Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters .270 Winchester: What is the best big game for this cartridge?

I'd say it's sweet spot is game weighing 150-600 lbs though it can reliably take game weighing more but you asked for best. In N America that takes in all of the most popular big game species from deer to caribou and elk as being in its " best" range making it a very useful round.

Unicorns..

Rabbits.......according to Elmer Keith

Bighorns and mule deer. Perfect.

IIRC, I believe he said it was good for "chipmunkies."

I ca;t believe I just san down are read through all 25 pages of this thread obviously resurrected from the dead. Interesting stuff. Made me think a bit though. Got my first .270 in IIRC 1973, and FN Mauser with the thinnest barrel I ever saw, a stock so ugly it would abort a lady crocodile. (Thank you Mr. O'Connor for the use of that line.) But that fugly gun would shoot. Trued 130 gr. bullets and took a nice 4x4 Mule Deer with it that year and a few more over the next couple of years. Quickly switched to 150 gr. bullets which were a bit more kind on eating meat. Wasn't until around 1981 that I took it out of the safe and shot some of those 1970's loads that it still was a good shooter but dammit just too darn ugly. Back into the safe. Since then, I've acquired a few rifles in .270, a Ruger #1A and another commercial FN Mauser. The Ruger is good for about an inch with my handloads and the FN is another tack driver just like the first. Just too damn heavy to pack in the higher elevations. Cruising a gun show a few years back a Winchester M70 XTR caught my eye due to it'd black stock with the same lines as the Featherweight. Gun was really clean, had a nice Leupold scope on it and the price was really more that fair. Guy said it was an excellent shooter and very accurate. I'm thinking year right but for the money, I'd have an action, stock I liked the shape of and a decent scope that if needed I could send hack and get fixed. What the hell, I bought it. Next day I hit my local; Wallyworld and bought two boxes of Winchester 150 gr. Power points and hit the range. Long story short he said the gun was sighted and I took the chance that it was. It was. First five shot group with two minutes between shots was .50". I shot a total of four five shot groups that day, two minute intervals between shots and the larges group was the last one as .80", most likely my fault. Worked up an accurate load with the 150 gr. Sierra Game King and used it in 2009 on my antelope hunt. Shot came at 75 yards after about a half mile stalk. Bullet entered just behind the short ribs in the left and exited just behind the right shoulder. The antelope trotted off into a thirty foot half circle and expired. Can' ask for better than that. FWIW, I loaded up some 150 gr. Nosler Partitions and the shot to exactly the same point of impact at 100 yards and close enough out to 300m yards that I'm not worried should a long shot show up. I prefer to not shoot past 350 yards. Just not comfortable faster out even though I know I most likely can make the shot. Most likely just doesn't cut it for me.
Paul B.

I guess the 270 did a good job of eradicating them.


Jerry

Interesting thread for me - it is embarrassing to admit I cant remember ever even firing a 270 in 40+ years of hunting and more shooting. I have close friends who love their 270's but I Was always a 7mm Rem Mag guy so figured the O'Conner special would be a step down.

I found my grandson was a lefty shooter last year and came close to buying him a 270 this month but went with the 06 to avoid the cost of new dies and bullets. He is shooting 130 grain light loads out of a righty 06 now so he should be happy with the switch to his more natural side. I'm more of an elk hunter these days and plan to start him on them next year so the larger diameter bullet makes sense to me. Honestly for smaller deer and antelope the 270 seems ideal particularly with good bullrts but if you already have a 7 Mag, 300 Wby, and 30-06 why would you ever need a 270?

Paper.....not too thick tho.....
Seriously ...loaded with 130 it's probably the perfect deer chamfering...

Early Winchester ads were more colorful than today. I recall one that listed Winchester recommendations for brown bear cartridges.IIRC they listed the 375 H&H,300H&H,the 30/06,and the 270 Winchester;and the 348 in the M71 lever action.

I am pretty certain that a world record polar bear was killed with a 270. Hosea Sarber (I think he was a warden or biologist with Alaskan F&G) killed a lot of brown bears with the 30/06 and 270. None of this is a surprise since Winchester designed the 270 as a BG cartridge..

Shetland ponies and scare goats.

Elmer Keith described the .270 as "a damned adequate coyote rifle".

Never paid much attention to Keith. He was still shooting tin foil jacketed heavy bullets at BG animals while the rest of the world was on to Nosler Partitions. He never "got it"near as I could tell.

Lots of other options when chasing PA and NY whitetail bucks, but just can't leave the M700 Classic 270 that I purchased in 1981 behind, it's never let me down and has too much mojo....

My grandfather was stationed in Fairbanks during the Korean war. He often mentioned that while he was in Alaska the world record Brown bear (at that time) was taken with a .270 Winchester.

Exactly. Keith stayed stuck in the 19th century. He never did get it.

So true... I've never been a fan.

Truth be told I recently bought a VG in 270. Waiting for my Talleys to arrive so I can mount the scope. Hopefully i'll christen it over the last 2 weeks of deer season

According to the book Fifty-Five Years in the Alaskan Bush by Alaska guide John Swiss, the 270 is a first class polar bear rifle. The number two record polar bear was taken by a hunter guided by Mr Swiss and he used a 270 with "130 grain bronze points" to take the bear.

Mr Swiss also guided the hunter that took the number one record polar bear. That guy used a 30-06 for his bear.

Me neither. Once I read his stuff about killing animals at 400 yards with an open sighted .44, I figured he was one of "those guys" you meet in a bar and I never believed a word he wrote after. Ignorant loud mouth.

I've read were he was actually a pleasant guy to be around.
Jack was the one that was supposed more arrogant.

Either way both have killed a truck load more game than me!