want an accurate 750+ yard hunting rifle

[bayoujaeger]

I've been debating on what my next purchase/project will be and I've been wanting a good longer range gun that I can hunt whitetail in the swamps with but I really have it on my mind to head up north for some other big game such as elk, bear, and top of the list mountain sheep/goat.
I know in my title I stated 750+yards and with practice and the right caliber would love to be able to down game up to a thousand yards. My questions for y'all who hunt long range (LR to me is 500-1,000 yards, above that I'd consider it extended long range) is what calibers do you suggest for taking a sheep out to distances of 750 yards possibly farther. I'd like to also possibly get into a longe range shooting club or competitions somewhere down the road as well but for now I'm looking for more than just a paper puncher. I do not reload as of now so I'd want to lean more towards a caliber more commercialy avaible than some of the wild cat cartridges. Im not too considered with recoil right now being I am 29 but I do plan on having this weapon for as long as my shooting and hunting career is alive (basically as long as I'm able to see and pull the trigger). Keep in mind this weapon will mostly be used on game such as whitetail and hogs with the occasional trip up North and god willing the chances to hunt bear, elk, sheep, and maybe even moose....who knows lol.
I currently have a 60 something year old remington 742 semi auto in 308 and I am very comfortable with taking game up to 400 yards with it, being that is the furthest I've been able to practice. I am leaning towards staying with the .308 cartridge being the ammo is widely available and I am comfortable with it. I know that reaching out past 400 yards up to the 750-1,000 yard range with enough knock down to harvest game is a diffrent animal so back to my first question what are your caliber recommendations? I'm not really looking to get into anything larger than the .338 unless I feel I absolutely have to.
Here comes part two of my initial questions. I had been set on getting a bolt gun for this longer range shooting but I've done a little research and see that there are some solid shooting semi auto/AR platforms out there as well. I would want a gun that is somewhat light and comfortable to carry around the foothills and mountains as well as take the abuse of hunting deep in the swamps of the south (areas i hunt now are accessible only by pirouge and waiders so it tends to get rough).
Any input on cartridge suggestions, rifle styles (bolt, semi, or AR platforms). I do not have 3 or 4 grand to drop on a rifle at this point in my life so this is something I will either be putting together as time goes along unless I find a good deal on a rifle/caliber that I decide on making my long range gun.
Any input is greatly appreciated being as where I grew up we were restricted to the use of shotgun slugs and buckshot only during the gun season.
Hope to hear some suggestions and learn a few things from yall. THANKS!

 

[bayoujaeger]

I understand the importance of a good scope to accompany any rifle that I choose for long range hunting but that topic will come up later down the road once I decide on a rifle for the task at hand.

 

[Ritten]

Asking a question like this is going to bring out plenty of people telling you what you NEED to hear, not what you want to hear. If you have to ask about calibers to make a long range shot, especially in a hunting situation, then you're most likely not ready to make it. There's a lot more to it than holding that duplex crosshair on the target. If you don't already know what the bullet is going to do when it gets there, then you don't send it. That said, once you have the experience, knowledge, and data to back up a shot capable of taking down a medium to big game animal in this country at 750yds+ then you will probably be looking at a magnum in 6.5mm, 7mm, or .30 caliber. HOWEVER, even with a very efficient custom loaded bullet such as the 7mm 180gr Berger pushed at a blistering 3000fps, you're still going to have a 1 second flight time at 800yds which is the limit of a lot of ethical big game hunters due to animal movement between the shot being taken and bullet impact.

 

[CHW2021]

Take your pick, 300 h&h, 300 win mag, 338 lapua ect..... or as above mentioned by Ritten. Start looking at Savage rifles and then talk to long range shooters such as the bunch at South Louisiana highpower.
Not a cheap idea, but should be fun.

 

[Jmfox3]

There are great AR platforms that shoot long range but they are marginally heavier than a comparable bolt action rifle. If you are hunting in the mountains and taking shots out to and past 300 yards you're going to be doing quite a bit of hiking at elevation so weight is also a major consideration. I think Ritten's comments are spot on. You might consider a shooting course that takes you out to 1000 yards. The good courses state up front that they take their students to 1000 yards to show them they can't make an ethical shot at that distance; purpose of course is to define the student's limits.

 

[InterstateGuns]

I've been debating on what my next purchase/project will be and I've been wanting a good longer range gun that I can hunt whitetail in the swamps with but I really have it on my mind to head up north for some other big game such as elk, bear, and top of the list mountain sheep/goat.
I know in my title I stated 750+yards and with practice and the right caliber would love to be able to down game up to a thousand yards. My questions for y'all who hunt long range (LR to me is 500-1,000 yards, above that I'd consider it extended long range) is what calibers do you suggest for taking a sheep out to distances of 750 yards possibly farther. I'd like to also possibly get into a longe range shooting club or competitions somewhere down the road as well but for now I'm looking for more than just a paper puncher. I do not reload as of now so I'd want to lean more towards a caliber more commercialy avaible than some of the wild cat cartridges. Im not too considered with recoil right now being I am 29 but I do plan on having this weapon for as long as my shooting and hunting career is alive (basically as long as I'm able to see and pull the trigger). Keep in mind this weapon will mostly be used on game such as whitetail and hogs with the occasional trip up North and god willing the chances to hunt bear, elk, sheep, and maybe even moose....who knows lol.
I currently have a 60 something year old remington 742 semi auto in 308 and I am very comfortable with taking game up to 400 yards with it, being that is the furthest I've been able to practice. I am leaning towards staying with the .308 cartridge being the ammo is widely available and I am comfortable with it. I know that reaching out past 400 yards up to the 750-1,000 yard range with enough knock down to harvest game is a diffrent animal so back to my first question what are your caliber recommendations? I'm not really looking to get into anything larger than the .338 unless I feel I absolutely have to.
Here comes part two of my initial questions. I had been set on getting a bolt gun for this longer range shooting but I've done a little research and see that there are some solid shooting semi auto/AR platforms out there as well. I would want a gun that is somewhat light and comfortable to carry around the foothills and mountains as well as take the abuse of hunting deep in the swamps of the south (areas i hunt now are accessible only by pirouge and waiders so it tends to get rough).
Any input on cartridge suggestions, rifle styles (bolt, semi, or AR platforms). I do not have 3 or 4 grand to drop on a rifle at this point in my life so this is something I will either be putting together as time goes along unless I find a good deal on a rifle/caliber that I decide on making my long range gun.
Any input is greatly appreciated being as where I grew up we were restricted to the use of shotgun slugs and buckshot only during the gun season.
Hope to hear some suggestions and learn a few things from yall. THANKS!

If you are looking for a production rifle I would start with the Sako Finnlight.

Sako guarantees that their rifles will shoot no worse than a 5 shot MOA group with factory ammo. The Finnlight is a light weight rifle that is very well balanced. The factory trigger breaks very clean and is user adjustable from 2-4 lbs. The adjustment is done very easily. There is only one screw on the trigger mechanism and it only goes out 4 and in 2 so you can't screw it up.

The action, bottom metal, magazines, bolt mechanism, and barrel are all stainless steel.

Magazines are long so if you are reloading something like a Berger VLD you can seat bullets .02 into the lands and still mag feed. The 85 action incorporates positive magazine retention into their system. No loosing the magazine by accidentally pressing the release. You have to press in on the mag and press the release at the same time to release the mag.

The also incorporated control round feed into the 85 action as well vs the push fed system which is a turn on to some shooters.

If I didn't want to spend Sako money I would look at their sister company Tikka.

Tikka rifles are also light weight and well balanced with a silky smooth action. Tikka guarantees that their rifles will shoot no worse than a 3 shot MOA group with factory ammo. They also have a 2-4 lb adjustable trigger that breaks like glass and adjusts just as easily as the Sako.

Tikka uses more polymer in their builds to save on cost. Barrel, action, and bolt mechanism are all machined steel.


I'm not a big AR hunter unless its for night time pest control.

 

[JBP55]

A friend loves the Sako TRG rifles.

 

[themcfarland]

Chris, when I first read your post, I thought it said a 5 MOA shot.. I was like.. really// I guess they would .. shows you where I am today..

 

[InterstateGuns]

Chris, when I first read your post, I thought it said a 5 MOA shot.. I was like.. really// I guess they would .. shows you where I am today..

LOL........wouldn't put it passed me to write something stupid like that.

 

[InterstateGuns]

A friend loves the Sako TRG rifles.

I must admit I have a finnish fetish.......

Problem came when I got an AI. Now I don't know if i like it or the TRG more. #firstworldproblems

 

[LNSvince]

Tracking point............

 

[bayoujaeger]

Thanks for the responses fellas. I definitely need to start getting some experience at the longer range courses. For the past year or two I've been doing a lot of research on ballistics of various larger calibers. Ritten I agree %100 with understanding what a round will do upon impact, thats one thing our dad would make us do ever since I began hunting and luckily we had enough of a private stretch of land to shoot on that we could go dig our rounds out of a berm to understand the expansion or lack of for the various rounds at diffrent distances, but being rifles were outlawed in the area we hunted we were only able to experiment with slugs.
I took the advice and became a member of the Louisiana Shooting Association and plan to attend some of their long range matches to start getting my feet wet by just watching and learning. In the meantime I am going to start attending classes at the long range courses I didnt even know existed somewhat localy until yall steered me in the right direction.
Until I decide on a dedicated long range rifle I am going to start practicing getting out to longer distances shooting my 5.56. Again thanks for the input I'm going to have plenty more questions on this subject the further I get into it.

 

[bayoujaeger]

What do yall think about Howa rifles? Any experience with them? I had been eyeing a few diffrent rifles, Sako, Tikka, Howa, and I've always had a soft spot in my heart for remington so I'm already leaning hard towards the 700 series.
Another question I have for yall is have any of yall shot the bolt action sig sauer? I love my sig AR platform and happened upon a new sig bolt action rifle on the web while I was killing time at work that received good reviews but I haven't seen one in any shop to put my hands on and they've got me interested.

 

[bjeepin2]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xesBYKRzqew
never shot 1000 yards but have shot 500 often
rem 700 308 sps tac

 

[denign]

such shots are the mark of a jerk, unless the animal is bedded down. The bullet will take almost a second, at the very least, to cover that distance and the animal can easily take a step in 1/2 second. Then you'll have gut shot it and have no hope at all of hitting it again (as it flees). So, because you're too lazy and inept, an animal has to suffer for hours before it dies, and may well never be recovered. Also. very, very few rds still have the ability to expand a big game capable softpoiint (and deliver an exit wound on elk sized game, so you'll have a sucking chest wound to down him sooner, and a blood trail to help you find him) beyond 600 yds and a lot of them can't reliably do so at 500 yds. A non expanding bullet, even to a vital organ, means that the animal will suffer much longer before bleeding out. As I said, the mark of a jerk.

 

[rabiddawg]

Denign, I would respect your point if you had left out the "jerk" part.

And I am struggling to say how you come across in my mind without calling you a derogatory name.

 

[Doug76]

For that range, and the energy required for the game your after, the .300WinMag should do well by you.
And you will need a really fine long range scope (high power variable), and you will spend a bunch of money on it.
And no going cheap on the ammo. It has to be consistent to be accurate.
No need to spend a ton on the rifle. Savage's are known to be very accurate (my .300WinMag is a Savage), and of course there are other brands that can do the job as well.
Do your studying, read and/or view all the reviews you can, and make your choice.