No Click LR carry gun

BountyHunter

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Lot of guys here are just starting out and cannot build the ulitmate LR guns ($3500-5000) with the $2000 scopes. You see a lot of posts on how to set up guns for the 200-600 yard shot.

Here is a basically simple rig that is very accurate out to 600-800 yards or so with no clicks.

Started as a 300 WSM in Rem SPS. Factory barrel was not worth a flip so went with a on the shelf Lilja 1-10 twist #3 at 26 inches. Bruce Baer did his medium sporter thumbhole in butternut (2.5 lbs) Ended up with a PTG bolt , Sako extractor and PTG handle.

Shoots 168 gr Barnes TTSX into little bitty holes with RL17 at 3253 fps. Weighs 8.5 lbs with rifle, scope, sling and loaded. Not a super light but easy carry gun. IMO they work geat on deer and give plenty of expansion along with more than decent BC and accuracy. They are not super high dollar bullets that require a special twist and I can buy all I want from sinclairs, grafs or midway.

Scope is a super clear and bright Kahles 3-9X with the TDS. The TDS is like all ballistic reticles it is designed to work off max power.

Here is the secret though. Get the Exbal program (Nightforce sells it under their name too). It has a reticle tool that allows you to adjust the scope operating power from the max power. You must know the distance in inches between each aiming point at max power. That is the essential element along with an accurate MV. Call the tech dept at Burris, Nikon, Swarovski, Leupold, Kahles etc, and they can give it to you. They all work the same so it applies to any of the ballistic reticles.

In this case I worked the POI for each crosshair at 6x, 7x, 8x and 9x as I only had a 3-9X. Used a 200 yard zero. That leaves me little over 1.6 high at 100, so pretty sure I am not going to miss the deer with that. Used white label maker tape on the side of the stock for durability and easy to see. **** getting old is crappy.

If you enlarge the pic below you can see the distances for each crosshair at each of the powers. It is accurate reliable and super fast with that thumbhole stock.

I took a deer last year at 450+ yards and it was easy with no clicking. I have tested the system at over 600 and it is dead on.

Now exball allows you to run a different set of number if you go to high altitude, change bullets, MV or zeros.

I have set up multiple rifle/scope combos with varying crosshairs and it always works. I have used Swarovski, Kahles, Burris and Nikons and works like a dream with each.

Joel Russo by the way makes the same stock and he is not a bad fellow even if he gets "bored in a treestand"

BH



 
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Good post

Several on here including myself have extoled the virtues of the 300 wsm for a light carry rifle that is accurate and will kill anything easily out to 600 yards with no clicks. A mil dot scope is great on them.

If a guy does his hunting inside a half mile (99.99999% of hunters) and hunts elk on a regular basis all he needs is a rem 700, 338 ultramag with a $300-500 mil dot sope. Spend all that extra money on bullets and hunting trips. The only way to significantly beat it in performance would be to go to a 338-378 wby, 338-416 imp or 338 Lapua imp in a longer barrel. And that is not needed inside a half mile. With all the money you save you can shoot the daylights out of the 338 rum and be deadly with it. You will not shoot the barrel out in the 338. I have a 338-378 wby I built many years ago that has at least 2-3 thousand rounds down it and still shoots like a dream. Realistically who can not stalk within a half mile of an elk. You don't need to be a millionaire or mortgage the house to get into effective long range hunting.

I just took a beautiful +10 year old 6x6 bull elk at 740 yards last week with mine and it wasn't a very difficult shot with that rifle.
 
My go- to rifle isn't my Edge, it's an older Savage 7mm with a 4-14 FFP Falcon ML16 reticle. Even after over 1500 rounds it is still a solid 1/2moa rifle. There are lots of good inexpensive options out there. Now we have rifles that have a decent accuracy guarantee for around $400. Several cheaper scopes have mil or mil-based reticles, which I would use over cranking their turrets(wouldn't trust them).
 
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Wow guys.....there's a Lot of great info here, i definately have to really study up on this stuff, there's so many technical points to gather............Thanx HEAPS for your input......Ray.
 
Great post Bounty Hunter. I was thinking of doing something like this, but finding the inches between and using the ballistics program will save me some time and shooting.

I just picked up a 300 Wby magnum that I suspect will work very similarly to your rifle.
 
just wondering but isnt that the way zeiss rapid z works. i have been looking at getting one with the rapid z 800 reticle. if not then i like your way of doing things. i got a 300wsm also thats in the works of getting a make over lol
 
All of the ballistic reticles work similar, you need the difference in inches between aim points/crosshairs, accurate MV and Exbal and you can figure for ANY power, not just the max or mftr listed power.


BH
 
Bountyhunter, thanks for giving a good explanation for something I have been doing for years but have a hard time explaining to others.
 
Any scope with dots/dashes/marks etc will work. You simply need the distance between marks in inches and exbal with the reticle tool..

You can make it work at any power, not just the max power.

I have set up a dozen or so rifle like this with a variety of scopes.

Simple, accurate and works great out to 600-800 or so depending on gun and scope combo

BH
 
I went the same route with my lupy 4.5 -14 b&c and varm. model. i can actually use the last mark on the varm. model for 600 yards with my 6mm x284 that is actually supposed to be for range finding. still like my nightforces though
mike
 
BH,

Good post. It should motivate some folks to take things to the next level.

I've worked up the same kind of setup for my carry gun. It's about a pound heavier than yours and a 338 RUM but still an easy carry.

My scope is a FFP Mil reticle. I think I'd like an MOA reticle better......

I kind of 'lucked out' when validating the drop chart that the rig is spot on with the chart out to 1177 yds. Kind of a 'cross over' rig.:)
 
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