G,day all from down under. I'm thinking about building a .338 Whisper for rifle silhouette. Do you think this will be ok at 500 meters for the rams?

Welcome, Leadlauncher!

After taking a look at the "Point Blank" data for the 338 "Whisper" (300 gn. Sierra HPBT @ ~1180 fps MV?), I don't think that is the cartridge I would pick for HP Silhouette. The bullet probably has enough momentum (985 fps/646 FtLbs energy) to knock over the Ram, but the trajectory is not satisfactory - it drops 357" from 100 yd. zero at 550 yards (it takes 1.5 seconds to get there). That is almost as much total drop as my 308 Win at 1000 yds, and many more MOA (40 vs. 60).

I have been using a 260 Rem w/139 gn. Scenars lately, and have only "rung" one Ram thus far (hit the edge on the top of the back), but I think that 7-08 Rem w/168s (for the Rams) is a better combination, w/140-150s for the Chicken, Boar, Turkeys.

Just my $.02,

Bill

(Edited to replace "mm" with "-08" after the "7".... I sure didn't mean 7 Rem Mag!...)

[ 12-03-2003, 17:00: Message edited by: Bill M ]

I have to agree with Bill, for silhouette you are better off using a light bullet going faster than a heavy one moving slower. The heavier bullet just requires to much hold over when moving from the closer silhs to the ram.

You might want to consider a normally long throated 6.5x55 and the sierra 155grain hpbt match king for the rams and any good 140gr. for the rest.Don't handicap yourself with any of the short necked short throated .308 offspring.
That's my penney and a half.

silhouette is not buffalo shooting

cost is important , 300 SMK is a very costly bullet if you want a real silhouette caliber start with a 6.5 mm from imp BR case as 6.5 TKS with 140 grian bullet no need of 155 SMK ( the worth bullet from Sierra , old design poor BC , and poor accuracy )

6.5x55 can be the way BUT with a short throat , SAAMI throat is more a smooth bore than a target bore , most reamer make produce match reamer with regular match throat to allo wgood accuracy
260 REM is nice and easy to reload , 7.08 too

good shooting

DAN TEC