steping up - hopefully

[blazer_man3]

Hello everybody, new hear so dont expect to much - lol. Looking at a new weatherby accumark L/H action in 270 wtby mag. with 26" barrel. thinking of topping it with either Kahles or Swarovski 8x56 illum. reticle. A lot of low light shooting. The rifle sells for approx. $1300.00 and scopes are in the $1100.00-$1300.00 range. I have to wonder if I might be spending to much for "out of the box stuff". I have been limiting myself to 300-350 yard shots and feel I need to move up to 500-600 yards. I will probably use this setup just as much for hunting as shooting varmitsand targets. Deer, antelope, and elk (probably limited to 300-400 yards). I cant afford to shoot alot so I think I can deal with the 270's recoil. Wanted to make sure tho I got something that didnt give it up after 300-400 yards. would this be the way to go or am I losing track of something better? I really appreciate any advice that you good ol boys would care to throw at me.

 

[BBQ Warrior]

I have personally seen a savage 300 WSM (short mag of course) in a $500 rifle outshoot a 270 WbyMag at 300 yards. and as far as recoil goes the 270 WBY has just as much as any of the 7mm mags except the RUM & STW. And the 300WSM along with the 300Win Mag and the 300 Wby only have 4 more pounds of recoil.

As far as ammo goes you can just about buy 2 boxes of 300WSM for what 1 box of Weatherby 270 will cost. Also your options when it comes to ammo coices is better with the .308 dia projectiles.

Just my personal opinion. I would go 30 caliber or even 7mm to chuck a bigger piece of copper.

 

[Dave King]

I'd tend to agree with where BBQ Warrior is headed... Leave the Weatherby alone, they're nice looking rifles and have a flat trajectory but neither of these attributes is essential. One significant key to long range and general accurate shooting is time behind the rifle (shots downrange)....this generally leaves the hard recoil and barrel burners out of the equation for many folks.

Optics is important and it appears you're ready to shell out for good glass...I'd make sure those scopes have decent turrets that are easy to use (I'm not one for holdoff marks and prefer to adjust the scope to the desired yardage).

For shots to 350 yards (still chip shot range for a seasoned long range practitioner) and to 650 yards for that matter a non-magnum will be fine (deer size game...probably not moose or elk).

But a rifle for lesser money and shoot it, if it's not accurate enough you can have it tuned up and still be under (probably) the initial outlay for the unproven Weatherby rifle. Get good rings and bases and stick with good optics (they're transferable to a new rifle).

A Remington Varmint type in 308 or Sendaro in 300 Magnum would be my first choices, they can be tuned and rebarreled easily. The Savage rifles (I can't bring myself to buy a Savage) are reportedly very accurate and have trigger upgrades available.

Better to have lots of practice with a 308 and get the bullet exactly where you want it than to have less practice with a more potent chambering and miss your mark a little.

My 2 cents.

 

[jb1000br]

I repeat what dave and BBQ said...also--the sendero is pretty sexy for half the price of the wby. also the tikka continental and new T3 varmint. yes the savages are ugly, but much potential--unless you must buy the weatherby to keep up an image, i wouldnt.

JB

 

[RBrowning]

At the risk of offending those with more experience than I, I will respectfully point out one point that some may have over looked. That is the fact that the mentioned gun is a LH. Finding a decent LH model (ESPECIALLY a Remington!) is darn near impossible. I recently found a Weatherby LH in 257 that a local dealer has sat on for over a year and he made me a great deal on it. So far I am very pleased with it's performance. I am getting into reloading because of the ammo costs, but the Accumark is indead living up to it's name. I know other guns may be better, but hitting clay pigeons at 710 yards is good enough for me for now.

 

[Brent]

I met an older gent at the range yesterday who professed he'd been a Weatherby guy his whole life, but has been tired of the poor accuracy from the ones he's purchaced these later years. He's has custom barrel installed on Remingtons the last couple years and said he's never going back now, period. Now, I've never owned a Weatherby so I can't say. I just never have liked their gazilion bolt lugs and looks of the rifles they offer, plus my dad has always told me they're a *** and has seen them fail to function on several occasions while hunting, and he said they were the only brand that he ever did personally see fail in all his years. He'd never own one for sure.

Set more time aside to shoot, or keep the range limited, it takes much trigger time to be certain of your drops and your abilities being repeatable.

That said, perfect practice and much of it at long range with only a 1 MAO capable, and repeatable rifle will ALWAYS blow away the tack driving .25 MOA rifle if you practice little with it at LR.

Perfect practice takes time, and ammo, and unless you're willing to nail down and guarantee yours and your rifles capabilities as you increase your range, with BRUTAL honesty, learning what all the variables are and how to correct for each of them, LR accuracy and repeatability will a hit and miss and you'll just be kidding yourself in the end.

You have come to the right place to learn more, as most ALL of these guys will NOT feed you BS or worthless drivel but rather help you learn the ins and outs of LR in leaps and bounds.

Have you considered using a doner action and rebarreling it with a custom barrel? 90% of your accuracy will come from the barrel itself so, a barrel from one of the top MFG's is biggest step in the right direction for the ultimate in accuracy you're likely to take, you pick the action....

If you're even considering spending over a grand on a scope, I'd snatch the Nightforce 5.5-22x56 with the NP-R2 illuminated ranging reticle in a heartbeat.

 

[ewallace]

blaxer_man3
That is a hard ? I have shot the wetherby accumarks and Rbrownings is one that I have shot and I was a witness of him braking a clay at 710 yards and hitting a gong (6x8 inches) at 900 yards. They are good shooting guns but. I would have to say if you want to shoot out to 600 yards you will want to shoot farther soon. I would go with a 300 win with a brake in a custom barrel gun. I would start with a Rem sendero in 300 win mag and shoot that tell you ware the barrel out and if you want more speed go to the Wetherby in a match barrel on that action. As for a scope I would go with a Leupold LRT or a Nightforce in a 5.5x22x56.
Crow Mag

 

[blazer_man3]

Hello everybody. Thanks for the many replies. I had often thought about the three 300 win mag and put it off cuz everybody and his dog had one. But it really does make alot more sense, will save me money and will throw it down range alot further.
Dont want a Savage tho, wouldn't be right to be found dead with one in my hands, no matter how well it shot.
If I buy a Sendaro(which I probably will) it will be R/H action but I've shot many of those before and should I ever want to trade or sell---would be alot easier to dump a righty. So I agree the Weatherby is best forgotten.

BUT I'm very very picky about the scope. My main concern is to get the one that is the clearist,sharpist, and most important the brightest scope possable. Now if this means a fixed power instead of a varable-I'll sacrifice that. After thinking twice I really want and need good adjustable turrets. Is a fixed that much more brighter than a varable? think I'll post a guestion in optics on this. Because once it is bought and mounted- thats what I'll have to use.
Thanks again for the replies and imformation it really helped me out.

 

[Mysticplayer]

Blazer man3, consider the following. From what you have said, your budget available is $2000 to 2500 for just the rifle/scope. That is a lot of money.

First off if int in the 270 cal, then go with the 270 win. That is right, the good old fashion 270. For the ranges you are shooting, the extra 200fps is just not that important. Go 150gr which will be plenty out to 400yds.

If willing to look at another cal, then go 7mm in factory, 6.5/7mm in custom. For the best factory cal in 7mm, the 7Rem mag is hard to beat. With 162/168gr bullets, you will have everything you need to anchor game near and far. The newer short magnums are also good but new rifles cost so much more.

If rebarrelling, then the 6.5Gibbs, or 280AI/Gibbs are excellent choices. I don't recommend the 30cal simply because the BC are not that high for the recoil and bullet weights commonly used. If you are building a big stick and can use 200 to 240 gr bullets, then go 30cal and hammer things way out there.

I shoot a 30Gibbs and 165gr SST. An excellent small 30 magnum but the bullet gets tossed around at long range in the wind. The 6.5 and 7mm bullets will fly better and hit just as hard (retained vel) at the ranges you want. Cheaper components too. I will be looking at going 7mm when this barrel burns out.

As to rifles, I would look at Tikka T3, savage, howa/Wby vanguard, used rem/win. used rifles are usually in excellent condition. If considering rebarreling, the a used Rem or even Mauser is an excellent choice. Remember accuracy has more to do with the barrel, trigger, stock and load then the action.

For scopes, look at the new 30mm Nikon monarch golds, Bausch&Lomb (now Bushnell) Elite 4000/4200 scopes. Will be substantially cheaper and just as good in the low light. Burris sig and black diamond line may also have good low light performance.

You should be able to get into a great shooting rig for around $1000 to 1200 w/scope. That will leave lots for reloading gear and practise. You may also want to pick up a Leica 800rangefinder for around $300 too. A good set of binos are essential. (Nikon Monarch around $300).

I would recommend against buying a new unknown product especially if that expensive. Most production rifles shoot about the same with a little tuning and good loads. Go used or a less expensive brand.

If willing to spend $1200 on a factory gun, you can buy a used rifle, rebarrel and have a shooter for less money.

Jerry