Gentlemen,

I am going to buy a gun to shoot deer at 500 yds max. I have heard good things about the .257roberts acly improved and the .300 Win Mag.

What do you think?

what about the .308

I really havent thought that much about it. How does it stack up energy wise to the other two mentioned?

You want long range accuracy, FLAT shooting and a ton of retained energy in a shoot-able rifle? Go 338Lapua...

those are two rounds that are really not even close to each other. 308 is between them both. I would go with the 300 mag

As an external fan of the 30-06 for several reasons, will work as well.

IF i were trying to shoot at that distance, my choice would be the 300 win mag.

I wouldn't go any smaller than .270 and up to maybe 338. My rec. for that range would be 7mag or 308..prolly 7mag.
Sorry to side track. To answer your question: out of those two mentioned calibers I would go with the 300

270 or 7mag are good choices. if wanting a short action, then either 270 or 300 wsm would be my picks.

300 mag min.
300 ultra mag or a 338 ultra mag or a 338 lapua mag.

7stw would also be a excellent choice.

if you are going to shoot at these above avg. distances you need to be at 44 mag strength when it gets there at the distance...

anything smaller than a 300 mag you will not carry enough power much past 400 yards to be effective this is also inclusive of the wsm cases it does not have enough case capicity to equal a handloaded old school 300 mag shooting a 175 or 200 gr bullet.

500yds "MAX" to me means that you won't likely be shooting that far very often. But would like to have that capability.


I suppose if I had to choose a cartridge that I could count on to kill with monotonous regularity at 500yds, it'd be the .338 Lapua. But it would be some serious overkill under 200yds. So for a middle of the road round, I went with the 280 imp. But that was my choice. Opinions will vary.

how 'bout a 264 Win Mag

I'm picking up a .257 STW this week-end. I bet that will fit the bill !!

Been shooting a 308 for years...no issues out to 5-600 yards and then some. The key is knowing your ballistics and finding ammo that the weapon likes. Long range guns are like WOMEN, you give them what they want and they will perform beautifully for you.

man i always wanted one of those. ended up settling for the 257 wby.

Two pages and I'm the first one to say 7mm-08!

I think it'd be perfect for what you want.

I'm one of the biggest 7-08 fans on this board. But I will say that if planning on shooting much past 300yds at an animal, my 7-08 is not likely to be my first choice in rifles. The OP mentioned 500yds as a max. But beyond 400yds the 7-08 starts getting pretty anemic. Fine for paper and vermin, but not so good for killing medium to large game.


Jay

300 weatherby.......i know your askin about the 2 so i would go with a win mag, but like clean said know your ballistics....thats a very important part of it..

You should buy a 270 or 30-06 and learn to hit where you aim at 100 to 150 yrd. first. Very few people can hit where they aim at 150 yds. much less 500. Too many talk about 500 yrd. shots when they were actually about 100 yds. away. In other words a 300 yrd. kill or further is usually luck or a white lie.

i dont know about luck or lies, but i am willing to bet that 300 yard shots come pretty easy to some of the folks around here, myself included. know your ballistics and the rest is followed up by practice. spend the time doing it and it almost happens naturally.
we hunt in the panhandle and 300+ yards is really common.

now dont get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a 270 or an 06, i happen to have both.

I'm on the side that MOST people can't hit anything over 300yds consistantly.... sure you said practice was important but not long ago about 80% on this board basically said they don't need to practice, that their gun has been "on" for years and they can shoot blah blah blah....
I'm sure there are a few that can shoot 300 to 500 yds but most people that think they can are full of bull.

300 win mag.

500 is a good little stretch, but with caliber selection and actual ballistics of what your gun and ammo combo does, i personally see it as verification and technique. does that mean anyone can go out and start consistently hitting 500 yards? i dont think so. Practice is where its at. you combine practice and your equipment ballistics and its doable. i personnal shoot a 300 weatherby, not cause i am hunting buffalo everyday, but because i KNOW what my gun does out to 500. i will also say that my gun is set dead on at 300. my gun has been "on" for years as well and i know what i can and cant do. At 300 for my rig its easy. I do practice each and every year, just for my confidence.

I could not have said it better!



I have a Ruger M77 Tang Safety .257 Roberts that I Re-Chambered in to the Ack Imp; With hand loads it is a champ. No issues at 500yrd.

You may also want to take a look at the 25-06 if you dont want to mess with re-loading.
Im not a fan of the larger cals for deer but that is just my choice.

+1 for .308.

Between the two you mentioned, .300 imo.

.300 Win. Mag., 150 gr. BTSP
Velocity (fps) / Energy (ft-lbs)
Muzzle 100yd 200yd 300yd 400yd 500yd
3275/3572, 2988/2972, 2718/2460, 2464/2022, 2224/1648, 1998/1329

Trajectory (inches)
Muzzle 100yd 200yd 300yd 400yd 500yd
-1.5, 1.2, 0.0, -5.9, -17.6, -36.3


.257 Roberts, 117 gr. BTSP
Velocity (fps) / Energy (ft-lbs)
Muzzle 100yd 200yd 300yd 400yd 500yd
2780/2007, 2550/1688, 2331/1411, 2122/1170, 1925/963, 1740/787

Trajectory (inches)
Muzzle 100yd 200yd 300yd 400yd 500yd
-1.50, 1.90, 0.00, -8.40, -24.40, -49.90

the ackly imp should be a little more than the standard 257 rob.