Let's face the facts.............I'm too poor

[BlackBeardGhost]

Just facing cold, hard facts that I will never be able to afford a custom built rifle that I so desperately want; I love Remington guns and I will just have to settle for a factory rifle; I have decided that my caliber will be a 270; now for you ammo guru's; what do you suggest for factory ammo thru my Remington 700 ADL? Hornady, Remington, Winchester or Federal? I know each gun is different and I should shoot all kinds until I find what the rifle likes but need help to cut down on guessing; also, what style of bullet would you experts recommend?

Been hunting all of my life (51 years old) but not much knowledge on Long Range shooting; I know I will be limited b/c of a factory rifle, but hope I can at least be deadly at 300 yards; BTW, will have a nikon scope but will take any advice on that as well; in other words, just plain "green" and need some professional advice; not scared to change calibers to a 7mm mag either if you think that caliber would be better suited for longer range shooting; a BIG thank you for ANY help.

 

[Mike 338]

Just facing cold, hard facts that I will never be able to afford a custom built rifle that I so desperately want; I love Remington guns and I will just have to settle for a factory rifle; I have decided that my caliber will be a 270; now for you ammo guru's; what do you suggest for factory ammo thru my Remington 700 ADL? Hornady, Remington, Winchester or Federal? I know each gun is different and I should shoot all kinds until I find what the rifle likes but need help to cut down on guessing; also, what style of bullet would you experts recommend?

Been hunting all of my life (51 years old) but not much knowledge on Long Range shooting; I know I will be limited b/c of a factory rifle, but hope I can at least be deadly at 300 yards; BTW, will have a nikon scope but will take any advice on that as well; in other words, just plain "green" and need some professional advice; not scared to change calibers to a 7mm mag either if you think that caliber would be better suited for longer range shooting; a BIG thank you for ANY help.

The experts are the other guys but...
Federal Premium seemed to work best in my Remingtons some years ago.

The 270 is great. The 7mm Mag is better for long range by quite a bit but if your hunting those thick Arkansas woods, the 270 is terrific and ammo is more reasonably priced than the 7 Mag. Even in Alaska, the average shot is less than 300 yards so I think your O.K.

 

[RMulhern]

Just facing cold, hard facts that I will never be able to afford a custom built rifle that I so desperately want; I love Remington guns and I will just have to settle for a factory rifle; I have decided that my caliber will be a 270; now for you ammo guru's; what do you suggest for factory ammo thru my Remington 700 ADL? Hornady, Remington, Winchester or Federal? I know each gun is different and I should shoot all kinds until I find what the rifle likes but need help to cut down on guessing; also, what style of bullet would you experts recommend?

Been hunting all of my life (51 years old) but not much knowledge on Long Range shooting; I know I will be limited b/c of a factory rifle, but hope I can at least be deadly at 300 yards; BTW, will have a nikon scope but will take any advice on that as well; in other words, just plain "green" and need some professional advice; not scared to change calibers to a 7mm mag either if you think that caliber would be better suited for longer range shooting; a BIG thank you for ANY help.

Heard this before but I'm wondering.....how much beer do ya drink?? How many packs of cigs going up in smoke and oh....how about that fishing boat and trailor ya maybe got with a 200 HP engine on the back that maybe is being pulled with a $40,000 Chevy or Ford truck?? Not saying that's what ya deal is....but I've seen it before! Ya got to set priorities man!

 

[jpd676]

Let's face the facts...a custom rifle isn't necessary especially if you want to shoot 300 yards. I am no expert but a Remington 700 ADL should shoot around 1 MOA (or better) with factory ammo. A 270 should get you to 300 yards with little to no effort, other than some range time. That rifle with factory ammo should get you to 500 with NO PROBLEM. The key is to get a quality scope that will return to zero and adjust. Use the G7 ballistics program on this forum. I have had good luck with Federal Premium ammo, and good results with Remington ammo as well. Nikon makes some good scopes, just get one you can adjust.

 

[WildRose]

Just facing cold, hard facts that I will never be able to afford a custom built rifle that I so desperately want; I love Remington guns and I will just have to settle for a factory rifle; I have decided that my caliber will be a 270; now for you ammo guru's; what do you suggest for factory ammo thru my Remington 700 ADL? Hornady, Remington, Winchester or Federal? I know each gun is different and I should shoot all kinds until I find what the rifle likes but need help to cut down on guessing; also, what style of bullet would you experts recommend?

Been hunting all of my life (51 years old) but not much knowledge on Long Range shooting; I know I will be limited b/c of a factory rifle, but hope I can at least be deadly at 300 yards; BTW, will have a nikon scope but will take any advice on that as well; in other words, just plain "green" and need some professional advice; not scared to change calibers to a 7mm mag either if you think that caliber would be better suited for longer range shooting; a BIG thank you for ANY help.

Buddy don't feel bad but there's lots of ways to "get there on a budget".

My first recommendation would be to start saving and frequently visit the classified section here and over at Sniper's Hide. You will find some very, and I do me very good deals on quality ugraded factory rigs as well as on the occasional full custom.

Going off of what you say above I'd say the 7mm Mag is a good choice but so too would be the 300wm and 300wsm with a lean towards the 300wm. There's really nothing in N. America the 300wm will not handle with authority out to about 800yds with the exception of the big grizzlies/Kodiac bears. Even on the latter you'd have plenty of gun to get to 600yds with them.

Start out with something like a nice 700bdl or M-70 in one of those calibers and as you build experience and expertise and start stretching it out you can always upgrade off of those platforms very well and very reasonably.

I don't recommend going the pawn shop route unless you are just planing to buy one for the action and have it upgraded from there but I've gotten some real bargains off of the classified section here and at the hide.

http://www.longrangehunting.com/for...etting-started-but-intimidated-dollars-80244/

The above thread is a very good read and you can see that a lot of us are doing this on a budget and still having very good results.

Welcome to the addiction.

 

[bigbuck]

Let's face the facts...a custom rifle isn't necessary especially if you want to shoot 300 yards. I am no expert but a Remington 700 ADL should shoot around 1 MOA (or better) with factory ammo. A 270 should get you to 300 yards with little to no effort, other than some range time. That rifle with factory ammo should get you to 500 with NO PROBLEM. The key is to get a quality scope that will return to zero and adjust. Use the G7 ballistics program on this forum. I have had good luck with Federal Premium ammo, and good results with Remington ammo as well. Nikon makes some good scopes, just get one you can adjust.

+1 . I would like to add a little to whats already been said.
Im not sure if an ADL has been free floated or not , but that would help accuracy if you removed the stock and did it your self . Its cheap to do . I have done it to my rifle and a friends and I could tell it helped on the factory rifle. You want go wrong with a remmy

 

[window licker]

A word to the wise if your shooting federal premium in your rifle your not to poor to build a custom rifle. I shoot several different disciplines of competition shooting and in my experience a good reliable return to zero scope coupled with a tuned low sd. load, decent understanding of condition and how to correct for it, and a accurate ballistic chart will get further ahead of the game than dumping the huge dollars on the rifle. most of the time its the operator that causes the miss not the rifle. I do however drop the money on the custom built rifles.

 

[WildRose]

A word to the wise if your shooting federal premium in your rifle your not to poor to build a custom rifle. I shoot several different disciplines of competition shooting and in my experience a good reliable return to zero scope coupled with a tuned low sd. load, decent understanding of condition and how to correct for it, and a accurate ballistic chart will get further ahead of the game than dumping the huge dollars on the rifle. most of the time its the operator that causes the miss not the rifle. I do however drop the money on the custom built rifles.

Emphasis mine.

That really depends completely on how much shooting one is doing.

 

[WildRose]

+1 . I would like to add a little to whats already been said.
Im not sure if an ADL has been free floated or not , but that would help accuracy if you removed the stock and did it your self . Its cheap to do . I have done it to my rifle and a friends and I could tell it helped on the factory rifle. You want go wrong with a remmy

Yep. Personally I'm convinced that there's no sense whatsoever in wasting any money on ammo until you've floated and bedded the rifle because sooner or later the odds are extremely high you'll end up doing so eventually; thus it saves a lot of time, money, and aggravation in the future.

 

[Greyfox]

I own both custom and factory rifles and can assure you that this will not be a factor in your long range hunting success, particularly with many of the factory rifles available today. Myself, and several of my buddies own more than a few factory rilfles that will hold their own with precision when put up against the more costly customs for long range hunting. You may have to work with your trigger, bedding, etc. Depending on what your max range will be, caliber, bullet, and scope section will be important factors. Having the ability to reload is is much more important capability to have and may cost you a lot less in the end, particulatly when looking at Federal Premium ammo. When I first started going for the longer shots I used a Model 70 sporter in 270 WSM with a 4.5x14 Leupold, Remington 150gr. Accutips with a BC of .525, and had no problem taking game out to 700 yards. I almost always reloaded, but this combo gave exceptional performance. The whole set up was under $1000. IMHO.

 

[window licker]

Emphasis mine.

That really depends completely on how much shooting one is doing.

True but if one is contemplating shooting long range at anything the thought would cross the mind that the basics had been established and there are enough resources to get at least mildly proficient at it before taking a "poke" at something? in other words there should a lot of shooting one is doing before setting out on a long range task wouldn't you say?

 

[BlackBeardGhost]

Thanks to all for the GREAT information that has been received; I forgot to mention that my sole purpose to be invovled in this long range shooting is for the hunting side of it; I so want to hunt mule deer out west not only for the experience but also the meat; I hunt for the purpose of providing meat for the wife and I along with the entire family; never been out west but when I get to go (God willing) I will be toting a well defined rifle; I hunt deer in several states (4) for the purpose of gathering meat; I help alot of families that live on limited budgets and sometimes these families barely has enough to supply food; alot of young kids depends on my hunting for their meals; I just want the ability to shoot farther for the reason of killing more deer as the economy is getting tougher for these families I help;

Once again thank all of you; BTW, need more information on these scopes that "return to zero"; what brand, what power, what rings for the gun, anything; thank you.

Barry James

 

[window licker]

The term return to zero means that when you are dialing up and down to different ranges and drop values the scope will retain its original sight in zero when dialed back to it.
there is also a zero stop this is a wall the turret hits when dialed back down to its preset zero, quite handy if your not paying total attention and are shooting multiple ranges. I happen to use and like the nightforce nxs scopes I have a few of them and prefer the 3.5-15 for hunting and the 5.5-22 for target shooting, these are a bit heavy 3lbs with steel rings. there are several other capable lighter scopes out there as well, I am just familiar with the nightforce and don't mind the extra weight.

 

[mrb1982]

Thanks to all for the GREAT information that has been received; I forgot to mention that my sole purpose to be invovled in this long range shooting is for the hunting side of it; I so want to hunt mule deer out west not only for the experience but also the meat; I hunt for the purpose of providing meat for the wife and I along with the entire family; never been out west but when I get to go (God willing) I will be toting a well defined rifle; I hunt deer in several states (4) for the purpose of gathering meat; I help alot of families that live on limited budgets and sometimes these families barely has enough to supply food; alot of young kids depends on my hunting for their meals; I just want the ability to shoot farther for the reason of killing more deer as the economy is getting tougher for these families I help;

Once again thank all of you; BTW, need more information on these scopes that "return to zero"; what brand, what power, what rings for the gun, anything; thank you.

Barry James

First off, there are a lot of lucky people that you are helping out. There are a lot of people who aren't lucky enough to have someone like you to help them out like that. Well done.

Secondly, I am just working on getting into long range stuff too. After years of wanting one, I finally bought a 7mm RM Sendero last year, awesome gun, love it. It's a stock rifle, but a nice one. Now I am getting down to working the load next. Once I have that, then I can get some better optics and the tools that are needed(good range finder, wind meter ect.) to do it right. I have it figured at around $3000 beyond the rifle by the time I get the load worked, and top the gun with the kind of optics needed to get this done (something that goes to at least 14 power, most popular brands would be Huskemaw, Leupold, Nightforce, but Vortex would save you a lot of money). Now that I have my list of the things that I "need" to get this done, I sit down and try to figure out how I can save money. Should I buy a Vortex rather than a Huskemaw? Is there some DIY way I can substitute having to spend $30 bucks on a tool or two? Is there something I could find used that would still be good and save me a few bucks? These are a few of the things.

Lastly, try not to put so much pressure on yourself to get it all right away. Set a long term goal, then break it up into small goals. Me, I got the gun. Now I am going to work the load. That is my goal to have done in the next year. After that, I will set a goal of maybe a scope or rangefinder. It might take me 2-3 years, but it will be gratifying when I get to that goal.

These are just some of the things that I am learning as I go through the same thing you are. You say you can't afford it, but you will never be satisfied until you git r done. So just keep plucking away at it and you will get there. Hope this helps.