I want to try my hand at long range shooting (750 yards and way beyond). Not for competition right now but just to see if I can do it and get good at it. Before I drop a lot of $$$ on it though I’m thinking I’ll try it with my hunting rifle. I think the .270 Winchester will work well enough to let me find out more about what I might be getting into. So, I need guidance on your thoughts about which ammo to use or bullets to use for loading to get the best results at this. I’ve got a Remington 700 22’ barrel with I guess standard 1-10 twist. Thought about using my .243 700 but it won’t get me out that far I think.

The 270 Win is a great long range round. I learned to shoot long range on a 270 Win. With the right scope, it will work well. The main thing is bullet choice. You need a good bullet with a decent BC. Some of the top one's I've listed below. I shot the 135 grain Sierra Matchking as my long range bullet, but there are much better choices now. The 270 is 200-300 fps faster than a 308 Win with similar BC's. The main thing is going to be consistency in the ammo. You won't find any factory ammo that will work well at the longer ranges for consistency.


130, 140, or 150 grain Berger VLD
145 grain Hornady ELD-X
130, 140, 150 SST grain SST
Sierra 135 SMK
Sierra 140 grain Tipped Gameking

Excellent. Thank you Chad. Now to see if any of these are available in any stores or on the black market.

What Chad said…but don’t think the .243 won’t reach out there, an 87 grain Berger VLD (that will work in a standard 1/9 twist) will reach well beyond 1000 yards and stay supersonic to approx. 1200. They just won’t handle the wind as well.

Cool. Thx P_102, I’ll check into the 87 grain availability too. That would give me 2 options to work with. 2X the fun.

you have to have a scope that will allow you to dial in the corrections..
You don't need a ton of magnification, just good glass and preferably a first focal plane scope.

I’ve got good glass. Just need to get the ammo out to where I’m looking. 😁

243 would be fine to reach out to 800 as well.

Take that .270, put some 130 grain Core-lokts in it, hold about 4 feet over and adjust for wind.

I'm not knocking the 270 WIn, I love it, but if you're just target shooting the 243 may be a better choice if your barrel has fast enough twist to stabilize a 105-110 grain bullet, generally 1-8" twist. The 6mm Dasher is one of the top rounds for 1000 yd competition and 243 Rem is actually faster than it is.

I think I'm on the same general opinion that it's not your caliber selection that is your limitation.

A good bubble level is one thing that has a huge return in accuracy for the money, imho.

I would pick your .243 over your .270

Less recoil, making for follow-up corrected shots (you are going to miss)

Less powder, less barrel heat. More rounds fired before you have to completely stop and let the barrel cool.

Less expensive to shoot.

Some of the most fun I have on my range is with a .223 A.I. Laser beam of a rifle, almost zero recoil, cheap to shoot. A properly load regular .223 Rem is also a thousand yard cartridge. The .243 can most definitely do it!

I have played around with a 270 at 800 yards. It was capable of more but I ran out of room where I was shooting at 800. I settled on a 150 SST and H4831SC. H1000 is worth trying as well. The H1000 gave me more velocity but in my rifle it would not give the accuracy I get with H4831SC.
Good luck and be forewarned, it can become addictive and the fickleness of the wind will piss you off.

I have had my sons 270 out to 1200 with the 145 ELDX and a max load of H4831. It will get there for sure with the right bullet.

My .243 is 1-9 twist. Thought about changing barrels but that’ll have to wait.

Core-lokts are fantastic hunting bullets but they're rarely available as a component for reloading and they have a terrible ballistic coefficient which renders them useless at really long range.

You’re just not doing it right…

Keep the 1:9

Right ammo, it's easily an 800 yard rifle.

1/9 243 with berger 95 VLD's will work great. I shot PRS with a 6x45 and the 243 will push them way faster. I would avoid the 270 unless you have a spotter, you won't be able to see impacts and make corrections very well.

FiremanJG, would you be willing to share some reload data for your thousand yard .223 Remington. If you'd rather not share it on the Forum, I'll be glad to PM you my email address.

Thanks.

80 ELD
Max load of Varget
26" 1:7 barrel