Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats 700 long action, .270, which new caliber???

I used to shoot both a 270 Winchester & 270 AI in a 15” Encore handgun. The 270 did 2850 with 130’s. The AI did 2950 with 130’s. Both were great, fun shooters that I SHOULD have kept.

Why not a 1:8" 280?

I was going to get a fast 270 as the OP mentioned but had all the loading kit for 280 so decided that was a better choice for heavier bullet selection.

6.5/06

140g Berger Hunting or 142g Nosler long range Accubond at 3150 using R#26 if you upgrade

Either 8 twist 270 Win or 6mm-06

Uh 338-06 and go whack whatever.

6.5-06. My6.5-06 24" bbl. Hornady 129 gr bonded, 3150 FPS. 120gr Barnes TSX 3277 FPS. Plentiful, inexpensive available new or once fired brass. I use once fired 25-06 brass. Run brass thru a 6.5-06 FL sizer & load.. Any game a 270 will take with a 130gr bullet the 6.5 will do with a 120gr. Barnes 120gr TSX takes elk with no problem. No feeding problems. Will do any thing a 6.5x284 or 6.5PRC with do with readily available & less expensive brass. A joy to shoot...

At the price you paid (fair price for a nice rifle) I would be hesitant to use it as a donor. Most of my donors are from rifles that I bought dirt cheap so I didn't feel so bad putting money into them.

I love the '06 based cases and the 700 is a great platform.

One of my favorite project rifles right now is my 6mm/06 with a 25" 1:9 #3 Bartlein. It pushes the 105 Berger at 3300-3400 which is deadly on deer sized game and smaller. I built it for long range coyotes but have probably killed as many deer and antelope with it than coyotes.




I also have a 6.5/280 AI in the works right now. It is also a Rem 700 with a #3 Brux that I hope to run 140s around 3100. It doesn't offer a lot of benefit over the 6.5-06 but with factory .280 ai brass available it is an easy wildcat and should have some performance gain. If nothing else brass shouldn't need much trimming.

Another project I recently completed that might be of interest is a .257 Roberts AI. It is clearly in the "interesting but doesn't do much a standard cartridge won't" category. Performance is on the bottom end of the .25/06 range but it is a light recoiling rifle that seems tailor made for deer sized game at reasonable ranges. Mine is a model 70 but a long action 700 gives you lots of room to seat whatever bullet you want. Mine feeds well from a .30-06 donor with no modifications.




If I didn't have a 6mm/06 and a 6.5/280AI I would have just done a .25/06 or the AI version but I always worry about someone jamming the wrong cartridge in the wrong gun since my wildcats aren't head stamped properly.

Another simple option would be to send your .270 to JES to get rebored. For around $250 you could have a nice .338-06 or .35 Whelen. He did my Ruger. He was fast and the rifle shoots well. I shoot 158 grain pistol bullets over Trailboss for .357 Magnum rifle type performance. Works great for cheap plinking. I shoot 225 sierra for deer and have shot 225 TSXs which should work for anything with a heartbeat.