Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters How many still like the .270 Winchester

When he retired, Jack O'Connor was asked by Jim Carmicheal if he was restricted to one rifle for the rest of his life for all North American hunting, what would it be? O'Connor said without hesitation, "The 30-06. I also heard thad just before his passing he was having Al Beisen build he a .280 Remington on a Ruger action. That from Mr. .270 himself. Interesting.
I got my first .270 way back in 1973, a commercial FN Mauser that shot pretty good. I did take a dislike to 130 gr. bullets as they made a mess out of eating meat so went to the 150 gr. Sierra Game King. I only used it for a short while off an on mostly going with a 30-06. That same year I also bout a Remington 660 in .308 as the 03 Springfield 06 and Mauser .270 were a bit too heavy when I hinted near the top of Mt. Lewis which was roughly 9,500' MSL at the top. A bit hard on me as at the time I was a heavy chainsmoker. I quit in 1975. I took quite few deer off that Mountain with that little .308. When I transferred from Nevada to Arizona in 1979 I stayed with the .308 and in fact didn't use the .270 at all until 2009 when I did my first antelope hunt. After all I read about hunting them I figured the .270 would be my best bet as shots were supposed to be way out yonder. Turned out the shot was at an easy 75 yards after one of the easiest stalks I've ever done. The old 150 gr. Game King did a nice job with almost no meat loss. I took that .270 on an elk hunt in 2010 but missed the elk by way more that I thought was right so later in the day I used my .35 Whelen back up to take a nice juicy cow elk. Turned out the scope on the .270 died a serious death. When I sight in or check a rifle I always do a couple dry fires to make sure I'm settled in the way I like. When I did this, the reticle seemed to jump up about half way to the roof of the scope. The scope was an original Redfield Tracker that had given good service. AFAIK it wasn't bumped or dropped or suffered and form of trauma but it just crapped out. Not sure if I'll ever take the .270 on a hunt again but that doesn't mean I won't consider it. I just have too many other guns that need attention.
Paul B.