Re: Best caliber/rifle for 600-1000 yards.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Redfield</div><div class="ubbcode-body">...he just has a lot of experience with long range shooting. Also a .270 and 30.06 are good up to 600 yards, past that I don't want to risk injuring a deer, </div></div>
Since I didn't see this addressed yet in the first page, here's my take.
1) The 308 is a step DOWN in capability from the 30-06 and a properly loaded 270
2) Your father, not knocking your claimed experience, has this a bit wrong from my experience. The 30-06 has about 50% again the range capability commonly associated with the 308.
If you want to spend 1500 on a rifle, you don't load your own ammo, and you want to shoot 600-1k precisely, then you need to look at a Savage or a Remington.
I personally have a 30-06 that I built on a k98 action which will do everything my dad's 308 will do and it will continue to do that for another 500 or more yards.
My suggestion would be to go spend money on a decent Rem or Savage, put good optics on it, and spend $300 on the basics for reloading. What you learn from reading here, reading books on reloading, and shooting more will improve your shooting skills.
Now to the actual topic of caliber, I'd tell you to go get something in 30 cal. The 308 will allow you to shoot about a dozen off the shelf match loadings, the 30-06 cuts that in half. If you're reloading then that's a pointless argument.
The "inherent" accuracy of the 308 above the 30-06 has been pretty much dispelled IMO considering the accuracy levels that the 308 vs. 30-06 are being compared at for this myth are now considered "meager" at best. MontanaMarine has posted his results with a well built 06 and a 308 next to each other. It's virtually indistinguishable.
The distinguishing trait is that his location allows him to throw pills from the 30-06 to more than a mile.
My own experience loading 210gr class match bullets in my 30-06 puts me within 50-100 fps of a 300 Win Mag. Sure, it's not actually the 300 Winnie, but being 50-100 fps slower than a 300 WM instead of 300fps FASTER than a 308 with the same bullet is a no brainer.
If you really string out a 155 Scenar in a 308 they are knocking on the door at 3000fps, I launch 155 Amax at 3100 all day with a load that's about 1.5gr off the listed max from a loading manual. That 308 load is almost ALWAYS above the max.
The saying in racing is "there's no replacement for displacement". The same thing happens here when you're comparing cartridges throwing the same bore size bullet.
The 30-06 is still immensely popular, so components are easy to get for it, the capability for shooting 600y TX whitetails is much more present than a 308, and if you want to bag a dog at 1k when you connect, the dog isn't going to live from it.