New to everything...bullet choice

[Charles McDonald]

Iam 51 years old from Montana and I've been hunting 5 years!!!
I hunt with a old friend who has bothered me to do it for decades. I finally gave in ..now...I want to hunt everything! I love it! My wife...not so much. Till last year I used his back up rifle. I have a bad back and it was really heavy so I bought a new school super light weight rifle. This year I got my first bull elk!! So now I buy rifles and scopes and cool clothes and back packs and iam outa control! Short story- I bought reloading gear...have not un boxed it yet. Asked lots of questions ...all ended with- pick a bullett, then work from there.
Iam the guy you all hate. I bought stuff i didn't know about. I have more money than sense. You get what iam saying right? So I need a good understanding of bullett selection so I can carry on being "that guy" .
Rifle christenson arms ridgeline 6.5 prc
(I know I know...iam that guy)
Would like to understand-
Bullett weight in relation to velocity and how guys read balistic charts to understand the best choice.
Bullett type and how it affects the above and how it affects the impact on the animal.
I literally know nothing. I've been using the cheapest ammo at sportsmans! (That's bad!)
For the record I took my elk and other mule deer with a .270 and intend to keep hunting with it for elk. I bought the 6.5 for antelope and deer and WANT to learn to shoot a bit further. I took my longest shot ever this year at 260! That's a laugh to you guys but at dusk in the mountains it was hard for me. I want to reach out and get antelope cause iam just not sneaky enough lol. Long winded but good hearted old guy who's honest about learning. Thank you

 

[Chuckhunter]

Me and my friend Roger's antelopes taken with a 6.5X47 Lapua and a 6.5X284 both shooting 130Gr. Berger hunting vld's. They also work extremely well on whitetails and Muley's as well.

 

[K22]

1. Get a copy of the Lyman Reloading handbook and read it - study it - not only does it have reloading information but information on bullet selection for hunting.

2. If possible - have and experienced reloader walk you through the basics of reloading. These are the guys at the range with serious equipment and very small groups. Pick their brains when the opportunity presents itself.

3. The 270 Win is an excellent caliber for almost all big game in North America - Jack O'Connor took just about everything with it. With the today's premium bullets the 270 Win is very capable. The Nosler Partition and Accubond bullets are a good choices for tough big game. This caliber has the advantage of light recoil and very excellent accuracy potential.

4. 260 yards is not a laugh to me - that's a great shot. I've been hunting deer for over 50 years in the Eastern woods of PA and never shot a deer beyond 185 yards.

5. Reloading for quality and precise hunting ammo is fairly straight forward. Don't over complicate it. Learn how to properly full size your cases - learn how to determine max. COL for seating bullets off the lands - loads for the 270 are well established no need to "reinvent the wheel".

6. For hunters, the biggest return on time investment that I've found is learning how to shoot in field situations using the shooting aid that you intend to hunt with. Learn the furthest distance you can reliably place five shots in the vitals of the animal you intend to hunt. Field shooting practice is a lot more fun than shooting endless groups off the bench trying to squeeze out a few .1" tighter groups - at least for me.

7. Use this Forum to ask questions - the only dumb question is the one you don't ask.

Good Luck and Good Hunting.