300 Win Mag for Long Range?

Vortex is having a hard time filling orders for the Viper HS LRs. Demand is high. I am hoping it should be in sometime in the next two weeks.

ssliger, I will keep you posted.

Good scopes for a long-range setup are:

Top-o-the-line: Premier Tactical, Zeiss Hendsoldt, Schmidt and Bender, Steiner, March

Next tier: SWFA SS HD (best value), Nightforce, Leupy Mark 4, Vortex Viper PST/HS LR, Weaver Tactical

Budget: Fixed power SWFA SS

The above are scopes made for dialing.

Reticle based scopes for long range include:

Swarovski z3,z5,z6 with BRH or ballistic reticle.
Zeiss Diavari or Conquest w/ Rapid Z reticle.
Pride Fowler Rapid Reticle scopes.

I put a zeiss Rapid Z 800 on top of my savage model 111 long range hunter in 300 win mag. kicks less than a 270 with the muzzle brake, but you will want to wear hearing protection.

Are the tactical dials idiot proof? What do I need to know if I was to go that route? I have not got into reloading, I've inherited some reloading supplies and am going to try it out someday. Do i need a chronograph for the dial turrets to know my exact velocity? Thanks for the suggestions.

Nothings Idiot proof! The ones I know about are from Leupold and are custom made for my loads and yes you need to chronograph the load. If you go to Leupolds webpage they give you all the parameters you need to supply to them.

After I got mine I went out a started shooting it a longer ranges (400 to 500 yds) after I had it sighted in. I did find that I had to dial in about 50 yds more that what was on the turret at both ranges. But once I knew how it shot, I have never had any problems moving the dial around and getting repeatability of bullet impact.

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Originally Posted by ssliger

Are the tactical dials idiot proof? What do I need to know if I was to go that route? I have not got into reloading, I've inherited some reloading supplies and am going to try it out someday. Do i need a chronograph for the dial turrets to know my exact velocity? Thanks for the suggestions.

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Shooting long range is an involved process no matter which way you do it. A chronograph is essential equipment to me, but the work doesn't end there. Your chronographed muzzle velocities and published bullet Ballistic Coefficients (BCs) are a place to start. You use that info in a ballistic calculator (like JBM) to get data for your load. This should get you close. Then you need to verify and adjust your information with in-the-field shooting. Then you need to understand how elevation and temperture changes affect your drops.

After you get all that down pat, then you need to learn the voodoo of doping wind, and that is a bugger.

BDC reticles are approximate only. You need to verify and adjust those as well. Same with custom dials like those available from Leupold (CDS) and Vortex.

It is kind of complicated to get into, but pretty fun too.

Thanks for the advice. I needed to get this straightened out. I knew a lot was involved. I want to make sure all my ducks were in a row. You watch some of these advertisements and they make you feel as if it's as easy as point and click. I think I will start saving my gift certificates for the scope and try my hand at reloading.

Personally, I much prefer MOA or Mil turret adjustments vs a CDS type knob. With the CDS knobs you are limited to the load you had it set up for, as well as other atmospheric conditions. Say you live in the flat lands of ND for example, and want to take that rifle on a high altitude hunt. Your turrets will be off more than you can imagine. For LR work, 500+, that won't work out too well for you.

Get a MOA or Mil system, and learn how to use it. You'll be far better off in the end.

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Originally Posted by ssliger

You watch some of these advertisements and they make you feel as if it's as easy as point and click.

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Those guys are selling something, and it isn't responsible shooting. It just isn't that simple.

Investing in a legitimate long range precision marksman training (talk to your local Law Enforcement Agency), is a great way to get started the right way.

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Originally Posted by Whisky

Personally, I much prefer MOA or Mil turret adjustments vs a CDS type knob. With the CDS knobs you are limited to the load you had it set up for, as well as other atmospheric conditions. Say you live in the flat lands of ND for example, and want to take that rifle on a high altitude hunt. Your turrets will be off more than you can imagine. For LR work, 500+, that won't work out too well for you.

Get a MOA or Mil system, and learn how to use it. You'll be far better off in the end.

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That is interesting, Whisky, I also find somewhere past 500 is where those approximate systems lose their precision. I am with you, understanding angular measurement is the first crucial step to precision long range shooting.

I'm relatively new to long range shooting but have been doing my research, for me the best piece of information was the dvd i bought "the art of the precision rifle" by Magpul dynamics. lots of good information on there and its 10 hours long. they teach you how to dope the wind and do elevation drops and use ballistic solvers, and they aren't trying to sell you a ballistic turret either. I've had my order for a vortex viper pst in for awhile, not gonna be here till june :( oh and if you are looking to get a ballistic solver like the JSM or the ATRAG from Horus vision, you might want to wait a little bit, Horus is coming out with a version that will work on your smart phone, so you won't need to carry around a PDA with all the other stuff!