I am looking to build a long range rifle this winter. I have a 30-06 Savage model 110 I can start with or any suggestions would be appreciated. I am trying to keep the price down. I only get so much allowed for guns and I just recently got a REM. 700 sps Varmint 22-250 and a model 93 Savage 17 HMR. And I having been hearing about it everyday. I am interested in what calibers I can change the savage 110 30-06 rifle into. I have been thinking about a 6mm-284 but I am not sure if I can use the 30-06 to start with. If anyone could let me know what 1000+ yard calibers I can change it into I would greatly appreciate it.

Also does anyone know the maximum effective range for the 22-250 cartridge. I am reloading 55gr. nosler ballistic tips, 37gr. varget powder and winchester LR primers.

Hard to beat a 30-06 for 1kyds,although now many are useing .308 winchester and getting excellent results-for me the 308 is handicapped for using heavier bullets for better "wind bucking" qualities.30-06 took international 1kyd matches for many years!As for 22-250-unless you can see the bullet hit-probably 600yds and less,I'm sure that others will dispute this tho!

I just had a REM700 rebarreled and the bolt refaced to 300 winmag, for the same reason. I wanted to dial (1) then an area code when I pulled the trigger. Haven't had a chance to put furniture or glass on it yet. ($$$$$) For what Iam into it for I could have bought a new rifle, but the barrell is as big around as a my arm, and I need a fork lift to carry the damn thing. Hopefully she'll shoot.............................

The 22-250 with the 55 grainers will make clean kills out to 400+ yards on coyotes if you can do your part. You have to know your gun and how it behaves in the field.

Now the 30-06 - you can make that a 1000 yard gun as is. The drawback would be the recoil from shooting 175-190 grain A-max type bullets. I am pretty sure I do not want to burn 80 of those in a four gun match.I would highly recommend looking for some long range or F class matches in your area and try 500-600-800 yards with you 30-06 first. You will see what the long range shooters are using and learn from them how not to reinvent the wheel. Point Blank Software can help you get on target too.


A lot of the long range shooters are favoring the .260 Rem and other 6.5 cartridges. These are usually based on the short action .308 class cases. Pumkinslinger is a fan of this cartridge chambering. Maybe he will weigh in here too.


If you want to shoot a .224 at 1000 yards and hold MOA it is done quite regularly in match rifles BUT...They are using 80-90 grain VLD type bullets in a 1:6 twist, not 55 gr in a 1:9 or slower. When you watch the bullet wake of a .223 Rem 55 grain bullet at even 300 yards through a spotting scope you see them start to corkscrew and lose stablity. The 75 grain Match bullets I shoot fly true but at about 500 yards they start to drop off the table. Their bullet wake looks like a bottle rocket heading down range. The drop is about 9 feet! The 22-250 holds flatter with its greater speed but it is still blasted a lot by wind after you get past 300 yards.

Long range and ultra long range shooting requires a bullet with an extremely high BC and a lot of practice to read the wind.

Not to mention you may need to shim your scope to get enough elevation.

When I go from 200 to 600 yards on my AR I go up almost 12 MOA, That is 48 clicks. I have heard from those who shoot service rifles at 1000 yards that they have to crank the front post down to get enough adjustment form the rear sight and they go up 21 MOA for the 1000 yard zero. That is 80 clicks up from a 200 yard zero. You may have to shim the BACK ring to get that much elevation so that you are bottomed out at 100-200 yard Zero.


Good luck and have fun but be realistic about what you want to achieve. I will say again, find a long range match in your area and see how people who are already in the game are playing it.


Edited to correct by boo-boo. Thanks Handloader.

DeerSniper built guns that are used for long long distance shoots.
If you search for his posts, you can see his handyworks.
He may be able to tell you more of what you seek.

Personally, I dont like to shoot long distance, too many variables that may contribute to failure to kill cleanly.

To answer your question as to switching to the 6mm-284, the action length of the 30-06 is longer which can cause feeding problems. If you really have your heart set on converting your existing action rather than just developing match ammo for the '06 for 1,000 yard shooting, you might want to consider re-barreling to the 6.5/06 with a fast twist and throated for 160 grain bullets. Those long slender bullets shoot about as flat as anything out there and your action and bolt-face are already set.

I looked into it a little bit more and I am going to the 6.5mm-284 Norma. I am thinking about going to E.R Shaw barrels because I live about two minutes from the shop, and we know the owner. I am going to get the 1.250" barrel and I am going to order a CHOATE ultimate varmint or ultimate sniper for it. As for optics I am going to go with nightforce. Iam not sure which model. Anyone have one on there gun that can give me feedback on performance? Also I am still up in the air on where I am getting the barrel from and I also want an aftermarket lightweight trigger I was thinking of a Timney trigger. Anyone have any advice for me? This is my first gun build so could you please give me info? Where to start, what I should use? Is the Savage action a good spot to start. I want to keep it at a reasonable price.

Thank You, JASON

If you go with the savage action,with the accutrigger-you should'nt need to worry about the timmney trigger.

Sounds like you've got a handle on what you want. A few years back a friend built a 1000 yard rifle built around the 6.5-06. Another used the .22-250 with a fast twist for the heavier bullets.

My long range rifle is a Rem 700 rebarreled to 6X284. The tube is 30" full diameter with a Vais brake. Has a blueprinted action, McMillan stock and uses a Leupold 36X target scope. The 30-06 action has the right size bolt for the 284 case and the long action will give you more latitude in how deep to seat that long bullet. Mine was built on a 6 MM Rem action.



Fav load is the 107 gr SMK with 7828. Shoots flatter than a 50 BMG to 1000 yds. My load with the 107 SMK is about 3300 fps.

good luck with the project.

hey mate. savage is a great base to start. you can swap barrels and bolt faces in a few mins. got to www.longrangehunting.com and there is some great information on there.

I work on guns a lot.I have payed for all my rifles my sons rifles 2 four wheelers and a polaris rzr by fixing - not building rifles. The rifle that payed for all this is the (you gessd it )the savage!

I have several 1000yrd rifles. To go long you need to shoot big bullets with a high BC. And you need to lonch them! exp. if you plan on hunting with it. The 308 with 165gr spbt at 1000yrds is coming in at a 35 deg. angle. Not much room for arrer ther. My riflers are all big powder eaters.
338-300 ultra,300 ultra,7mm mid ultra,6.5 mid ultra, and 257 stw.
The longest kill shot on big game 1345 yrds muly buck.
longest kill shot 1603yrds rock chuck. it took 5 shots to get the chuck.
Both these shots at that extream rang was shot with the 338-300 it shoots 225 interbonds at 3250fps.

My interest in a really long range rifle is pointing me toward a .264 Win Mag. Dies and bullets are easy to find. The bullets have a high ballistic coefficient and you can get over 3000 ft/sec easily. Thanks to PointBlank I see that a 140 grain Berger VLD launched at 3100 ft/sec is still going 1800 ft/sec at 1000 yards and still carries just over 1000 ftlbs of energy. I've been looking at a Remington Sendero II in .264 for a while but can't seem to find $1000 lying around any place right now. By the way, I've already decide to get a Bushnell 6500 series scope for this project whenever I get around to it.

I got a 6-284 on a F.N. 98 long action and don't ever have any feed problems, even with light bullets, don't know if this helps or not but I love the way it shoots, another possible candidate might be the 25-06 w the 115 berger coming in at b.c. .479 this would be close to enough but I'm not sure if anyone is really going that far w\ it.