How Good, Really, Is the .270 Win?

[charlie b]

".....8x57, .300 Win Mag, .30-06, 7x57, and 6.5x55. Soon to have my .35 Whelen."

A .270 will give you nothing that any of these could do. Basically you have 5 other cartridges that can all do the same thing, especially when reloaded. The .300WM is the only one that extends the performance envelope by any reasonable amount.

I'd want a cartridge that was outside the envelope. Larger magnum or smaller varmint rifle. Unless you just want something for nostalgia reasons, or just to say you have one.

[efm77]

A cult like following? I never thought of it that way. I guess the same argument could be made about other rounds too. There's lovers and haters of pretty much every round out there. And yes there's plenty of overlap with rounds. If I worried about that, I wouldn't have hardly any of the ones I have. I guess you could say coolness factor played a role in mine as well. Or it was just an itch to scratch at the time. I've got plenty of overlap in mine but I don't worry about it. I got them or built them because I wanted to and they're fund to tinker with. I have had several 270's, and recently acquired a very nice 114 American Classic in 270. Have yet to kill anything with it, but I'm sure it's capable enough. But I also have 30-06's, 300's, 338's, etc and they all work well. I have a hankering to build a 35 whelen too just because I've always had a soft spot for 35's. It won't do anything I can't do with the others I have, but it'll be cool to have.

[yobuck]

You're right. You certainly could make that argument.

The .270 has a cult-like following mostly due to the writings of one man who was being paid to promote it. Sound familiar? It was the 6.5 CM of it's day. I'm not saying that's a bad thing either. Just pointing it out. The .270 is a very capable cartridge with a great track record. But how many of those same animals would have fallen to the .280 or 7x57 had Americans not been metric-phobic? I guess we'll never know.

I'm sure there were plenty of 'aught-six fans in the 60's who poo-poo'd the .270 Win alright. I'm sure it sounded just like the haters going on about the 6.5 CM today.
Well having been around back then most people at least didnt have as many guns as people tend to own today.
No doubt the 06 was more popular and for good reason.
That being bullet choice, nothing walking around on this continent that couldnt be easily taken with an 06 with the right bullet.
I doubt there will ever be another cartridge to remain as popular for so long.
I never owned a 270 for the simple reason i owned an 06, and still do.
Today id opt for a 280 over both, but again the bullet choices today arent what they were in the 60s.

[Newtosavage]

Well, I kinda just fell into the .270 round. Not that I was looking to add one to my battery.
Other hunters on another site, and some on here said to think about staying with the .270 instead of reboring the barrel to 9.3x62, so I’m doing my due diligence in asking, and getting advice.
I have my 8x57, .300 Win Mag, .30-06, 7x57, and 6.5x55. Soon to have my .35 Whelen.

Hawk

That's a nice stable alright.

[Newtosavage]

Well having been around back then most people at least didnt have as many guns as people tend to own today.
No doubt the 06 was more popular and for good reason.
That being bullet choice, nothing walking around on this continent that couldnt be easily taken with an 06 with the right bullet.
I doubt there will ever be another cartridge to remain as popular for so long.
I never owned a 270 for the simple reason i owned an 06, and still do.
Today id opt for a 280 over both, but again the bullet choices today arent what they were in the 60s.

I agree on all counts.

There isn't much the .280 doesn't cover. Nowdays the .280AI is fairly popular and the .284 Win is making a comeback - for which I'm grateful and am on board with. :D The "short" action Savage makes a superb platform for the .284 Win because a 3.00" magazine is just perfect for that round and handloaders can get .280 Win performance out of a short action with it.

[J.Baker]

I agree on all counts.

There isn't much the .280 doesn't cover. Nowdays the .280AI is fairly popular and the .284 Win is making a comeback - for which I'm grateful and am on board with. :D The "short" action Savage makes a superb platform for the .284 Win because a 3.00" magazine is just perfect for that round and handloaders can get .280 Win performance out of a short action with it.

But how many small local gun shops, hardware stores, etc. can you walk into and find .280 Rem, .280 AI or .284 Winchester ammunition sitting on the shelf to purchase in a pinch? That's where the .270 Win and old '06 win hands down. One has to remember that only a very small percentage of gun owners roll their own so the availability of factory ammo plays a huge factor in the popularity of any given cartridge. This is one of the main reasons the 6.5 CM has done so well - Hornady made sure that a good selection of ammunition with quality bullets was readily available right from the beginning. Without that not nearly as many firearm manufacturers would have jumped on board so quick to start chambering their rifles for it.

[Fuj']

What Mr. Baker said. Now what Yobuck mentioned about the 06. Rifles and there payloads
can be a regional thing. Here in Pennsylvania, for every person using an 06, you probably
have the same amount using a 300 Savage. And of that even more will be carrying a 30/30
And not to mention The 32 Specials, and 35 Remington......Pick your poison.

[yobuck]

What Mr. Baker said. Now what Yobuck mentioned about the 06. Rifles and there payloads
can be a regional thing. Here in Pennsylvania, for every person using an 06, you probably
have the same amount using a 300 Savage. And of that even more will be carrying a 30/30
And not to mention The 32 Specials, and 35 Remington......Pick your poison.
Thats no longer true Fuj.
My first year hunting in PA was 1947 and yes at that time the model 94 Winchester 30/30 was no doubt the countrys favorite deer rifle.
My second year 1948 i had one as did both my father and older brother.
The 99 Savage was also very popular as was the Remington 141 pump and our Winchesters were traded away for those after about 2 years.
Today however you would have to look very hard to find any of those being used in PA as a primary hunting rifle.
PA was always among the top 3 states as for hunter numbers along with Texas and Michigan, and no doubt the same would be true in those places as well.
You never saw any scopes being used back then either, but by the mid 50s that was changing.
Today you will hardly ever see a gun without a scope while hunting.
Traditional values seem to have little impact on the younger minds today when it comes to weapon choices for hunting.
Given a choice i think most would choose an AR type rifle over a model 70 Winchester in 270.

[Newtosavage]

But how many small local gun shops, hardware stores, etc. can you walk into and find .280 Rem, .280 AI or .284 Winchester ammunition sitting on the shelf to purchase in a pinch? That's where the .270 Win and old '06 win hands down. One has to remember that only a very small percentage of gun owners roll their own so the availability of factory ammo plays a huge factor in the popularity of any given cartridge. This is one of the main reasons the 6.5 CM has done so well - Hornady made sure that a good selection of ammunition with quality bullets was readily available right from the beginning. Without that not nearly as many firearm manufacturers would have jumped on board so quick to start chambering their rifles for it.
If the only advantage a cartridge has is ammo availability, that doesn't interest me at all. I started hand loading about 7 years ago and frankly - especially in this day and age - I have no idea why anyone serious about shooting doesn't hand load. If someone depends solely on factory ammo, it tells me they aren't that serious about practicing. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh but I see it every day I'm at the range - guys with rifles chambered for "popular" cartridges, probably so they can find ammo because they don't hand load, shooting 1/2 box per season and calling it good. How can someone possibly know what their rifle is capable of shooting so little each year.

The only reason the .270 exists is because Americans were averse to anything metric at the time, otherwise it would have been a .280.

I'm not here to argue the "popularity" of a cartridge, but rather the capability. It would be silly to argue the .270 or '06 or .308 aren't popular. Of course they are. For the very reason you describe.

My point from the onset is that the .270 was popularized by a gun writer during a romantic period in America's hunting past, and that at the time, there were probably thousands of '06 owners who said the same about the .270 that .270 owners are now saying about the 6.5 CM. My other point was that the .270 burns a lot of powder (and generates more recoil) to accomplish what the 7mm-08 accomplishes - which is true for a lot of long action vs. short action cartridges.

Getting back to the OP's original question, if you don't hand load then of course rebarrel to a .270 Win unless you think you need more oomph inside 300 yards, in which case rebarrel it to an '06. Those are the only two logical options for someone who depends on factory ammo.

That said, if you want more performance from the same rifle, and you hand load, I'd recommend going .280AI There is also an increasing amount of factory ammo in .280AI and it's very popular with western hunters for good reason. Kicks like an '06 but has much better long range capability.

[JASmith]

The challenge with the 270 is that too many folks trynto use the 130 gr bullet for all their shooting.

That weight works well for everything up to and including the largest deer.

Larger animals should be hunted with heavier lead core or appropriate weight copper bullets.

[want2ride]

It is good! it will kill game nicely, i don't have any experience with larger than Whitetail, but it is very similar to 7mm-08, 6.5 Creedmoor, .260, 7x57...etc. Regardless of what some may say, those are all pretty close, and that is very effective.

[Fuj']

Thats no longer true Fuj.
My first year hunting in PA was 1947 and yes at that time the model 94 Winchester 30/30 was no doubt the countrys favorite deer rifle.


We will have to agree to disagree. As one of the clubs range officers, I spend most
of my time at the bench's helping pre rifle season sight ins. You don't see hardly any
Winchester lever gun's but a large number with Marlin's, and with caliber's I mentioned
in a previous thread. As for bolt guns, the 243 Winchester is most popular. What I see
in the woods is all over the map. I carry a 6" 41 Mag and have taken 3 Doe with it.

[Newtosavage]

The challenge with the 270 is that too many folks trynto use the 130 gr bullet for all their shooting.

That weight works well for everything up to and including the largest deer.

Larger animals should be hunted with heavier lead core or appropriate weight copper bullets.

I've read plenty of reports of folks using the 150 Partition out of the .270 with good results on elk. Seems to me like a lethal combo.

[Dave Hoback]

In all honestly, it’s already been said...that all of the cartridges perform relatively close to one another. 100fps while does give a bullet a bit more “killing” range, isn’t going to make difference within what we ALL know to be ethical distances.

One thing I find odd.... How is it some people feel “safe” carrying a 44magnum with 1000-1500ft.lbs. energy for defensive purposes against Grizzly, but somehow feel “Under Powered” with say a 308Win?? A cartridge with close to DOUBLE the energy? I’m also not a fan of the thinking behind using a LARGER diameter bullet. Sometimes, granted, it works well. But take a 30-06 case. Simply blowing it out to 338, .35, etc, does not magically give it more “killing” capacity. Math & physics start coming into it. The WIDER the diameter & HEAVIER the bullet, given the same case capacity, it loses speed, BC & sectional density(SD, which can really effect it.)

Why does each of us like the our favorite cartridge? We all have our reasons. Really though, any arguing of killing capacity, with intermediate High Power cartridges, is silly. Remember... An ACCURATE shot from something like 6.5x55, 308, 7x57, etc. is FAR more effective than a POOR shot with a Magnum!

[charlie b]

We can go on and on about popularity and such. The only time it matters is if you rely on store bought ammo or rifle selection from the mfg.

As a kid out here in the southwest, the .30-06 was 'king'. I don't remember anyone who did not have one for hunting.

[Bob C]

Have been hunting the largest game with .270 for the past year, I'm really confident with .270

[Orezona]

All the fancy verbiage and long paragraphs aside, I believe it to be a solid round. As there are approximately 7.5 million people on planet earth, please take my opinion as you wish. Shoot it, make yourself comfortable with it and make some good memories.

[Whynot]

270 is a great cartridge.... just like 100's of others. I'm not a big believer in "inherently accurate" cartridges- I think it usually comes down to the quality of the build. Not alot of target 06 or 270's out there... but when ones built right they shoot with the other cartridges that have a reputation for accuracy. Design can definitely help on efficiency.... but a few more grains of powder isn't something I worry about. When the 270 was designed they were intentionally putting more body tapper on cases to help with feeding and extraction (which it does) and not looking at efficient.

Also- the long action/short action thing is overplayed.... It really doesn't matter as much as people pretend or companies preach. Go and time yourself running the bolt fast and shooting- very little time is spent on the bolt manipulation and most of it is in target acquisition and breaking the shot. The only time I see it as making a huge difference is when shooting a high number of rounds very quickly- because 10round LA mags get huge.... Many of the new SA rounds that have recently been released really need a LA when you start reloading for them. 2.800 is just not long enough for what most want to do (and very few are building custom on Savage even with the longer length). Remember when Hornady (the master of marketing) released the CM because the 260 case was to long to work in a short action and then they released the 6.5 PRC to be the ultimate short action cartridge-- even though its case is only 0.005 shorter than the 260. That's impressive marketing.

[Whynot]

All the fancy verbiage and long paragraphs aside, I believe it to be a solid round. As there are approximately 7.5 million people on planet earth, please take my opinion as you wish. Shoot it, make yourself comfortable with it and make some good memories.

Well in my opinion.... you probably wanted to use a B instead of that M. But sound advice either way.

[Dave Hoback]

All the fancy verbiage and long paragraphs aside, I believe it to be a solid round. As there are approximately 7.5 million people on planet earth, please take my opinion as you wish. Shoot it, make yourself comfortable with it and make some good memories.

Or perhaps 7 TRILLION or so... LOL! :becky:

Or Billion maybe. Who knows.