.300WM or 6.5 Grendel

[ColoWyo]

Why not one of the good 6.5's like the .260 or the 6.5 Creedmoor? You'll get 300WM (ish) ballistics with way cheaper components and recoil. Not to mention significantly better barrel life.

Order your 6.5 barrel from Bartlein Barrel today, it'll take six months to get directly from them. By then you can have all your .308 stuff shot up. Take your new barrel to Fritz at TJ's and have him re-barrel your gun. Done!

Not to mention, you'll have a rifle that stomps the .308.

[MattR]

If you want to wait a little while Berger is working on a 7mm 195g bullet with a g1 of .804 and g7 of .406. Litz designed it and it will be a beast after 1000.

[C Ward]

The noise going on about the 195 7mm is it may be impossible to manufacture , it only lives in concept right now . If their 338 bullets are any example it took about 5 years before they went from concept to reality and the BC is way lower than they originally stated .

[islandermyk]

aw man... you guys are awesome!

you guys sure know how to drive a man crazy with all this fantastic info!

[MattR]

I know they maybtake a while to get that 7mm done and those BC numbers seem pretty amazing even if they get close. But the 180's now are pretty good and at 3000fps or a little better they will get out 1400-1500 yards...and not cost fortune to shoot.

[C Ward]

Know 2 guy's that had 7RM barrels cut for their AI's with a chamber cut specifically for the Berger 180's and one more with a WSM . The RM's could never get the consistency needed at distance and the WSM worked as desired . The VLD's in general and Bergers specifically are too finicky for my tastes . When I get around to building a 7 it will be around the 175 SMK , you give up a little in BC but gain a huge amount of forgiveness . A 7 is a real good choice for a long range gun but you trade that off in barrel life , usually less than 2k rounds , especially pushing it hard at 3000 fps .

[MattR]

Does any caliber that will shoot good at 1000 or better get any really good barrel life? I would think 2000 is reasonable. I wouldn't shoot my 7mag at the prairie dog match again, its too much for that. My .243 will do just fine for that and out to 1000. I have the 7mag and a 300wm that are good for 1000 and a little further but I haven't had a place to shoot more than a 1000. My 7mag shoots the 180's at 2930 and groups about .625 so I haven't really messed around with the load much. I don't think it was really pushing the load heat yet. It actually liked the 162 Amaxes and 168 Bergers a hair better and got them at 3010.

[C Ward]

260 and 6.5 creedmore both go 4-5k on a barrel . My 260AI went 3k and was still 1/2 MOA when it came off .

The problem past 1k isn't getting the bullet there , my 260 is super sonic past 1500 depending on enviormentals, its target sign . The lighter bullets just don't make a very visible impact most of the time .

[wolffo]

with the 300wm mag you have relatively cheap factory ammo
almost painless reloading component cost (relatively)
standard size press equipment
regular old .308 projectiles

[Wildboarem]

I would go .300 WM over a Grendel. Are you sure you didn't mean 6.5 Creedmore. Like others stated, its a popular cartridge for a reason. Now that they are making high BC bullets 208- 230 gr it should make it out to a mile in the right conditions. I personally like the 208 amax, but some are having really good luck with the new Berger 215 gr Hybrids, to pricey for me. Plus if you ever want to sell its a popular cartridge. +1 .300 wm