Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting .270 Weatherby Mag Question

The .270 Weatherby Mag can shoot a 150 grain bullet at 3000 FPS without even straining its abilities at all. I have to ask, besides ammo cost, why in the world do you rarely hear of this round? It shoots flat, fast, and with a well placed shot it will easily knock down an elk at a long way away. If you don't push it's abilities I've read the barrel can last about 1500 or more rounds, so where is its downfall? There must be something I just can't find about this because as of now this seems like a no brainer. It even has a pretty good variety of bullets, starting from 110 and I would guess it stops at 180.(Don't really know the highest grain off the top of my head.) Please leave something below if you know what I'm missing.

It's not that far in the back of the closet. And it is a good round.

The cost of Wby brass can be an issue, but that's not a deal killer, IMHO.

DF

The thing is, the first time I ever even heard of somebody hunting with this round was on the T.V. On paper, the round looks incredibly well rounded, I would think I'de see it more unless it had some kind of major downfall.

No downfall, major or minor, IMHO.

DF

its and excellent cart..weatherbys have never been as popular as the competition and its because of cost and availability..Even tho you can get weatherby carts in remington's and winchester's its a rare day that you will walk into a gun store and find one.

Same goes for the 280 Remington, non AI.

As a youngster, I simply could not afford their rifles. Now I have 4 and I have the 270 listed as next in line.

Since I roll my own rounds, ammo has never been an issue.

Roy done created the perfect in between with the 270. Popularity goes to the 257 and 300. The 270 is...well, in between. Almost does what with the 257 or 300 can, but not as much on either end. Yes the 270 can go 110-180...but the 300 can also go (Barnes) 110-250gr, and, faster AND flatter. To me its a perfectly good cartridge left out in the cold because other Roy's can do a particular job "better" so to speak.

.270 Weatherby is an excellent North American big game cartridge.

The draw backs are minor, but here they are.

It doesn't do anything a .270 WSM can't do, in a shorter action, at a lower cost.

A handloader can get very close to 150 gr/3000 fps with a regular old, plain Jane .270 Win, at a much lower cost (with a modern, quality bolt action rifle).

I'm a big believer in the idea that the name of a cartridge is meaningless, the only thing that matters is a given bullet, impacting an animal at a given velocity. Beyond that is cost of ammo, and short action vs long action as it affects rifle weight.

I have a ss MkV that is a great shooter. I haven't hunted with it in quite a few years, not sure why.

The 270 Roy will do 3450 with 130s, 3250 with 140's and 3100 easily with 150's. That is pretty impressive.

Its a great shooting round and accurate it shoots about 150 fps faster that the winchester version. Its not a fussy round to reload I have used 130, 140, 150 and 160 grain nosler partitions, sierras, hornady all shoot tight. In a pinch I have resized 7mm rem mag brass and yes they do work but short on the neck.

great rifle - expensive production ammo

I bought a 270 WSM in a weatherby vanguard - I plan on reloading

otherwise Roy dev those rounds way before the WSM's came out - much faster and flatter then the other standards - 270 win vs 270 Weatherby etc...

ammunition has come a long way in the last 20 years ....

even 270 WSM ammo can be expensive -- and you may not walk into a wal mart or shop in Craig Colorado and find it -- but you will probably find 270 Win ammo....

That seems to be the answer. Maybe 150 fps just isn't that important to most people.

the 270 weatherby is certainly a decent boomer, for years i hunted with my regular sako along side the fancy grade weatherby & found the sako 270 sako worked just as well as the louden boomer 270 mag.most shots were less than 2oo yds so i really did'nt see a big advantage over the standard 270. however one desiring to hunt often with the weath. is well advised to be a handloader. all things being equal; a well tuned 7mm mag will equal any advantage at long, long range mulies or elk.--cranky72

While I like the standard 270 Win, the samples I have owned failed to produce the standard numbers many here tout without exhibiting pressure signs.

I have had 0 issues in getting 200-250 fps higher velocities out of the Weatherby version with no signs of high pressure, so I think it is pretty great. Mine is a custom on a 700 action. It has become one of my favorite rifles.

Does it really do anything better than a 7 Mag, probably not, but it does have a pretty high "cool" factor IMHO!

The 270 Weatherby is a fine cartridge. I can't think of a single genuine negative about the cartridge. When using a small bore I prefer a 30 caliber but the 270 Weatherby is an excellent cartridge for those that prefer that bore size for big game and has been performing well for about 60 years.

The .270 Roy has become my favorite cartridge when ranges might be long. It is 300-350 ft/sec faster than top .270 Win loads. Long brass life. My loads are from Nosler #6 and one from John B from a article in rifle a few years ago. I have taken elk, mule and whitetail deer,black bear, caribou, mt. goat, sheep,moose, and a bunch of other stuff. All with 130 gr. bullets. My rifle is a custom built M700 with a 26" LW barrel.

Lefty C

I've had all 3 270 models in my safe at one time or another and the Wby is by far my fav. Check out the ballistics on a 130 gr bullet at 3450 fps sometime. If you're not impressed, I sure's the heck am. The 257 Wby gets all the accolades for it's lazer like abilities, but the 270 Wby will nip it's heels, and in some cases surpass it. To put it in perspective, my 270 Wby shoots flatter than my 220 Swift!

As for the 270 WCF and WSM...both are great cartridges, but in my experience, the harder you push them the more the groups open up. The opposite is true with the Weatherby it seems. Sure, many folks have good luck running the WSM and WCF full throttle, but I haven't. My sons WSM hits the wall with 130's at about 3200 fps and the WCF at 3000 ish.

From a cost perspective, this is the only advantage the WCF has. If you don't reload, yes, the Wby is expensive, but so is the WSM. Anyone priced WSM ammo lately? Yowzza! Fwiw, Weatherby now offers an economy minded factory 130 Spitzer load for around $36.00 per box. Hard to find WSM ammo for that price!

If Weatherby ever offered the 270 Roy in the Vanguard, it would be a home-run imo.

Can do the same for .257 Wby, also with slightly shorter neck, but fully functional, at around a third of the price.

DF