Target shooting 400m to 500m range, which calibre?

[Bergararse]

Where are people shooting past 300M in Sydney? Hornsby, Southern Highlands (not really Sydney but anyway), Silverdale is 200M?

[JohnV]

So whats the difference between a 260 and creedmore. From what i can figure out its just a reinvented 260

Steeper shoulder angle and less case taper.

Sometimes the real difference is in what accuracy gunsmiths do . If you take a rifle in to get a Creedmoor chamber they will usually recognize that as a potential target cartridge and have a quality tight spec reamer and do a nice target quality chamber . If you take in a rifle to get a 260 Rem chamber they will most likely see it as a hunting rifle and whack it into a six jaw self centering chuck and wack a loose spec 260 reamer in on a floating reamer holder , wham bam thank you mam. Which one do you think will shoot the best ? All the recognized target cartridges get treated differently to the average hunting cartridge in most cases unless you specifically ask for a match chamber and it costs more and they may not be able to do it because they don't have a tight spec reamer in that cartridge and don't want one either . One of the main reasons why a cartridge dies and others become popular on the range is someone starts winning with something else like a 6mmPPC and they all drop their old cartridge like a 222 Rem. and move to the PPC . The gunsmiths do the same they stop accuracy work on the old one and concentrate on the new one .
The Creed is a good case design and add that to a match chamber and all the other accuracy parameters and it performs very well .

[northdude]

not really a very good comparison....a 6.5c with a target reamer job will shoot better than a 260 with a hunting reamer job. I may be wrong but wouldn't a 260 with a target reamer shoot job better than a 6.5c with hunting reamer job. Which one would be more accurate if the same grade reamer Is used in both? kind of like saying a full on bathurst commodore is better than a street legal one. Mind you its a bit different over here some Of our smiths can build you what you want, It gets expensive but if you have the money and that's what you want some of them are prepared to do it for you.

[bladeracer]

not really a very good comparison....a 6.5c with a target reamer job will shoot better than a 260 with a hunting reamer job. I may be wrong but wouldn't a 260 with a target reamer shoot job better than a 6.5c with hunting reamer job. Which one would be more accurate if the same grade reamer Is used in both? kind of like saying a full on bathurst commodore is better than a street legal one. Mind you its a bit different over here some Of our smiths can build you what you want, It gets expensive but if you have the money and that's what you want some of them are prepared to do it for you.

I think his point is that most smiths are asked to chamber the .260 with a hunting chamber, so they very probably keep reamers for that. Likewise most 6.5CM get chambered with match chambers so they keep match reamers on hand. I don't know whether the premise is correct that "most" do this though, it wouldn't surprise me that when a smith orders chamber reamers he'd more likely order a set including both options? If they don't then it would just mean an added cost and weight to order the required reamers for a one-off job.

Does a "match" chamber even matter when you're loading your own ammo to fit whatever chamber dimensions you have? To me it only seems relevant if you're using factory ammo.

[northdude]

plus not much point having a match chamber if you cant shoot for s**t anyway. A friend had over here had a 260 built I don't think the reamer would of been anything super match or anything and it shot good enough with handloads to be quite competitive. I think you could extract a lot of accuracy out of either just handloading. I wonder do the off the shelf sporting creeds have match chambers?

[Larry]

A match chamber will help even if you are re loading and using once fired brass. the cartridge will stay much closer to its original specs.
As for factory rifles being made with match chambers some are like Anschutz and Vodoo these are obvious without too much self testing they carry warnings about using loads such as stingers.

[in2anity]

Steps to shooting accurately:

Step 1) obtain a very accurate, precisely made action.
Step 2) obtain a heavy, match grade barrel with a precisely cut chamber.
Step 3) attach said barrel to said action such that it is precisely to spec.
Step 4) ensure said barreled-action is precisely bedded in a nice inert bed, with the barrel free floating.
Step 5) obtain/craft "match" grade ammunition.
Step 6) position yourself with a great empahisis on focus, calmness and repeatability. Repeat thousands of times, exactly the same way, until you don't suck anymore.
Step 7) observe the wind and only shoot when the identified "condition" is met.

And that's it. Nothing about cartridge there. Rest assured, most will skip step 7, and probably not consider step 6. Oh no - we all circle jerk over cartridge before any of the fundementals of markmanship, or wether the gun itself is heavy enough and well put together.

[SCJ429]

Does a "match" chamber even matter when you're loading your own ammo to fit whatever chamber dimensions you have? To me it only seems relevant if you're using factory ammo.

Very true, I made the mistake of picking up a heap of Lapua brass fired out of some Accuracy International rifles after a Service Rifle competition for Army and Police competitors. The chambers on these AI rifles are deliberately loose and I could not resize the brass to fit my nice and tight custom chamber. The AIs still shot very well despite their generous chamber dimensions.

That said I still get my own reamer with my prefered neck sizing and give that to the gunsmith to chamber my barrel. Recently I dared to go with a no turn neck size but still gave the brass a little skim to improve concentricity.
Did it make any difference, probably not but it made me feel better.