Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .270 vs .260

Podunk yes he felt there was little difference.....JOC was not one for picking fly shidt out of pepper..

He soured on the 7mm Magnums in his later years...but early on thought highly of them.See his commments on the 7mm Weatherby in "The Big Game Rifle"...and his articles on the new 7mmRem Mag when it was introduced in 1962.He seems to have liked it.

I think the 7RM would've been his pet had it come out before the. 270 Win... it was a matter of ' this is nice, but I already have this and it does the same friggin thing..'

Who cares what JOC liked.

He picked up 1925 round and after 20 years of latent use made it popular because of print and an ability to write. Bygone era bygone round.

Better be glad you put the grin in..... thems fightin words.....

Yeah, I know!

I own both and IMO the 260 is not even in the same league as the 270 winchester. I know the 270 is boring to some but it's about the perfect deer cartridge. Anyway, thats how I feel about it.

My point exactly !
Hypothetically, what if JOC had championed the .25-06 ?

Comparing the Short action .260 to a Long action .270 would require similar bullet SD's and bbl lengths.

Those aspects that make the .270 more attractive than the .30-'06 are also present when comparing the .260 to the venerable .270

I'm seriously considering a 22" .260 for my son

Think BC,not SD.

Hint...........

OK - Same BC's ...

Nosler BT's 6.5 120gr vice .277 140gr ;
( BC's are virtually identical at .458 /.456 )

What are safe velocities of these 2 loads for comparison ?

Or, NP 6.5 125 Gr (BC = .449 ) or 6.5 140 Gr (BC = .490 )
vice .277 150Gr (BC = .456 ) or .277 160Gr (BC = .434 )

What's the retained energy & wind drift @ 300, 400 or even 500 Yards ?

Well if that ain't bait....

JOC was a long time ago...I posted that stuff to keep historical perspectives correct;because we can't know where we are unless we know how we got here.

Today hard core rifle cranks seem to prefer 6.5's and 7mm's, because there are a few specialty bullets that trump 270 slugs in BC and for target applications and some long range hunting.And it's true that with the highest BC bullets the 260 seems to catch up to almost match the 270,maybe even beat it, but those differences seem to show up beyond 600 yards(far beyond where most BG is actually killed).With most hunting bullets the differences in BC are too close to call and the 270 with it's added velocity simply trumps.Compare, for example 130 gr 6.5 AB's and 270 140 AB's.

That's assuming you can get the velocities from the little case claimed for it,and this mostly seems to involve at least 24" of barrel...so yeah you can play with numbers and make a case that the 260 is almost it's equal...

In my view and FWIW,if you want to really beat a 270,hands down,and thoroughly,(and especially with standard hunting bullets)you better be shooting a 264WM or a 7mm mag of some sort......a case with more capacity(not less).

I had dinner with John Burns in Casper last year,and commented that it was interesting how guys like Les Bowman and Warren Page figured out years ago how good a Big 7 was as an open country BG cartridge......I no sooner had the words out of my mouth when John came back with....."So did Jack O'Connor.....anyone who thinks the 270 isn't a great open country elk cartridge is nuts...!"(or words to that effect).

I'm sure John will recall the conversation.....because his comment sort of caught me off guard he being a real LR specialist and among that crowd the 270 has been relegated to the dust bin with 4X scopes....

I don't have the data to back it up at my disposal....but I have a funny feeling that, in a show of hands of BG hunters, world wide,the 270 Winchester will have left the nouveau short action 6.5's (and most other 6.5's for that matter)face down in the ditch.....

So,it might be from another era,but it's astonishing how it has taken 86 years of technological development just to equal it,and the use of substantially larger cases to soundly beat it,along with added recoil and shorter barrel life.

What I find interesting is that the first objective of anyone using one of these new 6.5's or 7mm's seems to be is to equal (or beat)the 270 Winchester...if the cartridge is relegated to the scrap heap, I wonder why they concern themselves?

If I were looking to replace it in a 22" barreled light sporter and standard action (I'm not)the only two cartridges that would get a second look would be a 6.5/284 or a 280 Remington,not some short action cartridge of lesser velocity.....(I'm not that mad at standard length actions yet .....even then I seriously doubt I could tell the differences.

So we can knock it and say it's out dated,but at the end of the day, it will kill more BG animals,here and worldwide,this coming season than the entire conglomeration of 6.5mm cartridges piled together;and likely as many or more than it's magnum jugged competitors,.....even though it's users are drooling myopically in their oatmeal, using their last ounces of dwindling energy knocking off everything from groundhogs to Alaskan Yukon moose and African eland.

(My Wyoming rancher pal has used it on about 50 elk....like most ranchers, Bill is an eminently practical guy;if something does not work well, he won't use it,and I doubt he ever read a single word O'Connor ever wrote.)

Not only because of it's popularity (which continues even though it's chief proponent has been gone 35 years),but because it "works",and represents about as much power,killing effectivness, and "hittability" as 90% of the riflemen out there can manage and "prove" under field conditions, with a rifle in their hands.

This is something everyone has to figure out for themselves....

I own a 270 and the 270 wil git-r-done

If you are no brighter than that,in boolit selection...it is true,that it don't matter what cartridge YOU shoot.

Textbook example of how to miss the mark and by a mile.............

To argue the merits of a cartridge that hit the market in 1997 versus one which came out in 1925 is telling. For the .270 to hold its own for 86 years against all comers is a testament to its overall ballistic integrity, game anchoring ability and user friendliness. You can't ask for much more than that! Now pass the H4831SC.

Could you be a little more specific with your constructive criticism?

How so?

This made me smile.......


And if J-Doubl-Ya-P says it's good, I'm all in....

Like I said, it's my opinion based on using both (I have owned 3-.260's). The 200 FPS more with the 270 130 gr. bullet is substantial. I like the 260 Remington I have just seen the 270 do so much. Now I have 3- .270 winchester CZ 550 American, Remington 700 Sendero with a 26 inch barrel, and a Marlin XL-7 which accuracy is amazing for an inexpensive rifle. My opinion and 5 bucks might get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks. I just know what works for me.

Either will do the job required.
I wouldnt like to be at the receiving end of anything fired out of a 260 or 270.

Its just down to what float's your boat!!!

Gus

Thx, I'm just lookin for a VALID comparison. I Don't load for either cartridge. I do load & shoot a couple of .280's, and they aren't that much better than the .270 that I can't make the comparison.

Maybe an OGW comparison analysis would help.

If the Nosler's are too pedestrian for the CheeseStick TextBook,
I apologize with all due sincerity.

338,

Take a look at the Scenars and Amax's in either caliber. For the two chambering to have any real difference you need to look long range. Past 6-700 is where the 6.5 start to look good. For 400 or so yards in it just don't matter, use a rusty 3006 and corelokts. If you're going long the bullets really start to matter.

Mike