Ballistics question

[bullgetter]

I have my new dream sheep rifle. Kimber Montana 8400 in 270 wsm weighing in at 7.5 pounds fully dressed. I am shooting Ferderal Premium 130 grain nosler partions. Sighted in at 100 yards 3 inches high. At 300 yards I am pretty much dead center. I put on a 3.5x10 power leupold scope with the boone and crockett reticle. My question is what should the bullet drop be at 400 and 500 yards. Should I use the second crosshair for 400 yards and the third crosshair for 500 yards? I am only able to shoot at a 300 yard range and am out of time to go look for somewhere to shoot 500 yards. Sheep season is nearly upon us!!!!!!

Try shooting at 100 yards with the lower crosshairs and see how high you are hitting and that will give you a rough idea where your zero will be. Note use of word rough.

[honda450]

It would be between 24 and 32 inches given a muzzle velocity of 3000 fps. But I do not think you will get that out of those bullets. Those measurments are at 500 yds so at 400 gotta guess. The more you shoot the better you get. Keep in mind those measurment are with a 0 @300

[Short Round]

That's the kind of question you really should be asking the rifle.

If you can't shoot at 400 yards and 500 yards in practice, you shouldn't be shooting that far at game.

But as I recall you should be 3.5 low at 350 and 8ish low at 400.

That's assuming that you're getting the listed velocity out of those rounds. But I've seen 150+ FPS shifts depending on the gun a particular round is loaded in. So there's really no telling where your gun is putting them without putting them on paper.

[Mintaka]

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[honda450]

He's using factory ammo and not hand loads.

[Mintaka]

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[honda450]

Gee Mintaka 3300 fps out of a 130 bullet? Now thats a hot load.

[Mintaka]

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[honda450]

Probably even less as it is factory ammo.

Federal says 3280fps and they are usually pretty close...obviously depending on barrel length and such. I'm guessing over 3,000 for sure.

[dennisb]

check out remingtonshoot.com

[wallhangers]

check out biggameinfo.com they have a balistics calculator on their site

[Rackmastr]

Check out
www.shootyourriflesoyouarentguessing.com

[Stinky Coyote]

I shoot a tikka in .270 and factory 130 gr fusion ammo (i believe federal is the parent company) and its supposed to be around 3050 fps and on its first day to the range and in under 80 shots forsure i was hitting almost that on the chrony with only the 22"-ish length barrel on my tikka. Not sure if that helps anyone.

I also wouldn't shoot to a range that i haven't practiced and learned. I'm with ya on being able to do it at 4 and 500 yrds if you get the right opp and are practiced but if you can't get out and shoot to that to know your exact drops then don't bother winging it at a critter. You can do all the paperwork and ballistics you like but until you shoot at that distance for real....its still just a guess imo.

I use the bp reticle on burris scopes and i've messed with a few shots in the field to 400 with my .270 and its close to what the chart says but not bang on. I would run out with some targets to a big enough piece of land if your lucky enough to have access to and set up some 4 and 500 yrd and shoot for real. I have the same reticle on a .204 and the trajectory doesn't go anywhere near the hash marks with a 1.5" high at 100 zero....at 500 yrds i center target perfectly between the 2nd and 3rd hash marks...so the first one down is pretty much 350 yrds and the 2nd one down hits 4" high at 400 yrds and the 3rd one down is probably more like 550-600 but i didn't confirm it...i only learned it for real to 500 yrds....but i've shot at things in the snow at 600 yrds using the 3rd hash mark and if it had been a coyote sitting there he'd have a bullet in him but its really only a guess based on what i did learn up to 500 yrds....don't think i'd make that guess on a sheep...coyote yes...sheep no.

I have exactly the same thing to do as you. I'm zeroed just under the 3" high line at 100 yrds with the .270...i should be a little slower than you but if your bang on at 300 then maybe you are only a little over 3000 fps? I dunno as i've not shot 300 to see if i'm dead on yet or not....very soon though...in fact it might be today that i do my 3-500 learning. I will try to report back but i wouldn't shoot much past 300 on your set up hunting unless you find a way to practice further before you go. Good luck.

[Mintaka]

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[bullgetter]

Thanks guys. I am not planning on shooting 500 yards but would like to know roughly what my rifle is capable of. My furthest shot ever in 15 years was 280 yards at a whitetail. I hunt the bush and have no use for taking hail marry shots. I want to be prepared in case of a wound I will attempt any clear shot to finish the job. You never know what may happen. I do not even know where to shoot around home to have a clear 500 yard shot, I wish I could.

[Rocks]

Where ya headed sheep hunting Bullgetter?

[Dick284]

270WSM!!!!
Not 270Win.
Expect real close to factory specs if using a 24" barrel.
The factory WSM ammo is quite hot, some guys are reporting that they cant come close to factory velocities even while handloading.
The only way to know for sure is to shoot your rilfe out to 500 yards and see what it does.(under the same conditions as the ones you will hunt in) There are calcultaed ballistics and then there are real world ballistics. Without factoring in humidity, altitude, barometric pressure, ambient temperature, there is no bang on way of figuring out ballistics that far out.

[Mintaka]

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[Stinky Coyote]

Just to confirm my zero is basically 250 yrds and i have to use the first hash down on the bp reticle for 300...but my 2nd hash is perfect for 400 and 3rd hash for 500....as i shot on sunday...this with a 130 gr fusion at a little over 3000 fps and with just under 3" high at 100 yrd zero. Shooting done on 9x with a burris 3-9x40 ff2 with bp reticle. HTH

[bullgetter]

Rocks, we are going in Rock Lake for the first week then if that does not work out I will be in Cadomin in October. Do you go in the Wilmore through Rock Lake or Sheep Creek?

[Rocks]

We go in from the Cowlick staging area right at Grande Cache. Will end up on the upper Sulphur...maybe run into you there?

[bullgetter]

There will be 5 of us and I think we will be in the West Sulphur. I've never been in Wilmore but can't wait to see that country.

Don't shoot them all guys! I'm not going in until the 10th of September!

[Rocks]

Bullgetter - we'll come through the W Sulphur for a visit. We won't be camped too far away from there...

Sheep - we're only shootin little ones so we'll leave the big ones for you LOL

Thanks Rocks...much appreciated. Feel free to tie one of those big ones up....lol

I'll be thrilled if my buddy gets a ram. I'm happy just to be a gracious host and packer on this trip.

[Ice Fishing Maniac]

I have Leupold VX3 3.5-10x40 and a 4.5-14x40 both with BC reticles on my Tikka T3 LS rifles in 270WSM. I now shoot reloads but before used Winchester Supreme Accubond CT's in 140gr.

I sighted my rifles in using the main crosshairs centred on target @ 100m, with the scope turned up to the large triangle. If I remember correctly it was close to 2-2.5" high @ 100m. Then shot @ 200m with main crosshairs.

When I used the lower crosshairs for the recommended distances, my shots were dead centre (300m, 400m, 450m, and top of bottom post @ 500) worked out great for me. My wife used it to take her bull moose last season with her rifle @ 325m. She hit right where she was aiming, with double lung-complete pass thru penetration. She did a 2nd shot at my request just so the bull would not get to the timber, and the bull dropped within 20m from where he stood.

The Leupold BC reticle and the LR duplex sure works good in my books.

[sullijr]

I have one on my 7-08, read the instructions,it works just like maniac says.