Re: Maximum effective range .308 168gr Match
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">What would be the approx. maximum effective range for the .308 168gr bullet on a live target weight of approx. 200 lbs.
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Maximum effective range for WHAT:
Use to be the Army called Maximum Effective Range, "the distance where 50% of the soldiers can hit a target 50% of the time.
That wouldnt cut it for hunting in my book. I think the mim. energy levels for hunting is 1000 ft lbs. so based on what your data (velocity and BC) the max effective range for that bullet would be 500 yards.
For target punching paper Bergers (Bryan Litz') Ballistic calcular says the 168 is still super sonic at 1000 yards, This may or may not be true, but with all do respect to Berger, 168s dont work at 1000 yards, I key holed enough 168s at 1000 yard to know this. So I would drop that number down to between 600 and 800 yards.
As far as a snipeing round, I don't know of any military that uses 168s for sniping. Some LE yes, but they dont shoot that far. The Average LE sniper shots is about 100 and under.
In going through Peter Semich's books on Sniping, if I remember right, in Vietnam the average shot was about 400 yards. Most sniping data comes from Stalingrad, where the range was much shorter, urban plus,the Russians and Germans had what you call a "target rich enviorment".
I dont know what the AVERAGE sniper shot in Afgan/Irag is, but I would bet its well under 600 (before you jump on me, I said AVEAGE).
So what is your answer? Without knowing what you are gonna shoot, I can only say "WHO KNOWS". But if you are in the army, they will tell you what bullet to use. Same with LE. You indicated a live 200 lb critter, so that leaves us with hunting. That number would be 500 yards although I have never in my 50 or so years of hunting, seen the need to shoot anything over 300 yards.