Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 100 yr. .270 birthday- lots of .270 stories?

My .270 story: Around 25 years ago I had a part time job as a trapper at an Orvis sporting clays course. One of my “clients” was a retired Winchester employee who mentioned he was selling off his collection of pre ‘64 Winchester rifles. I could afford just one of them and chose a ‘56 Model 70 Featherweight in .270. In the years since, I’ve shot more deer with that rifle than any other I’ve owned. Most spectacular kill: I was sitting on the edge of a 10 acre hayfield watching a group of 5 or 6 does. They were completely absorbed in grazing on the mowed grass, but every so often they all snapped their heads up to look at a spot in the far hedgerow, about 150 yards from me. Just as it was starting to get dark a nice sized buck emerged from that spot and took a couple of steps into the field. At my shot he jumped high in the air and landed on his back, legs churning the air for a couple of seconds before he died. I’ve never seen anything like it since.

My first centerfire rifle was a Browning Bar .270. I shot my first buck with that rifle - a ~ 300 yd. heart shot. Federal Premium Nosler Partition 150 gr worked like Thor's Hammer. Nary a step after the shot.

My first moose was with a 270. Currently I am building a lightweight 270 on another Defiance action. RinB knows a thing or two about 270s, I am waiting for his book to come out!

The first rifle I bought for myself was a Winchester Model 70 FWT in .270. This was right after they had announced that they were shutting down production in New Haven and the panic had set in. I had seen guys buying stacks at our most popular local shop. As luck would have it, this was also right after Oshman's had been bought by Sports Authority, so the local Oshman's had everything on sale, including Winchesters. They only had 3 FWTs left so I was able to grab this .270 on sale there when everywhere else shops were fanning the flames of panic that there would be no more Model 70s. I've shot a lot of deer over the years with this rifle, and taught my son to hunt with it too. He shot his first deer, first buck and first pig with it. The ranch we hunted at the time had a wide creek that ran through it. One afternoon, we were walking the creek looking for arrowheads and my son bent over and dropped that rifle right into a spot about a foot deep of water and filled with granite sand. To say I was unhappy with him at that moment would be an understatement. I had another rifle with us as I always do, so we were able to hunt the rest of the weekend. When we got home my son then learned how to deep clean a rifle including pulling it out of the stock and getting every grain of sand out of every corner of that rifle.Since then, I've killed my biggest buck and made some of my longest shots with that gun. My son has already asked that I never sell it so he can inherit it some day.

When I was a younger man I collected Pre64 M70's and had all them in both std and FWT except the 458 and 300 WM. A friend was going to the Tulsa gun show and I asked him to be on the lookout for M70's. He came back with an 06 and a 270 both FWT's. The 270 looked like someone had used a chain saw to free float the barrel. Eventually I had it restocked in a nice piece of Fiddleback. I used that rifle to take deer and antelope in Wyoming and of course WT's here at home.
When my little brother was wanting a deer rifle it was a tang safety Ruger M77 in 270. He shot his first and second deer with that rifle befor he left us early. I took his Ruger back to Wyoming several years ago and shot a nice antelope with it.
I have since sold off the Winchester collection with the exception of three a 7MM carbine and two FWT's a 358 and the 270. Of course I still have Joe's Ruger and from time to time It goes with me.

I shot exactly one doe with my .270 about 12 years ago. It ran 30 yards and keeled over. The end.

Your story brings sadness to my heart because I have two sons that have zero interest in hunting. I was divorced from their mothers(married twice & a son by each marriage) and the boys didn't grow up with me. They also didn't grow up in a rural Tennessee mountain community as I did. However, they are good guys and very settled down and have families. The older son is forty four, lives in the U.K., is in the U.S. Navy and married to a very nice English woman. Well...one cannot dictate to others what they prefer to do in life. I always dreamed of the three of us hunting together. You are a very lucky guy to have a son to hunt with. But..... I grew up in a different time and culture and a part of me understands??????

Inconclusive evidence is always welcomed on the Campfire. Caliber or rifle is suspect and nothing is sacred.

Enter the 270, the worst elk killer my father ever saw while guiding elk hunters in the 1940’s. I never had any use for a 270, grew up with the perfect all around cartridge, the 30-06.

I hunted exclusively with a 25-35 until I graduated to a 30-06, the first big game cartridge I bought after getting married. Still influenced by my father’s dislike for a 270, I spent the next few decades shooting mostly a 30-06.

I always wanted a pre 64 model 70 and decided I would get one in a Jack O’Connor caliber, against my better judgement, in 270.

Since then, I have grown to appreciate the versatility of the 270 and a 130 grain ballistic tip at nearly 3200 FPS. Killing multiple deer, antelope, elk and coyotes, I have come to a conclusion that the 270 may just be the perfect deer/antelope size game cartridge.

I am assuming that the bullets in the 1940’s that my father’s clients were shooting, were not as good as the bullets we have today. I can also assume those same clients may not have been good shots either.

Regardless, I have come to appreciate the 270 for what it is and not what it wasn’t, and find it an exceptional hunting cartridge, capable of taking all sorts of game…

Decided to add a photo to my previous post on this thread:



Will also add a footnote:

The rifle is a first-year Browning A-Bolt, which I received as a "test rifle" for a magazine review in 1985. Before then Eileen hunted with my grandmother's Remington 722 .257 Roberts, but again "everybody" said the .257 was too small for elk. The .257 was (and is) relatively heavy, and she also wanted a lighter rifle.

The A-Bolt grouped very well, and with the 4x scope I mounted weighed 7-1/2 pounds, which was pretty light for a walnut-stocked rifle. The writer's price was the typical wholesale, so we bought it. I'd already tried two loads that shot to the same place at 100 yards, both with the old military-surplus H4831, one using the 130-grain Hornady Interlock Spire Point at 3050 fps, and the other the 150 Nosler Partition at 2850. She used the 130-grain load for antelope, deer and practice, and the 150s for hunting bigger game (though she also shot her first big mule deer buck with it).

The moose was in the middle of a dozen consecutive 1-shot kills she made with the rifle, which included her first elk, a spike bull, and a pronghorn buck at around 450 yards. The string only ended because in 1992 she acquired an Ultra Light Arms Model 24 .270, which was much lighter, which she used with similar success until 2003, using the 130-grain Nosler Partition for everything. (She then started getting recoil headaches from the ULA .270--so ordered an Ultra Light Arms .257 Roberts--which she also eventually used on elk, in 2014 dropping a medium-sized cow with a single 100-grain Barnes TTSX.)

Lot's of great stories here, a nice thread.

While I've only taken two elk with the 270 Win, I've seen quite a few elk taken with it, mostly with various factory 130's. Many years ago I pulled up to a piece of property we owned North of town, to find the local Game Warden washing his bloody hands off in the creek. In the back of his pickup were six dead cow elk. He'd culled them all with a 270 and factory 130 grainers. I asked him if that's what he typically used for elk, and he said "yep." I did take my first antelope with the 270 and a 130, which seems fitting - I don't think there's a more quintessential Western animal or cartridge. In fact, my non-hunting brother who lives in Chicago responded to me one time when I mentioned I would be heading out elk hunting the next morning; "you using a 270?" It's so ubiquitous even a big city Psychoanalyst knows what it is lol.

I used to correspond a bit with the late George Hoffman, father of the 416 Rem Mag, and African PH. He told me he had taken right a 50 elk, all with the 270 and 150 gr Partitions. He thought it was ideal. When I finally got around to using the 270 on a mountain elk hunt, that's the bullet I chose - it worked to perfection on an 11 year old 6 pt, as did a 150 gr Ballistic Tip on a cow.

Somewhere around the house I've got a bumper sticker Dober had made years ago. It reads, "If Ya Ain't Got A 270 Ya Ain't Got Sh*t." Really, a wonderful round... kicks a little and kills a lot.

It would nice to see this thread keep going.
I gotta agree" Brad" the 150 Partition on Elk is excellent.I have had good success on mature Bull Elk
I think it is a matter of being very familiar with the.270 wcf capabilities ,with your bullet of choice.
The 150 N.P. is an excellent choice. The 160 also.
In my dreamy early life, I couldn't imagine taking any other on a Sheep hunt....as I did.
Jack probably had something to do with this.

The .270 Win was the first game rifle I bought with my own money back in 1966. It was a model 700 ADL with a B&L scope. This rifle impressed me on first trip to the range it put first 3 shots touching into a 100 yd target with factory box of core lokts. I loved this rifle but it was stolen when I lived in an apartment building.

I have had several .270s since and have never been without one for longer than a few weeks.

Somewhere along the way, I caught rifle looneyism and have several favorite calibers in addition to .270, they are 25-06, short barreled 308 Win, and 7mm RM.
Happy Hunting

Here's another .270 story, told to me by an Alaskan outfitter who guided a group of five hunters for moose. One was a high school kid, as son of one of the other hunters, who brought a .270 with Federal factory ammo featuring their version of the Trophy Bonded Bearclaw bullet. The "adults" all brought rifles chambered for various "magnums," none smaller than .30 caliber. The kid was the only one who killed his moose with one shot....

My first big game rifle I bought was a Winchester 70 in .270. Had a synthetic stock, came with a cheap scope and came from Walmart. Was a broke college student. Over the 4 years of college replaced the scope. That rifle has accounted for many whitetail deer. Worked a load up for it with a 130 grain seirra Spitzer boat tail that shoot amazing. Have since acquired many more rifles but still hang on to it. Barrel is long, rifle is heavy, safety in wrong spot than I grew up with. But it still an accurate rifle

My first rifle was a Remington 511 22 rimfire when I was 12. I became a Remington fan, owned a bunch of Remington rifles, tried to like the 280 Remington, but always had better accuracy with a 270. I have owned 10 or 12, and loaded for several others. All shot acceptably or better. I currently own three, a Tikka, a Model 70 FWT, and a Stevens 200. All shoot very accurately.

When my group of hunters was entering federal property to hunt elk in 1989 we encountered four hunters coming out with four bull elk. One used a 300 Win. Magnum, one used a 280 Remington, and two used 270s.

I do have a few rifles chambered to the .270 Win. I'll comment on two. One is apparently a cigarette rifle that was rebarreled by none other than P.O.Ackley. No idea on just how accurate it might be as it was set up for some kind of European mounting system and I'll be damned if I can find what it was. Huge holes in the top of the receiver and metric screw holes, My gunsmith said it would be close to $1K to close those holes, full the screw hole and redrill and tap for an American mount. I have test fired the rifle and it seems to like my pet load. Accuracy was about 1.5" using the iron sights on the rifle. Surprised hell out of me as old old eyeballs just aren't up to precision accuracy with that type of sight. The rifle is very light for a Mauser with weight somewhere around an estimated 6 pounds and might be a bit less.

One thing I've noticed about .270 cartridge. I've found it be one of the easiest to find an accurate load regardless of the rifle.
Every one I've tried using my pet load consisting of Winchester brass, standard primer and the 150 gr. Sierra Game King over WMR powder has given tight groups with one exception. The exception is a Ruger #1A that I got into fairly cheaply. Someone in the distant past hogged out the forearm to free float the barrel and it shot all over the place. I put a piece of an old credit card under the barrel at the tip of the forearm and got down to where it does 1.5" which will suffice for most of what hunting I'll ever do. I didn't give the charge for WMR as it has been discontinued for mny years. I just happen to have a large supply.

There are a few tricks I know to improve Ruger #1s but I never got around to doing them. Just too tied up with way too many projects.
PJ

I got mine in 1975. I was 15. I was $29 short on the final price. My Grandpa lent it to me. This is my favorite rifle. My Dad broke the stock at the pistol grip. I have a Remington synthetic stock on it now. I've shot deer from right at the muzzle, to a little over a
500 hundred yards with it. I almost exclusively use speer hot cor 150's in it.

Mule Deer I really, really enjoyed the story of Mrs Mule Deer and her hunts with the .270 Win. and the .257 Roberts. All of this, especially with the .257 Bob, just goes to show some of the nonsense folks are thinking that one has to have very large calibers to kill their game. You have just told us how effective the .257 Bob and .270 Win can be with good bullet placement. Even the larger calibers must be well placed to be really effective. Poor placement yields poor performance. Perhaps the .458 will allow a few seconds longer to correct matters when a client has muffed the first shot on a giant, angry brown bear. Phil Shoemaker is right to use the .458 Win as backup. I've shot the 25-06 but never the .257 Roberts. Please tell us of your opinion of the .257 and some experiences.

Mule Deer do you remember a story in a magazine many moons ago about a Alaskan bear guide that kept a detailed journal/diary of all his hunts? He kept details of all the calibers used. As expected, the magnums caused misses and wounded big bears. There was only one caliber that had a 100 per cent one shot kill history. This was by two women who killed their bear with one shot from their .270 Winchesters. Perhaps this was Phil Shoemaker. All of this occured over a long period of time. The story of the kid with one shot on his moose vs four adults with magnums...... needing more than one shot is a mighty and dandy story. I would have loved to see the expressions on the faces of the four magnum guys.

Not into band-wagon cartridges.