Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Finn Aagaard On The 270 Win...

From Finn's Hunting Rifles & Cartridges.

These few pages might be all that ever needs to be said about the beauty that is the 95 year old 270 Winchester...

Excellent. I miss Finn's writing.

Guy

Fun reading, thanks for sharing!

Great read.
My .270's getting new glass today.

Good reading and concur.
The .270 wcf is even better today.

As I have written previously I would get by just fine selling off my rifles keeping my 270 Montana and tweaked NH M70 375 H&H. The latter another of his favorites.

Brad, thank you for posting that article from Aagaard. He is my favorite writer from my childhood. I am a slow convert to the 270 WCF, but when I picked my first chambering from Christensen Arms, I tapped the 270 WCF on the shoulder. I have other rifles. They do in a pinch. But since I do not hunt creatures larger then elk, The 270 will do.

Great read on a great cartridge.

Finn always cut to the heart of it. Met him at the SHOT Show in 1998, if I recall correctly,, and among other things we had a good talk about cartridges for big game, finding our experience was pretty much the same--that if a good bullet landed in the right place, and penetrated and expanding sufficiently, then then the "caliber" and weight didn't matter much. He loved my story about Eileen making 10 one-shot kills in a row with her then primary big game rifle, a Browning A-Bolt .270, on animals from pronghorn to bull moose. We made plans to hunt together in Texas, but unfortunately he passed away not long afterward, before that could happen.

However, both Eileen and I did get to know Berit very well doon after that, and got to hunt and shoot with her. Through her got to look through Finn's personal handloading/hunting notes, and realized again how similar our experience had been with various cartridges, bullets and rifles.

One of Finn's most interesting comments was how he found only about 1/3 of safari clients were able to shoot various .300 magnums accurately enough to kill big game consistently. Have an outfitter friend here in Montana who puts the percentage a little lower.

Excellent read. I have a couple of Finn's books, and pull them out every couple years, as I do with O'Connor's, Carmichel"s, and Barsness. All excellent writers with opinions and ideas based on experience and clear observation.

I never got to meet Finn but I kept in touch with Berit for a long time after Finn's passing. What a wonderful lady! She has remarried to a very nice guy named Bill. Their son, Harald Aagaard was promoted to LTC in the US Marine Corps in 2009. Probably a full colonel by now. I don't know what happened to the rest of the kids but Finn and Berit raised them right.

Thank you for posting...that was a fun read.

Thanks for sharing

It took me a long time to realize that I wasn’t really that proficient with a 300 magnum, though I still used a 338 when I needed to. A 30-06 is more than enough now, and with today’s bullets I probably wouldn’t ever use the 338 again. And today I want a 7x57! It’s so much nicer to keep your eyes open all the way through the shot and watch the bullet strike the target.

Thanks for posting. Coming from a huge 270 fan, agree wholeheartedly with the article!

I started killing game and ranch animals in 1968 with a 270 Winchester. I have done it A LOT. My experience is pretty much the same as Finn Aagaard's and Mrs. Barsness.

Never was a fan of the 270 Winchester, then at a SCI fund raiser about 20 years ago I won a Remington 700 270 with a fluted stainless barrel. It needed a little work to shoot well but is now my favorite rifle. For animals up to and including elk it is my go to choice. 130 Accubonds are my fave load.

My second rifle that was "mine", that is, not provided to me by a parent was a MarkX action in .270. Shot my second elk with it and numerous deer, then got the 06' itch. That MKX moved on but I do have a JC Higgens .270 Husky sitting in the safe that needs to come out for a little fresh air one of these days. The reason I got the .270 in the first place was because of the influence from my stepfather who had an old pre 64 win in .270 that he had been hunting with since the late 40's. He shot more elk with that rifle than anyone we knew and he provided a lot of meat for decades. I saw him shoot elk starting with my first hunt in 1974 and he continued killing elk with the Win. and Remington 130 gr. bronze point ammo til' he "stepped up" to a Colt Sauer in 300 Weatherby about 1985. He thought his old Win. had finely gone to the dark side having lost its accuracy from what was perceived as a shot out barrel (he realized later it just needed a thorough scrubbing but stuck with the Weatherby). I suppose the 300 put them down harder but they didn't seem to be more dead than what the .270 produced. At the age of 75, he shot his last elk, cut it up and packed it out by himself...he hung up the Colt Saur and decided he liked T-bone steaks better.

I love Finns writing and no nonsense matter of fact style. Johnny B is similar and my current favorite writer.

My 3 favorite lines:

Proper, no nonsense big game cartridges start with the 7x57, 270, and 308.

... but I must say, I have been unable to detect much difference between it (7 mag) and the 270 on game.

I would simply use a 150 gr Nosler Partion at about 2900.

Having killed a couple elk with the 270/150 Partition, I agree. I need to buy another 270.........

Thanks Brad.

I feel very "American" when I hunt with my pre-64 FWT 270 and 130gr Winchester Power Points or Nosler Partitions. But I must admit "bullet placement" is all that matters "triggers me"