My votes the 7mag just because that's what I shoot. I wouldn't be worrying about ammo prices if I was building a custom rifle to shoot 500+ yards

I am not a fan of the 7mag. But, your reasons for not wanting one do not hold water. I bullet can not be going "to fast" to mushroom.

Just bite the bullet and get a .416 Barrett. Using the 400 gr bullet with 3250 fps and 9380 ft/lbs at the muzzle, it's good for a solid kill out to 2500 yds, and the only people who could even consider looking down you at long ranges would be those with the .50 BMG rifles, and how many of those do you know?

The thing to consider when looking at those energy and velocity numbers is to remember that a 45ACP at point blank range with a hot load pushing a 165gr Cor-Bon will deliver 573 ft-lbs if you stick the muzzle on the target.

A 10mm Auto loaded with a 155gr JHP will produce about 550 ft-lbs at the muzzle.

My 125gr Gold Dots in my 357sig deliver 584 ft-lbs of energy at the muzzle.

All three of those are extremely brutal rounds. I killed a 200-lb buck with my 357sig at 60 yards with a single shot to the chest a few years back. DRT.



A 168gr 308 will deliver more than twice the energy you can get from any of those pistol rounds at point blank, but can do it at 600-yards.

But it's not enough to kill a whitetail? How many whitetail deer do you know who can withstand a double-tap at point blank range from a 45, 10mm, 357mag, or 357sig?



The problem with the 308 is the lighter bullets. You must stay supersonic to maintain bullet stability. The 308 enters transsonic velocities at around 650-yards with a 168gr bullet. That's why the military lists its max range at 650 and not because of lack of energy. When a bullet drops from supersonic to transonic to subsonic, the pressure wave collapsing on the bullet will make it yaw and go off course. If the max range is 600, then the 308 is perfectly fine for the job. If the max range is 700 yards, then you MUST go bigger/faster/louder/pricier.

7mm WSM, shooting bout a 140 grain bullet, whoa nelly!
I like a .308 and 7-08 out to about 400, you're wantin' to get to 600 need a little more gitty up, IMHO.

The caliber you want is the 257 Weatherby.Shoot the Barnes TTSX.

7mm WSM = 7mm Rem Mag = 270 Win for the most part. Very little difference between them.




257 WMag pushing a 117gr at 3300 FPS looks like this. (essentially same velocity as a 308 but with 300 less ft-lbs of energy)



It's flatter, but its under 1000 ft-lbs at 600 yards. Good bit lower than a 30-cal bullet at that distance.

Since your turning turrets any decent flat shooting caliber .260 or above will whack a deer at 700+ yards.
The bullet is of more importance. .600+ BC @ 2800+ FPS will get you where you need to be. Make sure the barrel is twisted for a long bullet.
My choice would be the 162 A-max in a 7-08 at 2800, but I'm curious to see how the new 168gr ALR will perform.

The MOST important aspect is practice, practice, practice.

I agree 100%.

Since PRACTICE is the most important aspect of making a great - not just good, but GREAT - shot at 600-yards on a whitetail, then you must consider cost of practice and amount of recoil so that you get enough practice to begin with.

Only problem with 7mm08 is that you get into transsonic speeds at 600-yards with most factory rounds. The 162gr AMAX @ 2800fps looks really good though!

What I shoot thru mine is about 150 ft per faster than 7mm rem mag and a .270 ain't even close. 257 weatherby would also be a good choice, for deer, I'd rather have a little more shooting critters so big they call the males bulls and the females cows.

So you shoot a 140gr bullet at approximately 3400 FPS?

If you're pushing a 140gr @ 3400, then you are getting on up there in the power band at 600yds.



Compared to 270 and 7mm Rem Mag...

well i owned a 7 mag for 5 years and distinctly remember shooting a buck 5 times with it and then having to drown him in a beaver pond after i used all 8 of the bullets i had on me. shots between 250 to 50 yds, when i shot him the first time he ran straight at me. i shot a coyote from 270 and you may have stuck a pencil in the exit hole. i killed probably 10 deer with that gun and only dropped 2. one of them was a doe i spine shot at 319 as she was trotting across the gasline and the other was a 6 point that was on the other side of a 2" pine sapling i dead centered. i was not impressed and i shot a variety of weights and different bullets.

Go to Long Range Hunting forum and start reading. Killing deer past 500 yards is not an easy thing to do. Stick with a high velocity round, I would look at the 6.5-284, 7stw, 300win or Wby mag, the RUMs, WSMs. After you find a gun get a quality 6.5-20 or similar scope with target turrets and start shooting long range until you can range, dope and hold sub MOA out to at least 800yds.


www.longrangehunting.com

Then you are shooting the wrong bullet for whitetails. Physics do not allow for a bullet to be traveling to fast to expand. The fasted it is going, the more rapid the expansion.

This is a common held misconception.

Bamachem you have officially taken 49er's spot as the copy and paster. Your data is solid I however go with years of knocking things down that are than steel at that range and that's what the millitary has done and give it a 650 max. Again why try and be at the end of the effective range when your gonna build. Go big or go home if you wanna reach out there then reach out there. All above calibers are a good choice just a matter of personal opinion at that point. In any way good luck take your time and do it right from the beginning

Yeah, not arguing with you. Sorry if it came across that way. It wasn't because of the effectiveness of the 168 at that range but more about the yaw and transonic degredation of accuracy.

Like you said, if you're going to shoot 600+, you need the right equipment. Only the one behind the trigger can make that choice based on their situation.

BTW, those aren't cut/paste, but screen captures off an app on my iPhone. All I have to do is input the velocity and sight height over CL of bore, then select the bullet I'm slinging from a table of manufacturers/dia/weight and hit calculate. It will even pull up the local weather data, including wind, or you can enter it yourself. I just used 100yds to 700yds in 100yd increments to make it easy to read.

of what you listed my vote would be 308 but Im another huge 7mag fan. I shoot Fed Fusions out of mine and NEVER had an experience even close to yours. You just shoot and go pick them up 90% of the time. The other 10, you walk 20-50yrds and pick them up. When mine rings off, I dont even go look for blood, I go get the truck.

No offense but maybe you shouldn't be shooting that far unless you put the time in behind the trigger. I've killed a lot of deer with my 7mag and like tc said I've had to trail one deer I shot at 200 yards behind the shoulder with a fail safe she ran maybe a 100-150 yards

There is a lot of good info above. The best is you need a LOT of bench time before you start shooting at deer that far.

Can you reload? If not, you need to learn to take full advantage of what you are trying to accomplish.

As far as the gun goes. If you want a Savage, fine. Take the barrel off and order another one in your caliber of choice from Sharp Shooters Supply. Then put a better stock on it. You don't have to spend $1,000 to have an upgrade.

I would go with a 7WSM or 7SAUM. Personally I try and stay away from the belted mags like the 7 mag or the 300 mag. The 7SAUM is as efficient as the 7WSM with less powder but brass is hard to come by unless you prep 300SAUM.

You can take this 7SAUM to 1200 yards and held just over 1/2 MOA if you do your part. It is more than lethal at 600 yards. It is also heavy