Quote Originally Posted by yobuck View Post
Everything has a price attached to it. That includes the WOW factor when shooting big cartridges at close targets.
Big hammers are nice to have for those times we need a big hammer. Or maybe think we need one lol.
But theres really nothing much to be gained by practicing with them under 1000 yds except the costly part of it all.
Sit behind and watch as a guy shoots a 308 and a 300 mag at 5 or 6 hundred yards and you wont see very much difference.
But the guy shooting will know the difference and obviously the steel targets will also.
This is the reason I've "downsized" a lot over the years. In my 20's I had to have the big boomer... had a .270 WSM, .30-06, 7mm Weatherby Magnum... right now my centerfire arsenal consists of a .270, .260, and a .25-06, and the .270 is hanging around for sentimental reasons. My longest shooting to date outside of svc rifle competition is 500 yards because that is all the room I have on the property. For hunting purposes I am not comfortable taking any shot longer than 300... lots of variables go into shooting from a modified rest 20 feet up a tree stand that don't come into play from a bench or bipod in the prone. For me the juice isn't worth the squeeze... or the recoil. The .25-06 has been my go-to deer rifle of late and 115 gr. ballistic tips drop them where they stand assuming I do my job. No sense wasting meat just to say I killed it deader with a larger bore. That being said... there is a new range about a two hour drive from here that goes to 1k; next build is going to be purely for long range target so the big boomers are in contention; but I will most likely go with a 6.5-06 or similar.