600 Yards on a Budget

[GibsonKuenzi]

First post here, ive been doing a lot of reading and i love the site!

Im a Deer and Elk hunter in the Northwest and im trying to do a 600 yard gun on a budget until i have the money to upgrade to what I want for the future.

Currently I have a tikka T3 in a .270 Win with a leupold Vx3 3.5-10x40.

Im looking for opinions on how to best set this gun up for under 600 Yard shots on deer, elk and black bear.

Currently i do not reload so i want to get into reloading for this caliber right now, and expand to other calibers later.

My questions are what bullet would you recommend for a .270 win if im reloading?

What are the best/most cost effective modifications i can do to my tikka to increase its accuracy?

Is it stupid to try this with a .270 win or would it be better to build it to a .270 weatherby mag or completely different caliber?

Finally, Can my Leupold VX-3 be upgraded for LR hunting or would i be better off buying a completely different scope?

Thanks a lot for the help in advance and once again i realize that this is not the "Ideal" Gun for 600 yard shots on deer/elk/black bear, but until i can afford to upgrade and do it right, i would like to use this gun.

 

[shortpants]

Your rifle is plenty capable of being a 600 yard rifle. I think your starting in the right place with reloading. I will let some others with more experience with the .270 comment on what bullet but as far as the rifle goes a good gunsmith could tune up your factory trigger or drop in a timney. Your scope if it is repeatable is capable and does not have to be upgraded right away. Honestly before I started spending money I'd find a round it shoots well and just shoot it. Test it's limits (and yours) and find the weaknesses and then you'll know what needs to be upgraded to best suit your particular needs. HSM makes good factory ammo till you get your reloads going.
Practice, trigger, reload would be the order of priorities for me. 600 yards is not hard to achieve with a little trigger time.

P.S. I would either sell your scope and buy one with turrets or add them to yours. A Vortex scope may serve you well but make sure you get either moa/moa or mil/mil do not get moa/mil. By this I mean make sure your reticle and turrets are the same.

 

[kcebcj]

Don't know much about the 270 except seems like most everyone has one. The Leupold can be sent into the custom shop and have M1 turrets installed. I did that and it worked well. The only downside is the M1 windage turret sticks out a little more than a inch and a quarter and if you hand carry the rifle much it will hit you in the wrist and there is no way to slip it into a scabbard. Very annoying and I would advise to just get the elevation turret and not worry about dialing the wind if you stay below 600 yards and hand carry the rifle while hiking.

Oh yeah if your left handed the above stuff doesn't matter.

 

[bigngreen]

Your 270 win is a great start! Here's a great article to read! 270 Win For Long Range Shooting

 

[GibsonKuenzi]

Thanks for the help guys! After reading that article i have no doubt my .270 win will do what i want it to for now.

Any Suggestions on reloading setups?

What about other accuracy modifications for a tikka t3 hunter.....

I would mess with the trigger but i really like it in stock form.

Thanks-Gibson

 

[cwinner]

Don't know much about the 270 except seems like most everyone has one. The Leupold can be sent into the custom shop and have M1 turrets installed. I did that and it worked well. The only downside is the M1 windage turret sticks out a little more than a inch and a quarter and if you hand carry the rifle much it will hit you in the wrist and there is no way to slip it into a scabbard. Very annoying and I would advise to just get the elevation turret and not worry about dialing the wind if you stay below 600 yards and hand carry the rifle while hiking.

Oh yeah if your left handed the above stuff doesn't matter.

+1 on sending your Leupold back to the factory for the addition of a M1 dial, I had this done to about four of my oldmleupold scopes and it works great for dialing elevation, it cost me about $80 a scope, the vx-3 is a good enough scope to 600 yds. Give the custom a shop a call and they will take care of you.......I also use their Mk-4 tatical scopes on some hunting rifles but they are quite bulky so I have moved to ordering vx-3 LR scopes with a 30mm tube 40mm objective and M-1 dial with their TMR reticle. This is a good mix between bulk,weight and offers the same reticle as a tatical long range scope but in a more compact package......an alternative would be a CDS dial as I had one installed on a scout scope but I don't like it as much cause it turns to easy for my taste.

Your Tika rifle should be a very capable rig....I have a couple friends with them and they are usually shooters out of the box.

As for reloading equipment, I'm an RCBS press and redding die fan nowadays.

I don't save any money reloading but I do shoot aheck of a lot more!!

 

[WildRose]

First post here, ive been doing a lot of reading and i love the site!

Im a Deer and Elk hunter in the Northwest and im trying to do a 600 yard gun on a budget until i have the money to upgrade to what I want for the future.

Currently I have a tikka T3 in a .270 Win with a leupold Vx3 3.5-10x40.

Im looking for opinions on how to best set this gun up for under 600 Yard shots on deer, elk and black bear.

Currently i do not reload so i want to get into reloading for this caliber right now, and expand to other calibers later.

My questions are what bullet would you recommend for a .270 win if im reloading?

What are the best/most cost effective modifications i can do to my tikka to increase its accuracy?

Is it stupid to try this with a .270 win or would it be better to build it to a .270 weatherby mag or completely different caliber?

Finally, Can my Leupold VX-3 be upgraded for LR hunting or would i be better off buying a completely different scope?

Thanks a lot for the help in advance and once again i realize that this is not the "Ideal" Gun for 600 yard shots on deer/elk/black bear, but until i can afford to upgrade and do it right, i would like to use this gun.

You're already there. Just take it out and shoot it. You might want to add a muzzle brake though just to be able to see your impacts at all ranges which will help you a great deal especially if you shoot alone.

Out to 600yds it's nothing but marksmanship. From there on out is where things get complicated and then more complicated and then very complicated.

Set it up to where you are comfortable and shooting 1-2moa max at 100yds and then 600 is just a drop chart and range finder away. Find yourself a decent 1 MOA load if you can, if you can't then 2MOA will still get the job done.

As others suggested if you want to stay with your original scope just get a custom turret or get leupold to install you an M1 elevation turret and you'll be good to go.

Of course once you master that you'll go completely nuts wanting to "upgrade" it to the point of .25moa if at all possible and then you can really blow a wad of money.

Welcome.

 

[angus-5024]

The .270 win is a great place to start! A little light for elk at 600 yards IMO, but its just my opinion and nothing more.
I would sell your scope and get a Vortex PST 2.5-10X44 with matching turrets/reticule. The Leupold will do you fine with the M1's but they are long (i hate the ones on my Mark 4, at least trying to fit it in a scabbard). If you are a perfectionist, which most guys are when it comes to guns, your going to want to have a good reticule system and thats why i say get a Vortex. It will be well within your budget and you will be able to use it for hold over or dial and it can be had illuminated. if the leupold is gonna save you any more than $100 i would keep it.

Bergert and Nosler accubonds are the old faithful in .270 from what I hear.

I agree with the others that a relaoding press is your first big step.
you may also consider having your rifle pillar/glass bedded or getting a new stock altogether. Bell and Carlson offer an affordable replacement that will be much better.

 

[crittrgittr]

I agree with all above. I own a tikka, It will shoot as good as most can from factory. Mine shoots one hole at 100. I use 140gr ballistic tips iin my 270, but I have only used it on whitetail. I would go to Accubond or partitions for elk. try some h4831sc powder when you start to reload (which stated above is the only way to get true potential out of gun). Good luck

 

[sundance1972]

I had the M1 dial put on my VX-III (3.5-10x50)as well and am quite happy with it so far. Haven't done a whole bunch with it yet (just had it done a month ago), but seems to be a nice fit on my 6.5-06.
As for reloading, I tried the Matrix 145 and 165 gr VLD's in a 270 with some pretty decent results. The 165's could prob use a little faster twist than the stock 1-10 in my old Rem 700, but the 145's were well under and inch at 200.

 

[jsthntn247]

I would load the 130 sciroccos or interbonds with 4831sc(temp stable). Either send the scope back to leupold or look up Kenton industries and get one of their knobs for your scope, don't even have to take the scope off the gun for that. Work up a load for the gun the way it currently sits and if you can get .5-.75 moa, your done.

 

[Truc]

I shoot the 140 Hornady BTSP w/ 59 gr H-4831 less than 1/2" w/ my 24" stock barreled Rem, though it is mounted in a McMillan stock

 

[youngtrout]

To get started reloading, recomend one of the all in one kits, I started with the LEE, but if funds allows, go with a RCBS or the Hordany,,,,,gives you the basic kit, you can add to it as you go along, items I added were more case prep stuff, digital scale, etc