Four Best Long-Range Calibers

Long-range shooting has always been a popular shooting sport among enthusiasts, but the field has grown exponentially in the last 20 years. More and more shooters are trying their collective hands at placing rounds on small targets at incredible distances. But for the uninitiated, getting started can feel overwhelming.

What kind of gun should I use - gas or manually operated? Should I use a common caliber or a specialty wildcat? What kind of optic should I use? What does the ballistic coefficient mean? There are dozens of questions that need to be answered before someone can decide upon the perfect long-range caliber for them.

So, to ease this process, I’ve assembled a list of my top long-range calibers with sub-sections outlining their best uses and objectively dissecting their positive and negative attributes. Also, as a side note, I will limit this list to calibers currently in production by major ammo makers. 

Also, I want to define “long-range” in this article’s context as anything that maintains enough ballistic efficacy and precision to take medium game at or beyond 700 yards. I realize that 700 yards is where the fun begins for many shooters, and not at all what they would consider a long range. However, since many people never take their rifles out beyond 100 yards, we’ll include some calibers that might be regarded as medium-to-long range to broaden the scope and appeal of the article.

With that in mind, let’s start with some intermediate long-range rounds and work up to the kings of ultra-long range.

Before you blow up the comments section, hear me out; 5.56mm isn’t a traditional long-range caliber, but it’s still very capable of reliably hitting steel at 700 yards. However, to do so, a shooter has to be selective about their ammunition, rifle, and barrel length.

A standard 16-inch M4 clone with a polymer handguard will be tough to hit targets with at long range. But a 20-inch free-floated barrel SPR-style rifle will tag steel at 700 yards with boring consistency.

That’s because 5.56mm/.223 Rem is designed with one thing in mind: velocity. Out of a 20-inch barrel, a standard 55gr M193 FMJ round will slip past the muzzle at an incredible 3,250fps! To put that into perspective, that’s just shy of Mach three! And because the initial velocity of these rounds is so high, they don’t become transonic (and thus vastly less accurate) until just after 1,000 yards.

In practical terms, your rounds will quickly hit distant targets. This, combined with the fact that the ammunition is vastly cheaper than dedicated long-range rounds like 6.5 Creedmoor, makes it an excellent choice for shooters looking to get their proverbial feet wet in long-range shooting sports.

The rounds are cheap, and accurate rifles that fire them are also very affordable - plus, the round has very little felt recoil. This combination encourages shooters to keep practicing and not develop bad shooting habits. Plus, if you ever decide to buy a dedicated long-range rifle in a bigger caliber, you now own a world-class varmint rifle that will disintegrate prairie dogs with frightening ease.

The biggest downside to the round is how lightweight the projectiles are. Because they’re so light, they do not resist wind very well. So, your rounds will fly several yards off-target on a breezy day.   

America’s favorite battle rifle caliber, .308 Win, has a long history of reaching out and touching belligerents at extended ranges. This hard-hitting round initially saw military service with the United States Army in the venerable M14 rifle and M60 machinegun but later found great success in precision rifles like the M24.

By modern standards, .308 Win has somewhat lackluster ballistics. Still, with a proper dope sheet or a calibrated BDC reticle, .308 Win can reach and touch targets at 1,000 yards with enough energy to do severe damage. At least, that’s true on paper. In field conditions, hitting a target with any variety of .308 Win at 1,000 yards requires incredible shooter skill. 

Why?

For starters, .308 Win drops a whopping 450 inches at 1,000 yards! This isn’t an insurmountable obstacle in and of itself, but when combined with the round’s poor performance in the wind, shooters will have to have the stars align to hit a moderately small target at that distance. That said, the round is still capable at those ranges, and at closer ranges like 500 yards, the 30-caliber round only drops 50 inches. Making those hits much easier. It’s not the best round in the world for long-range shooting, but it does have a metric ton of data on achieving hits at range and a proven track record of lethality at extended ranges. 

A better solution for longer ranges?

6.5 Creedmoor is arguably the best all-around long-range cartridge that won’t break the bank. Make no mistake, it is by no means “cheap,” but compared to dedicated ultra-long-range rounds like .338 Lapua or .28 Nosler, 6.5 is a bargain. 

Developed in 2007 by Hornady ballistician Dave Emary in partnership with Creedmoor Sports VP of product development Dennis DeMille, 6.5 Creedmoor was built from the ground up as a long-range round. Although considered a medium-power cartridge, 6.5 Creedmoor produces a remarkable 2,400-foot-pounds of energy, making it appropriate for hunting medium game at long range. 

What makes 6.5 Creedmoor such a great long-range cartridge is its ability to retain speed and power at longer ranges. This means that the round better resists wind and still hits distant targets with enough energy to put them down reliably.

I love the round, as it allowed me to make my further shot on an animal - 1,570 yards on a coyote out in New Mexico from a Ruger Precision Rifle. On larger targets (namely steel silhouettes), I’ve landed 143gr Hornady ELO rounds out to 2,000 yards, and from a PSA AR-10 clone, I even hit a steel gong at one mile! (Full disclosure: I had an incredibly talented spotter who walked me on target in strong cross winds after eight shots.) 

To give you an idea of how excellent this round’s ballistics are, a 143gr ELO round will still travel at 1,470fps at 1,000 yards. Compare that to a .308 Win round that will only fly at 1,100 fps at the same distance. Furthermore, .308 Win will have an extra 100 yards of drop, and assuming equal amounts of wind, around 90% more horizontal drift due to wind currents. 

But what about guys who want to reach out even further or slam steel effortlessly at 1,000 yards?

.338 Lapua Magnum, when you have to be sure that your target will drop at 1,000 plus yards. The purpose-built, hard-hitting magnum round still travels 1,358fps at 1,500 yards! 

Initially designed in 1983 as a sniper-specific cartridge in the United States by Research Armament Industries, the round was further refined by SAKO and Accuracy International in 1998 to improve its performance.

Standard loads include 285gr hollow-point boat-tail and 300gr VLD, which both produce over 5,000 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle! This makes the .338 Lapua Magnum more than twice as powerful as 6.5 Creedmoor, which in turn makes it a much better choice for engaging hostiles at long range. Both special forces snipers and professional ultra-long-range competitive shooters love this round for its incredible ability to retain so much velocity and energy at staggering distances.

United Kingdom Corporal Craig Harrison used an Accuracy International rifle chambered in .338 Lapua Magnum to kill a pair of insurgent machine gunners in Afghanistan at an incredible 2,707 yards back in 2009. Craig reported that it took him and his spotted nine rounds to zero in on the pair of Taliban fighters before delivering a pair of lethal hits. 

Conversely, extreme long-range (ELR) competitive shooter Randy Wise set a new world record back in 2019 when he landed three consecutive shots from a factory Savage rifle chambered in .338 Lapua Magnum at 2,158 yards. Indeed, few rounds can compete against the .338 Lapua Magnum regarding long-range performance and ballistic efficacy.

The only downside to the round is cost - both the ammunition and the rifles chambered in it. For the least expensive rounds available, expect to spend North of three dollars per round. And because of the round’s incredible power and performance, only specialty overbuilt rifles can handle it, which translates into increased cost. 

Ultimately, all of these rounds are excellent choices for shooting long range targets. Where each will shine depends on the needs of the shooter. That's why you never see F-class shooters using 5.56mm rifles, and varmint hunters running .338 Lapua. And understanding when to use each caliber is crucial to maximizing your experience and success at a given task. But make no mistake, this isn't an exhaustive list. There are hundreds of wildcat calibers out there that can best all of the calibers in this article. But, if you're reading this to dip your proverbial toes in the water, those are likely a little out of your comfort zone.