Who's a fan of the .270 Win?

[Rusty]

Jr. is about to branch out and get another one to go witht he one that was his grandfather's. After seeing the piece about uncle Jerry it got me to thinking.

It looks like you can get some pretty heavy bullets in it as well.

[Buffboy]

I've been hunting with my 270 since 1972 and reloading for it since 1976. It's been a fine rifle and caliber. It really shines with bullets from 90gr to 150gr. I've never loaded heavier than 150gr because there's no real point to it. You're just crowding your powder space with the long bullets, slowing it down and taking it out of its happy place.


IMO, if you're looking for a heavy bullet shooter, a 30-06 will give you much more selection at the heavier end with fewer drawbacks.

[TedH]

I've been using one for going on 20 years now. Although it hasn't seen as much use the last several years as leverguns have taken over most of my hunting.

I have loaded 90 to 150 grain bullets to shoot everything from coyotes to elk. I mostly shot 130 gr. Nosler Ballistin Tips and just lately have switched over to the 140 gr. Nosler Accubond. I've killed many deer with the 130 Ballistic Tip. Many folks argue that the BT's are too explosive and destroy too much meat, but with a behind the shoulder shot they kill deer like a lightning bolt and I never had one fail to exit.

I can certainly see why Jack O'Connor was such a fan.

[kimwcook]

My Dad sure loved the 270. It never caught on with me and I only took one deer with it.

[jerry b]

The .270 WCF is a wonderful cartridge, suitable for most herbivores in NA. It is my favorite cartridge, even though I no longer own one (for various reasons not related to this discussion) at this time. It might recoil too much for the guy who hunts groundhogs all summer. There are better cartridges for the guy who specializes in elk hunting. But, for most of us, it's a pretty good choice.....along with the various 7mms, 30-06, etc.

[rafter-7]

I have used the 270 for 20 or so years about 12 years ago I P.O. Acley one. I use 130 gr. nosler partitions with 61.5 grains of Reloader 22 its going 3380 - 3400 across the crony this load is MAX with extractor marks showing but thats what it took to get the acc. under an inch at 100 and 2.5 inch at 300

700 remington with a #2 Douglas premium barrel at 26 inches

do not start with this load I worked up to it .5 gr. at a time and I do not shoot it in the summer heat.

BTW its 100 FPS faster than the 270 wby. handloaded the same (with extractor marks but not popping primers)

^

[O.S.O.K.]

We have so many choices of middy type calibers in this country - all of which are great for deer to Elk/Moose.

The .270 Win is one of them - especially now that there are so many premium bullets available that stretch the heavy side of the round's capabilities.

I've taken deer with my .270 Win (gussied up Stevens 200) and it killed about the same as my 6.5x55 Winchester.

[RSY]

I was kind of forced into the .270 WCF because I wanted a LH Model 70 Classic Sporter, and it was the only chambering in the store. I waited awhile for an Aught-6 to show up, but got antsy when one didn't and didn't want the .270 to get away from me. Suffice it to say, it was love at first shoot. I bought that rifle and put a 2-8x Burris Signature on it. Almost all North American game (and much of Africa) can easily be handled with such a rig.

I load both 140-grain InterLocks and 150-gr Sierra and Hornady roundnose bullets (now discontinued ) over Re-22, and I just can't complain on any level. I think it was truly the first American magnum rifle cartridge of any consequence, and remains a very relevant round.

Those who criticize or disdain the .270 WCF as too pedestrian or vanilla are revealing a little insecure elitism in their character. It never ceases to amaze me how often the same people that pale at the thought of hunting wapiti with the .270 will turn around and wax nostalgic about the 7x57mm (another of my favorites) for the same purposes.

Here I am with a nice Axis doe I took in Kerrville, Summer 2004:

[Nath]

I love the 270w, I have never owned one but a good friend does and I have seen some pretty good shots over great distance to convince me it is a winner.
Lots of folk talk of recoil when it comes to the 270 but with using slow powders I could not buy into their moaning and I was vindicated when I shot my buds first rifle in 270, just a good ole' shove. Others talk of noise but again I think not, I even had a 243 barking louder than my buds 270 sometime back!
Last spring my friend took a shot at a lasered magpie at nearly 600yds and just snook over it's back! He did get a rabbit at a lasered 555yds on the second shot!

Love it

Nath.

[Old Savage]

ME

[NonPCnraRN]

I bought a Win Mod 70 Featherweight Deluxe in the only caliber offered by Davidsons, 270 Win. None of the other calibers were in the Deluxe version. I've lusted after a M70 Featherweight for about 35 years and this gun knocked my socks off with its looks. When it arrived at the gun shop every customer there was slobbering when I opened the box so I guess the extra money for the Deluxe version was well worth it. I inherited a 257 Roberts from my dad but the stock was carved by him and has several intricate inlays that would be ruined if I cut the stock down to fit me. I have a lot of good memories as a young child watching him transform the Fajen inletted blank to the rifle it is today and it will remain untouched. I figured I would get a shootable version of that rifle in the M70 Featherweight. I feel the 270 is a little more versatile in its bullet wt range than the Roberts but my dad had a twin of that rifle in 30-06 so he had things covered in NA. That rifle too has intricate inlays and would be ruined to make the stock fit me. I guess that is why I want another Featherweight Deluxe in .338-06, to have twin rifles with different capabilities. It is a tradition kind of thing, I guess, to have two similar rifles that would cover the gamut of NA game, just like Dad. So much of this sport/hobby is based on tradition from one generation to the next that only other gun owners would understand. Having guns I can shoot and guns I can cherish is the best of both worlds. Now I just need to place my 2.5x8 Leupold on the M70 and go shooting.

[cnjarvis]

ME ME ME

My Sig SHR 970 in 270 Win. Handloaded with 130gr. Nosler BT's and 60gr. H4831SC has accounted for all but one of my gun season deer. Fantastic cartridge in a fantastic rifle.

[piller]

I have a Rem 700 in .270 and once I get a scope on it, then it will be as good as I can shoot. I am in front of a computer too much nowdays and my eyesight over open sights on that ADL version is not what it should be.

[Buck Elliott]

I reckon the .270 is just about all its most ardent admirers say it is. Yet, somehow, it just never caught on with me. I shot a .30-'06 a lot, and a 7mm Mauser almost as much, and a 6mm Remington a fair bit too. I figured each of those kind of 'bracketed' whatever the .270 could do, and each did its job at least as well -- if not better -- as/than a .270 could have done instead.

Lever guns were and still are my first, best love in rifle form, and will likely remain such.

Jack O'Connor's lavish praise notwithstanding, I didn't buy into the .270 mystique.

More power to them that do...

[stew71]

I once let a Ruger #1 chambered in .270 escape from the local shop while I debated about buying it...

But since I already own a 30-06, I probably won't ever own one unless it shows up in something like a nice custom Mauser or Ruger #1.

[piller]

I like the .270, but yes the .30-06 will do anything that the .270 will do. I don't care, I own both and like both. If I had to own only what would work for many different situations, then I wouldn't have the fun of owning the guns that I have.

[Triggernosis]

I've been shooting a .270 Win. as my one and only deer rifle since 1990 and have never been disappointed in its performance. The .270 is pretty much equal to a .30-06 in my mind...I could take either one and be happy.

[Idiot]

I think the 270 Winchester is the finest western deer cartridge available.


I have seen many deer dropped in their tracks when hit with a 270 Winchester using nothing more than plain old factory loaded 130 grain Cor-Lokts or Power-Point bullets. When I was younger I moved up from the 308 Winchester to the 270 Winchester and used it to take many deer until I finally replaced it with a 30-06 - primarily so I could hunt larger game. But for pure western deer hunting - the 270 Winchester simply can't be beat.

[Rimfire McNutjob]

I've got a BAR lightweight in .270 and with the 130 grain Nosler Partitions, it's pretty reliable in the deer and hog zone. It's far more cartridge than is needed where I live. One would have to find a specific spot to get a lane longer than 70 yards or so. The woods around here a just too thick to present longer shots as are seen out West.

[Rusty]

Thanks all, that's what I was thinking. Now to find some of those old articles by O'Conner.

[jerry b]

NonPCnraRN, now there's a combination: .270 WCF and a nice .338-06. Perfect.

Rusty, reading O'Conner seems like just the thing on this cold, windy night. I think I'll throw another log on the fire and pull something of his off my shelf.

Regards.

[Chuck 100 yd]

I love my .270 Ruger #1 .
I killed my biggest deer with it.
130`s and 150`s are both great in mine.

[Lastmohecken]

I kill my first deer with a .270, and I also kill my biggest deer to date with it, and a whole bunch of deer and coyotes inbetween. I grew up reading Jack O'Conor, and the .270 is the first gun I ended up with that I could really shoot good. And I recond I could still get along very well with one.

However, I eventually started using all sorts of other calibers and guns, and after many more years, I have pretty much settled on the only other gun that I have killed maybe as much or probably more game with then the .270, and that is my Browning BLR in .308 Win. I prefer the leveraction to the Boltaction, nowdays, and I have become very fond of the .308, not because it's really any better, but it makes up into a very sweat leveraction, with modrate recoil, resonably low report, and still has fine accuracy and sufficent trajectory, and ample killing power.

I now own a nice 25-06 which also pretty much replaces the .270 for me. I believe it recoils less and shoots even flatter with 100gr bullets, and seems to kill as well or better then the .270 did with 130gr bullets.

However, If I still had a good shooting .270, I would not feel disadvantaged in any way, it's just that I have gotten away from it, at least for now, and I already have too much over lapping with the guns I own now, to consider one, as a new purchase, unless I found one in a rifle that was just over the top in workmanship and handling, and with today's offering, I feel pretty safe in saying I doubt I get another one. Now, I will probably end up having to eat those words in no time.

[gak]

Thanks all, that's what I was thinking. Now to find some of those old articles by O'Conner.

Funny you should mention that: just in time for a Christmas present to yourself is a new book, just out, with a huge collection of O'Connor's articles! Just search "Jack O'Connor" on Amazon. For best success, watch the spelling

[Rusty]

Jr. has been looking at a Ruger M77 but I keep suggesting a #1. I let him handle mine the other night and I think he's starting to come around.

[NonPCnraRN]

Barnes has their new 150 gr MRX bullet for the 270. It is basically the TSX with a polymer tip and a Silvex (tungsten) core. That should increase the spectrum of critters that would fall to the 270. With the tungsten core driving the all copper front through animals it should act like the Nosler Partition in concept. No matter how far back the petals peel back the core will keep pushing the bullet through. They also have a 225 and 250 gr MRX in .338 but not .358 nor .375, hence my desire for the .338-06. A .338 bullet with a tungsten core should make this bullet a good penetrator on even big bears.

[Bigahh]

My brother out in Montana has been using his .270 for 25 years. Says he hates it. The deer go 50 yards before expiring, and show no signs of being hit. I keep laughing at him, and the deer keep falling to that .270, by the way he has never lost a deer he hit with it. I don't think a guy could do much better than a 270 out there.

[RSY]

I love my .270 Ruger #1 .
I killed my biggest deer with it.
130`s and 150`s are both great in mine.

Which sub-model/barrel length do you have??? Standard, Light Sporter, or International?

[shdwlkr]

I have had a 270 since the 90's in one form or another and the heaviest bullet I have used is nosler's 160 grain partition. Never found it to be lacking if you understand how it works.
I also have a 30-06 and enjoy it also when the wife lets me take it that is, yes it her rifle.
I also have several others and enjoy them all. Now if I have to settle for just one rifle it will be my 375 winchester custom as I specked it out and had it built to my specs and yes it is a lever.

[oic0]

I asked my old man about his deer hunting (he quit before I was born... all his energy into fishing). Said all he ever used was a .270. Said he started with the off the shelf ammo but in louisiana, in the low visibility woods, it was just overkill. Said he killed most of his deer with weak 100 grain loads he had a friend hand load for him. Said they still went straight through and never failed to kill.