How necessary is it for different rifles for range and hunting?

[Whiskey Bizned]

Hello everyone, I am a late-onset rifle hunter, 38yrs... last year was my first season and I put down a decent 4x4 bull elk. I have a Tikka T3x superlite, 6.5 creedmoor, with a Burris Veracity scope, 5-25x50. Learning curve was steep last couple years (Corey Jacobson's Elk101 helped a lot), picked up a few great pieces of gear on the classifieds here (MR Metcalf, Vortex Viper 10x42, some FirstLite pieces, etc.), and have a great buddy that has jumped head first into elk hunting with me. Looking forward to many great seasons ahead!

Starting to reload my own rounds this offseason and have come to this question... Do you have to have different rifles for range shooting and for hunting? Or is it a luxury that people with extra money (or no wife, lol) have? I am trying to do the best I can at reloading similar rounds to what I hunt with (Hornady ELDx, 143grain, 2700fps muzzle), and I am hearing that different rounds will fly pretty differently and I need to have my hunting round dialed in to my scope just so, which will likely not give me decent results in the range with my practice rounds (Hornady Hollow-Point Boat-Tail, 140gr). I do know for sure that if I am dialing my scope to these practice rounds, I will have to burn a few ELDx rounds to make sure my scope is set right for hunting. Reloading later today, and starting at 40gr, working up in 0.5gr increments up to 42.0 and 42.2. At least that's what Alliant recommended for the Reloader 16 powder and those bullets. I should get to 2700fps with these HPBT bullets with about 42 or 42.2 gr. I did have a box of Hornady A-tip match, but returned those ($83/box of 100) in favor of these HPBT ($32/box of 100)

I guess my questions here is how much difference is there going to be? Enough difference that resetting my scope twice a year is not worth the hassle? Or are those similar enough rounds that it "should be fine". I know the main variable here is how far out I'm shooting, and so that would be part of the question too. Will they be about the same at 200 and 300yds, but then start to vary once I get our to 500 or 600? I will likely find out for myself as I go to the range this year, just curious what everyone's experience has been. Thanks for the time and help, cheers!

If I need to move this question from Long Range Hunting over to reloading, just let me know.

 

[hereinaz]

Congrats on the bull! I came to hunting even later than you. Your age and maturity can cut the learning curve short, because you ask really good questions. I invested time into shooting, because that was one way to ensure that I was successful, being able to capitalize on more opportunities and eliminate my shooting as a cause of failure.

Rule number one I give for hunters. If you already have a serviceable rifle, don't buy a new one, buy more ammo to shoot through your hunting rifle. The one investment that you can save for and make down the road will be a scope. The 6.5 cm is more than adequate for your immediate hunting needs and is a perfect second backup gun if you get a magnum when your skills exceed the effective range of the 6.5.

Your Tikka is one of the best factory rifle platform money can buy, IMO. Maybe upgrade your rifle with that money, if the upgrade is an appropriate and valuable one for you. With a Tikka, there isn't much to upgrade, maybe a new stock and the YoDave trigger spring. That barrel will last 3000+ rounds as long as you don't shoot long strings with it hot. When it comes time to replace it, you can buy a prefit and have a gunsmith swap it out. Barrels are like tires, you get them replaced...

Load up and shoot away. Practice with one reloading combo once you find it, don't chase groups under one moa, don't chase velocity, and don't chase the latest and greatest reloading. You definitely don't need to spend A-tips money on bullets. Spend most of your time and money on shooting to focus on your fundamentals from at the bench and prone. Add in more complex field shooting after you get the fundamentals, for whatever type of hunting will look like for you.

The only practical difference between two loads out to 300 yards will be point of impact and zero. You can shoot all off season with any bullet you want, and then zero your rifle and confirm your drop data to the distance you are prepared to hunt at. The variance, which will be small out to 600 is easily accounted for when you plug the two different bullet sets of data into your ballistic solver. It is extremely easy to shoot two different combos, it is just switching between the bullets saved to your solver. I have dozens of combos in mine, because I often help guys set up their rifles and get them banging steel at 700 the same day.

A huge benefit would be training, pay for online training at Sniper's Hide or Modern Day Sniper, it is definitely worth it. And, the least expensive and most beneficial thing you can do is dryfire. If you don't have space, you can get the DFATs system scope cap to use inside a house. Just make sure all ammo is locked away and be paranoid!

I shot all sorts of calibers, cartridges and rifles for the first few years, and it all helped. But, I have now sold all but my hunting rifles and practice with the exact gear I will hunt with. I finally am following more closely the saying, "Fear the man with one gun, he probably knows how to use it."

 

[WCB]

I have used a "practice load" and then have my hunting load. As long as you have put the time in to confirm your hunting load and get your data correct. There should be no issue.

Word of advice write down exactly what the correction difference is between the two loads so when you switch from practice to hunting loads you are 99% there first shot. If your loads are dialed in and your scope is bomb proof repeatable 2 or 3 shots is all it should take to confirm once re-zeroed.

 

[ragsflh]

I load hunt load and practice load the same.that way I can see how it will shoot

 

[Whiskey Bizned]

Thanks for the help fellas, much appreciated. Just need to get more time on the range! Best of luck to you all.

 

[EastHumboldt]

Everything here in AZ said is true.

except you definitely need another rifle or possibly two. I will write your wife a letter insisting that’s what is required by state law. You’ll write one to mine. Do we have a deal?

I just bought an $800 .243 Win. with the idea it’s a slightly cheaper rifle to shoot than my main hunting rig...30-06. Then I spent $400 on brass bullets and powder. With bonus miles I get on my credit card, the tax breaks, and all the extra meat I will put on the table it should pay for itself in 20 -30 years tops.

 

[Zappaman]

Over many years (and rifles) I have decided to have any big game I hunt covered by TWO rifles at any given time. Lots of good advice here, but to the OP's question on "how many do you need?" I can say that nothing sucks more than to drop a rifle HARD on the first few days of your lucky bull elk draw trophy hunt- then sweat it out until you run down the road and check your zero (taking time away from actual hunting).

This happened to me on a cow elk hunt with my 7mm RM which wasn't dropped but had a mechanical scope failure (won't say the name, but a decent maker for sure and the scope just broke due to extreme cold- back in the 90s). My buddies hunting with me offered up their spare rifles, but I KNOW my rifles and so the best way to avoid this situation is to take TWO guns you have dialed in for any serious out-of-state (higher cost) hunts.

I also set all my triggers at very close to 2 3/4 lbs of pull. The back-up gun should shoot the same ballistics wise as the main gun. Each of my rifles has several loads I work up for them in different weight bullets. So for example: before I hit a deer hunt out west (long shooting), I load my 7mm RM AND my 260ai with heavies that will shoot about the same. The 260ai won't have the same energy at 600 yards, but it WILL have enough to get the job done on a mule deer standing broadside if I calculate the wind right (as has been said several times here... WIND is the harder of the two to call past about 300 yards or so).

As a sheep/goat rancher's kid, I killed coyotes for the family biz starting with a 270 at the age of about 13. I hold-over because I started hunting in West Texas in 1974 with a simple (thin) reticle on a fixed power "Nikor" 6x scope (from the 60s). We didn't have time to find a nickel, open the scope covers, and dial because the coyote was always moving- you just learned how many "coyotes" to hold-over and took the shot. We woke up KNOWING the wind for the day- every day!

Yes, you can buy a very expensive scope (and gun) which will have a lower potential for failure in the field- and dial in shots. But these are usually heavier scopes and like the OP's Tikka, I prefer a lighter gun over-all. A good, fixed power 6x scope WAS the standard for "Western" shooting during Jack O'Conner's day and I knew a few ranchers who could drop MOST deer at that range with the same scope off a 270, 7mm, etc.

For long-range shooting, I'll trade an extra few inches of barrel for a heavier scope any day myself. But you DO need CLEAR glass for longer range shooting in any case, and my guns usually run Weaver "LOW built Japanese" and Nikon Prostaff/Monarch scopes. Sadly, it's hard to get these great scopes as both companies were sold-off and shut down scope sales, but GOOD glass doesn't have to cost $600 (*while a good rifle can be had for about that lately too). Tell your wives there isn't a single (good) rifle made that has not doubled in value (several times over) in the last 30 years or so. I always compare my guns to my wife's shoes- I win every time (and have a gun safe!) Haha!

Last advice for the OP: keep GOOD notes on reloads including how many "clicks" one bullet shoots from another (in the same gun- different load). When I take my 243 out of the safe with a 70g Nosler (coyote bullet) loaded in it's clip (and dialed in), BUT need to use it as a "back-up" gun (using an 85g TSX large game load instead)... I KNOW to dial the TSX "left 6 clicks" to put it on it's 180 yr zero BEFORE I pack it up in it's hard case for the long trip out to somewhere. Those two bullets have two VERY different points of impact in that gun (recorded at the range when I developed both loads which easily shoot 3/4 MOA). Good notes made at the range will save you a lot of time (and I put note cards in each ammo box with # loads on brass, annealing dates, POI deltas, and general load data- I must have 40 post-it notes in my ammo boxes).