Got a ? about ammo....

Okay

I have just gotten my new 116 .270 today Trophy Hunter XP. Been around guns for a while. I am little perplexed about what kind of ammo to use.

Given the fact that I have a brand new rifle(which I have never had) I am trying to sort things out. I recognize that a rifle is not the same as me going to the range with my handgun to sling a bunch of lead out for self defense purposes. I use entirely different ammo for self defense.

My new rifle needs to be sighted in at the range @100-150 yards. I am thinking that I should get my brick and mortar gun shop to laser boresight first and then sighted at range for true accuracy. For this, what ammo should I use. Do I want what I call ball ammo or a premium grade cartridge for sighting. Brand? Type(jacketed vs non-jacketed, etc)?

in the end, my intent will be deer in the freezer....thanks for the guidance.

First off congrads of the new rifle .

Second what are you going to do with it just shoot targets or hunt too

Third ball ammo is a mil. term and you won't find it; n 270

Forth start cheap with the likes of Win. and Rem. and work your way to the premium stuff :-)

You state it is a XP, IIRC that comes with a factory bore sighted scope, so if you are not replacing the scope there is no need to do it again.
I go by the theory of sight in with what I plan to use for the purpose I bought the gun for. Very rarely will different ammo shoot the same, you may be dead on with one and 4,5,6,inches or more off with another, for the price of a box of ammo is it worth the risk of missing or wounding a deer.
Enjoy your new rifle and welcome to the wonderful world of Savage.

P.S. almost forgot somewhere in your owners manual there is a recomendation for ammo, it is what Savage tested in that model and what shot the best, that is a good starting point.

Hubs

If your end goal is meat in the freezer , start with either Rem or Fed 130g jacketed soft points , for thin skinned animals like whitetail it works very well out to 200 + yards . Buy a box and set a target @ 25 yards , fire one round and see were it hits , if your scope needs ajusted do it before you send a bunch of rounds down to 100 and have no idea were their hitting .

Once you have it on paper move to 100 and fire a couple for final ajustment , then save the rest for meat , its that simple .

stimpy