What is the most accurate rifle cartridge?

Question

7mm, 30-06 what?

Okay, taking the rifle out of the equation. For long distance shooting 600-1000yrds what is the best cartridge.

Answer 1

As I read the question, it's not a choice between 7mm vs. 30, 06, but which rifle cartridge is the most accurate....and what competitive target shooters would be the most accurate, because why would they use it otherwise?

My roomate is a competitive shooter, one of the best women the country ranked by the NCAA in air rifle and smallbore. She says that 6mm rifles are by far the most accurate and that in the sport of competitive benchrest shooting every record in the US held by 6PPC caliber shooters and in Eurpoe 6BR Norma caliber.

Yay, I win!

Answer 2

The 7mm and 30-06 cartridges are just average.

The short and fat cartridges are fundamentally more accurate, shot to shot, than the long narrow cartridges. They are more consistant and that makes them more accurate.

That's why the 6mm PPC is highly accurate.

Yes, the rifle and the shooter make more difference. But at the high end the rifles and the shooters are all superb and the accuracy of the cartridge becomes significant again.

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What is the most accurate rifle cartridge?
7mm, 30-06 what?

Answer 4

That is like asking what is the best tasting fruit.

There are many variables in accuracy not least of which is the shooter.
There are cartridges that are use in various types of competative shooting which have had a great deal of research done to make them more accurate. There are several flavors of Match 22 ammunition and there is a great deal of long range (1000yard) shooting done with the 7.62 Nato round. Then there are a bench rest cartridges such as the 6mm PPC that shoot a ten shot group that is one ragged hole at 100 yards.

In terms of hunting rounds that have a reputation for 200 yard accuracy, the 7mm Remmington magnum has a good reputation but so does 20 or 30 other rounds. Some guns are very picky and will shoot one load very well while being so so with everything else.

Answer 5

What is better for long distance shooting up to a thousand yards??? All modern rifles are as accurate as the shooter but to hit anything with any degree of accuracy at a thousand yards takes a really good shooter and really good optics. Most people who ask this question have never seen a target at that distance and a thousand yards is just a number to them.

Unless you are Carlos Hathcock forget the .30-06 and forget the ballistically similar 7mm Remington Mag. Get a .338 Lapua then train and practice, practice, practice...

Good luck.

H

Answer 6

Tom Sarver, proprietor of Thunder Valley Range, a Medina, Ohio native, broke two International Benchrest (IBS) 1,000-yard benchrest records July 7, 2007 in Plainfield, Ohio. Using his light gun class rifle, Mr. Sarver scored a perfect 50 with five "X’s".



The record breaking five shot group measured 1.403 inches from the center to center. His perfect score of 50 was located in the exact center of a 42 inch x 42 inch target with a 2-inch diameter x ring.



Tom broke the record at the IBS association sanctioned match at Thunder Valley Range. Mr. Sarver captured the two records with a custom designed wildcat cartridge. He has coined his design the .300 Hulk, which is patterned after the .338 Lapua magnum case that has been modified to .30 caliber.


http://www.gunsandammomag.com/1000record_071207/


Pics and stuff of the Tom, the rifle and cartridge.

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/1601411/page/1

Answer 7

Probably the 6mm PPC is the most inherently accurate, but there's really no way to know, because it's the least important factor and gets "lost in the shuffle." The rifle is a lot more important, with heavy bolt guns tending to be most accurate. And more important still is the "nut behind the bolt," who makes the whole thing work. Certainly the inherent accuracy of hunting calibers, for hunting, is completely irrelevant.

Answer 8

Lets say, Just for Giggles, 6.5 X 55 mm Swedish Mauser in the typical Match load. According to ballistics data from SIERRA it has better 1000 yard numbers than the .30/06 Springfield Match round.

Answer 9

If you're wanting to know what the most accurate rifle & round combination is. The best "extreme" long range combo that I know is the Barrett Model 99 in .416 Barrett
http://www.barrettrifles.com/rifle_99.aspx

Answer 10

600-100Yd.s?
You want at least a 30Cal. for the bullet weight
to buck the wind. You want some speed.
Try a 300 Win. Mag. (It's a bit of shoulder-buster
though, especially in prone, where your shoulder
soaks up ALL the recoil.)