Choosing a caliber

[Lorenzo]

So far I have been shooting tons of .17 hmr and .22 lr just to get practice in and realistically the close places I have to shoot max out around 350-400 yards and anything centerfire would probably be too loud. I do however make a hour+ drive sometimes on the weekends to get out to some grasslands where the sky is the limit distance wise. I cant really decide, I do 75-80% long range (micro long range for now pushing he rimfires to their limits) target shooting. Starting out shooting paper at 100 just to make sure everything is good with atmospheric changes then moving out to cinder blocks, steel plates etc out to 400 with the .17 and out to 300 with the .22. I want to get a centerfire and get into reloading and start going for farther and farther distances. I think .223 because its so widely available and cheap, lots of gun and ammo choices, then I think either .204 or 22-250 for some nice flat long range shooting, then I think get a .308 or .243 and then maybe get a 260 and 7mm08 barrel and really go for it. Thing is anything bigger than the .204, 22-250 and .223 I am only going to be able to shoot out on the planes with a pretty far drive. So this is making me lean towards the smaller stuff. Since I dont hunt very much and if I do its not anything bigger than prairie dogs, crows and other over populated varmits and mostly just like shooting targets and other more reactive stuff like cinder blocks, milk jugs and such. The .223, .204, 22-250 and .243 and really standing out to me but I would also really like to try .308, .260 and 7mm08 even though I really dont need bullets that heavy. Any suggestions? I'm thinking just slowly work my way up from small to big.

[Robinhood]

223 or 243 are perfect. The smaller projectiles and case of the 223 make it inexpensive to reload. The 243 is capable of shooting looooong range. The larger cases us more powder and the are more expensive to load.

[yobuck]

I would agree with Robinhood. Id next be getting a 243.

[fgw_in_fla]

Why not grab any short action caliber and start doing a little barrel swapping.

You know you're going to end up there anyway.

I agree with the guys above. .243 is a great place to start you addiction. Later on you can pick up a nice .308 barrel from the classifieds or even get a new pipe from Jim "Galvanized Pipe" Apache.

[yobuck]

Why not grab any short action caliber and start doing a little barrel swapping.

You know you're going to end up there anyway.

I know some guys who build their own fishing rods also Frank.
One guy quit fishing because he likes building rods so much lol.

[jpdown]

The nice thing is you can work your way up with a switch barrel Savage. I started out like many with a .223 but then moved on to the .204. Hornady factory loads give some pretty impressive ballistics in the .204 when compared to the 22-250 with less powder and little recoil. And you can save up some good brass when you decide to take the next step and start loading your own. Once your into reloading then IMO, the 243 or the 6mmBR are a good choice. I tried the 243 for a while, but finally settled on the 6mmBR. I found the 6mmBR easier to load for and very accurate when you need to go long. And the results with a 6mm varmint bullet are pretty impressive on PDogs and water bottles.

[Hotolds442]

Once you figure out which caliber to get, you'll then have to decide what chambering in that caliber you want to go with......

[Bimmer]

There are guys over on M4C.net shooting .223 at 1,000yds...

Given how cheap and ubiquitous it is, I would go that route.

[Lorenzo]

So if I get a savage bolt action "chambered" in .223 with .223 "caliber" bullet what other calibers can I get barrel wise? Can i get barrels for anything smaller than a .223 like .204 and .22-250?

[Hotolds442]

Yes, your cartridge choices are only limited by the action length and the bolt head compatibility.
Pretty much anything between 17 Remington and 458 Winchester with a few exclusions.

ETA: 22/250 is larger than a .223 Remington, not smaller.

[Dennis]

All mentioned are good rifles.

Maybe a 6BR, and 6BRX, or a 6Dasher! Or stick with the 243.

[fgw_in_fla]

I know some guys who build their own fishing rods also Frank.
One guy quit fishing because he likes building rods so much lol.

Yeah, I know a guy that spends so much time tying his own flies he doesn't have time to fish. He does a real nice job of it, too.
And, living on the ocean front makes it a little tough to try 'em out, too.


Hey Lorenzo, why not just go for broke. Start off with a nice man sized caliber. Maybe the 458 Win or better yet, 338 Lapua Mag.
How about a nice 416 Rigby?

[YDKDY]

I'd start with a .223 then get a second rifle later in a 6mm or 6.5 for the real long range stuff.

[foxx]

You're still young, so just close your eyes and pick one. If you stay with Savage you can afford to have em all before you're done. :)

[darkker]

You're still young, so just close your eyes and pick one. If you stay with Savage you can afford to have em all before you're done. :)


+1!!

[scope eye]

It's really not that complicated calibers are like private jets, get the biggest one you can afford, I am currently saving up for a G5.:peep:

Dean

[LoneWolf]

I like the 243, but am debating about going to 6 Creedmoor or 6x47 Lapua due to their improvements over the 243. Currently, I run 115 DTAC's at 2950fps with only 40g of H100V. That will easily get you to 1K very accurately.

[yobuck]

This is probably not the best place to be looking for easy answers. lol

[BarrelNuts]

This is where having so many options becomes more of a pain than its worth almost... but I agree with Foxx's sentiment; beautiful thing is you can own more than one so... if right now you're primarily concerned with edging in to the center fire cartridges and are looking for something that you can shoot more, and shoot closer to home... sounds like .223 or .243 are probably your best bets. With getting into reloading you can push either of those pretty far out there. Once you're at the point where you feel you have maxed those out then go for a bigger bore if you want... just buy a new barrel and change out the bolt face as needed. Like yobuck said everyone here has their opinions on this and you are probably going to end up more torn between the options after you read all of this than you were before because everyone has a favorite... and has darn good reasons usually why that is their go-to for what you described. If it were me, I'd go 50 BMG and build a house at that place where you can go really long because 'Murica that's why.

[Bimmer]

... sounds like .223 or .243 are probably your best bets.

I hate to be conformist, but it's exponentially easier/cheaper to shoot a standard military round than a relatively oddball commercial round.

Starting out, I wouldn't do anything but .223 or .308.



Once you're at the point where you feel you have maxed those out then go for a bigger bore if you want... just buy a new barrel and change out the bolt face as needed.

I wouldn't bother with this, either... This would cost almost as much as another rifle, and then he'd still have only one rifle. Better to just buy another gun when the time comes!