Whose Long Range Mountain Rifle?

Joined
Mar 13, 2018
Messages
15
Location
Alaska
Would appreciate you folks recommendations. I'm looking for a rifle that shoots factory ammo at .5 MOA. 28 Nosler or 30 Nosler or 30 Ultramag or ???. Want the rifle to weigh in no more than 7lbs un-scoped. Deer/Elk/Sheep sized animals out to 800 yards.

Initial thoughts are perhaps a Nosler 48 Long Range Carbon. Or maybe a custom out of the Remington shop. But I suspect you folks know of some great custom builders. Again, this rifle has to shoot factory ammo.

Thanks in advance.
 

mt100gr.

WKR
Joined
Jan 29, 2014
Messages
2,908
Location
NW MT
Send Travis at Rbros Rifles an email. His will shoot factory ammo at his accuracy guarantee and I'll bet he can get you set up under 7lbs.
 

ericF

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Oct 4, 2016
Messages
628
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CO
I'd you dont want to wait for a custom build, look into Fierce. They have a number of models that meet your criteria and they guarantee .5 MOA. If you look on gunbroker, most of the sellers will include a picture of the proof target showing what ammo they used.
 

30338

WKR
Joined
Jun 2, 2013
Messages
1,861
Couple random thoughts on a Monday. You want to shoot a sub 7 pound rifle accurately to 800 yards in one of 3 relatively overbore cartridges. Looks like 2 of the 3 have 4-5 factory ammo choices, all at over $3 per cartridge. It takes a lot of rounds to become proficient at 800 yards and you can't simply buy that proficiency with a super high velocity cartridge. And without being a handloader, it is going to be very expensive.

I'd simply suggest looking at the 7mm Remington Magnum or the 30-06 as two other very viable options. The 7mm had 57 ammo choices at Midway, the 30-06 had 100 factory ammo choices there. Your odds of shooting a lot would go up with less cost, less recoil, and more ammo options. If you go with one of the first 3 choices you have, the logical next step would be to immediately get into reloading.

Good luck in your search.
 

jmden

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Aug 24, 2015
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Washington State
30338 makes some good points. If you really want to squeeze best precision at least cost out of your rifle, learn to understand the principles of precision reloading and then do it.

Alternatively,The 7mm Rem Magnum has a long history as an excellent LR cartridge and consider the old standby 300 Winchester Magnum as well. Many LR hunters use it with great success and one perk for it is that Berger Ammunition (formerly Applied Ballistics Munitions [Bryan Litz]) commercially makes loads for the 300 Winchester Mag.

This ammo uses premium components (as in Hodgdon Extreme powders that are quite temp insensitive instead of mil surplus typed ball powders many commercial ammo makers use that are generally quite temp sensitive--meanwhile you're paying a large amount of $ for sometimes crappy ammo components) and has been reviewed by trusted reviewers and shown to be quite precise...a little bit to the amazement of some of us tried and true LR reloaders. That can't be the case in every rifle, however, and knowing and applying the principles of precision reloading should yield a better result overall than commercial ammo. But from what I've seen, the new Berger Ammo is where I'd go for commercially built LR ammo.
 
OP
B
Joined
Mar 13, 2018
Messages
15
Location
Alaska
Thanks folks for your thoughts. Believe me I'm listening to everything. Might help to know how I got here. 20+ years ago I had a custom .300 Weatherby Wildcat built by a riflesmith friend of mine. Jewel trigger, Krieger barrel, reworked 700 action and bolt, muzzle brake of course, etc, etc.

He is in Texas and I lived in Texas (I live in Alaska now). Before each hunting season I'd fly or drive to his place and spend a day with him first fire forming brass, then working up a load, then loading/reloading 50 rounds of ammo. He had all the equipment and taught me everything to do.

I took that rifle and ammo and hunted North & South America, Africa, and Europe. I hunted frequently enough for eight years that my shooting skill was good enough to take advantage of the rifle's accuracy. I took great pride that all the animals I killed during those eight years were 1 shot kills, and died where they stood. Two longest shots I made, one was a Springbok at 500 yards, and a coyote at 495 yards. I've never even shot at targets beyond that range.

Anyway, after those eight years I quit hunting moving on to other things. A couple of years ago I went on an elk hunt in New Mexico. Of course I shot the rifle before hand and as I expected I'd lost some of my accuracy (shooting being the perishable skill that it is), I managed to get a group at .5 MOA and called it good (I didn't want to run out of ammo). I'm embarrassed/ashamed to say that it took more than one round at 250 yards to drop the elk. A lot more.

Fast forward to today. I now live in Alaska and I'm back hunting. I still have about 40 rounds total for the 300 Wildcat. Not enough to get proficient again and hunt. And my friend the riflesmith is still in Texas and I'm no longer close enough to go over to his place and go through the whole process of reloading every year. And I don't have the time or interest to get into reloading myself- especially for a Wildcat.

Having been out of the game for such a long time I was pleased and surprised to learn that rifles can now be bought/built that will shoot sub-MOA with factory ammo. Since sheep are of high importance to me before I'm too old to chase them (hoping I'm not already there) I purchased two different 6.5 Creedmoor's (at two very different price points) and both shoot sub-MOA (one just under and the other sub .5 MOA). I did go through nearly every make and model of 6.5 Factory Ammo before I found what the rifles liked, but wow, these new guns can really shoot. Both are very light rifles, and the 6.5 isn't a round I'd be comfortable shooting game past 400 yards. And there are a lot of Grizzly bears up here and I'd not like to face one down with only a 6.5.

Hence my long winded explanation for my search of something a bit heavier with a bunch more knockdown power.

I did initially consider the 7mm, but figured since I can shoot a 300 well, and since I'm in griz/brown bear country, a 28 Nosler or a 30 or 300 was a better choice.

Anyway a lot has changed over the years so that's why I'm here, to seek your thoughts. Please keep them coming, your knowledge is greatly appreciated.

Oh, the pic is of a factory 300 Weatherby and the 300 Weatherby Wildcat.

Thanks again.

IMG_1921.jpg
 
OP
B
Joined
Mar 13, 2018
Messages
15
Location
Alaska
BTW, Travis from R Bros Rifles just got back to me and said "Really there isn't any good factory ammo for the cartridges you listed. In order to get the performance and accuracy out of them a guy needs to handload. If you want factory ammo and sub .5moa I would go with the 300 WM. Lots of ammo that will shoot sub .25 moa and ammo is readily available..."
 

elkguide

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Joined
Jan 26, 2016
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Vermont
Having and shooting .30 caliber rifles in WSM, WM and RUM (and several different rifles in each of those calibers) while I like each one "IF" I were restricted to only one and especially if my reloading days were over, I would settle very happily and confidently in the .300 Win Mag. I've taken everything from varmints to deer to black bear to elk with that caliber very successfully. Now as to which brand...………… I would have a tough time deciding between a Cooper, Christensen Arms, Fierce or a custom build.

I'm just so glad to live in a country that allows us to have choices and dreams!
 

Mike 338

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Dec 28, 2012
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Idaho
The OP would know better than me but if I was stumping around where there's "a lot of Grizzlys", I'd be inclined to carry a 338 or 375 something. Maybe a 338 Win Mag or 375 Ruger Compact Mag.
 
Joined
Dec 30, 2014
Messages
8,172
The OP would know better than me but if I was stumping around where there's "a lot of Grizzlys", I'd be inclined to carry a 338 or 375 something. Maybe a 338 Win Mag or 375 Ruger Compact Mag.

Plenty of alaskan folk do just fine on their sheep/caribou/etc hunts with 6.5's, 7/08s, 308, 270, 30/06, etc.

Probably a little different if you are targeting coastal browns.

My first thought when factory ammo was mentioned was also berger munition 300 WM.
 

Jardo

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Aug 7, 2017
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Hawaii and Utah
If I were in your shoes, I’d look at Christiansen arms with a carbon barrel in 300 win. You have factory Berger and Hornady eldx ammo available. You could probably call Christiansen and ask them to test the various match grade ammo for you so you know your getting a barrel that will shoot available ammo.

If your serious about long range shooting and hunting, you’re much better off reloading. IMHO, if you don’t have time, skills, and thousands of rounds of experience, you shouldn’t take shots over 400 to 500 yards on game. I might get flamed for this but ELR hunting is not for the casual shooter. It takes a lot of practice to reliably get cold barrel first shot hits at long range.

JMO




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

Bzn_Hunter

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Dec 23, 2016
Messages
107
Location
Bozeman, MT
Would appreciate you folks recommendations. I'm looking for a rifle that shoots factory ammo at .5 MOA. 28 Nosler or 30 Nosler or 30 Ultramag or ???. Want the rifle to weigh in no more than 7lbs un-scoped. Deer/Elk/Sheep sized animals out to 800 yards.

Initial thoughts are perhaps a Nosler 48 Long Range Carbon. Or maybe a custom out of the Remington shop. But I suspect you folks know of some great custom builders. Again, this rifle has to shoot factory ammo.

Thanks in advance.


Those new nosler mountain rifles are fantastic. Basically eliminated the need for me to go full custom build at those price points. And I'd go 28Nos. Been easier to actually find ammo in my experience.
 
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