30-06 long vs short range shooting.

[liviustoica]

Heya fellows. Wondering something. I've got a 30-06 and I'm wondering what the cutoff range limit is for these guns. I mean can you aim confidently at 400 yards or even 500 yards? How accurate are they really? And what bullet do you all mostly recommend? I like the rammington express core lokt myself 165gr. I dont know just some food for thought.

[willhunt4coues]

I have mine zeroed in at 251 yards. At 500 yards it is only like a 6 or 7 inch drop. Yes a 30-06 is a great gun for those long range shots just make sure you use a 165 or 168 grain bullet up to 500 yards anything over that try a higher grain. You can make a 1000 yard shot at only 30 inch drop which ain't bad. I am shooting 150 grain nosler bal tip in 48 grains of powder. I only shoot out to 500 yards. I am wanting to shoot all of these bt bullets up so I can get the 168 so I am confident at 600 to 700. Just shoot as much as possible and get a really good scope like Nightforce. Also get you a used pocket PC on ebay for like 65 dollars and grab the Nightforce ballistics software for the pocket pc and you can enter everthing in the field before you shoot so you are dead on. Good luck.

[.270]

they shoot the '06 at camp perry at 1000 yards all the time. even 1500. but i hafta disagree with 30" drop at 1000 yards. or a 6 or 7 inch drop at 500 with a 250 zero. i would think that would be more than 30 inches, right there. i would think an '06 at 1000 yards would maybe drop closer to 30 feet at 1000 yards. an '06 with a 165 gr bullet shooting 2800-2900 fps, which is about all you can realistically get from it, and sighted in at 100 yards, will drop from 50 to 70 inches at 500 yards, depending on the BC and some other factors. sighting one in a few inches high at 100 will put it on at 200 or 250, but the same gravity pull arc takes over and it drops like crazy. just from 400 to 500, you're gonna drop over well 2 feet. from 500 to 600, most rifles drop several feet, just in that span. from 600 to 700, it's even more exagerated, etc. at 1000 yards the bullet is about going straight down. an '06 will hit at 1000 yards if you can make it. buti it has to be sighted in at that range. our worst enemy, gravity, really takes hold and sucks them bullets into the dirt. no rifle shoots very flat after a few hundred yards. even these new arm cannons and .50 bmg sniper rifles, etc, they all drop fast. it depends on how it is sighted in and how close you can guess the range. Lark.

[ac guy]

good post lark. I know if I sight mine in at 200, I can expect an 8 " drop at 300, and like a 24" drop at 400, 500 I'm looking at a 49" drop. That's zeroed at 200.

[willhunt4coues]

 

 

 

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Advanced Ballistics Calculator - for those that want to play serious what-ifs. Diameter Wind Speed Altitude Clicks/MOA Sight Height Max Range Range Interval Sectional Density Muzzle Velocity Bullet Weight Ballistic Coefficient Temperature Zero Range Ballistics Calculator Max Point blank range is 291 yds when zeroed at 247 yds.

Range

yds Path

in ComeUp

clicks Velocity

fps Energy

ft/lbs Momentum

lb ft/s ToF

sec Windage

in Windage

clicks Optimal

Game Wgt

Muzzle -1.5 Infinity 2950 3246 70.80 0.000 0.0 NaN 1087

25 -0.1 1 2898 3133 69.56 0.026 0.0 0 1031

50 1.1 -8 2847 3024 68.33 0.052 0.0 0 977

75 2.0 -10 2797 2917 67.12 0.078 0.0 0 926

100 2.6 -10 2747 2814 65.92 0.105 0.0 0 877

125 3.0 -9 2697 2714 64.74 0.133 0.0 0 831

150 3.0 -8 2649 2617 63.57 0.161 0.0 0 787

175 2.8 -6 2600 2522 62.41 0.190 0.0 0 744

200 2.2 -4 2553 2431 61.27 0.219 0.0 0 704

225 1.3 -2 2506 2342 60.14 0.248 0.0 0 666

250 0.0 0 2459 2256 59.02 0.279 0.0 0 630

275 -1.6 2 2413 2172 57.92 0.309 0.0 0 595

300 -3.6 5 2368 2091 56.82 0.341 0.0 0 562

325 -6.0 7 2323 2013 55.75 0.373 0.0 0 531

350 -8.8 10 2278 1936 54.68 0.405 0.0 0 501

375 -12.0 12 2235 1863 53.63 0.439 0.0 0 472

400 -15.7 15 2191 1791 52.59 0.473 0.0 0 445

425 -19.8 18 2148 1721 51.55 0.507 0.0 0 420

450 -24.3 21 2105 1653 50.53 0.542 0.0 0 395

475 -29.4 24 2063 1588 49.52 0.578 0.0 0 372

500 -34.9 27 2021 1524 48.51 0.615 0.0 0 350

525 -41.0 30 1980 1463 47.52 0.653 0.0 0 329

550 -47.7 33 1939 1403 46.55 0.691 0.0 0 309

575 -54.9 36 1899 1346 45.58 0.730 0.0 0 290

600 -62.8 40 1860 1290 44.63 0.770 0.0 0 272

625 -71.2 44 1821 1236 43.69 0.811 0.0 0 255

650 -80.3 47 1782 1185 42.77 0.852 0.0 0 240

675 -90.1 51 1744 1135 41.86 0.895 0.0 0 225

700 -100.7 55 1707 1087 40.96 0.939 0.0 0 211

725 -111.9 59 1670 1040 40.08 0.983 0.0 0 197

750 -124.0 63 1634 996 39.22 1.028 0.0 0 185

775 -136.8 67 1599 953 38.37 1.075 0.0 0 173

800 -150.5 72 1564 912 37.53 1.122 0.0 0 162

825 -165.1 76 1530 873 36.71 1.171 0.0 0 151

850 -180.6 81 1496 835 35.91 1.220 0.0 0 142

875 -197.1 86 1464 799 35.12 1.271 0.0 0 133

900 -214.6 91 1432 765 34.36 1.323 0.0 0 124

925 -233.2 96 1401 732 33.62 1.376 0.0 0 116

950 -252.9 102 1371 701 32.89 1.430 0.0 0 109

975 -273.7 107 1341 671 32.19 1.486 0.0 0 102

1000 -295.8 113 1313 643 31.52 1.542 0.0 0 96

 

Okay the first is 500 yards 6 inch drop each click is 1/4 of an inch 37 clicks is 6 3/4 of an inch drop.

At 1000 yards 113 clicks is 28 1/4 of an inch.

 

 

[Benbrown]

According to Remington, the 165 grain Cor-Lokt has a muzzle velocity of 2,800 fps and a ballistic coefficient of 0.339. Most Remington factory ammunition that I have chronographed over the last few years has been pretty much spot on with the advertised velocities. Using my PACT Ballistic Calculator, assuming 5,000 ft elevation, 59 deg. ambient temperature and a 6-inch vital zone, sighting in 2.7 inches high at 100 yds gives you a maximum point blank range of 271 yds. At 300, this load will be a shade under 6 inches low, at 400 it will be 20.5 inches low and at 500 it will be 44 inches low.

 

As noted in the previous post, hitting reliably beyond 300 yds requires lots of practice to familiarize yourself with the trajectory and the effects of wind. As your piano teacher probably said, "Practice, practice, practice!" (I never took piano lessons...)

[.270]

clay, i don't really know how to read the chart you posted, but what i see says it drops 295 inches at 1000 yards. 24 1/2 feet. if you had an '06 sighted in at 900 yards, i'd bet it would drop 30 inches from there to 1000 yards. i ain't tryin' to start a fight, which is unusual for me, but your info ain't right. no rifle sighted in at 250 will only drop 30 inches at 1000 yards. well,maybe a .270. but no other rifle. not sure what you're reading, but i still hafta disagree. Lark.

[Coues Sniper]

My math with BenBrowns numbers comes up with a drop of 353 inches at 1000 yards. My 300 RUM with 180 scirocco's at 3350 fps is still dropping 230" at 1000. (These are with 100 yard zero, but still) There is no round i know of that drops less than 30" at 1000 yards. Not even close.

[ac guy]

There is no round i know of that drops less than 30" at 1000 yards. Not even close.

TOW missile?

[Red Rabbit]

Lark,

That 150BT from the 06 will drop that 35" and 296" at 500 and 1000 yards, as we read on the table.

 

Clay,

the 113 clicks would be the correction for 1000 yards. But the 28 1/4" would be the elevation you added at 100 yards. Multiply by 10 to get at 1000 yards- about 282.5" drop corrected for.

 

I don't think we can get a bullet with a high enough BC to go fast enough to only drop 30" at 1000 yards.

 

RR

[yotebuster]

Clay, the clicks on your scope are 1/4" at 100 yards. This becomes much different at longer ranges, at 400 yards, one click = 1" etc. Just thought I'd point that out, as this could cause considerable confusion to people trying to use a turret adjustment for long range shooting without actually practicing at distance.

 

.270, gravity has the same "hold" on the bullet at the muzzle as it does at 1000 yards, 9.8 m/s/s, its just that the bullet is going so much slower at 1000 yards, which makes the drop between every 50 or 100 yard increment so much more noticeable. Gravity is always a constant, this is the cause of true distance vs. actual distance when shooting up or down hill.

 

Rookie, to give my 2 cents on your original question, your '06 does have plenty of energy to kill a deer at 5-600 yards, and your rifle is very likely plenty accurate for use at that range, but as my dad used to always say, "its the loose nut behind the trigger that causes a gun to miss!" Simply put, it takes a lot of skill to take shots at those types of ranges, many people are very good at it, but they weren't born that way. Considering you've got the talent, wind drift and distance measurement become the two determing factors. It is IMPERITIVE that you know how far the animal you are shooting at is... knowledge of ballistics is worthless without this... always always always carry a rangefinder, I rank that as the #3 tool a hunter has, after your boots and binos of course. I would rather have a $300 gun and a $700 rangefinder then vice versa any day. Wind is the other factor that can make long range shooting nearly impossible, and when i say that I mean, something that shouldnt be attempted on game. My brother and I had a big new mexico bull at 575 last year, with no way of getting closer, his 30-378 Wby with him behind it makes a prairie dog nervous at that range, but the wind coming down the canyon was noisy enough to be heard, but not felt where we were in the timber, needless to say, there was no possible ethical way to make that shot, and he didn't. I've notice the wind doesn't blow near as often down here as it does back in ND, but it's definitely something to keep in mind. I've whiffed coyotes at 150 yards (chest on...just how I like 'em for furs!!) with a 15 mph crosswind a lot of times, a shot similar to that on a broadside deer is gonna make for a bad day for both of you! Good luck, and keep shootin!

[Hooked_on_Coues]

Dontcha hate it when lark is right?

 

Guess that stuff will happen now and again...

[firstcoueswas80]

Just ran the numbers on the .257 wby with the 115 VLD, drops 213" at 1000

 

 

 

Guess I dont get to jump in and talk about clicks etc since they are already talked about!

[willhunt4coues]

Okay now that makes since. That is what i thought the further you get out there 1 click would equal more than a 1/4 I was told different. All I do is clicks anyway. And if the target is closer than 100 yards then you will get 1/8, 1/16, 1/32 increments. Right? Oh well I have tried my gun out to 500 yards and did as many clicks as it told me to and I was dead on. I will just go by clicks. Thank you guys.

[liviustoica]

A lotta good info guys, thank you. Some make sense and some make even more sense. Right now i'm depending on my accusope chart while im sighting at the range. I can only still get 2 inch groups at 100 yards. Im gonna sight it at 200 this week. But is that normal 2"groups at 100 yards?. It's an '06 74 sportmaster. I am shooting 165 gr PSP. All remington.