The full-loaded 270 is hard on lightly constructed bullets
So Dave...You don't like the Berger either?
I have had nothing but good luck with 130 Sierra's on Deer out of the 270 Win even an Elk or two, but like your comment,it changed me to a stouter bullet for both Deer and Elk in the 270 on the same hunt.
But that was a long time ago when I turned Nosler when Nosler wasn't kool....The Sierra's of old may have been better/tougher than the new breed..I have no clue.
Happy New Year!!!!
Jayco
Happy new year to you too, Jayco. I would still love to see a picture of this year's elk kill.
I've related this story before, so please bear with me. When I was hunting with my 270, I noticed that the bullets almost never exited. I had exactly 2 exits on probably 50 kills with the 270. The animals died because I shot them in the ribcage and my bullets went to pieces inside the chest causing total destruction of the lungs and major arteries. When I cut the diaphram everything just poured out. Incidentally, of those 50 or so animals I killed with my 270, exactly one fell dead at the shot. The others ran anywhere from 20 to 200 yards or so. I started with 130gr Sierras because they were very accurate in my M70 featherweight (5/8" groups). I also tried Speer Hot Cors and Nosler ballistic tips, the early ones with the thin jackets. I killed many head of game in those days. Then one day I stalked within about 75 yards of a buck in a heavy snow storm. I shot the buck square on the shoulder with a 130gr Sierra and he fell on the spot. Then he squirmed and wiggled his way to his feet and ran off. I figured he went a little ways and fell dead, but I was wrong. I searched that entire woodlot until I jumped the buck 4 hours later. He ran with his front leg limp and I knocked him down with a running shot to the neck. Post mortem examination showed that the first shot hit squarely on the shoulder and almost blew the leg completely off, but did not penetrate into the vitals. I'm just glad I finally caught up to the buck and killed him so he did not go to waste.
Does all this mean that the 270 is no good? Of course not! It means that
I asked a bullet to perform outside of its design parameters. The failure was mine, not the caliber, or even the bullet. Now, if I had been using a 6.5x55 with 140gr bullet at 2600 fps, or a 30-06 with a 180gr bullet, or 7x57 with 175gr bullet, I believe that buck's feet would not have left the prints they were standing in at the shot. That would probably also be the result had I been using a .277" bullet constructed to withstand the high velocity of the 270 cartridge and penetrate muscle and bone reliably without blowing to little copper and lead shreads.
Never tried Bergers. Too rich for my blood.
I never killed an elk with a 270, but given your experience and that of others here, I'm sure it is a fine choice. I would bet that if we always kept our bullets in the ribcage and never asked them to penetrate through heavy muscle and bone, we could kill elk successfully with calibers much lighter than the 270. I know some here like their 25-06 for the purpose, and Ray used his 25-35 IIRC. Unfortunately, I sometimes miss the exact spot I'm aiming for (believe it or not
) so I tend to err on the side of bullets that want to penetrate deeply. Call me a renegade.
