New hunter with scope questions

[huntoregon]

Hey guys I am fairly new to hunting and would like to get some opinions or ideas on what you would recommend for a scope style or maybe just a method of shooting.

Last spring I bought an out of the box Weatherby Vanguard 2 in 300WM and put a Leupold VX2 4-12x40 with a basic duplex reticle on it for a scope and zeroed it at 100 yards. This past weekend I went elk hunting and got on a group of elk with a couple of bulls but they were at 500 yards and I have never shot that far so I didn't feel comfortable trying to take one.

That being said I don't know if I would ever be comfortable shooting that distance with this scope just due to the fact it seems like you would just be guessing at elevation. Is there a method of practice I can do to get confident at shooting 300,400,500 yards? It seems I would need a scope with at least some type of holdover reticle, or are most guys going with scopes with the turret elevation adjustment?

Sorry for the newbie questions, this hunting stuff is addicting and I don't want to have to pass up more shots.

 

[el matador]

One option would be to send your scope in to Leupold and have a CDS turret installed. This costs under $100 and will give you a nice low-profile exposed elevation turret. I had this done to a VX-3 a while back and was very pleased with it. Of course there are plenty of scopes out there with ballistic reticles and/or target turrets that would work as well.

 

[matemike]

Practice practice practice is your best bet method above anything else. That will help build your confidence. The 300 WM is way more than capable of a 400-500 yard shot on an elk.

Only if yours is a first focal plane scope would it be wise to use hold over's via the reticle hash marks.

The easiest thing to do for your current scope is what was already mentioned above; get an uncapped quick turret installed. See if they can make a feature for the turret to stop on your desired zero distance when clicking back down.

 

[Rich Coyle]

Back in the '70's and '80's I used a 4-12X. I learned where the top of the bottom thick crosshair was when on 12X. It was not a first focal plane scope. I care for them. You need to practice and practice and practice.

 

[g0rd0]

you where wise to not take that shot. Without practice you may have wounded that elk.
As above practice practice practice at the ranges that you intend to hunt. Get to know where your rifle hits at long ranges before you find yourself in that situation again.
When I was living in Alberta we used to got out in the off season and practice long range on gophers and jack rabbits. We went through a lot of 308win, 3006, 243, 338wm and 300wm. But in season the only questions we had when in the field where point spread and distance.
If you are not going to have cds turret put on that scope zero in at 300yrds

 

[huntoregon]

Thanks for the reply's, I had no idea Leupold could do that. I will call them and talk to them. My other option I was considering was to sell this scope and buy a Nightforce or Huskemaw, but I really just don't have the money to do that right away.

So with those quick adjust turrets you just test to see how much your ammo drops at different distances and then you can adjust quickly while hunting?

For example if I zero my rifle at 200 yards and see an elk again at 500 yards and if I knew my bullet drops 40" in that range do you just crank up the elevation turret to compensate for the drop? Am I understanding this correctly?

 

[matemike]

For example if I zero my rifle at 200 yards and see an elk again at 500 yards and if I knew my bullet drops 40" in that range do you just crank up the elevation turret to compensate for the drop? Am I understanding this correctly?

Sounds like you're understanding it correctly. You'll behoove yourself to study and learn MOA or Radian calculations though. You'll want to know the turret "click" value to go up, not necessarily inches of drop. Then keep quick notes taped somewhere inconspicuous on your rifle. Those notes may very well come from a ballistic calculator found in a million places on this interweb. Hornady is an easy and free one that comes to mind.

http://www.hornady.com/ballistics-resource/ballistics-calculator


Don't get ahead of yourself. You're on the right track and asking the right questions. Focus on what you want for your scope and ultimately what you want your gun and scope to do first. Once your setup is finally set up is when the studying will pay off during practice sessions. Not until then should hunting be the focus.