Accuracy & Power at Long Range?

[ryan m]

I'd go with a .300 win mag personally and maybe consider a pair of stocks. You could probabally pay for one with what you save in ammo vs the ultras. I shoot a 7RM now, but wish I had gotten the .300 because there are so many more options and support for it with regard to bullets, scopes, factory match ammo, and production guns. The ultra mags look good on a ballistics chart, but I can't shoot well enough to take advantage of the difference yet, so I figure my money is best spent on cheaper practice.

 

[Brent]

trader338,
338 Ultra and 250's for Brown Bear.

Stay away from the belted cartridges. They are truely an inferior design for the handloader. At some point you will need to size the belt down, which can't be done in a FL die. It, and/or the spot immediately in front of it will get too tight and need to be sized, non-belted case do not have this inherant problem.

30's are cheaper to shoot and would be my choice, but for Bear I like bigger than 30.
7MM or 300WM would be my last resort.

Mark,
necking up to 338 from 300 will make a longer neck, moving brass from the neck/shoulder junction up into the neck.

 

[trader388]

how about putting a 29 inch barrel on a 30-06? Say federal loads a 180gr @ 2700fps in 24" barrel...wouldn't you gain about 250-300fps giving you close to 3000fps and the energy of a 300win mag but with non belted performance?

 

[Mark_in_utah]

You get diminishing returns on progressively longer barrels. Instead of picking up 250 fps, I'd expect something less, like around 100 or 150 fps improvement on a 30-06 with a really long barrel.

Big-bottle magnums pick up the largest improvement with extra-long barrels, as they can hold LOTS of slow powder that can use the entire barrel length for burning the powder. That's why you always see guys with the long barrels shooting big magnums.

In contrast, the .22LR actually sees a slower velocity when the barrel gets past around 18". The Powder is all burned up and the friction in the longer barrel starts to slow it down.

Mark in Utah

 

[trader388]

what kind of barrel life are we talking about for...

7mm rem mag:
30-06:
300 win mag:
300 ultra mag:
338 ultra mag:

(before you start to really lose accuracy)