Simulator cartridges for long range practice?

[entoptics]

I could run through the JBM web calculator and make spreadsheets, but I'm hoping I could get someone else to do the work...

Contemplating buying a cheap bolt gun with cheap scope that eats cheap ammo, that can sling lead to 1,200 yds...Except at 1/4th the distance. A ballistics miniature so to speak. Criteria...

1) Cheap. 223, 22LR, 22WM, 17 HMR, etc. I'd need it to be half the price of a quality reload for a big rifle (300 WM, 270, 30-06, etc) to justify a whole rig just for practice.

2) Easily available in a rifle that can roughly simulate the mechanics of shooting a big dawg in field conditions.

3) Most Importantly, something that will Accurately simulate the ballistics of a big rifle by some easily divisible factor in range.

Essentially, wondering if there's anybody who wants to calculate this out for their favorite big rifle, post it here for the masses.

Dream...

Sitting at the range, shooting from 100-300 yds for $0.31 per round, and getting the wind calls, drop calls, etc to closely simulate my favorite 300 WM load ($0.90 per round) at 300-900 yds (or some other easily divisible number so the training sticks)

 

[yotayoda]

.22LR!
It's ~.25 of a .308 Win for range. So a 200yd shot with a .22LR is an 800yd shot with a 168gr .308. I shoot my .22 a lot, and those skills translate well to field shooting with a centerfire.

Or maybe you could cast some bullets and/or use reduced power loads in a larger centerfire. Not sure why the scaling of range/drop is important to you, but that might work.

 

[yotayoda]

Here's some info on the .22LR vs. 308 scaling in my above post. Also, scroll to the bottom and you'll see the "scaling tool".

https://finnaccuracy.com/blogs/fa-news/22lr-long-range-trainer-how-to-get-best-out-of-it

 

[NEMTHunter]

22lr for sure. It will teach you a lot about drift and elevation changes and give you good quality trigger time.

 

[yotayoda]

22lr for sure. It will teach you a lot about drift and elevation changes and give you good quality trigger time.

Just make sure you actually buy decent .22 ammo. None of that Remington kids' blasting ammo.
At a minimum, use CCI Standard Velocity. But some SK or Eley or Lapua is well worth the $6-10 per 50.

 

[NEMTHunter]

Just make sure you actually buy decent .22 ammo. None of that Remington kids' blasting ammo.
At a minimum, use CCI Standard Velocity. But some SK or Eley or Lapua is well worth the $6-10 per 50.

Good ammo goes a long way. But Even with bulk Remington ammo, I can hit a 16" gong with repeatability @ 400 yards. 16" is big yes. But I have no problems hitting it even double-tapping the trigger.

Even shot gophers at a little over 300 yards with the stuff.

With that said you can not beat good quality ammo. Lapua or Eley is the best.