Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 270 Winchester & 150 RN bullets

A buddy of mine just can understand , why I still use Federal 150 gr RN bullets ..

I explain how they just work ....

I think those 150gr RN .277 pills work well as the same way how the 30/30 RN bullets continue to fill the freezers .. The 150 gr RN 270 WCF ... Seem to put Whitetail down fast .. And those slugs penetrate through and through ...

A .270 with a "rainbow" trajectory - double gay!

Have used the older style RN partitions in .30 & .33 cal quite successfully myself.

Must be an Eastern thing.

Yeah I can't understand why you would use RN bullets either. I've never had to track deer far with a 270 win.

Easy to get to shoot accurately I find. Gets the ogive closer to the lands.

Shot lots and lots of RN 308s, 30-06s and others in the 80s when we were culling pigs from cars and bikes. Killed them in their hundreds and very effective at that. I was a kid and knew no different.

Prefer spitzers these days but wouldn't turn my nose up at a RN for out to 300y or so.

For what is worth, I have a friend who is a .270 fan from the word go.. He hunts the mts. of cental Pa. One day I noticed a bx. of 150 gr. Rem. on his table.. I ask, why .270 150 gr. rn.. His reply, not mine, was sometimes 130's don't put 'em down.. Could be something with the thick brush, etc.. When I visit that section of the country, I always check out ammo, ammo boxes for sale, anything related to guns.. I have noticed most of the empty ammo bx.'s for sale in .270 are 150 gr. while in the 06, it is 180..

An ex-brother in law of mine hunted with a Mannlicher-Schoenaur carbine in 30-06. He had the one with that huge butt ugly cheekpiece. He would only use 180 gr. round nose bullets for those little dog sized California coastal deer. He shunned spitzer bullets like the plague. I always thought he was a bit wacko anyway. He did get his deer though.
Paul B.

For a woods load where shots at deer are generally close I absolutely agree. I am in-between 270's right now but have two boxes of Remington(old red box) .270 150 grain round nose bullets waiting on a new rifle. Likely to be a Remington 760.

Doc

One of my first bolt action deer rifles was a milsurp Swede 6.5x55 that my uncle sporterized .. Had a 18 inch barrel ...Only SP hunting ammo i could find ( 1976 ish ) was at a Army surplus store .. The fellow had 6 boxes of 160 gr RN .. I cant recall the brand . But it worked wonderfully on whitetails .. I never recovered a bullet .. .. My dad got in a hard spot and the Swede and a few other guns had go ..when i saved up a few bucks i got my first very own bolt gun .. A old Western Auto Revelation (Winchester) 270 .. I picked it up at a local General / Grocery store ,, used but in good shape ..

Knowing nuthin about ballistics , sectional density , velocity ..But i knew my brothers Marlin 30/30 with RN bullets worked well .. my Swedes skinny long RN bullets worked so.. RN bullets for my 270 .. and they worked ...and still do .. I guess White tails dont relize that now RN bullets should bounce off !!!😳

They definitely have more of a "SPLAT" factor.

Now if Hornady could come to their senses and bring back many in the families they have dropped like the 6mm, 6.5mm, and 25's instead of zombie bullets, rocket ships, and unpredictable SSTs. They use them in their logo, for God's sake, and then drop half of them they used to make.

Yup...probably 99% (pick a number)of deer killed in the east don't require stretch string trajectory and distances much beyond 200 yards, if that.So no plastic tips and high BC required.

The theory goes that RN C&C bullets of heavier weight and more modest velocity,with the wide meplat "set up" fast,expand to good frontal areas,penetrate well,and make nice wound channels,and don't require bonding, mono construction or other fancy design features to work....just a decent jacket taper.

Some old timers would say they "hit harder".Cartridges in everything from 6.5 and up made their game killing reputations with round nosed bullets at modest velocities.

There may be something to the whole wide meplat theory that's been largely lost as we continue to develop more pointy slugs. Ask the solid bullet shooters about bullet shape,flat meplats and straight line penetration.

At any rate I'd like to have a dime for every big buck, black bear,and moose killed with them in 270 or anything else back here.

YES, I have not seen many 'hunters' in Ark. using RN bullets in a lotta yrs.



In woods or other short range situations, the RNs are not a disadvantage. OTOH when range stretches out there the RN looses speed and arches too much for me.

On another forum there were tests done on several 'diff' bullets. One of those was a RN and the 'tester' stated he was surprised by the wider expansion and less shank left on the bullet AFTER recovery.

Surprising to me that there are 'handloaders' who are NOT aware of the 'design' FOR that 'performance' of the RN, in this day & time.


Jerry

What is interesting is to compare the trajectory of super pointy bullets with their RN kin. In most cases, out to 300, "minute of big game" is easily met by the RNs. They are easy to work up loads for and always seem to work.

Woodleigh makes a 180 gr cup and cores semi-pointed bullet in 270 that shoots reasonably well in the normal 1 in 10 twist.

All I use in my 6.5x55s is the 160 gr Hornady RNSP. Very accurate and penetrates and kills perfectly.

I recall a study a few years ago that said the average distance Elk were killed in WY/MT/ID was 125 yards. An ancient 270 with a K4 and 170 gr RNSPs is all you need.

round nose bullets have a cool factor, I like the 264. 160gr hornady in my 264 win mag

Good post Bob, and it's exactly why what works out here may not be the best option for folks who hunt under different conditions. And yes, round nose bullets up close are hammers.

I've nailed stuff with Round Nose bullets out to 250 plus yards...

this "western" guys don't think they are worth a darn with their trajectory not being as flat as a spire point...

but once again,

90% of most game is short Under 100 yds...

95% Plus is taken under 200 yds...

there are few real world situations that someone would be really handicapped with a Round Nose in the real world..

we all aren't like Scenar Shooter or John Burns,

and I know with practice, a lot of the Montana guys will nail deer all day long at 300 plus yards...

but ya know with practice you can do the same with a Round Nose, and ya get to where you can hit at 300 plus yards with a Spire Point by practice.....

and in days gone past, I doubt if people in Western States felt that handicapped with a Round Nose, as they were use to them... and they most certainly are a reliable on game performer regardless of the distance, especially with a high sectional density, or heavy for caliber...

antelope sniper: Back here,the average deer hunter's idea of "preparation" is a cursory sight check at 100 yards.He rarely sees anything beyond that distance or maybe 200 at most,and many wouldn't know how to hit it if he did.

I've taken many of them to the 300 yard line and they think they are on the moon.In a gun club of 850 members and a 200-600 yard range,the only competition I have for range time,is from service or match shooters. I rarely encounter another hunter shooting 200-600 yards.

One old pal saw a buck in a clear cut at about 250 and "held high" shooting right over it.

Yet they kill deer and get away with it because of the heavy cover and that most shots are close. I had one RMEF official from New Mexico back here for a trip to Central Maine....as we drove he commented many times that he could not understand how we see anything to shoot at with all those trees in the way.

That reminds me of my late father and his Remington 760 carbine in 308....

Dad was a heck of a shot with his old 99 in .300 Savage but felt he needed more power so bought one of the infamous post '64 M70's in 7mm Remington Magnum.

He tired quickly of the recoil so went back to a lever, only this time a Winchester 88 in 308. After missing a couple of deer with it, he traded it for the 760 carbine and its 18.5 inch barrel. He preferred 180 grain RN's "to plow brush."

The following fall during deer season I heard a couple of shots from the field where our hunting shack sat. I was on my way to the shack and when I hit the field I could see Dad wandering in circles looking at the ground. No blood or hair so we figured he missed. I asked him where he shot from and he said from the porch of the shack some 200 yards away. I asked him where he held on the deer knowing his rifle was sighted in an inch high at 100. He said he held just over the back. I asked why. He said with those round nosers and the short barrel he figured that was the proper hold.

All I said is you must have missed and headed for the shack....

MM: Yup that's what I was talking about....my pal did the exact same thing.

Yup, they kill stuff just fine.

This Roosevelt bull was 326 yards when I popped it with a 150 Rem CoreLokt. I hit him twice and both bullets exited.