Looking for a good starter gun for western adventures never shot long range before or had to hike through the mountains. Looking for something under 600 that would be light weight and still be sufficient for long range shooting.
You need a long range practice gun, not a long range hunting gun.
I see a lot of rounds fired a year. It takes around 500 rounds a year of real focused and STRUCTURED practice to be capable at 300 yards from field conditions. I’m not talking about 300 yards over a corn field, or proned out with 5 minutes to fiddle- 300 yards at an animal in mountainous environments, that is going to give you sub 30 sec to kill it. Range it, throw down the pack, figure wind hold, dial/hold for elevation and wind, and break the shot.
500 rounds leading up to season for 300 yards. Double that to 1,000 rounds for 400 yards. Double that again for 500 yards. And again, and again.
There is a very clear pattern that becomes apparent that after that intial training to be honestly capable at 300 yards, the round count for each year doubles for each 100 or so yards.
No one is shooting normal weight big guns a thousand plus rounds a year. PRS shooters don’t shoot thier match rifles 4,000 rounds a year in practice, even though they’re small 6mm’s. Most have 223 trainer rifles.
The best favor you can do yourself is to get a reliable, accurate, 223 with 1-8” twist or faster barrel, attach a completely reliable scope to it, buy a case of 77gr match ammo and shoot it all this year away from the bench. By the end of it, you won’t need to ask about what rifle for western hunting.
