Good long distance hunting rifle?

tp4 said:
My 270 can do the distance, maybe I should just practice with it more. I do have a 300wsm.. so maybe I’ll get a really good scope for one of the two
Click to expand...

This in a nutshell, between the two you should be good to go out to 500y with some practice.

If your just looking for an excuse to buy a new rifle, well don’t let any of us get in the way of a gun purchase lol.
 
BigUglyMan said:
Threads like this always make me think that if you are asking such a question you have no business shooting an animal at 500 yards.
Click to expand...

A lot of times guys are just looking for other opinions and its always fun to just plain old discuss guns and loads...:)
 
Modern premium hunting bullets and powders have given many common hunting calibers a new lease on life.

Most hunting bullets of the past were standard cup and core construction with exposed lead and moderate ballistic coefficients.
Modern premium bullets have seen many upgrades to the point that many hunting calibers are significantly enhanced.

An example would be the monolith construction Barnes TTX bullets used in the Vortex factory line. The penetration and expansion are quite a bit better than a similar weight cup and core. As a matter of fact many hunters now regard a 165 gr Monolith construction to be the equal in terminal performance to a 180 gr jacketed lead yet still holding the advantages of the higher velocities of the 165 grain.

What that means is that the modern 270 with modern premium bullets is significantly better than the 270 of Jack O'conners era.

Thanks to modern science your already flat shooting 270 is better than ever and there is no need to necessarily "upgrade" unless of course you just want a new gun in which case disregard the above and carry on.;)

I forgot to add that the onus is strictly on you to become proficient at the distances you wish to hunt at. Do not overestimate your abilities and use a realistic approach in attaining your shooting goals. Before even thinking of shooting at game at longer range you should have throughly researched this at the shooting range where paper dosen't care if you wound it. Above all don't listen to others - do your own research.
 
Last edited:
One thing to keep in mind too, is you want to be sure your 270 has enough spin to stabilize the big bullets should you decide to try them. I’ve got a 270 and it shoots 150 gr HornSST really nice at 100 yards, right around an inch. But at 300 it’s all over the place bc sometime after 100, the bullet isn’t spinning fast enough and it starts to wobble and probably by the time it got to 500 it would likely keyhole and be plummeting out of the sky. Find a spin rate calculator online, find out what your spin rate is, do your measurements, and that will give you a good idea if your gun will stabilize these big highBC bullets you can get now.
 
At 500 yards you can take that rifle and probably whatever scope you have on it and just go shoot and have fun. 270 is completely capable on deer sized game at those distances, all you need is practice, practice and more practice. You don't need anything special in optics, just to know your rifle, ammunition, and scope combo and where to hold at what distance, which comes with practice. I'll tell you that I have a 500 yard range behind my house and every rifle and scope I've got can ring the gong at 500 yards, they're all just standard sporters with a variety of 3-9x40 scopes.
 
MattW said:
At 500 yards you can take that rifle and probably whatever scope you have on it and just go shoot and have fun. 270 is completely capable on deer sized game at those distances, all you need is practice, practice and more practice. You don't need anything special in optics, just to know your rifle, ammunition, and scope combo and where to hold at what distance, which comes with practice. I'll tell you that I have a 500 yard range behind my house and every rifle and scope I've got can ring the gong at 500 yards, they're all just standard sporters with a variety of 3-9x40 scopes.
Click to expand...

Matt covered it
Two friends and I were hunting and we stopped for a sandwich .There was a metal plate I spotted on a tree 500 yds from where we were stopped so I gabbed my 300wsm and dialed down the scope to 4 1/2 x and the turett up to 500 without saying anything to the guys .Put the pack on the hood and all three shot and hit the 8 inch plate .I asked them latter what power the scope was on and the shrugged .Bottom line is we all were able to hit the plate on 4 1/2 power.More power is nice especially on game for sure but practice is the secret.
 
Your only as good as your equipment. If you don't range it right you may wound the aminal. Your 270 will be 12' of drop at 500 yards with 130 gr Nosler Balistic tip.
Know the guns capabilities and your capabilities. I shoot targets at a mile and hit them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom