Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Finn Aagaard On The 270 Win...

I have posted this before. But after hunting with a Remington 788 in 243 for the first two years, I traded for a BDL 700 in 270 circa 1980. In 1992 I traded for a Remington SS mountain rifle in 270.

For the first 17 or so years I had a 270 as my only big game/varmint rifle. I have played with and used 90gr Sierra HP's for varmints all the way up to 180gr Woodleigh's.

In the late 90's, I was finally able to indulge my inner looney. Having since used, 22, 243, 257, 264, 277, 308, 338, 348, 358, 366, 375, 423, 458, and 50 calibers for hunting.

As far as bullets, my experience mirrors the above article. The Hornady 130 and 150gr Interlock's set a very high standard. The 140gr BTSP do not hold together as well and gave up hunting with them. I have also had good performance from the 130gr NBT. The mono metals have only improved performance.

Lowest load was an 85gr TSX at 1900 fps. Fastest load was a 110gr TSX at 3300fps which worked great on hogs, deer, Axis and blackbuck.

My wife, nephews, and boys used reduced loads successfully for their beginning hunts. Bullets included 85gr TSX, 100gr GMX, 110gr NAB, 130gr Interlock and 140gr BTSP Interlock

My Dad has used nothing but the Hornady 130gr SP out of his 760 Gamemaster for close to 50 years. At 82 years old he was able to tag three deer this past fall. He did use a 150gr NP two years ago to tag his first bull elk. If he draws another SD elk tag, the 150gr NP will get the nod again.

This past fall I used the 145gr ELD-X on a doe antelope at 442 yards, and my best mule deer at 180 yards. They shoot great and have banged steel out to 800 with them, but they are soft and found tremendous meat loss when butchering. I did recover the jacket under the opposite skin of the mule deer.

For my Black Hills deer hunt I carried a Husqvarna 1640 in 6.5x55 using a 129gr Interlock. Ended up getting one of my better whitetails. Bullet performed as expected.

My future DIL used a 7mm-08 with a 120gr NBT on her first and second deer this past fall also. Understandably, it worked.

My oldest boy used a 130gr TTSX, and youngest a 130gr GMX for their hunting.

So in summary this past fall we put 12 deer/antelope in the freezer using 6.5x55, 7mm-08, and 270's. All peas in a pod, but I obviously have much more experience with the 270. Hence the comfort factor.

Both of my grand fathers were my inspiration for hunting. Like many hunters during the 1940’s & 50’s one of my grand-fathers carried a Savage Model 99 in 300 Savage and it served him well in the Texas hill country as well as South Texas.
The other was motivated by Jack O’Conner’s magazine articles and hunted with a pre-64 M-70 in 270 Winchester and it served him extremely well in Texas & Wyoming.
I followed his advice and got my first 270 Winchester in a Remington 700 back in 1979. (I now have three 270s, the M-700 and two Winchester Model 70 NH Classics.)
The old reliable 270 has done all I could ever ask for over the years and did me good again this past weekend on a large bodied Northern Kansas buck as well as doe. Took the buck at a measured 509 yards with a 130 grain Hornady SST. He fell with in 25 feet of the hit. With out a doubt, the 270 Win. is still my favorite.

Good article thanks for sharing it.

Love the 270. This year a funky horned 6x6 elk went down with one shot at 380 yards. 160 gr nosler partition. Biggest bodied elk I have ever seen on the ground.

Thanks for sharing Brad

Glad you all are enjoying the article.

The 270 is indeed every bit as good as O'Connor said it was.

My first big game rifle I got for Christmas when I was 15 was a Savage 110 in 30-06... This started a lifetime love affair with the 06. I never had a use for a .270... Then I got my wife one. Then I stole hers. I killed my first big game animal with a .270 just this year. Now I’m wishing I wouldn’t have spent so much time on and with the oughty, though I do love it still. I certainly feel the special aura the .270 Win has earned in the hunting woods.



Thanks for posting the article. I really enjoyed it.

Todd

Growing up in the late 50's and having a subscription to Outdoor life. I read every article on the .270 I could find. First rifle I bought was a Marlin in .35 rem, second was a .270.

Thanks for sharing Brad! Between JOC, and Finn Aagard, I fell in love with the 7x57 cartridge. He was the first writer that I heard say "I challenge anyone to tell me what a game animal was shot with by observing the reaction"!

Ron

I got mine in 1975. Remington 700 bdl.

I've zero desire for a .270.

But it seems to me, that if I were - it would almost have to be a Win M70 fwt. Only seems right for me/to me.

I bought my first .270 in 1976, but traded it off 3 years later. I hunted mostly with .308's and .30-06's for about 25 years. Hunting mostly in wooded Pennsylvania where shots over 100 yards are rare. Then, I started doing some hunting on a farm. I bought a .270 Tikka, which I still hunt with. I got one for my son to use. Now I'm up to 7 of them. All my .270's have shot well. I've had a couple .30 cal rifles that were fussy.

My brother bought an older model 700BDL with a 3-9 Redfield on it from the widow of a police officer who died of cancer back in the late 80's. I witnessed him kill a groundhog at 400+ yards with it. it's a beautiful, accurate rifle!

Ron

Great article! Thanks for posting..

Now I need to find a copy of Finn Asgard’s book ... any suggestions?

Rumor has it that when Jack got to Heaven he was issued a 280.

No way, he was issued a 270 WCF, 7x57, 30-06, 375 H&H and 416 Rigby

I've been using the .270 for nearly 40 years now. I've used other stuff (.30/06, 7x57, .25/06, .243,) now and then, but the primary rifle was always a .270. I had a gunshop owner who treated me right while I was at Ft. Bragg, and when I told him I wanted a M77R Ruger, he ordered up the $10 upgrade to the stock, and got me a pretty one (nice marbled walnut) and I ordered up the .458 steel trigger guard and floorplate (normal was aluminum). I shot that one until the bore was 'shot'. Then I went to Model 70s, and was/am pretty happy with them. I'm still using the second M70 (the first was a Featherweight, but it didn't fit me well) a Classic SM (Classic action, Synthetic Matte finish, cheap stock, which I replaced) They'll probably bury me with that one. I've had a couple Howas, too, but always went back to the Winchester.

When I was messing around with the "other" rifles, I noted that they killed stuff just as dead, just as quick, if I put the bullet in the right place. No news there. Shoot straight, and stuff dies, no matter what you shoot it with. But I like my .270, and will keep it around for the duration.

I've owned that book for 20 plus years. He always struck me as pragmatic, which is a good thing in my view. Some is outdated, because bullets have changed, but that's the way with most things in life.

My first deer rifle, a birthday present at age 14, was a Savage 340 in .30-30. When I finished college, my parents and grandmother bought me a SAKO L61R Finnbear in .270 as a graduation gift. That was in 1974. I put a McMillan stock on the rifle sometime in the late 1980s and still have it some 46 years after acquiring it. I've owned it longer than anything in my vault. It's topped with a Nikon 1.5-5 scope and is more accurate than I am. Jack O'C was a big influence in my early gun choices and I haven't experienced anything to suggest he was wrong almost half a century later.

Great article. Love the 270 and a pile of Bitterroots to feed it.