# 1000 Yard - Which bore, brand is best accuracy?



## jamesrharvey (Oct 18, 2005)

I am returning to the hobby after 35 years. The question is:
If I were to choose a rifle and caliber to obtain best accuracy at 1000 yards, what would that rifle and caliber be? And, more importantly, why?

Jim Harvey
Salt Lake City, UT


----------



## Alaskan Brown Bear Killer (Feb 22, 2005)

what is the size and density of your target? :lol:


----------



## jamesrharvey (Oct 18, 2005)

I am not a hunter and would be shooting at 1000 yard targets simply to see how well I do. Perhaps varmints of some kind might be in the future. I see conflicting reports regarding AR (small bore, high speed) versus things like 308 or 300 WM.

Only have enough $$$ to buy one thing....


----------



## Alaskan Brown Bear Killer (Feb 22, 2005)

220 swift will get'er done.
Also remember, It's the Indian and not so much the arrow!


----------



## slowhand (Oct 11, 2005)

Most real competitions have gun classes by weight of rifle.
The best shooters use 6.5/284 or 300 Win Mag.

Erle


----------



## jamesrharvey (Oct 18, 2005)

Alaskan Brown Bear Killer said:


> 220 swift will get'er done.
> Also remember, It's the Indian and not so much the arrow!


Agreed, however, what I would like to know is, "Which caliber, in competitive shooting, is shooting the tightest groups?"

Is there a place that has these statistics?


----------



## People (Jan 17, 2005)

jamesrharvey


----------



## Alaskan Brown Bear Killer (Feb 22, 2005)

I thought you said "Perhaps varmints of some kind might be in the future"?
I think for the most part if you think in the future you may want to shoot some varmits with this weapon at long ranges (over 500 yards) I would stay away from the HEAVY bullets and cals. Unless your some kind of rocket sientist.
338 mag is like a mortor round at 1000 yards! 
good luck.


----------



## People (Jan 17, 2005)

Alaskan Brown Bear Killer


----------



## Jiffy (Apr 22, 2005)

.33-378, 460 W. Mag., or a .50 BMG. Depending on your pocket book...... :wink: I am partial to the .308 but there are much more powerful rounds out there.

1000 yards.....HHHHMMMM, thats a mighty long way. Just wondering if any of you have ever attempted to connect at that distance. Its possible but, you have to know what you are doing.

Spend most of your money on optics. IMO it is more important. If your building a rifle. Go bolt action and spend most of your money on the barrel. There are alot of good ones out there.

By the way, a .220 Swift will not "get'er done" at 1000 yards!!!! Not unless you are shooting in a vacuum chamber....I am not trying to "start anything here" just stating my opinion. Take care...Lates!!!


----------



## bgoldhunter (Apr 13, 2005)

338 Lapua, 338 Edge, or 50 BMG would be my 1000 yard choices. Check around there are some websites dedicated to 1K shooting.

I agree...220 Swift isn't a viable choice with this type of shooting. Guys shooting at 1K are shooting larger bores that offer an excellent BC. Good luck on your choice.


----------



## People (Jan 17, 2005)

What type of 1,000 yd shooting do you want to do?


----------



## jamesrharvey (Oct 18, 2005)

Good comments by all, thank you!

It seems to me that the 220 swift, or any small caliber round, would be more sensitive to lateral windage than a heavier round. At the same time, since the time of flight is less, that might compensate. I am not a ballistics guy but it seems that the effect of wind is proportional to the lateral area of the round and inversley proportional to the velocity and the mass of the bullet.

This might be more easily thought of if one considers the energy capable of being delivered at 1000 yards. It seems to me that moving a projectile off its course would take energy proportional to the energy of the round. Low energy rounds would get pushed quite a bit.

Is this right thinking?

Jim


----------



## Jorge_V (Oct 29, 2005)

[[]]


----------



## buckseye (Dec 8, 2003)

Ya gonna use factory loads or reload your own? Hand loads can make a sniper rifle out of almost any gun. The military sure had good luck with a variety of 30 calibres. It seems 308 would be good or you could go to a magnum of some sort.


----------



## Hawkseye (Nov 21, 2005)

Merry Christmas!!


----------



## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

Look into the ballistics of the weapons you are thinking about

Here is a link

http://www.gunsandammomag.com/ballistics/

There are so many variables, are you going to reload?

I own a 300 win mag and a 338 ulti mag. both are capable of accuracy at that distance if they are clamped into a vice. I know my accuracy would diminish if I tried to freehand at that distance. I would not advise these for shooting varmints though!

Are you going to invest in optics or go with open sights?

I invested in a couple of Swarovski scopes on these rifles. Prepare yourself for sticker shock when you get into high end optics.

Happy shooting

Bob


----------



## Peakebrook (Mar 21, 2005)

If you review the results of some the 1000 yard match shoots, you will see that the 6.5/284 and 6.5/300 WSM wildcats do very well.


----------



## Longshot (Feb 9, 2004)

jamesrharvey,

I am a fan of the 6.5 calibers. The high BC bullets interest my the most (flat shooting and less wind drift). I would probably recommend the 6.5/284. I went with the 260 Rem. mostly because I had been planning to build a rifle of that caliber after purchasing a XP100R a couple years ago. I am still in the load testing and have had great results, but have not tried the max loads yet. At this time I'm shooting a 139 gr Lapua Silver Scenar at 2820 fps, having a BC of 0.615, with very good accuracy. I hope to get out next summer for some 1000 yrd shooting. The 338 Lapua Mag. is one I would like to try.


----------

