Hi folks,
I'd appreciate any advice you have regarding choice of bullet for long range results in a factory Howa 1500 .308 barrel.
I'm basically down to a choice of Sierra bullets, because Berger is too pricey and I can't use Scenars where I shoot due to the damage they do to the steels. I have drifted towards the 155gr choices having originally looked at the 175gr. I was looking at the Sierra 2156 Palma Match, because of the incredible BC, but I heard somewhere that they can be fickle in factory chambers, so would you think I would be wiser to look at the old 2155?
The usual maximum range I will be shooting at will be around 600 yards, but occasionally I get the opportunity to move out to anywhere up to 1300. I was (over simplistically as I now realize) just looking for a nominal 1000 yard load that was above mach 1, but as both bullets will be transonic well before that I guess the goalposts have just been widened...
I was previously using PPU 168gr match bullets with satisfactory results (5/8moa), at least out to 500 yards, but in order to get them working well I had to send them at a very low velocity (2300) which means they are obviously not great as the range increases. I use Hornady 150gr SST as my deer load, giving 3/4moa at 2840fps, so I'm reasonably confident that the need to load light was a peculiarity of the PPU 168gr with my particular rifle.
I'd really appreciate any advice you can give me that would allow me to extract the best performance from the Howa up to the 1000 yard mark. I appreciate it is never going to be competition standard but that's not the objective, just to maximise what I have.
Cheers,
Mick