I grew up when the 30-06/270 battle was still going on. Eventually the gun scribes added the .280 to the mix. I was a 30-06 fan and my brother was a .270 guy. I still really like my 30-06s, but in the last 20 years more deer have been taken with MY .270 than anything else I have followed by my 300 H&H.
Don't understand the "still" part of the question.
D D, it makes perfect sense to those who used one.
Jerry
Oh. Well, try as I might life ain't long enough to like them all I guess. Won't bother y'all with the list of the ones I still like, it's kinda long. I have fond memories of the 20mm.
I thought that I would throw a 30mm into the mix. I never worked on a 30mm, but I've spent a lot of hrs with the M61A1 and M39 20 mm guns. Here are the M61 and a GAU 8 guns firing. Nice groups. Those A10s are so quiet. By the time you hear them, you're dead.
A-10's were all built in my hometown, Hagerstown, MD, by Fairchild. Everybody I knew, it seemed, worked on that project at one time or another including two of my BIL's. It would also seem that everybody in that town has a dummy 30mm souvenir round- employees swiped them by the car trunk full.
As for .270? Whyinhell not? Dead is dead no matter the source of it. My personal avoidance of .270 is because there is, like, five molds for .270 cast bullets vs. a couple hundred for .30 caliber.
"You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz "Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty
My 270, a 1956 Win M70 30-06 I rebarreled with a Pac Nor 270 barrel and then killed (9) deer
Other cartridges I have been using: 7mmRM (13) animals 280 Ackley (5) animals 257 Roberts Ackley rimmed (4) animals 6.5-06 (2) animals 6mmBR (2) animals 300WM (1) animal 25-06 (1) animal
Based on MY usage, the 270 is only topped by the 7mmRM.
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. -Ernest Hemingway The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything.-- Edward John Phelps
The vast majority of hunters aren't rifle loonies, don't reload, don't practice their shooting skills (or lack there of) regularly, and probably shoot less than 20 rounds per year of centerfire ammo. For them, factory loaded ammo that is cheap, widely available, and kills their game of choice is a factor in their rifle and cartridge combination of choice, that is why rifles chambered in 223, 22-250, 243, 270, 7mm RM, 30-30, 308, 30-06, and 300 WM sell so well in the contiguous 48 States.
It seems that I was destine to be a rifle looney as my first 10 centerfire rifles were chambered in 219 Zipper, 222, 22-250, 6mm, 25-35, 250-3000, 257 Roberts, 7x57, 308, and 45-70.
I like it a lot. I killed a buck antelope with one 2 days ago. I have been killing game on and off with 270s since 1968. It's never let me down. Not even one time. Sure, there are some bullets I stay away from, but I can say the same for about every other bore diameter too. People that make a religious idol are self-deceived and have no grasp on facts, so I choose not to defend or attach a mathematical measurement. To ascribe some evil or righteousness to a measurement is idiotic.
I have one 270 that I made on a Mauser action when I was 13 years old. That was 51 years ago now. It's now on it's 3rd barrel.
I have killed more deer then I can count, many antelope, many elk, 3 bears, and a lot of domestic cattle, horses and also about a dozen sheep with 270s. I have seen 3 moose and one Bison killed with 270s too and all of them were one shot kills with the game failing instantly or within a few seconds after the impact. The bull Bison was killed with a 150 grain Remington factory round and fell before the recoil was gone.
I read all the time how it's too old,. and all the things that are wrong with it. I have never seen anything to gripe about with one as long as someone didn't use bullets that break up. Again I say I have seen bad results with a LOT of other cartridges when bad bullets were used including the 338 Mag, my own 375H&H, 9.3X74R, and quite a few bad results from many 7MM mags and 300 mags. So I can't be convinced that there is some virtue in a bore diameter or any lack of virtue in any one either.
When truth and facts disagree with theory and "feelings" ---------- its very easy for me to tell which one is wrong.
Hell, it's a long action 6.5 Creedmoor, what's not to like?
good ammo and good rifles easy to find, what's the problem?
I have loved the .270 for a lifetime! I am now 67 and have shot a .270 Win for nearly 58 years. All the Tennessee whitetails I've killed have been with the .270 Win. I also had a .280 Ackley built for my younger son when he was a teenager. BIG,BAD, MISTAKE! Over the years there has been problems with reloading data and no easy available of components for reloading Plus no factory ammo. The .270 components can be had ANYWHERE and reloading data is huge for this All American popular worldwide cartridge.Ammo and components are VERY affordable vs VERY EXPENSIVE. Components for other newer cartridges are, at times, limited and can be Very Expensive.
I hunted in Africa and killed 12 animals with one shot each. These animals ranged in size from tiny Dik Dik to Kudu to Giant Eland(2000 lbs.). However, I failed to place one shot properly on a big waterbuck. We tracked him for a very long, long way. Of the two hunts I was on, both of my ph's told me hunters that used .270 Winchesters always had more one shot kills than others who used other cartridges. Why? Flat shooting, good penetration, and proper bullet placement. Bullet placement was because of the low recoil, according to the ph's. This was my once in a lifetime hunt. I doubt I'll ever do it again.
When I was in college, one of my political science professors borrowed my model 70A .270 Winchester. He and his brother went elk hunting. The ammunition was Winchester brass, 62 grains H4831, CCI primers, 130 grain flat base Hornady bullets. This was a classic Jack O'Connor load. He got his elk as did his brother who used a 7mm Rem Mag. I was told the .270 had the elk down in 20-30 yards and was shot at about 75 yards. The 7mm Rem Mag had the elk down in about 50-60 yards and was shot at about 100 yards with a 150 grain bullet. I see little difference in the time needed to put the elk down here. That following year he killed another elk, refused to let me have my .270 back, and bought me a brand new .270 in model 70A Winchester. That was in 1977.
The .270 Win. and I have grown old together and it has been faithful for me for 58 years.
I grew up in a place named Roan Mountain, Tennessee. A good many of the hunters in this isolated Tennessee mountain community purchased the new WSM cartridges and kept them for a VERY SHORT PERIOD OF TIME. The primary reason for trading the rifles off was THE AMMUNITION COST TOO, TOO MUCH. The older rifles killed deer just as well for only a small amount of money as compared to the new stuff.
Last edited by roanmtn; 09/22/19. Reason: phrasing
I have a Rem Sportsman78 in .270 I bought in '78 while a junior in high school.It's been killing whitetail,hogs,and 'yotes now for 38 years.Several every year,with one deer wounded.I stretched my limits on a powerline,at almost 500 yds one evening,near dark.It wasn't the rifle's fault.It will be in my hands some every season,till I'm 6ft under...
On paper... I always thought the 280 or 280ai had a measurable edge over a 270. I bought my 270 purely based on logistics. I enjoyed this video. He makes the argument that the holy trail of the 270, 130 grain load is in fact better. Entertainment purposes only! Not intended to give offense to our good brother Steve Timm!
Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven.
I never liked it. In fact, despite having owned dozens of centerfire rifles, both larger and smaller, have never owned one in my life and doubt I ever will..
I'd say that's about the best endorsement for the .270 I've seen lately.
Beat me to it........
Casey
Not being married to any particular political party sure makes it a lot easier to look at the world more objectively... Having said that, MAGA.
A good friend had a 280 Improved made for his son on a 700 MR action. The original rifle was a .270 and when the "new" rifle was complete, my friend gave me the .270 barrel. The original rifle shot very well so I decided to make rifle using the barrel out of parts I had. I had a nice Remington M78 action along with a mountain rifle stock sitting here. I found screws, bottom metal, guts and a tombstone safety Walker trigger my son had tuned. We stuck all the pieces together and I now have another .270 that I will take on its maiden voyage this fall. I topped it with a 1.5-5 VX3 Leupold in Talley rings I had sitting here. It is my favorite scope for use here in the thick brush. It makes for a light, handy rifle.
It shoots extremely well like most all .270's.....
I like it and don' own one, never owned one and only fired one once. I have always leaned towards the 30-06 because I mostly shoot moose and once in awhile a bear and caribou. So for ranges out to 400 yards that old 30-06 is a good one for those critters.
If I lived in America I would probably have a light weight .270 Win. and do most of my killing with it. It certainly has all of the "right stuff" for most of the "lower 48" critters.
