Thread: Calibre, Rifle & Scope Sugestions For Longer Range Hunting

Originally Posted by SDP

Looking to tap into the fountain of experience and knowledge that you other hunters and shooters have.

I'm looking to purchase a new rifle and scope setup for open country deer shooting.

I'm interested to get opinions on what works for other hunters.
I'm after a light weight rifle in a calibre that you can trust will do the job with one accurate shot at 500m+. As well as suggestions for optics that would back up this longer range shooting.

Thanks in advance for any advice and opions offered.

The guys just love threads like this.

At least you haven't said you want to do it all for under $5000. In reality, you will spend a lot on ammunition and travel to sparrowhawk and the like to do the testing and skills development needed.

But the "lightweight" business is a definite handicap. If you have another rifle for under 300m shooting (like an 18" 308) then you will find a bit of heft improves that chance of "one accurate shot at 500m+".

Unless you are already a past master, I suggest you gear up for 300m+ shots first and once you've got that sorted you'll have yor own opinion on what you need next.

My 2c worth is that you need a lot of retained energy at 500m, like 1500 ft.lb. You will not get a highly accurate shot at that range so you need a big hole. Yet average cartridges are dropping below 1000 ft.lb out there. You also need a respectable impact velocity (> 2000fps) to get bullets to expand properly. Wind is a big unknown past 300m and favours heavy bullets with G1 BC > 0.6 but also consider useability at short ranges and how far you might be able to shoot without using a range finder, which favours light bullets and MV > 3000 f/s. There is no replacement for displacement. After a couple of recent bad animal experiences with the 7mm08, I'm starting to be impressed with the value of a true magnum. My mate took 2 shots with a WSM (300+m) but at least he got his deer and I didn't.

Looking at the rifle, several have suggested the Tikka but if cost is no object there are other brands with better features (but no more accuracy ...). The 5 shot steel magazine of the Sako 85, its 3 lug bolt, greater weight and perfect ergonomics are definite advantages. There are others like the Browning X bolt, Bergara and straight pull Blaser that many consider more user freindly too.

For scopes, you have to spend the most and restrict yourself to the fewest features you can. The VX-5 is the lightest durable dialable scope at present. But, have a look around and see whether a S&B Klassik 4-16x50 or a Steiner or Kahles might be OK for you. They will likely be that much easier to set up and to use that you save a considerable amount of ammo and trips to the range. @Tahr has tried out a variety of more "price point" dialable scopes and could offer advice on their merits vs the benchmark Leupold VX-5.