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Posted: 8/14/2013 10:14:01 AM EDT
| I'm in the process of getting ready to load for a 20" Remington sps tactical with a 1-9" twist. The main target will be coyotes but it might stray to other things as well. So I'm thinking a bullet in the high 60's would be a good choice. Accuracy is my main concern here, with bullet performance being second. So would SMK's be everyone's go to bullet for this situation? I see nosler has 250 custom competition bullets in a box for pretty cheap, anyone like those? I plan on taking shots at 500+ yards often and want to use one bullet for target shooting and critter shooting |
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Have you done much shooting at ranges 500 and beyond? If you are serious about this I think you are going to be very disappointed. The .223 is not a 500 yard gun. Yes I know its used all the time in competition at those ranges and beyond but shooting competition and shooting critters are worlds apart.
Trajectory and wind drift will be very hard to judge and even harder to correct for. I think you would have done better with the .308 version. Sorry. Just my.2c |
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Quoted:
Have you done much shooting at ranges 500 and beyond? If you are serious about this I think you are going to be very disappointed. The .223 is not a 500 yard gun. Yes I know its used all the time in competition at those ranges and beyond but shooting competition and shooting critters are worlds apart. Trajectory and wind drift will be very hard to judge and even harder to correct for. I think you would have done better with the .308 version. Sorry. Just my.2c Well I got a couple thousand pieces of brass from my AR's and would like to utilize them, plus I need to bridge the gap between my 22 hornet and 257wby. I do plan on getting a rifle chambered in 260 for accurate long range shooting. But I need a better go to rifle for coyotes. To answer your first question, I've done some shooting at 500yds and 1000yds but not a whole hell of a lot. I plan on this being a cheap practice shooter and a decent coyote popper. |
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500 yards is a long ways and the only way You are going to know which "Target" "Match" bullet can deliver the accuracy you need at that distance is to test them
for yourself in your rifle. What shoots in my rifle may or may not shoot in yours. Pick up a box of different heavy bullets from different manufacturers and hit the reloading bench and the shooting bench. It's the only way to know for sure. |
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Quoted:
Have you done much shooting at ranges 500 and beyond? If you are serious about this I think you are going to be very disappointed. The .223 is not a 500 yard gun. Yes I know its used all the time in competition at those ranges and beyond but shooting competition and shooting critters are worlds apart. Trajectory and wind drift will be very hard to judge and even harder to correct for. I think you would have done better with the .308 version. Sorry. Just my.2c This depends on your ability to get range time. 500 yard shooting with .223 is a walk in the park to me. But I do it almost every Saturday. Wind is never more than a Mil one way or the other here...  Hitting a stationary target isn't hard at all if you have solid dope.
Now a moving target, I wouldn't have the experience to try with any caliber. |
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Quoted:
This depends on your ability to get range time. 500 yard shooting with .223 is a walk in the park to me. But I do it almost every Saturday. Wind is never more than a Mil one way or the other here... Hitting a stationary target isn't hard at all if you have solid dope.
Now a moving target, I wouldn't have the experience to try with any caliber. Quoted:
Quoted:
Have you done much shooting at ranges 500 and beyond? If you are serious about this I think you are going to be very disappointed. The .223 is not a 500 yard gun. Yes I know its used all the time in competition at those ranges and beyond but shooting competition and shooting critters are worlds apart. Trajectory and wind drift will be very hard to judge and even harder to correct for. I think you would have done better with the .308 version. Sorry. Just my.2c This depends on your ability to get range time. 500 yard shooting with .223 is a walk in the park to me. But I do it almost every Saturday. Wind is never more than a Mil one way or the other here... Hitting a stationary target isn't hard at all if you have solid dope.
Now a moving target, I wouldn't have the experience to try with any caliber. I live on a couple thousand acres, I can set up a 2 mile range if I wanted to 
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Quoted:
I live on a couple thousand acres, I can set up a 2 mile range if I wanted to You need a new BEST FRIEND? We can only get to 1400 yards right now. Found a spot to get our MILE shot done... but it's 55 miles from home...
You'll be double tapping at 500 if you put in the time. NO JOKE. We literally do this nonsense when we're bored.... with an ACOG even. |
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Quoted:
You need a new BEST FRIEND? We can only get to 1400 yards right now. Found a spot to get our MILE shot done... but it's 55 miles from home...
You'll be double tapping at 500 if you put in the time. NO JOKE. We literally do this nonsense when we're bored.... with an ACOG even. Quoted:
Quoted:
I live on a couple thousand acres, I can set up a 2 mile range if I wanted to You need a new BEST FRIEND? We can only get to 1400 yards right now. Found a spot to get our MILE shot done... but it's 55 miles from home...
You'll be double tapping at 500 if you put in the time. NO JOKE. We literally do this nonsense when we're bored.... with an ACOG even. Haha, I do enjoy watching long range shooting 
But I'm hoping this will be my baby steps into more long range shooting. I have tons of brass so I should be able to shoot on the cheap and easy. Looks like I'm going to have to just do some load development first though. |
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Take some 77 gr SMKs and you're load development will be short. It's hard to get them to shoot bad.
We load 21.8 grains of H322 with a WOLF SRM primer and this load shoots great in everything. Over the last two years, we went from being thrilled with a hit at 500 to screaming "WTF?" at a miss at 500. Pair up with a buddy with a spotting scope and you'll get there quickly. |
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Quoted:
Take some 77 gr SMKs and you're load development will be short. It's hard to get them to shoot bad. We load 21.8 grains of H322 with a WOLF SRM primer and this load shoots great in everything. Over the last two years, we went from being thrilled with a hit at 500 to screaming "WTF?" at a miss at 500. Pair up with a buddy with a spotting scope and you'll get there quickly. Good info, do you have any velocity numbers for that load? |
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I've done a lot of varmint hunting in my life. In my teens it was done with a 22 long rifle and a "dial a prayer" scope. (BDC) Long range accuracy is not the problem. Knowing the range and getting the target to cooperate is. When trajectory turns into a steep falling arc hitting a coyote is going to be VERY difficult.
My 50gr V-Max (3400f/s) has about a 700 f/s advantage over a 77gr bullet. Still ground hogs much beyond 300 are not easy. I know coyote's are a little bigger but the damn things won't sit still for more than a second or 2.
OP: I know you'll have fun with it especially at the shooting range but in the field it may get a little frustrating. BTW: Did a lot of Highpower Silloutte shooting in my life too. The rams are at 500 meters. |
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Quoted:
I've done a lot of varmint hunting in my life. In my teens it was done with a 22 long rifle and a "dial a prayer" scope. (BDC) Long range accuracy is not the problem. Knowing the range and getting the target to cooperate is. When trajectory turns into a steep falling arc hitting a coyote is going to be VERY difficult. My 50gr V-Max (3400f/s) has about a 700 f/s advantage over a 77gr bullet. Still ground hogs much beyond 300 are not easy. I know coyote's are a little bigger but the damn things won't sit still for more than a second or 2.
OP: I know you'll have fun with it especially at the shooting range but in the field it may get a little frustrating. BTW: Did a lot of Highpower Silloutte shooting in my life too. The rams are at 500 meters. Thanks for the info, I'm still fairly young so I've got a lot to learn. But that's all I'm trying to do here, start with something small and easy and fun to shoot and really learn my limitations. My 257wby is too expensive to be shooting constantly and 22 hornet is real small. I don't talk much of my 204 because any wind and it's gonna play hell, plus a coyote is all I would take with that. Dont think it would drop much bigger animals, so it just sits at my dad's house for coyotes. But for bullet selection I'm leaning toward the 65gr gameking to start out. Should be able to work up a good coyote load for starters and then get into some heavier stuff for long range fun. |
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I absolutely LOVE the 65gr game king and have taken a few white tail deer with them. My VTR-15 shoots them into nice little groups too. Your 1 in 9 M700 should be able to get very near 1/2 MOA (1/2" groups at 100yds) or maybe even better. I have a hard time finding the 65s most of the time though.
If you have access to a ballistic computer program take some time to plug in data and study the trajectory. Doing this can be very helpful when it comes time to actually picking components and developing loads. Most will allow you to dial in some wind too. |
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Quoted:
I absolutely LOVE the 65gr game king and have taken a few white tail deer with them. My VTR-15 shoots them into nice little groups too. Your 1 in 9 M700 should be able to get very near 1/2 MOA (1/2" groups at 100yds) or maybe even better. I have a hard time finding the 65s most of the time though. If you have access to a ballistic computer program take some time to plug in data and study the trajectory. Doing this can be very helpful when it comes time to actually picking components and developing loads. Most will allow you to dial in some wind too. Perfect, thanks. I've never used any ballistic programs, should I just google it and go from there or do you have some suggestions? |
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Thanks for the link. I was hoping someone would reply. I was looking for one I could use on this computer too. The one I usually use is on an old computer in my basement (Windows 98).  Its a good old program though.
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