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You should have seen the target the day befor the one posted. 100 yds I could not put 2 rounds side by side. Then realized the remington rounds I was shooting were from 1977 and stored in the garage for 40 years. Got the new rounds the next day and sighted for 300 with the results shown.
The chart calculations say you could. But the real question here is whether you should.
The conditions on the charts are based on ideal. If the wind increases, heat changes, or rain, then your stacking the odds against you. Not to mention a 275+ inch drop. How often do we actually find perfect conditions in the real world? Add the fact that elk are really tough skinned and you can bet that your going to be tracking it for a while. Anything less than a perfect shot will undoubtedly cause the animal undue suffering which I will have no part of. BTW, your loading max pressure loads and shooting the gun at the extreme top end of its capability. How long do you expect your brass and barrel to last? Again, think, "clean and ethical kill". I stand by what I said before. There are better cartridges for this particular shot on elk. Such as the 30.06 or 300prc. Or something like that.
It will always be Ft Benning in my mind.
As I stated, the 30.06 case holds more powder. It will always out perform a 308, if for no other reason. Both use the same primer and bullet selection. But it can use heavier bullets than a 308 at distance. "If" I were to take a 1000 yd shot with a 30.06, I'd look at a 175+ grain bullet. Nice velocity and energy at finish. I always load my own.
Those loads I described actually out do most 30-06 loads using lead core or other copper bullets. The key is the high BC of the Badlands bullets and the higher energy of the LVR powder yielding higher MVs. I don't know why people can't comprehend that high BC allows the bullet to shed less energy during it's flight causing the bullet to hit at a higher velocity at any given distance. 900 yd shots are not for everyone to take because skill levels vary a lot from shooter to shooter. The discussion here is not ethics. In fact this site discourages discussion of ethics. There are plenty of mediocre shooters out there that are challenged by 100 yd shots. Should they be allowed to hunt at all? Who will test their skill and enforce any regulations on them? I personally keep my hunting range to 500 yds or less, but using a high BC flatter shooting bullet that penetrates much better than lower BC lead core bullets can only increase the chances of a successful one shot DRT kill. I hate to track wounded animals. Until you have hunted with the Badlands bullets, you can't predict their performance on game based on lead core slower bullets.The chart calculations say you could. But the real question here is whether you should.
A motley bunch to be sure. Kidding. It was very long ago that I shot there. Memories. An old friend, SFC Johnston, invited me to shoot with him when I was TDY in the area. He won. He's gone now. RIP. Days gone by.
Hey, bud.
This discussion IS about ethical killing of elk. Why wouldn't it be? Your main point was taking elk at 900yds. And yes, I fully understand bc effects. High bc is always preferable, especially at range. I will not shoot a 308 at 900yds at elk. I just don't think it has enough juice for this distance. Too many variables causing bad outcome for me. Never a good idea to press an "iffy" outcome. I don't care what component combo is used. I am more concerned about not putting my target down, drt. I'd rather go out hunting with a caliber I absolutely know will get the job done with no questions or concerns about effectiveness.
Whether or not a 30-06 will always outperform a 308 Win is irrelevant to this thread. As I have stated before on this thread, its purpose is to come up with loads for the 308Win that improve it's performance significantly using higher quality components. In many instances those loads out perform published data for the '06. So for the guy with a 308 Win who wants to get better performance from his 308 this is the place.
Just my 2 pennies but at 900 everything is iffy, the 308 is a capable as any
I think the OP mentioned a 30.06 way back in the threads beginning. The 308 is my favorite cartridge. Period. But it has distance limitations that my experience has taught me. You can push it out to 900yds. I've tried it, and hit the mark. But I was not happy with my results. If I need to go that distance, I'll take my 30.06 or 300wm. (FYI, I don't shoot that far anymore, too many obstacles to sucess.) Assuming a 30 caliber is what's on the bill, the new components for 30 caliber are great! The performance increases in the past few years are incredible. I'm concerned about using too little gun for a job more suited to a more capable cartridge. At this time! In a post on a different thread I made a while back, I stated a bad experience I had taking that long shot. I won't take that chance again.
Yup, just looked at my data on 300Win mag and 300WSM. At 900-1000 yards it's all iffy.
