I am wanting to do 500-700 yard shooting with my Winchester m70 Featherweight. I know this gun really isn't suited for that but I'm just wanting to try it. Any suggestion for bullet type and weight, powder, or anything else would be appreciated

Before you go nuts trying to work up a long range target load, buy a box of Federal Match Ammo. If you can't hit with this, the gun isn't up to it. Of course, this assumes that you are good enough to be shooting at that range in the first place. I'm not trying to put you down, but as a competition shooter I know what the problems of long range are. It ain't easy

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Jay
"For God and Country"

43 grains of varget, 168 gr. sierra's match, lapua brass, fed primers. 2.800 oal. this is all you will ever need. out performs fed. gold medla consistently.

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Originally posted by nic_gordon:
I am wanting to do 500-700 yard shooting with my Winchester m70 Featherweight. I know this gun really isn't suited for that but I'm just wanting to try it. Any suggestion for bullet type and weight, powder, or anything else would be appreciated

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nic_gordon-

First post? Welcome!

My load is very close to shooter65's.

I use 42.0 grs of Varget, 168 Sierra MK, LC Match brass, WLR primers, seated to fit "my" rifle. (Experiment a little with yours). It will shoot one hole groups at 100 yds, and has shot a sub-6" group (5 shots) at 750 yards.

Good luck!

.....and my favorite load is a little warmer than the rest!! 44gr Varget and 168gr SMK out of my brother's Savage 12BVSS. LC88 brass, CCI200 primers, and just touching the lands. This load shoots sub 4" at 500 yards. That is the longest range I have access to.

What's so hard about shooting 500 yards, at a target with a .308W? All you do is aim higher!

I killed a unlucky woodchuck once with the 125 Sierra out of a 30/06. The bullet hit in front of it's den and ricocheted up and hit that chuck really hard.

At 500/600 yards the .30's are just getting going.

Of course a special target load may be best but I bet a hunting load with say the 165 BT Game King would do fine.

I can consistently hit milk jugs at 500 yards with my FAL . It was not that hard but 1000 yards is a whole other ball game . I had a hell of a time keeping it on a silhouette with my most accurate bolt action . That is hard and is what separates the men from the boys. (I would be sitting with the boys ) I had no idea till I tried it .

The recipe on the lable of the Hodgdon cannister of Varget (the best .308 match powder available, by the way ), list 46.0 grains of Varget with the 168 grain Sierra Matchking. I and several of my friends have tried this and it's not over pressure at all--at least not in our rifles. I would imagine that if it were a dangerous load, Hodgdon wouldn't put the recipe on their powder cans.

Anyway, work up to this level, starting at around 43 grains or so, watching for pressure signs.

I have shot at 600 yards with a 22" barreled Remington 788 and found that if the barrel is allowed to cool sufficiently, it does very well.

The 46.0 grain Varget load is considerably faster than the Fed Gold Medal round, so it drops less, and is less affected by wind. If your rifle will shoot this load, that's the one I'd use.

Seat the bullet to an OAL of 2.850 to 2.870 and you'll be about right. Oh yeah, use CCI BR primers if you can find them, and CCI 200's if you can't.

You'll get bitten by a curious little bug when you start hitting targets at 600 yards ...

By the way, you can purchase a Savage 10FP (heavy barrel tactical) for around 400 dollars, and shoot every bit as well (often better) than the 2000 dollar plus custom rifles will. Mine shoots 1.5 to 1.75 inch groups at 600 yards fairly routinely--and that's about as hard as I can hold...

Good luck!

Dan Newberry
green 788

nic_gordon. The main "mechanical" problem for your long range shooting may be your scope. Some regular hunting scope setups may not have enough "UP" for the distance you want to shoot. I have seen some scope/mount systems run out of "UP" as close as 400 yds. Starting with a 100 yd. zero, you need about 17.5 minutes up at 600yds.,22.5 min. up at 700 yds., and 28.5 min up at 800 yds with federal 168 gr. match. To check your scope try one of these methods. #1. using a bore scope, adjust your elevation knob up until the reticle stops moving. [it will move down in the bore scope]. On some scopes the knob still turns after the reticle stops moving. the number of inches up you have can be counted with this method. #2. If you do not have access to a bore scope, at the range at 100 yds place your "aiming" target at the bottom of the target holder. Place enough paper above your aiming mark to see bullet impacts about 3 feet above where you are aiming. Fire one shot to confirm your 100 yd. zero, then aiming at the same target adjust your scope up 10 minutes ie. 10 inches high at 100 yds. Shoot another shot at plus 20 inches, plus 30 inches. If your scope will shoot 30 inches high at 100 yds. you should have enough "UP" for about 800 yds with Federal 168 match. If not a change in scope, bases, or a "shim job" may be necessary. Good luck.

Case: Lapua
Primer: Federal F210M (Gold Medal)
Powder: 44g VihtaVouri N140
Bullet: Nosler J4 168g

I've shot some really small ones with this load.

Shooting 500 yard targets is a lot of fun. 46.6 grains of varget and 125 grain nos. ballistic tips handle it well, as long as there is no wind. Have you ever tryed tracers? You can buy the pulled bullets from Widener`s (800)615-3006, for about 80$/1000 .I shoot them in my savage 110 .308 and they are a lot of fun when it`s about about dark and when there has been some rain, because they are a fire hazzard.I take surplus fmj ammo and swap bullets. Not real accurate but i can hit a 3x3 foot steel plate around 20% of the time at a half mile. I don`t think i would shoot them in my expensive benchrest rifle, but after several hundred rounds through the ole savage it still groups the same. So tracers haven`t hurt it. And like i say, lots of fun.