Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Why Has the 270 Winchester Fell Out of Favor?

The 270 is a pure hunting round developed nearly 100 years ago by Winchester to kill big game animals at long range. It’s never fallen out of favor.

The new generation of hunters/shooters spend more time at the range than in the field, this is where the newer cartridges shine like the 6.5CM, 6.5 PRC and to some extent the 300 PRC. The specialty rifles and chassis stocks these new to shooting folks uses lend themselves to the long range target crowd and long range hunting. I see hunting posts on social media and everyone wants to know "how far was the shot?" and there seems to be general disappointment if the shot was under 500 yards. I remember is wasn't long ago that one would be called out for poor sportsmanship if he was boasting about a shot over 300 yards. For me, I'm on the side of sport hunting ethics and I like the idea of close the better but the new age will call you a non-woke boomer if you call them out for their "shooting" and lack of "hunting". Back to the 270, years ago, I experimented with the 6.5s, including 260 Rem, 6.5x55, 6.5-06 and 263 WM and most recently the 6.5 CM. After buyingl rifles, new barrels and handloading, I came to the conclusion that they all duplicate (or at least try to) the 270 Win. I don't own any 6.5s but I presently have two 270s and won't be without at least one. The 270 is not sexy enough for the new generation and the short 6.5 PRC is ideal for the target crowd but the 270 W is the benchmark for all other "deer" cartridges to measure against. The performance between the 270W and the 6.5 PRC are just about identical out to 500 yards, after that, the PRC has an edge. However, long skinny cartridges tend to feed better than short fatties and often add one to the mag capacity. These days, I shoot 140s out of my 270s as a compromise and could not be more pleased. As much as I appreciate the modern design and accuracy of the 6.5CM, it doesn't have quite the zip of the 270 so I'll stick with what has worked for so many years.

This is why I would like to see factory .270s modernized. All it would take would be for manufacturer’s to quietly start releasing .270s with 8” twist barrels. Would still shoot lighter bullets well and would allow the use of high BC bullets too.

John

I know there's a lot of sport disrespecting this cartridge on the Fire but is it real? Age? Poor performance, myth?

What say you???

It's all marketing.

If you own a .270, you're set. But the advertising guys want you to buy a new rifle.

I happen to agree with Finn Aagaard. "The true general purpose big-game cartridges used in this country come in but two calibers. 30 and 7mm."

Hmmm. I'm not calling you a heretic, but I don't recall St. Finn ever making such a comment.

To the contrary, he had a lot of admiration for the 270 as a general purpose big game round.

Chapter and verse please!

It's mostly from insecure 7x57 fans.