Best long range rifle for white tail

Hard to beat a 270/280 set up right. I've been reading a lot and a lot of the magnums hold a very slim edge over those 2 calibers for most hunting situations depending on how you zero it. This is for 4-500 yard shots. Not sure how long you are talking about.

Not real long range about 3-400. I'm thanking about switch to 130 gr and see how far it caries 0 to whatever it will reach before dropping. I shoot a 270 150 gr

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That 150 will do it all day long as you know what your trajectory is. I killed several deer effectively out to 450 yards with my 280 I had.

Excerpted from Chuck Hawkes
These cartridges have a trajectory flat enough to allow a point blank range (where the bullet neither rises nor falls more than 3" above or below the line of sight) extending from the muzzle to somewhere around 296-306 yards. Zero a scoped rifle so that the bullet hits about 2.5 high at 100 yards and it will strike about 3" high at 150 yards, roughly 2.3" high at 200 yards, and about 3" low at 300 yards. This will allow solid hits without "holding over" on medium size big game animals (like most North American deer) out to approximately 300 yards or a little farther.

Our standard of comparison, a .270 shooting the 130 grain bullet, has a maximum point blank range (MPBR) of 305 yards according to the Rifle Trajectory Table. The MPBR is the distance at which the bullet falls 3" below the line of sight. Very few hunters that I have met can shoot well enough in the field to take full advantage of that trajectory.

Browse through some ballistics tables.

Drop at 300 yards will vary by 2 or 3 inches tops among the most common whitetail cartridges. For instance, drop of 5.0 inches for one cartridge vs. drop of 7.5 inches for another.

Bottom line: I don't think it matters. If you're a good enough marksman to confidently take a 300 yard shot at a big game animal, then you will have practiced enough with your gun/cartridge/load of choice at that range to know how much it will drop.

If you haven't done that work, then don't shoot at that range.

Exactly! If you have been using the same box of ammo for the last 5 years then dont take the shot. I dont understand guys who shoot a couple shots the week before season comes in to make sure their gun "is still on" then think they are a sniper on the powerlines/clearcuts.

It's hard to be the 270 and I'm not a fan of magnums. If you feel like you HAVE to have a magnum 270 WSM is a really nice round.

if you were going to shoot really long range something in a 6.5 would give you good BC. Just about anything can shoot 400. The limiting factor will be you.

I've always thought a 7mag shooting a 139gr bullet would be a great long range set-up. My 7-08 micro will do 300 all day. That's really not considered long range though.

But what is the wind doing? Perpendicular to line of sight or at an angle? Consistent all the way to the target? There's more than just up/down to worry about.

if i were to build a power line/big game plot/clear cut rifle, one that would be shot off a shooting house window sill or such, i'd start with my macmillan bench rest stock for a long-action remington 700. it has been sitting around for years, waiting for me to put together a rifle. it is used, and was a gift.
that means a remington 700 long action. so, on to the chambering: if a belted magnum factory round, then probably 7mm remington magnum; if standard .462 case size, then .270 winchester.
if wildcat, then 6.5mm-'06 improved.

I don't know what you guys are talking about.... everyone on here knows they can shoot 700 yards and more than a few well over 1k. And that's with Factory ammo and little to zero practice.

That's why they've all got scopes with turrets. All they got to do is just "dial" it right up.

A 2 inch high at 100 zero will allow you a dead hold on out to 300 yards with more normal deer calibers...Thats not a long shot...

700 yards and I want a good shooting 6.5x284 with a Nightforce that has a 1000 reticle and a set of wind flags all the way to the target.

^

To actually try and answer the question....

.270 is hard to beat. So is .30-06 which gives a little more options for heavier bullets if your arsenal is going to be a smaller one, I'd give it more consideration.

I like 7mm Mag if I think I'm going to 300-400. I don't always shoot more than 300 yds., but when I do... I don't want to have to wonder which way they went. Past 400 in a hunting scenario is getting questionable IMO. Lots of things start to happen after you get past that distance.

I like 160's in my 7mm Mag for long range.

A 280Rem and 139g SST would be hard to beat.

168s and 180 bergers out of a 7mm are hard to beat. The 610 bc of the 168s and the .659 BC of the 180s buck the wind very well!