[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

Having spent a fair amount of time on the firing line and in the target butts at 1,000 yard matches, both modern high-power and vintage black powder cartridge, I've observed first hand what works and what does not. The .30-'06 is adequate with the right bullet when pushed to maximum velocities. Some bullets and loads are not, and the bullet begins to tumble after having lost stability somewhere along the way. They sound like little buzz bombs going over the butts.

The various .300 mags have greater margin for error in bullet selection and load development. It is still possible, however, to choose the wrong bullet, and wind up with a load that goes subsonic and loses stability before it gets to the 1,000 yard mark.

The .308 is almost hopeless at 1,000 yards. There are maybe one or two bullets (the Sierra 155 grain Palma being one) that will make it to 1,000 yards without going subsonic, but you really, really have to develop a load that will extract maximum velocity from them. Some rifles just won't allow for that, for various reasons.

So, yeah, the military relied upon the old '06 for this duty for years, but only because it was all they had. They never even tried with the .308. Now that they have some very well developed .300 Win Mag loads, that has become the standard. They have even dropped the .338 Lapua as their long range sniper round, due to the development of their latest .300 mag load.

I asked my friend and he said it was "keyholing" at longer ranges where his 308 didn't have the same tendency. Maybe he needs to refine the load. We're talking about taking his 308, 30-06 and 7mm Mag out along with my nephew's .338 Lapua and having some fun. I love shooting the .338 my nephew has. Has less recoil than my 12 gauge with a 3" slug. It probably has less "kick" than my 450. I shot it freehand from a tree stand bracing myself for the kick that never came.