Well around here on the farm we have land that would let me shoot that distance. I am not new to hunting, and have been gun hunting for 8 years or so with my uncles 7mag. I just used that every year and have finally decided to purchase my own rifle. The 500 was just a number i threw out there as i plan on going elk hunting and if it came down to it with practice and all that i would be confident at that kinda yardage. Just wondering on the gun and scope that would give me a chance to do this. I know it will take some knowledge on my end.

If you want to consistently (key word) make 500 yrd shots on big game, a factory sporter rifle probably won't cut it. I would look at a Sendero...

Bigbuck,


How about looking into this in either .270 or .30-06


http://www.gunblast.com/Marlin-XL7.htm




With one of these on it.


http://www.opticsplanet.net/burris-4...le-scopes.html

I recommend Savage rifles. With the money I saved, I had a Savage stainless steel Weather Warrior dipped in Realtree AP camo just because I wanted a different looking gun (compared to my walnut and blue). I sanded down the seams before having it dipped and it looks very cool. It's accurate too. I dropped the savage pad, not that it wasn't good, it was very soft, but it started falling apart when I screwed and unscrewed it a couple of times. I purchased a limbsaver which fits better than the stock pad (IMO).

ok, maybe i set my expectations to high. Lets just say 300 or so yards instead of 500. The only reason i was going with 500 was just throwing out a yardage that might be atainable out west elk hunting. Around this area would be more like 300 max in most places and I most under that. Well just looking for brand recommendations in 300 win mag and a scope that would work good out to 400-500 yards. Thanks for the recommendations and this would be a hunting rifle. Not for competition. Maybe I was a little far with the 500 yards but i figured out west i could see shots that far. The only way I would take that kinda shot is if i was confident in it and had practiced that range and the conditions were right.

Yep thats why I recommend the Sendero or even a 700P, you can still get a .300 WinMag also. A little heavy for all day packing, but great LR rigs for the price...

...........A lot of outfitters won't even let you take a shot much past 300 yds., even if you feel confident in it.

Shooting long range off a bench rest is entirely different fron doing it in a hunting situation. The first time that I attempted a 300 yard shot at a deer fron the sitting position, I didn't have anything to rest the rifle on. I just had my elbows on my knees, and everytime my heart made a beat the crosshairs left the deer. The 300 mag kicks like a mule, I'd rather use something like a .308 or a 30-06. Ammo is cheaper so you can shoot more often, and they have more than enough power out to 300 yards.

Hard to go wrong with a popular rifle. You're not going to notice much difference in performance once you've gotten the features you want. I reload for my rifles and my friends' as well. Remington, Savage, Ruger, Kimber (I'm partial to the cosmetics of the 700)--they're all good performers from my experience. The 300mag has very manageable recoil. A lot of today's rifles are already equipped with recoil pads which work wonders. I can't tell much difference in recoil between my 7mag that came with a pad and my 25-06 that doesn't have one.

Distance shooting can be difficult. I can say that a 6" orange target looks mighty small at 500 yards through a 12x scope, and even difficult to locate in a 9x. As big as a deer or elk's vitals are though, it's not out of reason to gain the talent to hit this. 400yds is about the breaking point in 'ease' I'd say. After here, most full-power loads start dropping substantially and accurate range estimation is a must. I'm from mule deer country, and most shots are about 200yds, and with any skill of stalking you can usually get within 300yds of a distant target. Regardless, there's nothing wrong with the bragging rights of having distance-shooting capabilities in your bag of tricks. It's the really close, or really long shots that are the best stories IMO.

Summarized-- you should be fine with any rifle you want if it has the features you like. It'll take practice and memorization, but long shots aren't impossible.

As for a rifle I'll also recommend the new Savage Weather Warrior Series. I just purchased one, equipped with the AccuStock and AccuTrigger setup's and I love it. I have my chambered in .308 but there was a .300 Win Mag I also looked at and held. Out of box performance was excellent with groups right around one inch at 100 hundred yards with cheap Winchester factory ammo.

I put a Burris FullField II scope on my Savage 3x9x40mm with the Ballistic Plex reticle. I wouldn't hesitate to take a shot out to 250 or 300 yards with my setup. I looked at scopes from $100 up to about $800 and decided I liked the $199 Burris over the Leupold VX-III I was looking at next to it. I don't know why, but the Burris seemed a lot clearer to me, I could be wrong overall but I'm just relaying my personal experience.

I will say learning to handload has been great fun, and will really improve your accuracy. I haven't shot any of my test loads for the new rifle, so I can't comment to handloaded accuracy yet, but I have a few test rounds ready for the range.