Twist on the one rifle question

[LanceK]

1:8 twist on mine I have loads put together for an ocw test next weekend. 75gr Hornady eld-m and AA2230, hopefully something will work out.

 

[Roughwater]

1:8 twist on mine I have loads put together for an ocw test next weekend. 75gr Hornady eld-m and AA2230, hopefully something will work out.

1;8 twist is great! It will allow you more range of bullets as you probably know. Cheap to shoot too and plenty of velocity for training. Don't know if you bought a scope yet but some good options were suggested already. You might even want to look at a used Zeiss scope. I just picked a 3-15X42 Conquest HD5 with the Rapid Z800 reticle for 550 on Ebay. A super nice scope. You can't beat german glass. You set the scope up by inputting your bullet veloctity and BC into the online Zeiss calculator and it will tell you were to set the magnification. It then allows you to shoot out to 800 yards using the sub reticles numbered between 1-8. Real world practice will help you find tune your settings. Using a 42 mm scope also lets you use low rings to help keep your cheek on the stock and minimize weight and the great glass and ability to crank down the scope Magnification clear down to 3X when needed helps improve your low light capability. Switching between scopes sounds like a good Idea too as one scope is cheaper and might allow you to buy one really good scope Vs 2 or more lesser quality scopes. Just insure you use quality rings and mount that would allow switching while maintaining a tight hold to the rifle. Check out Hammer bullets too. Fairly new company but I just killed my first 2 deer with them and they are truely Hammers! Both deer were DRT. I wouldn't necessairly use them for training as they are not cheap but for accuracy, ease of loading and for effectivness they can't be beat.

 

[Michael Souther]

A great book I bought was Long range precision rifle by Anthony Cirincuone II. I started with a Rem 700 Long range 300 win mag. great rifle and then Rem Hunter Short action 260 rem and then 6 5 Grendel AR and 6 5 Creedmore AR10 and all fun and now night force scope. It is dangerous to your bank account. There is lots of great advice here on this sight. try the book from Amazon or several other dealers.

 

[Bang4theBuck]

The Rifles that you already have will shoot very well. What is the twist on that 243, and do you have an accutrigger in it?

 

[Michael Souther]

Some great bullets are available for long range. It seems 6.5 is A great choice as well as 30 caliber for long range. wide range of high bc bullets for hunting and match Ammo is available and easy to find. If you are starting

 

[Brad Quarnberg]

As a beginner to the long range game, the quantity of information to take in is somewhat overwhelming. I was thinking that I may be better off to not necessarily look for the "best", but aim for simplicity first.

With that being said, I think I want to get a long range set up that will keep things as simple as possible. One where I can focus on the fundamentals and not my gear. With that in mind what would you recommend for a beginner? Funds are not unlimited and items will have to be acquired over time. The set up will be used for smaller species such as whitetail, and maybe antelope less than 500 yards. I reload so just about any cartridge will do.

So what say you? Rifle, scope, rangefinder, other optics? What about formal training?

The Browning ABolt 3 would be my choice of gun. Not overly expensive but not a cheap feeling gun and some of the low end guns have, plus it has pretty nice features and all of the browning I currently own (4 high power rifles) are all shooters.
I'd go with a quality scope so either a Vortex (lifetime warranty) or a mid level Leuopld VX3 CDS and make sure you get a 50mm objective and 30mm tube if you think you'll be hunting dusk or dawn. Yes, it adds some weight but the bigger objective is Worley's the extra weight.
If you take one piece of advice from a person who's hunted over 45 years: don't skimp on the glass (Bono's or scope) when I was a lot younger I bought a gun with a cheap scope and when a chance of a life buck (30+ inch 4x5 Muley) steppes out of the trees in the early dawn opening day, I couldn't see him in my scope. By the time my dad gave me his rifle and I got it on the buck all I could see was his Backend framed inside the rack as he slipped into the trees.
Happy Shopping

 

[Michael Souther]

Yep it pays to have a very good scope. I had pretty much the same problem some years ago when I thought a scope was just a scope. I am still scope poor but went for the Night Force now looking for a good one for other rifles and it seems the Vortex would be a good choice. The advice for tube size and objective size at 50 as well. Am staying with 30 win and 6 5 mm for calibers easy to find brass,and ammo for both and fast twist for long range high bc bullets

 

[Roughwater]

The Browning's are shooters and as a Browning x-bolt owner I can testify to that but a cheaper Savage often will shoot just as good for less money. I would stick to the gun you already have (243) as your hunting rifle for now anyway. If it don't have the accutrigger and the trigger has any issues at all I would either modify it or replace it with a Timney or similar after market brand. When I first bought scopes and rifles weight was not an issue as I was hunting off stands etc. But now my favorite hunting has become Elk hunting, packing, hiking miles at higher elevation. So now I have all these heavy rifles and scopes. Yes, I can use them but lighter at my age or any age for that matter is definitely better for any type of hunting involving walking many miles, having to pack in and especially if doing both. I ended up lately buying a new lighter rifle recently and a lighter scope as well. I was deer hunting this morning and went out before daylight. I could see better in the early morning low light through my 42 mm scope than with my eyes so I figure it's plenty good for use in low light but I wouldn't guarentee any 42 mm optics with less quality glass would perform as well as my Zeiss. If you mainly stand hunt that weight may seldom be a factor so heavier optics might never be an issue. Just saying in some situations weight is definitely a factor.

 

[Bigaldepr]

I confess to being a novice hunter here in Colorado. I hunt mostly in the Arapaho National Forest. For wapiti most of the terrain is Alpine forest which often means anything much more than 50 meters and you probably have no idea what you are shooting at and a moose will land you in jail. For this I have a Weatherby Vanguard 7mm RM with a Leupold VX-1 scope and synthetic B&C stock and shoot 160 grain Nosler Partitions. Light weight and easy on the shoulder but I wouldn't shoot at anything past 250 meters (i.e., not long range.) Under these conditions you a have limited area you can view, so you have to hike to find them.
Long range hiking is kind of pointless as your field of view goes from less than one acre to hundreds of acres. So for open range pronghorn and mule deer I scout areas to find signs of the animal then find the best vantage point to shoot from. Now I bring the 7mm RM Mesa LR with the heavy 26" barrel with a 50 mm by 30 mm scope, bipod, binocs, Nosler 168 grain Accubond LR bullets then setup and keep still with eyes open.
IMHO if you are indeed long range hunting then rifle weight should be near the bottom of the list of things to consider. Fat barrels, heavy loads and big high power scopes rule.

 

[Duhawk]

A good scope is gonna set you back some. I've got a Vortex 6x24 FFP set-up on my 7rm. Easy enough to use that for ranging targets. A Vortex golden eagle on my 6.5, it's SFP as for target I really don't need to range much. If I had to it'll range at 40 (I think) magnification.
If I had the choice between the 3 you mentioned, I'd go 280AI. Large choice of 7mm to choose from. Dies, brass, loading data already out there. With the extra fps you get from the AI you can stretch your legs beyond 500 and you can probably shoot the 7mm heavy VLD's and not sweat the barrel twist.
As others have pointed out....get good glass and practice...even with your 243, then decide. Then it really gets interesting from there when you start to load for OBT (optimum barrel time), neck tension, ES, Sd, etc. And oh yeah....you'll eventually need a chrony if you reload even the 243.
Without chrony numbers I'd be shooting blind

 

[Alibiiv]

Not trying to shortcut the process. I'm excited to start down a long road of learning. Just trying to eliminate variables that would slow my learning. And have some interesting conversation here along the way.

It took me months and months and volumes and volumes of reading posts and forums "just" to decide on what caliber I wanted to build. Then it took a lot of work to find a gunsmith to do the work on the rifle for me. And....now I am looking a manufactures for reloading dies. As FEENIX posted this doesn't just happen overnight, "even" if you have an unlimited budget there's a lot to learn about skills and procedures, and that cannot be bought.

 

[Kansaswoodguy]

I can with boring regularity shoot an AR-15 out to 750yds running 75-77gr bullets your Tikka 223 will be fine and cheap to learn with. I personally think AR500 steel targets painted white will give the instant feedback needed to hone your shooting skills fast as to what a great shot should feel like to train your muscle memory.

 

[User4302021]

I see what you are saying Rocky, I was thinking of using my Tikka 223 as a training gun, and just putting a scope on it that I can dial. I figured 223 would make for cheap practice. For a scope, I'm thinking SWFA 10x42, moa/moa since my mind already thinks yards and not meters. Fixed power to eliminate a variable.

This is a good plan.

Side note: MOA and MILS as angular measurements have nothing to do with any particular type of linear measurements. You can use MOA with meters just as easily as MILS with yards...but that brings me to my bit of advice.

Regardless of the rig you choose to learn on, your biggest challenge will be to stop thinking in linear measurements for scope adjustments. Scopes adjust in angles, either MILS or MOA, not feet or meters.

When you dial for a distance, it is just a number. It can be 35 MOA or 10 MILS. It can be 1000 yards or 1000 meters, it matters not. One number is as good as another. Most shooters get that fairly easily.

Where new shooters start to go off the rails is with wind doping and shot corrections. The tendency is to assign a LINEAR value to the correction (e.g. I missed by about a foot so....a foot at 500 yards is....). That is wrong thinking. The correct way is to use the reticle to measure the correction in ANGLES (e.g. I missed by 0.3 MILS right...so hold 0.3 MILS left). This takes all math out of the equation. The angle is a constant that doesn't change with range. A 2MOA miss is a 2 MOA miss, whether it is at 100 yards or 1000 yards. The hold or the dial correction is exactly the same.

I would get familiar with this concept before you go to a training course. There is so much to learn at a course that if you are struggling with a completely foreign concept on top of all the fundamental marksmanship stuff, you are not going to get the maximum effect of the training.

 

[KyCarl]

Have you thought about a Long Range Shooting School? I'm going to this place as
soon as the weather gets better. I think it will save a lot of time and help prevent mistakes! Remember PERFECT practice makes Perfect but doing it wrong just sets
a lot of problems!
https://kmprecisionrifletraining.com/product/basic-long-range-precision-rifle-course/