Posted: 10/31/2015 10:16:21 AM EDT
| I have a 7mm Rem. Mag. as my elk hunting round. I have a .338 Win. Mag as a moose rifle. Access to .243, .223, .308, etc. is there any reason to get a .270? I kind of have a bug to get a 25.06, and the new Merkel R-15 is avail in .243 or .270 (as well as a couple others). I would not use it for Elk, even though many do. Maybe deer and or antelope? Anyone just love this caliber? |
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The .270 is a nice round that shoots flatter and recoils lees than the .30-06.
Like the .308, the .270 is just fine for Elk, Moose, and most Bears in the lower 48, at out to 250-275 yards (a little further if you can call your shots). For Antelope, I'd go with the .25-06. It's plenty for deer as well. |
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.270 is a fine hunting round but it lacks severely as a long range precision rifle cartridge. There is not a very large selection of projectiles that are meant for long range. Performance at extended ranges is out done by just about any 7mm round. I'd take a .277" bullet for hunting any day. I've taken a number of large-ish mammals with a .270win and was very happy with the results. I have a number of rifles that are far better at long range work thanks to better BC's and smaller powder appetites. As far as precision goes, the case is long, relatively narrow and tapered which doesn't help burn consistency. A 270WSSM would be a better case proportion but the powder appetite is kinda tall on that, so is the recoil and blast and barrel life is not going to be great since it is a magnum.
If one were to put a .277" bullet into a case like the .284winchester case then you'd have something that would do but since BC's tend to be low for any bullet weight it's going to be outdone by 6.5mm and 7mm versions of the same thing. |
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Anything the .270 can do the .280 can do just a little bit better.
The bullet selection in .284" is also much better, offering not only more selection but better BCs. The .270 just had a head start and Jack O'Conner pimping it which has given it a very large following despite the .280 being better at everything the .270 does. |
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Im quite interested in this subject as well. hornady has the sst in 130 to 150s, with advertised BC 0f .485-.525 That's not considered good enough? esp at 2800 to 3200 velocities?
I have an older 270 win mod 70 that's taken a lot of Montana big game at some pretty crazy distances. And every so often I get it back out and think about what could it actually be capable of plugging some theoretical into jbm ballistics ( which I know is just theroreticals) but the old 270 comes in pretty darn close to many of the accepted "long range" cartridges out there. esp in the 0 to 800 range. after 800 it looks kind of wild in the transonic areas. ( again its just paper) but this is something that seems interesting to me at least to the point that earlier tonight I put back on the shelf a savage 10 fcp sr and come home and got the 270 back out again lol. in some ways this would make a great 270 challenge thread have some fun and collect some data. |
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Quoted:
Im quite interested in this subject as well. hornady has the sst in 130 to 150s, with advertised BC 0f .485-.525 That's not considered good enough? esp at 2800 to 3200 velocities? I have an older 270 win mod 70 that's taken a lot of Montana big game at some pretty crazy distances. And every so often I get it back out and think about what could it actually be capable of plugging some theoretical into jbm ballistics ( which I know is just theroreticals) but the old 270 comes in pretty darn close to many of the accepted "long range" cartridges out there. esp in the 0 to 800 range. after 800 it looks kind of wild in the transonic areas. ( again its just paper) but this is something that seems interesting to me at least to the point that earlier tonight I put back on the shelf a savage 10 fcp sr and come home and got the 270 back out again lol. in some ways this would make a great 270 challenge thread have some fun and collect some data. A 7mm berger hybrid 180 grain bullet has a G1 BC of .680 for comparison and the 280 or 280 Ackley with a 26" barrel should be able to push them over 2800 pretty easily with H1000. Most of us use the G7 numbers though and the G7 for that bullet is .349 Also consider the 7mm is getting a lot of support right now because of it's success in F class. Berger just released the 195 grain elite hunter with a G1 of .754 and a G7 of .387 now check that in a 280 at 2700 fps. If that's not enough use that bullet in a 7mm rem mag and you have one heck of a extreme range capability. |
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Quoted:
Im quite interested in this subject as well. hornady has the sst in 130 to 150s, with advertised BC 0f .485-.525 That's not considered good enough? esp at 2800 to 3200 velocities? I have an older 270 win mod 70 that's taken a lot of Montana big game at some pretty crazy distances. And every so often I get it back out and think about what could it actually be capable of plugging some theoretical into jbm ballistics ( which I know is just theroreticals) but the old 270 comes in pretty darn close to many of the accepted "long range" cartridges out there. esp in the 0 to 800 range. after 800 it looks kind of wild in the transonic areas. ( again its just paper) but this is something that seems interesting to me at least to the point that earlier tonight I put back on the shelf a savage 10 fcp sr and come home and got the 270 back out again lol. in some ways this would make a great 270 challenge thread have some fun and collect some data. Ballistic coefficients is only part of the issue, and yes it's not like it's going to have "bad" BC's but much like with .30 cal, middle bullet weights for the case size at hand tend toward the lowish side BC wise. There's also a pretty limited selection of high BC bullets which doesn't help. BC still is not the main issue. The cartridge design itself for .270win is well suited for a highly versatile hunting cartridge but there are so many better options even in the same calibre for proper long range work that there is no good reason to suggest long range use for that particular case. Ideally something in a shorter fatter case would be used if one were to want to use .277" pills for whatever reason to get out to half mile or longer distances. .500 G1 BC is where I start considering a bullet to be long range acceptible (for my purposes). In anything larger bore than a .223 it's not too much to ask. I don't class .223 as a long range calibre, more of a medium range one. It's also important to have clarity about what you might consider to be long range. For some 500m is a long haul. For some that's a bit on the close side to be even remotely interesting. I tend toward the latter. Like several have said, it's not bad. It's just nowhere as good as many other options in .284". |
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Here's a write-up about my .270. It is very accurate.
.270 Built on Mauser Action |
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Quoted:
It's ok accurate but 1MOA average isn't exactly tack driving. How would you like your name to be on the "Wall"? 
http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_16_17/51___ARFCOM_1_MOA_ALL_DAY_LONG__Challenge_.html |
270 Win is an excellent cartridge for long-range stuff assuming you reload, albeit comparatively limited in bullet selection. Here's mine, at a shoot with OhioLongRange some years ago (targets are down in front of the treeline):
That's a Shilen select match 26" bull barrel and a Rifle Basix trigger on a Savage action. I have done very well with 135 grain SMKs and H4831 powder. I like it because the recoil isn't much to speak of, and it retains a lot of muzzle energy downrange. The only load I can beat it with in my '06 is a 208 Amax pushed to 2650 fps. My standard 135 SMK load pushes 3150 fps out of the 26" barrel without pushing the pressure curve too hard. Lots of fun to shoot. 
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