Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters .270 Win. 130 grain. Where should the line be drawn?

I'd say that's pretty big.

Like a moose really.

Telecaster, I hear you on the whole .270-.30/06 thing. I've agonized between those two cartridges for years. I was raised in a ".30-06 family" and if that sounds like some weird religious cult , believe me it was.

Now I find myself wanting to delve into 130 grain bullets for the first time . So I launched an exploratory committee. Hence this thread.

A model 70 FW or Super grade in .270 does sound ideal. I shoot a plain 'ol Win. 70 .270.

Actually, buffalo is not like a moose. Buffalo are perhaps the toughest animal in North America. Few animals can take the punishment a buffalo can...

Don't mean to be an azzhole,but how so?

Because of their size or is it they are just tenacious?

Don't mean to be an azzhole,but how so?

Because of their size or is it they are just tenacious?

I'd be happy with just a plain ol' Model 70 in .270, too. A Model 70 is just fundamentally cool to me, no matter how "plain" or "fancy" it is. Heck, I even like the old push-feed examples.

My last .270 was a "new in box" c. 1951 Remington Model 721 and rifles don't get much "plainer" than a 721 ADL. It's one of the few rifles I've parted with that I regret selling.

I also know an older guide said the - .25-06 because he's used it to drop so many _____ wounded by a hunter!

Not Shrapnel, I have shot 2 , the last one 2 months ago. Buffalo are big and built a little different than other NA game the heart lies pretty much protected by the frt leg. As JB already mentioned tight behind the frt leg 1/3 of the way up. Even shot in the heart or the plumbing above it it takes a buffalo a little while to get the message to lay down and die. Most of the time you buffalo hunt when they have their winter hair on, this can give you less than accurate idea of their lower body line so a lot of 1 st time buffalo hunters inadvertently make the mistake of placing their shot higher on the body missing the vital organs. Buffalo can soak up a lot of shots in the meat before they drop. Lungs are huge but again it takes them awhile to drop from blood loss . After you have seen a buffalo gutted and skinned it is a whole lot easier to see where the organs lie in their chest cavity. Most of the buffalo hunting today is for cows and spikes out of a herd environment for a specific animal. You have to wait for the angle you need and that there aren't others in the background that might be wounded by a pass thru shot. Big lead bullets will usually shoot thru from one side out of the other on a perpendicular rib cage shot, I imagine the Barnes acted much the same. When you are hunting buffalo in a herd that have been shot at more than a few times,you need to be as stealthy as if they were a herd of antelope because they just don't stand around long if they know you are there. Buffalo are very good eating, so it don't pay to have to shoot it more than once. I used a 500 gr paper patched bullet with 143 gr of Fg Goex in 50-140 Sharps at over 1500 fps to shoot my last one at 100 yds. It was a angling shot from the left rear of the rib cage to in frt of the right frt leg over 4' of penetration thru the grass bag,lungs, top of the heart,breaking the 4th rib behind the point of the brisket. The bullet was recovered from the muscle tissue of the rt frt leg. At the shot the cow stood there for 2-3 seconds made 3 steps going away, stood there for awhile before going down, another 4-5 minutes to expire. No 2nd shot possible ,the herd closed on her as buffalo do and tried to get her back up. Like I said before buffalo are different and don't act like other game animals. Hope this explains your question on buffalo toughness. Magnum Man