Posted: 1/15/2014 9:17:27 AM EDT
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I have a Savage .270 that my dad bought for me when I was younger for deer hunting. I have been using it for about ten years now. I am hoping to upgrade to a .308 in the next couple of years, but trying to budget for a new kid and a new house have limited my gun budget.
So.... this Savage has a cheap simmons scope on it with the traditional turrets covered by a dust cap. I have been looking more at precision/longer range shooting lately. I am growing tired of guessing holdover. Could I take my gun out to the range and mark the scope with small pieces of colored electrical tape for say 100, 200 and 300 yards? Would this damage the scope changing the elevation many times? |
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Quoted: I have a Savage .270 that my dad bought for me when I was younger for deer hunting. I have been using it for about ten years now. I am hoping to upgrade to a .308 in the next couple of years, but trying to budget for a new kid and a new house have limited my gun budget. So.... this Savage has a cheap simmons scope on it with the traditional turrets covered by a dust cap. I have been looking more at precision/longer range shooting lately. I am growing tired of guessing holdover. Could I take my gun out to the range and mark the scope with small pieces of colored electrical tape for say 100, 200 and 300 yards? Would this damage the scope changing the elevation many times? |
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Quoted:
The problem you may run into is that the scope may not have very "repeatable" adjustments, being that you mention it's a cheap simmons... Yep. A lot of the cheap scopes are made to be zeroed and never touched again. There's also a good chance that even though it says that one click is 1/4 MOA, 1/8 MOA, etc, it may not be exactly that value. So you could dial in 3.4 minutes of adjustment, but it may only be 3.2 minutes in reality. |
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I tried to quote you AKengineer but it didn't work. (too many quote tags? what?)
I hate wounding animals by making bad shots. So I guess this is something I must consider. However, I am not exactly making accurate shots now by guessing holdover with cross hairs. |
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Quoted:
I have a Savage .270 that my dad bought for me when I was younger for deer hunting. I have been using it for about ten years now. I am hoping to upgrade to a .308 in the next couple of years, but trying to budget for a new kid and a new house have limited my gun budget. So.... this Savage has a cheap simmons scope on it with the traditional turrets covered by a dust cap. I have been looking more at precision/longer range shooting lately. I am growing tired of guessing holdover. Could I take my gun out to the range and mark the scope with small pieces of colored electrical tape for say 100, 200 and 300 yards? Would this damage the scope changing the elevation many times? I doubt it would damage the scope, and if it did, it's just a cheap Simmons. I don't think you really need target turrets at 300 yards. If you are shooting paper, you can judge by the rings on the target. Also, try zeroing at 300 and holding low at shorter distances. It's easier than having a 100 or 200 yard zero and estimating hold further out. Plus, for hunting, I think a 300 yard zero is better if you are going to have long distance shots. |
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Quoted: I tried to quote you AKengineer but it didn't work. (too many quote tags? what?) I hate wounding animals by making bad shots. So I guess this is something I must consider. However, I am not exactly making accurate shots now by guessing holdover with cross hairs. |
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Quoted:
Setup an inch grid target at 100 yards and shoot the bull. Then click over 5 inches down and 5 inches right and shoot. Then shoot 10 inches left of that, then shoot 10 inches up. Then shoot 10 inches to the right. If you don't have a 10 inch square with a hole in the center and holes in the corners your adjustments are not accurate or your shooting is off. Quoted:
Quoted:
I tried to quote you AKengineer but it didn't work. (too many quote tags? what?) I hate wounding animals by making bad shots. So I guess this is something I must consider. However, I am not exactly making accurate shots now by guessing holdover with cross hairs. can also do the test with a Boresighter/collimator. |
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Quoted:
Setup an inch grid target at 100 yards and shoot the bull. Then click over 5 inches down and 5 inches right and shoot. Then shoot 10 inches left of that, then shoot 10 inches up. Then shoot 10 inches to the right. If you don't have a 10 inch square with a hole in the center and holes in the corners your adjustments are not accurate or your shooting is off. Quoted:
Quoted:
I tried to quote you AKengineer but it didn't work. (too many quote tags? what?) I hate wounding animals by making bad shots. So I guess this is something I must consider. However, I am not exactly making accurate shots now by guessing holdover with cross hairs. Thanks, I will try that. I think I saw someone doing something like that on youtube the other day. |
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.270 inside 300yds is very doable. Zero at 200yds then go figure out your holdunder / holdover. That's going to get you safe hits all day long with minimal kentucky windage.
Scopes with a BDC or mil reticle can be found for relatively inexpensive all over the place. That at least gives you a few more options, but try a different zero distance with your current setup. |
| Check JBM to get max point blank zero for your load, and zero accordingly. Stalk inside the MPBZ range, then aim center mass and don't worry about holding or dialing with that scope. This is the method that most "hunting" scopes were made to use. |
| One in the field hunting observation with the BDC type scopes is from what I've seen a few times is guys get all confused with the damned dots and don't take notice of downhill/uphill slope angle etc. and just flat out miss. My buddy, a guy from Montana a decent hunter missed a 5x5 mule deer this year shooting downhill at under 300 yards with a .300 Win Mag, and wouldn't you know it held on to the 300 yard dot and shot right over the deer. Never saw that Muley again all season. |
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Quoted:
One in the field hunting observation with the BDC type scopes is from what I've seen a few times is guys get all confused with the damned dots and don't take notice of downhill/uphill slope angle etc. and just flat out miss. My buddy, a guy from Montana a decent hunter missed a 5x5 mule deer this year shooting downhill at under 300 yards with a .300 Win Mag, and wouldn't you know it held on to the 300 yard dot and shot right over the deer. Never saw that Muley again all season. So I guess your point is that range time and knowledge is critical. |
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My 270 hunting rifles and loads shoot as follows: 2.5" high at 100 On at 200 5" low at 300 17" low at 400. No need to adjust. On mule deer at 400 hold 6" over the top of the shoulder. Anything inside 400, basically hold on. I think this is what I am going to go with. A 400 yard shot is un-heard of here in Georgia. I do have access to a 500 yard range though. |
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Bushnell elite
fairly short money but good bang for the buck. Just a thought. |
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First try the "box test" as mentioned above to see if the scope adjustments are repeatable enough to do that.
Also, the scope must be level with the gun and horizon, or else windage will be affected when you adjust for elevation. You can check the levelness of the scope to rifle by putting a small bubble level on the receiver and another on top of the elevation turret. Or by sighting the crosshair onto a plumb bob string and when the vertical crosshair is aligned to the plumb bob, the bubble level on the gun should be level. If the adjustments aren't repeatable enough, then just zero for "Maximum Point Blank Range" or around 3" high at 100 yards and you should be in the kill zone for medium game out to 300 yards with .270 without needing to do holdovers. |