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Hey Guys Help the Newbie out!!!

Telling a guy that he has to start out shooting a rifle that has limited range because it has less recoil, debatable with a good brake, and longer barrel life, is like telling a guy that need a work truck to start out with a 1/2 ton because it rides smoother and gets more miles out of a set of tires.

Steve


What's wrong with a 1/2ton P/U and longer tire wear for a work truck? Did it for years and never had any problems. Up grade to coil over shocks for better trailering. :D
 
What's wrong with a 1/2ton P/U and longer tire wear for a work truck? Did it for years and never had any problems. Up grade to coil over shocks for better trailering. :D

I guess it is great as long as you have a buddy to loan you a bigger truck when you have to haul equipment or something heavy in the back. Heck I can do alot of work out of a station wagon, but it sure limits how much I can do.

Steve
 
Well I've decided to go with the F250...LOL
I wanted to ask you guys one more thing. My interest in long rande shooting/hunting has kinda got my dad interested also. He has a BDL 270. As much as i've been reading i haven't heard much if anything at all on the 270. Not the mag just the standard. What is its value as far as a long range caliber?
 
Well I've decided to go with the F250...LOL
I wanted to ask you guys one more thing. My interest in long rande shooting/hunting has kinda got my dad interested also. He has a BDL 270. As much as i've been reading i haven't heard much if anything at all on the 270. Not the mag just the standard. What is its value as far as a long range caliber?

So what is a F250? Is it like well

F150 6br
F250 308
F350 300 rum
F650 338 :rolleyes:
 
Well I've decided to go with the F250...LOL
I wanted to ask you guys one more thing. My interest in long rande shooting/hunting has kinda got my dad interested also. He has a BDL 270. As much as i've been reading i haven't heard much if anything at all on the 270. Not the mag just the standard. What is its value as far as a long range caliber?

270 is a great caliber for lots of big game. Here in Mn, it is probably the second most popular bean field rifles around following the old 30-06. Everyone and their cousin got an 06 lol! It is vary capable of killing deer with good shots past 600 imho (effective range is all such a subjective topic.. all depends on what you consider). The only downfall of the 270 is that they don't have quite as wide variety of bullets for long range work. Generally speaking, the 224 243 264 284 308 and 338 calibers have better selections of High BC bullets. It will be a little flatter shooting but have less power than the 06.
 
I like the 270, I would like to see some better bullets. Right now Berger is your best option for that caliber. Hornady's GMX would be my next choice. I have to say though, you get a 130grn bullet moving fast enough, your BC (Balistic Coefficient) will be extended. My brother and his son settled on a 270WSM for his first rifle. I know we are going down in caliber, but the 260 and 7mm-08 are also very good choices for a long range trainer and killer. 6.5-284 is a choice caliber in the Best of the West web site. It is also a caliber stomping .308's in competition LR target.

Respectfully,
Tank
 
...The only downfall of the 270 is that they don't have quite as wide variety of bullets for long range work. Generally speaking, the 224 243 264 284 308 and 338 calibers have better selections of High BC bullets.

Hey man... just take some pliers and squeeze down some 284 bullets to 277 just like Roy is doing :D
 
OK... on the 270... It's a good cartridge and I would pick it over the 308 for LR hunting. But that's a very general statement. There are a lot of factors in determining the LR effectivenes of a rifle/cartridge combo. You will get the idea after you have a little time to read the many threads on this site. IMO, the 270 is a 700-800 yd deer rifle depending on load and elev.

Like already mentioned, bullet selection is a big factor. BC is EVERYTHING in LR. Bullet terminal performnce is very important in the "hunting" equation part of it. For LR reach you are looking at velocity and BC period. For hunting, you are looking at what the bullet will do when it hits the critter.

You need to decide your priorities and performance expectations. The ballistic calcs that were posted will help you determine just what a cartridge/load/bullet will do. The performance of your (dad's) rifle has a lot todo with it too. You may not get the performance from an out of the box 24" bbl, sporter rifle that you would out of a more specialized and tuned rifle. The only way to find out is to shoot it.
 
All you "need" to load is a balance scale, decent press, die set. Everything else enhances accuracy and makes life easier. I'm sure you could get a great start for under $250
Hey Britz...would you mind going into a little more detail on this. If you were starting from scratch and you didn't want to buy more than you needed(fluff) but also wanted to have enough (quality)which componets would you buy?

OK... on the 270... It's a good cartridge and I would pick it over the 308 for LR hunting.(MontanaRifleman)
That statement suprised me a little...didn't see that coming.
 
There is going to be lots of different opinions on this question... but I'll try to give you a list of some things you could get to get into reloading...

It all depends on how far you want to take it: I actually started out with a Speer loading manual and the Lee Annaversary Kit Lee Precision, Inc. Reloading Tools and Equipment: Anniversary Kit and a set of RCBS dies. Kit is about 140, book 30, dies 35, Lee trimmer is @15, caliper 30. The weakest part of this kit is the scale. It works, but it is very cheap.

No matter what direction you go... buy a loading book first and read it until you know it by heart. This will help you decide on what tools you want to get. I like Speer Nosler but they are the only ones I have lol!




Now, If you want to spend more and get better quality, you may want to purchase things separately. RCBS or Redding press, Trimmer (forster rcbs, lyman, redding...) Lee or RCBS priming tool. Lyman, RCBS Redding, Forster 500 or 1000 grain balance beam scale (I like digital but they are more expensive). Lyman Tumber. any dial caliper, Redding, Forster or RCBS dies (IMHO the RCBS ones are not as good as the others). Lee powder dispencer (you will have to weigh every load, but you should if your going for accuracy)... A few small case prep tools... lots of little stuff that helps but it adds up in $$$ quick.
 
OK... on the 270... It's a good cartridge and I would pick it over the 308 for LR hunting.(MontanaRifleman)


That statement suprised me a little...didn't see that coming.

Bigger caliber does not necessarily mean bigger/better cartridge. A 270 is a 30.06 necked down to 277 cal. The .06 case is bigger than the 308 case and holds more powder. The 270 will get you more velocity than the 308 in a higher or about equal BC bullet. It will go farther down range.

Some have mentioned using a 308 to shoot deer at 700 yds. I wouldn't do this unless I had a long barreld (for more velocity) 308 with a really good load pushing a high BC bullet. If you look at the Fed tables in an attempt to compare apples to apples You will see the 270 pushing 130, 140 and 150 gr bullets upwards of 2000 fps @ 500 yds. You will see the 308 pushing165-180 bullets at about 1700-1800 fps @ 500 yds. This would be my cut off for a 308 because it is loosing velocity below minimum opening performance for most bullets.

If a bullet pencil holes through an animal it creates a "temporary" wound channel. If it opens and expands, it creates a "permament" wound channel.

A tempory wound channel is when a pointy or round nose bullet "pushes its way through flesh. Temporary wound channels close back up on themselves.

A permament wound chanel "tears" its way through flesh and leaves a hole and lots of damage.

IMO the 270 is worth about 150-200 yds more down range than the 308. Like I said, I dont use KE for determing killing effectiveness because it really doesn't tell you anything. What the bullet does when it hits flesh is what's inportant.

My $.02
 
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I guess i just always used the reasoning that it was better to get hit by a golfball going 100 MPH than a baseball going 90. But i can see that bullet proformance would com into play.
 
First off any bullet that pass through an animal will leave both a permanent wound channel and a temporary wound channel. The permanent would channel is the wound diameter and length. The temporary is the tissue stretch that does not tear and thus contracts back to its original shape.

Second pointed bullets are notorious for tumbling if they do not deform and shoulder stabilize after impact and sometimes tumble any way. Non expanding bullets are used to take the largest most dangerous game the world has to offer and they do indeed leave permanent would channels.

270 caliber does not have bullets with BCs as high as 30 caliber.

The 175 grain SMK has a BC of .507 and when launched from a 308 at or near 2700 FPS will indeed put Deer on the ground at 700 yards. 700 yards is stretching the 308 and 600 yards is a better limit IMHO
when launched at 2700 FPS at sea level the 176 SMK will have 1587 FPS and 978 FPE at 700 yard. The 270 130 grain Nosler partition launched at 3000 FPS will have 1627 FPS and 758 FPS at 700 yards
These number according to Exbal

The 270 shoots a lighter bullet of smaller diameter than the 308 and there is no denying the larger frontal area and heavier projectile of the 308



The 308 is not the dog that many believe it to be
 
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