Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Why the 270-08 Winchester BEATS a 7mm-08 140 Corelokt

I've read through the entire thread (yes, even all the long posts) and thought I'd offer my $0.02 (for whatever it's worth).

Each of us has our own experiences and preferences and our own idea of what the market will accept or ignore. I think that most here have expressed skepticism that the mass public would pay much, if any, attention to the new round. I would have to agree. The 7mm-08 is a success, but only moderately so and only after a slow gain over 30 years. The .308 was designed as a military round and thus had an advantage at being widely adopted. The .243 filled a niche that hunters were already asking for. The improperly twisted .244 Rem has was found to be unsuitable as a dual purpose cartridge and the .243 happily swooped in and met the hunters demands. That's the key. The market was ready for a dual-purpose varmint / medium game cartridge in a 24 caliber rifle. Winchester recognized this and capitalized on it. There is no demand for a .270-08 whether or not the round has merit. That alone tells me it will be the next .358 Win, .338 Federal, .260 Remington... Worthwhile rounds that are largely ignored.

The 7mm Remington Magnum established the 7mm caliber to the minds of american hunters. The 7mm-08 was able to feed off that success as the "non-magnum" american 7mm. The .270 Winchester already is the non-magnum .277 caliber round. And it's hugely popular. That's the biggest problem the .270-08 faces. The .270 owns the .277 caliber space. It has near 100% mindshare. It already has the "non-magnum" round in .277 caliber covered. What does the .270-08 offer over it? What does it have that would set the market "on fire"? A short action? I'd be willing to wager that 75% or more of non-loony's couldn't even tell you what the difference between short action and long action cartridges are, let alone name the two most popular ones.

I believe it to be a potentially worthwhile cartridge that would appeal to a very narrow (loony) market. Developing a new caliber for a small niche market isn't very profitable. I think Winchester probably has learned that from most of the WSM/WSSM's already.