Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Ganyana on Rifle Power

This just appeared in the latest SUCCESSFUL HUNTER. Written by a very well respected and experienced African PH. Finally, someone willing to state the obvious.

1. "Modern premium bullets make the 270 Winchester into the all-around plains game cartridge."

2. "If something is more than 350 yards away, I contend no one has any ethical business shooting unless the game is wounded."

3. Too many clients are arriving overgunned and under practiced.

A .270 Winchester using premium bullets makes a superb hunting rifle but I could never own another after using a .30/06.

I really liked that article. It jived with what I saw in South Africa. Land owners and PH's using 270s with premium bullets.

Rick,

Yeah, I saw that article, and wasn't surprised. Have met and talked to him some, and he's a very practical guy.

My experience is that even with a "primitive" bullet like the 150-grain Partition the .270 works very well on plains game (and elk, moose, etc. as well), but we have a pile of good .270 bullets these days.

John,
I am going to use 150 or 160 partitions on this coming trip. I am wondering how they will compare to what I have been using.

Aussie,
He likes the 30-06 as well. Both really great. I have no experience with the 30-06. I like 6.75# rifles and the 270 is a little more shootable at that weight but will concede it is really one of the top three available worldwide the other being the
7mm Rem.

Would you kindly explain that? Is it personal preference?

Good post.

Have not seen the article but am not surprised by any of this.

Rick,

I'll be interested to hear.

Eileen and I have used a variety premium bullets in various .270's, including Fail Safes, TSX's, Speer Grand Slams (the dual-core version) and 130 and 150-grain Partitions. Haven't checked my notes but have no doubt the Fail Safes and TSX's exited more often, but all have killed well.

In fact the "quickest deadest" I've seen a bull moose killed was with the 150 Partition, and though the bullet was recovered (an angling shot from the rear left ribs to the right shoulder) the bull took a step and half before dropping dead. Have seen the same thing on African plains game, and when Craig Boddington finally decided he had to use the .270 Winchester on an elk, after years of saying his preference was for bigger bullets, he used the 150 Partition. Turned out the shot was the longest he'd yet taken on a bull (it was a good 6-point, on the Whittington Center), a little over 400 yards--and the bull died quicker than any he'd previously shot as well. I seem to remember the bullet exited, but could be wrong.

Of course, Craig went back to using larger cartridges after that, but you don't read anything about the .270 being a little light for elk in his writings anymore....

I also enjoyed the article. The first one I've really enjoyed in a long time.

Count me in as someone who is interested in your thoughts.

I've never taken a bull elk with a .270, but I have used the .280AI a good bit and it kills them just fine so then should the .270. I've killed many bull elk and other BG with 300mags, 7RM and the .280AI and I can not see a difference in killing power, depth of penetration, or size and extent of the wound channel etc. Maybe I'm just not very observant. BTW in most cases I've used Nosler Partitions.

On the way to Namibia last month I got to talk to a bunch of US hunters during the overnight in Jo'berg. I recall the ones I asked had a 338WM as their PG rifle. Except for women and kids, who brought 270s.
Got some inquisitive looks when I mentioned our 7x57 and 303Br.

Pete

Just like JB always says, men can't kill big game with light rifles, but women and children can��..

I don't have the article in front of me, but I was intrigued by the idea of having four (?) different types of optics ready for near immediate use with one rifle, with quick release rings.

Sounds like a wise man, that JB.

While I'm a long way from being the elk hunter that many here are, I have killed some. With a 7mm Rem Mag, .300 Win Mag, .350 Rem Mag, but more than any other cartridge a .270 Win. all but one of the .270 elk were with 150 NPTs the other was with a 150gr Speer grand slam and as an previous poster said, with the double core bullet. I've been killing ungulates for 65 years [not near done yet] and am in the camp of "shoot em' in the chest and go gut em'" The biggest dead bull I've ever touched was killed by a 16 year old with a .257 Roberts and an 87gr sierra.

I used to cull a lot, read that as thousands of animals, particularly when reviewing rifles where my habit was to develop loads at the range and then take the rifle to the bush.

In a great many side by side tests you don;t see a terrible lot of difference between various cartridges, particularly on deer sized feral animals but one trip in particular stood out in my memory and that was when I was clearing the shelves of old handloads and factory ammo that had been provided for review.

Some factory loads are several hundred fps below handloading capability and on this particular trip I noticed that the .30/05 killed very uniformly which was gaged by the % of animals stopped in their tracks either dead or incapacitated and unable to move further.

Some of the loads were pathetic such as 150gn loads at around 2600fps MV in the '06 but still worked as well as the .270 with warmer loads. I put that down to a caliber advantage as being more demonstrable than the velocity aspect when directed similarly.

Obviously bullet choices make a difference but I am averaging out results which I think is a more independent way of assessing differences. One off wonder shots don't prove much over time. We have all had those.

I used the .270 a lot since the 70's and never used the .30/06 until the late 80's as I was firmly in the Magnum Mania Phase, still am, with some cartridges.

My current .30/06 is fast dying with the barrel shot out. It has taken an awful lot of animals and developed a lot of handloads but it will be re-barreled with another .30/06 tube I have on hand in the not so distant future.

So what is it about the 270 that leads people to practice more?

I am not familiar with the guy. Is he usually right about 60% of the time?

It is funny how number 1 is so written in stone, and the next two use weasel words like "I contend" and "ethical" and "Too Many"

Well I contend the ethical limit is 378 yards, and just enough clients show up under gunned and over practiced.

So what does he recommend for people who want to afford to practice and therefore want a round that works with cup and core bullets? Because I contend the cost of premium bullets is a huge factor in the lack of practice.

I read his stuff before and it is really second rate.