boattailed bandit
Well-Known Member
Clark- I completely understand what you mean, its not always the bullet that matters- its the shooter.
Not to hijack my own thread (not really sure that's possible), but now Im back on the track of my 270. My only concern with using my 270, and one of the reasons I wanted to go with a larger caliber, is its velocity and energy at distance. I have no problems with and have comfortably taken deer at right around 300yds. I know it can perform and bring about ethical kills at that range. Now in the interest of full disclosure most of my shooting in the field will probably be 500 and less, but I may be hunting in the bottoms this next season and those ranges can really stretch out there. So my question is will my hand load be enough at 500-800yds to bring an ethical kill? I hate seeing wounded deer that some A$$HAT took a pot shot at and is left limping through life.
My handload is 140gr Nosler boat-tailed BT followed by 54gr of IMR 4350. I got an average MV of 2850 off my buddies chrono although im not 100% sure that's what im actually getting, I would like to check it again on a better one. My velocity and energy break down at 500-800 as follows per G7 Ballistics Calc-
500yds- V-2229fps, E- 1544ft/lb
600yds- V-2090fps, E- 1359ft/lb
700yds- V-1956fps, E- 1189ft/lb
800yds- V-1828fps, E- 1038ft/lb
Im not too sure as to what velocity or energy is recommended or needed to bring about an ethical kill on a deer, but if anyone on here knows and can look at my data and let me know where im at on my scale that would be great. I really like how the 140gr runs through my rifle, but If an increase in weight would help to achieve my goal then I wouldn't have a problem goin up in weight. Any info would be great guys. I know the thread started in the gunsmith section and this should probably go in the reloading section, but I figured since I had such great minds at hand I should use them.
Not to hijack my own thread (not really sure that's possible), but now Im back on the track of my 270. My only concern with using my 270, and one of the reasons I wanted to go with a larger caliber, is its velocity and energy at distance. I have no problems with and have comfortably taken deer at right around 300yds. I know it can perform and bring about ethical kills at that range. Now in the interest of full disclosure most of my shooting in the field will probably be 500 and less, but I may be hunting in the bottoms this next season and those ranges can really stretch out there. So my question is will my hand load be enough at 500-800yds to bring an ethical kill? I hate seeing wounded deer that some A$$HAT took a pot shot at and is left limping through life.
My handload is 140gr Nosler boat-tailed BT followed by 54gr of IMR 4350. I got an average MV of 2850 off my buddies chrono although im not 100% sure that's what im actually getting, I would like to check it again on a better one. My velocity and energy break down at 500-800 as follows per G7 Ballistics Calc-
500yds- V-2229fps, E- 1544ft/lb
600yds- V-2090fps, E- 1359ft/lb
700yds- V-1956fps, E- 1189ft/lb
800yds- V-1828fps, E- 1038ft/lb
Im not too sure as to what velocity or energy is recommended or needed to bring about an ethical kill on a deer, but if anyone on here knows and can look at my data and let me know where im at on my scale that would be great. I really like how the 140gr runs through my rifle, but If an increase in weight would help to achieve my goal then I wouldn't have a problem goin up in weight. Any info would be great guys. I know the thread started in the gunsmith section and this should probably go in the reloading section, but I figured since I had such great minds at hand I should use them.
