4runnerman
New member
Hey all it's that time of the year again ( deer season). I have a 270 to sight in for a friend. Say's his farthest shots are about 200 yards. Where say you all for sight in?. Dead on at 100 or 1 inch high at 100?.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
270 130 gn BT
- Thread starter 4runnerman
- Start date
Ridgerunner665
New member
1.5 inches high at 100 for appx. 200 yard zero is the best bet...
I sight all my big game rifles in at 3" high at 100 yards. You can hold center of chest on most deer to at least 250 yards, no worry about hold over even past the 250 mark.
I shoot a .35 Whelen with 225 gr. bullet and I can even keep that one on a deer at 250 and an elk at 350 so that should work just fine with a .270.
I use a 150 gr. bullet in my .270 and it's 3" high at 100, 3.5" at 150, 3" high at 200 and down 3" at 300. Heights verified by shooting at the range.
Paul B.
I shoot a .35 Whelen with 225 gr. bullet and I can even keep that one on a deer at 250 and an elk at 350 so that should work just fine with a .270.
I use a 150 gr. bullet in my .270 and it's 3" high at 100, 3.5" at 150, 3" high at 200 and down 3" at 300. Heights verified by shooting at the range.
Paul B.
Sure Shot Mc Gee
New member
Most of my shooting is 75 to 125 which I consider very doable and easily observe my animal movements moments after.
Never found the need to shoot 150s from my 270. Have a 30-06 handy which I believe is better suited to shoot that bullet weight with. So 130s are my preferred. As far as hold over on a 100 yard bullseye. 1-1/2 to 2" my rifles scope is set at.
I have used Nosler BT tipped bullets and found them to have reliable penetration at the usual speed of a 270. Its not uncommon to see a 2" entrance wound and a 5" exiting hole thru a set of ribs or a 1/4 of the animal showing lots of bloodshot with the use of BT bullets. Especially so with custom hand loads having bullet speeds at or bumping 3200 fps. Having that speed. Total fragmentation of Nosler's BT is assured and a tremendous amount of bloodshot is commonly seen.
If your one of those who find it easy to make head or neck shots from your blind. BTs are ideal for that purpose. On the other hand for chest/rib shots consider a all copper bullet or a jacketed exposed lead tipped bullet for the purpose.
Never found the need to shoot 150s from my 270. Have a 30-06 handy which I believe is better suited to shoot that bullet weight with. So 130s are my preferred. As far as hold over on a 100 yard bullseye. 1-1/2 to 2" my rifles scope is set at.
I have used Nosler BT tipped bullets and found them to have reliable penetration at the usual speed of a 270. Its not uncommon to see a 2" entrance wound and a 5" exiting hole thru a set of ribs or a 1/4 of the animal showing lots of bloodshot with the use of BT bullets. Especially so with custom hand loads having bullet speeds at or bumping 3200 fps. Having that speed. Total fragmentation of Nosler's BT is assured and a tremendous amount of bloodshot is commonly seen.
If your one of those who find it easy to make head or neck shots from your blind. BTs are ideal for that purpose. On the other hand for chest/rib shots consider a all copper bullet or a jacketed exposed lead tipped bullet for the purpose.
reynolds357
New member
1" high at 100 would be plenty. The highest and lowest points in the curve would be about equal.
I believe in zeroing at the range where you are most likely to shoot. Unless you expect the closest shot you will ever take will be over 300 yards just zero at 100 yards. Zeroing at longer ranges causes more problems than it solves. And todays better long range scopes with dots or turrets make the practice obsolete anyway. Zero the scope at 100 and use the scope to compensate for far more precision at longer ranges.
With all modern cartridges a 100 yard zero will mean the bullets flight path will be no more than 1/2" above or below your line of sight from approximately 50 yards to around 130 yards. You'll be less than 2" low at 200 yards. Even at 300 yards you'll be less than 10" low and can still aim on hair and make kill shots.
If you zero 2" high at 100 yards you will still be 6-7" low at 300. If you can figure out how to compensate for 6-7" of bullet drop, you can figure out 9-10".
And you don't have to worry about a bullet being 3-4" above your line of sight and hitting unseen brush between you and the target.
With all modern cartridges a 100 yard zero will mean the bullets flight path will be no more than 1/2" above or below your line of sight from approximately 50 yards to around 130 yards. You'll be less than 2" low at 200 yards. Even at 300 yards you'll be less than 10" low and can still aim on hair and make kill shots.
If you zero 2" high at 100 yards you will still be 6-7" low at 300. If you can figure out how to compensate for 6-7" of bullet drop, you can figure out 9-10".
And you don't have to worry about a bullet being 3-4" above your line of sight and hitting unseen brush between you and the target.
Personally I zero my rifles for 100 or 200yds depending on the caliber or intended ranges to be hunted. Once they are zeroed, I shoot them at shorter (100yds) or longer (200-400) ranges to verify where they actually DO hit.
Calculators are close and mil dots work to an extent, but knowing from real hands on verification and testing is about as good as you can get. Everything else is more or less just a WAG.
Calculators are close and mil dots work to an extent, but knowing from real hands on verification and testing is about as good as you can get. Everything else is more or less just a WAG.
I agree with about everyone, having said that, I use a BDC reticle on my .270. And so I sight that rifle in at dead center 100 yds, because thats the way the scope works. When I sight a standard scope in for hunting where I hunt,(ranges 50-550), 3" high at 100. I've never shot over a deer between 0-350. The scope I will use this year is a Vortex Viper HST, 4-16x44, sfp, with VRM1 reticle. This rifle is sighted dead on at 100, and I can turn turrets if I need be, and also it has subtensions that I can use for fast aquisistion.
Its on a Rem. 700, 30-06, and my load isn't max velocity, probably around 2750, with a 165 grain Accubond. It's consistant enough for my confidence level to be high so I think it'll be fine with my zero.
4runnerman, make sure your buddy practices with it prior to season, and test different ranges.
Its on a Rem. 700, 30-06, and my load isn't max velocity, probably around 2750, with a 165 grain Accubond. It's consistant enough for my confidence level to be high so I think it'll be fine with my zero.
4runnerman, make sure your buddy practices with it prior to season, and test different ranges.
150's in the .270 are way different than 150's in a .308 cal.Never found the need to shoot 150s from my 270. Have a 30-06 handy which I believe is better suited to shoot that bullet weight with.
A 150 in .277 is much more comparable to a 180-185 grain .30 cal bullet...
My .270 likes the 150's but that's not deer weight in .277, IMO, in the .270 150's are Elk/moose bullets.
reynolds357
New member
The 150 Berger is a fine whitetail bullet. I mainly use it in my .270 WBY, but it would perform wonderfully in Win.
4runnerman
New member
Thanks all for the replys. I did sight it in 1.5" high at 100 yards. It is a older Browning Lever action. I was not real impressed with the groups I was getting,but not all rifles can be sub MOA. Took 5 shots to get it there and then the next 5 stayed in a 50 cent pc. I did wait 5 minutes between shots to conferm cold barrel shots,Not to mention is was 41 degrees with a stout 15 MPH wind blowing head on. Winchester Ammo, 130 gn Soft points. 10 shots and a spread of 23 FPS between them (min to max). MV was 2857(low) to 2880( high ).
Cant Judge to much on 10 shots, but seems like a big spread to me.
Cant Judge to much on 10 shots, but seems like a big spread to me.
Arizona Fusilier
New member
Personally, I like to take more advantage of the long-ramge flat-shooting potential of the .270 cartridge. I do a close range zero at 25 yards, putting me back on around 225. I am 4 - 5 inches high at 100; I confirm I'm a couple inches high at 200. Maybe holdover on the back silhouette at 300 yards. All doable to put a bullet in the vitals.
I'm in Arizona, and long-range shots tend to be more common
Optimizing for 200+ yard shots is commonplace.
I'm in Arizona, and long-range shots tend to be more common
Optimizing for 200+ yard shots is commonplace.
My .270 likes the 150's but that's not deer weight in .277, IMO, in the .270 150's are Elk/moose bullets.
Lightly constructed 150's in .277" diameter, like Sierra's Gameking BTSP and Berger's VLD are great deer bullets for the 270WIN ...... they don't have the meat wrecking explosiveness that a 130gr does at short ranges, yet have higher BC's than the shorter bullets, and retain more energy at long ranges.
I sight my rifle in 4" high at 100 ..... unless the animal is way out there ( beyond 300, in which case I have plenty of time to get out the rangfinder and look at the windage and elevation cheat sheet taped to the stock ), I hold at the bottom of the chest ...... seems to work.
reynolds357
New member
Arizona, how high are you at 125 yards? 150 yards?
bamaranger
New member
old advice
One old saw was... "3" high at 100 will keep you on a deer with a dead on hold out to 300",... and the other was "on at 25 is good to 250". Least that was what I always read or heard. Old time shooter and hunter Jack O'CONNOR, among others, printed that sort of advice in their articles and books. This was with standard intensity 270 & '06 class cartridges.
Back in those OCONNOR days, scopes were smaller and line of sight was closer to line of bore. Rifles had 24" or better tubes for the most part and velocities were likely higher. I believe all that combined to yield slightly flatter point blank/overall trajectories than we see today with 22" barrels, 30mm scope tubes, and objective bells the size of the Palomar Telescope. This with standard intensity cartridges like the .270, '06, and so forth.
A lot of this zero business is dependent upon where and what you hunt, and I suppose, what kind of rifle you hunt with. Somebody in the laurel thickets of the east, or the pines and high cutover of the south, with their 180 gr loaded '06, may not need a 200 yd zero and be perfectly satisfied with "on" at 100. The muley or pronghorn hunter in the west, or the fella watching a R.O.W. or a bean field in the south with their big scopes and magnums, will want on at 200 almost for sure. Not everbody runs holdoff type scopes or is into, or has the time when game appears to click up and down for point of impact. A useful pointblank zero that allows quick holds and shots is still very useful.
My own experience with my rifles and set ups, and a few friends, indicates that a 25 yd zero will typically put a slug way to high at 100 to be precise with an "on" hold, and so high at mid range of 150-175 as to be near impractical. Similarly, 3" high at 100 is a bit better, but still puts the slug to high at mid range for me to really warm up to that zero either.
For me, zeroing a high intensity cartridge in the .270 class "on" at 100, is like running cheap gas or tires on your Corvette, you're robbing yourself of performance. I typically zero 2" high at 100.
One old saw was... "3" high at 100 will keep you on a deer with a dead on hold out to 300",... and the other was "on at 25 is good to 250". Least that was what I always read or heard. Old time shooter and hunter Jack O'CONNOR, among others, printed that sort of advice in their articles and books. This was with standard intensity 270 & '06 class cartridges.
Back in those OCONNOR days, scopes were smaller and line of sight was closer to line of bore. Rifles had 24" or better tubes for the most part and velocities were likely higher. I believe all that combined to yield slightly flatter point blank/overall trajectories than we see today with 22" barrels, 30mm scope tubes, and objective bells the size of the Palomar Telescope. This with standard intensity cartridges like the .270, '06, and so forth.
A lot of this zero business is dependent upon where and what you hunt, and I suppose, what kind of rifle you hunt with. Somebody in the laurel thickets of the east, or the pines and high cutover of the south, with their 180 gr loaded '06, may not need a 200 yd zero and be perfectly satisfied with "on" at 100. The muley or pronghorn hunter in the west, or the fella watching a R.O.W. or a bean field in the south with their big scopes and magnums, will want on at 200 almost for sure. Not everbody runs holdoff type scopes or is into, or has the time when game appears to click up and down for point of impact. A useful pointblank zero that allows quick holds and shots is still very useful.
My own experience with my rifles and set ups, and a few friends, indicates that a 25 yd zero will typically put a slug way to high at 100 to be precise with an "on" hold, and so high at mid range of 150-175 as to be near impractical. Similarly, 3" high at 100 is a bit better, but still puts the slug to high at mid range for me to really warm up to that zero either.
For me, zeroing a high intensity cartridge in the .270 class "on" at 100, is like running cheap gas or tires on your Corvette, you're robbing yourself of performance. I typically zero 2" high at 100.