This website is not affiliated with the United States Marine Corps, and the information on this website does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Marine Corps as a whole. Barrel Life: Because of the smaller powder volume and lower MVs, you can expect to see about 3,000 rounds out of your barrel. The overall purpose of the Grendel was to deliver extended accuracy and range of the .223/5.56 NATO in the same AR-15 platform. Mag. Now when it comes to ammo, I already mentioned. Recoil Condition: With a suppressor on the .300 Norma Magnum, the recoil still isnt all that bad. It is a product of natural selection and evolutionthe best features of several classic LR rounds fused into one. This cartridge calls for a custom case. This topic may be daunting to some readers because the actual numerical values in which we represent a projectiles Ballistic Coefficient seem like arbitrary numbers. Top shooters use an accurate, standard-length (magazine compatible) match bullet for the 200- and 300-yard stages but transition to super long, high-BC, heavy-for-caliber projectiles for 600 and 1,000 yards. Muzzle: 1,456 ft-lbs 500m: 660 ft-lbs 1000m: 248 ft-lbs 1500m: 162 ft-lbs. Take a .300 Winchester Magnum with a barrel life of 1,500 rounds and compare that to the 8,000+ barrel life of a .308 Winchester. High ballistic coefficient bullets carry their velocity better. But to choose the best long-range caliber for you, start with your own experience and interests. The average price per round will be $1.25. Exceedingly well written and informative article. New LR shooters also often skimp on glass and what I see most often is that someone buys a cheap scope so that they can afford other goodies for their rifles. If you are investing $800 on a Proof Research, carbon-wrapped barrelreplacing that every 1,500 rounds will be costly. For optimum LR performance, the 108 ELD Match projectile; G1: 0.515, G7: 0.268. Expect about $5.50 per round. Since then, it has become a popular option for those who hunt big game or enjoy shooting at distance with AR-15s. .300 Norma Magnum. The goal was to standardize a wildcat cartridge that married the .338 Winchester Magnum and the .375 H&H Magnum. R1 (8): RB Bijan Robinson, Texas R2 (38): T Matthew Bergeron, Syracuse R3 (75): EDGE Zach Harrison, Ohio State R4 (113): CB Clark Phillips III, Utah R7 (224): S DeMarcco Hellams, Alabama R7 (225): OG Jovaughn Gwyn, South Carolina. The .300 WSM steals the performance of a .300 WM and transforms it down to a short-action rifle. They get down range faster and this diminishes the time that gravity and wind have to act upon them. As said before, I come from a different world. The List: .223 Remington/5.56mm, .224 Valkyrie, .243 Winchester, 6mm Creedmoor, 6.5mm Grendel, 6.5mm Creedmoor, 6.5 PRC (Precision Rifle Cartridge), 6.5x47mm Lapua, .260 Remington, .308 Winchester, .30-06 Springfield, .300 Winchester Short Magnum, .300 PRC (Precision Rifle Cartridge), .300 Winchester Magnum, .300 Norma Magnum, .338 Lapua Magnum, and the .338 Norma Magnum. It was dark and, at 17-power, that 6-foot plate at 4,100 yards was very small. Bolt gun fans are especially in luck because as of right now, the PRC is very limited in the gas-gun world. One of the selling points of this round, when it was introduced, was its light recoil for a deer gun. The Long Range community has been pushing the envelope more and more. Projectile manufacturers are even still making their high-end rounds in .243. Muzzle: 4,186 ft-lbs. Snow Thank you for this information so helpful in helping me decide on my new rifle/caliber. The first time I fired the .300NM I was blown away. Remaining Energy: Muzzle: 4,677 ft-lbs. Heres his account of the achievement, which took place at the Spearpoint Ranch in Barnard, Kansas, on March 27. Ive made five-in-a-row 1,400-yard hits on a 24-inch round steel gong with my favorite 6.5 Creedmoor match load (a 142-grain SMK pushed to 2,750 fps with H4350 powder). rounds to their specs. The number of options for load-development and rifle rigs is unsurpassed. Clearly, the rise in popularity of 6.5 mm cartridges, which was inspired by the 6.5 Creedmoor, has driven MSR shooters wanting to experience ballistic nirvana to the Grendel. However, given the choice, there are drastically more capable cartridges. Thats what happened with Norma. So what does that mean? Im not going to dive too deep into terminal ballistics for the purpose of this article. Not to mention guys that still compete with and collect old military surplus riflesI see the. Before its inception, the thought of pushing a 75-grain projectile past 1000 yards was uncommon. During its launch in 1997, the .260 was still on par with other wildcats. History: The .224 Valkyrie was the child of an experiment by Federal in 2017 to reach into the 1,000-yard competition circuit (which was dominated by the .30 caliber class cartridges) with a small .22 caliber projectile. Just like any new and exciting caliber that is designed specifically for the LR community, I know the performance will be top-notch. Federal was tapped to produce the ammo in 1992, and so the military had a sniper round that slotted between the .308 Win. Buying a $1000 rifle and a $1500 optic will bring you more success than a $2000 rifle and $500 scope. So like the 6.5 Creedmoor, if you have a .308, you can have two calibers in one rifle action with a new barrel. More important is consistency, and the mild-mannered .308 demonstrates that in spades. Advertising does not influence our gear reviews and it never will. Their high muzzle velocity and heavy projectile weights greatly increase erosion of the lands and grooves that make up the barrel rifling. If landing in the top 10 at a major PRS match is high on your bucket list, the 6mm Creedmoor is probably your best cartridge bet. The .308s biggest weakness is the lack of propellant capacity to push heavy-for-caliber, super-aerodynamic bullets at useful velocities. For hunters, medium-game will be the limit of this caliber. Is it the fastest? Its use today is limited to medium to big-game hunting; bolt action only. 1,500m: 630 ft-lbs. 1,500m: 306 ft-lbs. 500m: 1,866 ft-lbs. When talking about long-range calibers and their best applications, the immediate question pops up: For what? A 6.5 PRC build certainly will not be cheap, so if you are a beginner or limited on budget, this is not the caliber for you. I liked that you started at 5.56 for a base caliber. The bullets are pointed up in our Bullet Pointing Die System and are moly-coated. That same rifle can shoot my hand-loaded 175 grain Sierra Match Kings at 0.4-0.5 MOA at 100m. I personally find it MUCH easier to handload very accurate .30-06 loads than very accurate .308 loads in typical budget hunting rifles. It is indeed a gratifying experience to know you can direct a bullet to a beachball or even a smaller target at such an incredible distance. All Guns and Ammo subscribers now have digital access to their magazine content. 1. Mag. Few AR-10s exist that can fire the .300WM. You can certainly find uppers to piece onto your AR-10 lower. Muzzle Velocity: One of the classic LR projectiles is the 175 Sierra Match King @ 2,700 fps, Ballistic Co-Efficient: 175gr SMK G1: 0.474 G7: 0.243. The Georgia and Alabama players are used to that competition because that's how they get on the field on national championship-caliber teams. I was so familiar with how those rounds acted in high crosswinds and how they performed through Transonic. 500m: 1,123 ft-lbs 1,000m: 394 ft-lbs. Yeah, itll work in a bolt gun, but in the AR-15 it is the undisputed best cartridge for stretching distance. 1,500m: 264 ft-lbs. (Well that largely depends on the shooter). History: Unlike the previous cartridges, this is the first one that has no parent case. Military sniper rifles are still utilizing this classic cartridge. As more and more interest in the Long Range community, one thing has become apparent. The .30-06 is such a classic sniper rifle round, I could not leave it out of the running. But isnt that what makes it awesome? Semi-automatic pistols for self-defense continue to be extremely popular, but there is a surprising amount of new double-stack 1911s and revolvers released this year. The 6.5 Creedmoor has made a name for being one of the best overall performing and versatile calibers for the Long Range market. But in the meantime, the Dasher can rightfully claim the title as the best precision rifle cartridge on the market. You have so much faith that your round will hit your target. You will get more bang for your buck choosing the .308 Winchester as your next Long Range caliber. Different Calibers You Should Know, 2700 fps (90 grain) to 3400 fps (60 grain), 2500 fps (103 grain) to 2880 fps (90 grain), 3200 fps (168 grain berger target hybrid). Coming from my military background, I was always reluctant to stray from the 7.62x51mm or .300 Winchester Magnum. 500m: 1260 ft-lbs. It hits hard and flies flat and straight. After seeing such success with its flagship cartridge, Hornady wanted to take the Creedmoor to the next level. Youve already come here, which shows you are willing to read. Stinnett stacked those bullets so perfectly that the shot-to-shot variance was only detectable by precision calipers. | Outstanding long-range match bullets such as Sierras 142-grain MatchKing (SMK) and Hornadys 147-grain ELD Match may be comfortably handloaded to 2,700 feet per second (fps) or more. The average price per round will be close to $2.00. G7 is the most current and most accurate measurement of the predicted flight of a long-range projectile. Much less than a .308, the 6.5 Lapua is pushing a much lighter bullet than the .308 at similar speeds. KIDD Federal 140-grain Sierra Matchking 6.5 Creedmoor, Engineered for high-volume shooting in 1,000-yard competitions. Still less than the classic .308 Winchester. (Even though the term cartridges is correct, the common usage of caliber dictates why this story is called Best Long-Range Calibers rather than Best Long-Range Cartridges.). This was partly because it could deliver bullets to great distances with very flat trajectories, but also partly because it could do so with less recoil than other popular long-range cartridges. Expect to see 2,500-3,000 rounds out of your barrel. For hunters, the retained energy, MV, and increased projectile expansion technology, the 6.5CM makes for a great terminally performing round for medium and even large games. It excels at 1,000 yards and beyond, and is really at home in long-range, cross-country competitions where distances range from mid to very far and shots are limited. Im not going to dive too deep down that rabbit-hole, or even techniques to help. Both SOCOM (Special Operations Command) and the US Army have selected the .300 Norma Magnum as their hottest and newest sniper rifle cartridge. Average barrel life is around 5,000 rounds. With more case volume than a .308 and firing the same grain weight bullet, the .30-06 will have more felt recoil than a .308. However, the 6.5 Lapua and .308 Winchester do share the same bolt face. To get started, click the link below to visit mymagnow.com and learn how to access your digital magazine. Joe Kurtenbach, Executive Editor of Gun & Ammo, and John Myles from Smith & Wesson discuss features of the Equalizer 9mm micro-compact pistol and new-for-2023 M&P 5.7. Just like anything in life, each caliber you pick will have a list of pros and cons. Handloading ammunition can reap the reward of selecting the exact projectile with the exact desired BC. Does it go the farthest? After going online and getting confused this article oriented me in the right direction(s). Cheapest I found is 80 cent. Give this round a few years for the market to catch up. The .338 Norma did what the Lapua did. It provides whats needed for the mind to persuade itself and make a decision. Thats what makes older cartridges like the .260 great. Buying my first 308 soon in AR a first as wella double adventure! Ballistic Co-Efficient: The 123 ELD Match will be used G1: 0.506 G7: 0.255, Remaining Energy: Muzzle: 2,065 ft-lbs 500m: 943 ft-lbs 1,000m: 357 ft-lbs 1,500m: 225 ft-lbs. is the proverbial cat with nine lives in the long-range cartridge market. Century and has since stayed for a reason. Its also a great option for those interested in close to medium range varmint hunting. The Best 22 Rifles: Reviews & Recommendations Savage Mark II FV SEE IT Specs Barrel Length: 21 inches Weight: 5.5 Pounds Capacity: 5+1 Pros Affordable Lightweight Great for youth hunters Cons. The .300 PRC tries to deliver to a market that doesnt need what its selling. Its not uncommon in the sniper community to see MVs differ by up to 150 fps (feet per second) across two different M110s both shooting M118LR ammunition of the same lot. ), neither of which is conducive to good accuracy. A good example of a rifle that demonstrates the .308s long-range chops is this rifle I built with Shilen a few years back. I think the 6.5 Grendel does a great job at that, however, as to be expected, the Grendel is limited in range and does not fit into the 800m+ world.