New shooter, gear and ballistic questions

[Clearwaterarcher]

Little background info:

I’m mainly an archery hunter but have shot rifles on and off my whole life. I’ve killed a pile of whitetails but picked up a b-tag this year because I’m only going to have 4-5 days to hunt during bow season(elk). I’m really looking to dial in my gear before rifle season and need some pointers.

Rifle Setup- I’ve been shooting my dads old browning bbr chambered in .270 for years and it’s a deadly accurate rifle. It shoots 130 grain Barnes under half minute. I recently bought a Swaro x5 3.5-18x44 P from my uncle and once I get all my ballistic information for the load I will buy a custom turret for it from outdoorsmans.

Gear questions- The one thing I feel I’m truly lacking is a good quality rangefinder. As stated above I’m an archery hunter as well so I want something that will calculate EHR but will be mainly geared toward rifle shooting. I’m not afraid to spend money here. I was looking at either the Leica range master 2400-R or the sig kilo 2200 bdx. Would love to hear your recommendations on a solid unit.

Bullet Questions- What bullet do you guys recommend for shooting elk at a maximum of 500 yards out of a .270? As stated above the gun likes 130 grain Barnes lrx. But, I’ve also heard really good things about 140 grain Accubonds as well. I’m going to buy custom ammo from Unknownmunitions.

Ballistic Questions- I’ve been looking at the ballistic information that I will need to gather for the outdoorsmans custom turret on my Swaro x5. My question is- how important is temperature, humidity, and elevation when shooting a maximum of 500 yards? It says on their website the elevation is accurate +- 2000 feet. I live and hunt in north Idaho so I was just going to set the elevation at 4,000 and be done with it. For temperature their website said the turret is accurate +- 20 degrees so I was going to set it at 40. I’ve heard humidity really isn’t all that important when shooting relatively close range so I’m just assuming I’ll set that at 50%? Would love to hear your guys thoughts on these three factors.


Jack

 

[Harvey_NW]

Leica is solid, the Sig's are definitely popular units as well. I think the BDX is fine but I have heard of some of their lower models just randomly quitting. I have a Nikon 4k and love it.

Lots of guys that love Barnes, and Accubonds are always performers. I wouldn't rule out Berger or Hammers either, but your twist is going to play a factor in determining. Unknown will dial that in with you.

Those elements will affect every load differently so best thing to do is punch those into a calculator and see how drastically they affect your load for specifics. I've considered getting turrets cut but always reverted to keeping them MOA as a baseline and writing out a drop chart and keeping a calculator on hand. Out to 500 I don't think you'd have much issue at all, but once you start shooting distance you'll likely push that out at the range. Then what happens when you see a giant at 850? IMO 500+ should be situationally calculated dope when shooting at an animal.

 

[Clearwaterarcher]

If you were to buy a sig would it be the abs model?

 

[Travis Bertrand]

If you were to buy a sig would it be the abs model?

Absolutely. Less than 400 on Amazon


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[Travis Bertrand]

You don’t need a custom turret for the x5. It has a great reticle and dial system. I would spend the money on a kestrel with applied ballistics or a good app for dope. Guessing you are running MOA then you can be off 1 moa at 500 yards (over 5”) from sea level to 8,000 feet at same temp. Now make the two extremes of temp and you are off even more. With a. 1/2 minute gun, that becomes too much.

Temp, humidity is very important(to a point) the extremes of both will effect your dope. That’s also why I recommend not getting a custom turret. In theory they are nice however so many factors go into shooting and dope is too dynamic!

I’ve killed my biggest elk with that exact bullet. With that said, I would look at a heavier bullet if your twist rate can handle it and one a bit more efficient. 162 eldx?


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