7mm WSM,7mm Win Mag, 7mm SAUM, 7mm RUM, 28 Nosler, 7mm STW

What scope would you put on it so whatever your shooting doesnt look like and ant from 500yds?

For those who recommended a 6.5 creedless - What energy does your load still have at 700-1000 yards? Is it more than a .30-30 at 100 yards?

Who cares? OP says he won’t shoot animals past 700. 243 AI and 6/6.5 creed (and other, non magnums) carry plenty of energy for game to 700, with the right bullets.....if ftlbs kills all your critters. The right bullets expanding properly at 700-100 yards would be a more sensible concern.

Hornady's Precision Hunter 143 ELDX in 6.5 creed has dropped to 1308 ft-lbs at 500 and has dropped 44 inches from the 200 yard zero. That doesn't translate into plenty of energy for a clean kill at 700. The 26 Nosler is hotter at 700 than the creed at 500, and it is becoming marginal at that point.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with some of the smaller cartridges listed for long range target shooting. They are not long range hunting cartridges.

A 700 yard shot with a .280 Ackley or a 7mm Rem Mag is marginal, and they are both much better hunting cartridges than the 6.5 creed

I'm not saying it's never been done, but it's not enough energy for a reliable one shot kill, and that's not an ethical way to take an animal. If you want to ethically hunt past 700, then 28 Nosler energy and velocity should be your starting point, and you need to practice a ton.

If it's just target, then I don't care if you are lobbing a .30-30 out there with 200 inches of drop. Hunting is a different responsibility.

If energy is what you think the benchmark for clean kills is, shoot everything with a 460 weatherby solid

Sig Sauer Tango 6, 5-25x52 with a custom turret for whatever caliber I've loaded. I know on the .300 WSM I could dial it to 1250 because my buddy has that setup. It's a pretty slick rig.

On big but not totally unrealistic budget I'd want a HS Precision HTR in 338 Lapua , topped with a U.S. Optics B-25 scope.

Or you can get a second mortgage and drop about 20K and get the Cheytac ballistic system / rifle ....

Agreed. Energy don't mean squat if you just punch a caliber sized hole through a deer. Bullet must perform at impact velocity for quick kills.

Punching paper is not killing critters. You are exactly right. A bullet loses a LOT of energy past 500 yards.

28 nosler is exactly why I started this thread. That's a round I haven't even given consideration to but I've started researching it since it's been mentioned a few times and it's a great round with decent ballistics. Keep em coming!!!

700 yards is a tricky distance because the 6.5 pea shooters likely have the energy for a clean kill but I would content that they still DO NOT for a marginal shot. They are seemingly inherently accurate and easy to shoot 700 yards in distance. You can see videos on the internet with people shooting elk that distance with a 6.5 but I'm here to tell you it is marginal in effectiveness. I shoot 6.5x284 myself I'm not saying this to be a Rambo - I'm telling you from personal experience that you will lose deer taking shots this far regardless of what caliber you shoot. SO, there is no reason to handicap yourself in the name of saving powder. Let's be honest nobody cares about saving powder, that's a joke - they care about putting horns in their hands. If you can't handle the recoil consider sticking with punching paper. There is nothing wrong with that and all this aside, if you can't get within a couple hundred yards I'm not really sure what kind of hunter you are. This long range stuff is truly unnecessary.

.300 Win Mag or .300 WSM will kill an elk at 1,000 no problem. Therefore no problem for a deer. There is no reason to go up to something bigger like a ..338 Lapua but if that's what a fella wanted I'd be all for it. You won't have to worry as much about which way it went.

28 Nosler will work but if you don't reload I would go with something with a lot of different factory ammo options. 300 Win Mag, 7 Mag, etc. .300 WSM is not a bad choice. If you have a rifle built your odds of it shooting really good with something off the shelf goes WAY up if you have more choices. May not be needed but it is a good course of action.

If you want a wildcat cartridge and reload we can put a lot of lead in the air on other options.

I'm going to leave you with my favorite quote from Elmer Keith - "I like one-shot kills where possible and prefer to do all my hunting before I shoot."

The further you shoot the more important that becomes.

Below is the predicted ballistics for a 300 Win Mag with a 180 gr berger elite hunting bullet running (according to Hodgdon's load data) at the upper end of its velocity range ~3000 ft/sec. The chart has the environmental factors I used, which is kind of a generic AL hunting scenario. I use this ballistics program to assist my amateur long range shooting, and it's pretty accurate for my rifles, when compared to what they actually do at the range out to 1000 and 1250. In other words, it may not be identical, but I'd be shocked if the data it predicts is wildly different than what your 300WM would actually do at those ranges.

Make sure to note I factored in a 5mph crosswind... and the drift you would likely encounter because of it.

280ai

the longest recorded kill in the military was with a 338 Lapua probably had a big night force scope on it too.

a 300 win mag has plenty of kill of kill left at 1000 yards, been there and got the tshirt. However you will need to take the advice above and practice, practice, and more practice. You will be fine with the 300wsm.

An amendment to my chart info above. I researched the minimum velocity needed for expansion with berger bullets and it is well documented that 1825 ft/sec is the number needed for *adequate expansion*. So according to my range card, using 180 gr high BC, Elite Hunters from Berger, the 300 Win Mag would risk not having adequate expansion once it got past 800 yards... according to Berger.

You have a huge mistake on your chart though. No way a 180 grain 30 caliber bullet is gonna have a BC of only .295. Redo it with the correct ballistic coefficient and your chart will change drastically

Thats straight off bergers site for that bullet... G7 .... not G1.

Oops.... sorry I didn’t catch that