ChewMT
Formerly 'chrischew'
First some background on why I wish to upgrade my rifle. I originally bought the rifle with the intent of slowly upgrading it over the course of time. It's current limitations are that it's stock. It's sub MOA accurate if I allow the barrel to cool before firing my 3rd shot. My scope while decent limits me because of it only having a 9x zoom.
This hunting season I shot my antelope at just over 500 yards with this rifle and factory ammo. However, I passed on a 300"+ bull elk that I had at 500 yards because I wasn't a 100% confident. The bull was on a ridge line near private and I knew I'd only get one shot on him. So I passed and shot a smaller six point at 330 yards. After passing on that bull it really gave me the itch to upgrade my rifle.
My intent is to have a rifle with the capability to reach out and touch an elk and have enough left over by the time it get's there to get the job done. I'm thinking Berger 215's would bring the most desired effect.
Before I start dropping coin should I be looking in another direction on some of my upgrades below?
As my rifle sits right now it's a stock Ultimate Shadow SS with A Zeiss Conquest 3-9X40 scope with a 600 yard BDC. Below is a list of upgrades in the order that I intend to do them:
Scope - Burris XTR II 4-20 x 50mm I can get special military pricing on this which is why it's my choice. Also I'll upgrade to a NF base and NF or Seekings rings I imagine.
Stock - The original stock isn't terrible but I prefer a fiberglass stock. For that reason I think my choice will be a Mcmillan HTG or Manners MCS T.
Trigger - I'll most likely leave stock and just adjust the weight down as much as possible.
Barrel - This is my biggest question. Either 26 or 28" with a Sendero contour or something similar. I read a thread on here from "Broz" (I think his name is) and he mentioned a Broughton 5r barrel. The only reason I'm leaning towards a 26" barrel is that I hike a lot when I hunt and an extra 2" gets hung up more in timber.
This is the bull I mentioned in the beginning. I ended up hitting him twice, he didn't go more than 15 yards in total. I had to shoot him a second time because he was close to private and had to make sure he didn't cross.
This hunting season I shot my antelope at just over 500 yards with this rifle and factory ammo. However, I passed on a 300"+ bull elk that I had at 500 yards because I wasn't a 100% confident. The bull was on a ridge line near private and I knew I'd only get one shot on him. So I passed and shot a smaller six point at 330 yards. After passing on that bull it really gave me the itch to upgrade my rifle.
My intent is to have a rifle with the capability to reach out and touch an elk and have enough left over by the time it get's there to get the job done. I'm thinking Berger 215's would bring the most desired effect.
Before I start dropping coin should I be looking in another direction on some of my upgrades below?
As my rifle sits right now it's a stock Ultimate Shadow SS with A Zeiss Conquest 3-9X40 scope with a 600 yard BDC. Below is a list of upgrades in the order that I intend to do them:
Scope - Burris XTR II 4-20 x 50mm I can get special military pricing on this which is why it's my choice. Also I'll upgrade to a NF base and NF or Seekings rings I imagine.
Stock - The original stock isn't terrible but I prefer a fiberglass stock. For that reason I think my choice will be a Mcmillan HTG or Manners MCS T.
Trigger - I'll most likely leave stock and just adjust the weight down as much as possible.
Barrel - This is my biggest question. Either 26 or 28" with a Sendero contour or something similar. I read a thread on here from "Broz" (I think his name is) and he mentioned a Broughton 5r barrel. The only reason I'm leaning towards a 26" barrel is that I hike a lot when I hunt and an extra 2" gets hung up more in timber.
This is the bull I mentioned in the beginning. I ended up hitting him twice, he didn't go more than 15 yards in total. I had to shoot him a second time because he was close to private and had to make sure he didn't cross.
... that was nearly 10 years ago. In 2013, I harvested a MT bull elk at 931 yards with it using 190 Berger VLD at 3043 FPS, yes it has enough KE and the 215 would be much better.
