The best 500m cartridge

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6BR or 1 of its improved versions eg 6BRX, Dasher, 6BRA , ya cant go wrong with 103 to 108 gr bullets, great accurate caliber  

Hi Harry

There are certainly a lot more people on this forum, that have been doing this a lot longer than I, who could probably answer your question a lot better. I on the other hand not only have to  pay for my addiction to this sport but have to pay for my daughters also so I spend a great deal of time reading and asking question to try get the best value for my money.   To answer your question bluntly Yes you could be competitive and even win a match with a 223 but realistically No you aren't going to do it unless you are an exceptional shot and  the conditions were perfect for  you on the day.  While the 90gr 223 projectile theoretical can match the 155 gr 308 projectile they both give up a lot of wind drift to just about all of the other cartridges used in the fly shoot.  You mention the big 30 for long range,  my understanding is a lot of people are moving away from the 30 in favour of the 7mm now as you can achieve  better ballistics for less recoil and less money. The 6mm Dasher has won many long range matches and holds a few 1000 yds records also from what I undestand. This article "Whats wrong with the .30 cal"  written by Brain Litz ( a Berger Ballistician I believe) is certainly worth a read:

http://www.appliedballisticsllc.com/Articles/ABDOC110_WhatWrong30Cal.pdf

If you  spend some time punching numbers into any one of the numerous online ballistics calculators you'll quickly see "theoretically" one of the 7mm such as the 7 SAUM, 7mm Shehane etc will shoot inside most 6mm and 30 cal cartridges when you start to push the 180gr vlds up near 3000fps.




It's certainly worth heading over to Accurate shooter (http://www.accurateshooter.com) if you haven't already done so, and perusing their articles. I would pay particular interest to the 6mmbr, 6br imp and 7mm cartridge guide.

 As Stuart has mentioned you really can't go wrong with any of the 6mm/improved and I'm certain if you walk down the line at any fly shoot and look at the results you will see they dominate LG for a good reason.  Personally if I was to choose just one for 500m It would have to be a 6BR,  you can readily buy cases for them negating the need to fireform etc, they are extremely easy to tune, use little powder to achieve a  substantial velocity, are more than capable of putting all 5 shots into the 10 ring if you do your part (which incidentally I have never done  ) and hopefully you'll get more than 2000 rounds from a barrel,  unlike a 6.5x284 were 900 to 1200 seems to be the norm.  

The "Most popular light gun chambering" & "The Perfect Fly rifle" thread on this forum would be worth a read also.

But as a wise man once told me it doesn't matter how accurate your round is you still have to learn how to steer it.

Thanks Peter

I enjoyed your comments above and would love to own a 6mmBR myself one day.

Cheers


Dave

Can't beat the 6 Dasher.