, I have a custom 7mm that’s 13 pounds and it shoots a 6-8inch group at 1000yds. With that being said it’s useless for hunting unless you can shoot out of the back of a truck. Interesting to hear that about Barnes, like I said before out to 500 they have performed exceptionally. That may change beyond that??

Any other factory ammo suggestions? I will probably try the nosler and federal premium, probably a hornady as well and just see what groups well….
 
I’ve just had lackluster performance on Barnes below 2200fps impact velocity. A few deer hit well and I couldn’t tell they were hit and neither could the deer (until they tipped over dead). Pretty small exit wounds. I’m sure some guys have success but if long range is the goal then I like the increased BC of lead and really like the performance of Berger’s if you could find them in a factory load. More dramatic kills. ELDX/M are similar. Honestly if you were to handload some 140gr Berger’s in your 270 it may surprise you how well that does long range. Run some numbers and it may do what you need to 600 yards. Could even consider some custom loaded ammo (unknown munitions is an option) if you like that gun and spend the money on ammo and a more reliable long range scope that will dial well and hold zero (not a fan of leupolds personally).

The long range bug is an expensive hobby but I do enjoy it and learn a ton in the process.
 
It’s looks sweet, the problem will likely be ammo.
I know you don't currently reload, but not hard or expensive to get set up with a single stage. Problem right now is primers....though I believe large rifle primers aren't as hard as pistol to find, they are still hard to find. If you find them, buy 2, 1,000 count boxes.

Just a thought. When you hand load, you control everything about that round. With that being said, today's factory ammo is not our grand fathers ammo.....it's VERY accurate....especially higher end ammo.
 
I honestly forgot about this thread. I ended up gettting my CA mesa in a 300 win mag shooting factory Barnes 180gr TTSX. Zeroed at 200 yds shooting just under 1moa. I put over 150rds through it over the summer and shot very well out to 750yds. Beyond that was a little bit of a struggle depending on wind. I had an opportunity at a good buck this fall. 550yds which I had been nailing all summer. Perfect rest, no wind, boom…… 1 foot over his back. In all my excitement I forgot to add the 15degree angle and dialed 8.5moa instead of 6.5. Sucks but a great learning experience. I think moral of the story for me is I still need more long range practice experience but I also think it’s very possible to put together a long range hunting gun that isn’t “custom”. I do wish I could reload. Sometimes I would see some variance between boxes of ammo. Usually ammo among the same box would shot very similarly.

I think my next gun will be the 7mm PRC. It looks sweet!!
 
You cannot go wrong with a 300 Win Mag. 180 Gr Interbond, Hornady Superformance. The comment about shooting the gun is the best advice ever. Experience should always beat gadgets. Mine is mounted on a factory pre 64 Mdl 70, highly accurized. Propbably would benefit from a new barrel at some point, but at 72 it'll outlast me. It wears a Swaro Z5. I have killed out to 1400 yards+. Regularly 500 - 750 yards. Practice, practice, practice. Your rifle will like one load above all others... stick with it. Apologies if any of the above sounds like bragging, but hey...
 

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