Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 130 gr. .270 bullet accuracy question

I realize that each rifle has specific loads that are best for accuracy, however, for those of you who've done lots of load development over the years with numerous .270 Win. rifles, have you found one particular 130 gr. hunting bullet that seems to be consistently very accurate in rifle after rifle? thank you.

Hornady spire points and Nosler partitions have been easy in every rifle I’ve tried them in. 5-6 rifles experience

Ballistic Tips as well as the other two.

I've loaded for at least ten .270's over the years and it's my experience that 130 grain Nosler BT's, Sierra's, and Hornady's all are great. However, it is also my experience that in almost every rifle I got better overall accuracy with 150-grain bullets.

I've handloaded for 15 .270s, and in general they'll shoot any good 130-150 grain bullet well, especially with H4831 but also with some other powders. Have had a couple that would shoot 150 Partitions into tiny little cloverleaves.

Through my old Model 70 Winchester.....

130 gr Partitions made very small groups... about 1 MOA.

130 gr Hornady Interlocks grouped a little larger.

I've had the same results in five different .270 rifle. The best 150 gr. bullets in my rifles were the Sierra Game King and Nosler Partition
Paul B.

Plain vanilla Speer Hotcor flat base have grouped very well in several .270's.

same with me

Every .270 that I have had (8) for the last 45 years has shot well. The worst one I had was the first 700 BDL I got in 1976. It shot 1 1/2" with cheap factory stuff only because it had a horrible trigger and I was ignorant to the fact that I could have adjusted it. I still kick myself for selling it.
Most of what I have shot since the 80's has been 130gr BT's. I have two older A Bolt Boss guns that will throw three shot groups 3/4" to 1/2" all day. Sometimes a tad better. Lots of people don't like these guns but I am very used to them and really like the top tang safety and lock on safe bolt.

I’ve had a half dozen, all but one shot well with 130’s. A Sako would not, tried different bullets, powders, but it really liked 150’s. That made no sense to me.

My best results were with 150 grain Nosler Partitions. My preference was based on primarily hunting moose. When using 130 grainers Hornadys were my choice over 59 or 60 grains of H4831.

Jim

Sierra 130 grain GameKing with H4831

thankyou all who shared. I'm surprised at the number that found partitions shot so well. Also, sounds like many have found 150s to shoot better than 130s.

Shot a 100 yard 3 shot group last weekend with the Nosler 150 LRAB that was .250". But lots of load development went into that result.

41

IME, 150 BTs outshot any 130 in the 270s I owned. I would start with a 140 AB for Deer, and 150BT, and a 150PT if Elk, etc. on the menu.

Just me, I know the 130s have a long track record, but based on MY experience with accuracy and field results, I favor the 140 and 150s in the WCF.

I have posted this before. But I have go to loads with 60gr H4831sc under 130gr GMX, TSX, TTSX, and BT's.

I have churned through many 270's and they will usually shoot one if not two of those loads into 1 to 1.25moa.

My Dad's 760 pump gets fed 130gr Hornady interlocks and 150gr NP's.

But out of all the bullets from my limited experience. The BT followed by the TSX in 130gr seem to be the an easy button.

Roger's load of 55gr of I4350 and a 130 shot well for us.

I have had good accuracy with 130's, especially Nosler Ballistic Tips, Sierra Gamekings, Speer Hotcors and their boat tailed bullets. Better than MOA is plenty good enough in a hunting rifle. I have a 270 built on a Mauser action that for some reason shoots 150 grain bullets ridiculously well but it still shoots the 130's just fine. I like I4350 generally but have burned much 4831 of various flavors.

It also shot very well in the NULA Model 24 my wife Eileen used for many years, with the 130-grain Nosler Partition. The one time she shot it on paper at 300 yards (mostly to check the trajectory) the group was around 2 inches....

I have had 3 270s and 4 barrels including one I completely wore out, mostly shooting 100 and 110 grain bullets, bullet weight doesn’t seem to make much difference to accuracy, all would shoot moa with a tuned rifle, and I prefer faster powders for less recoil and blast which means a lot when you shoot a lot

When our neighbor was reloading for us way back when, that was the load he used under a 130gr Hornady Interlock. Shot good enough for Dad to kill deer/antelope and for me starting out.

Then the looney bug hit me. Have often thought of trying I 4350 again, never got around to it. H4831 is now my main powder.

Have some Enduron powder that I want to try, but so many rifles, a little time.

Gunwriter Dave Petzal says 150 grain bullets are best in the 270. I have always shot 130s. Over the last year or so I have tried 150s in my 270s (I currently have four) to find that 150s do shoot well. The most accurate factory I have tried is the Federal 150 grain round nose stuff, oddly enough.

+1

+2

Have had good luck with 150's. David Petzal aside.

This is interesting, because to my knowledge (and I've known Petzal well for a long time) the only elk he ever dared to shoot with the .270 was taken with Winchester's 140-grain Fail Safe factory load....

In 2011 I bought a box of Hornady interlocks and a jug of H4831. When I got to 58gr, I had a couple of groups no one would believe were made by a 60 year-old M70. Stopped right there.

Winchester brass and WLRs.

My son has it now and probably some of that batch leftover, but 160gr NPs have simply crushed about four deer for us and is the load of choice now. Doubt it really matters much, but there it is. If I run out of those I have a bunch of 150s to start on.

130 gr Interlocks shoot better than any other bullet - in all 5 of my 270s. This includes 9-10 different bullets, 130 and 150 gr.

130 Nosler BT's for me

Just a couple of small data points but my hunting partner and I both have 270 A-bolts ca. 1987 and booth of ours shoot well under 1/2" with 150 gr Partition factory loads. Everything else is closer to 3/4 to just shy of an inch. I bought a box of 130 grainers to test out for the coming season.

D.E.P. has written about it on occasion.


https://www.fieldandstream.com/ideal-deer-and-occasional-elk-cartridge/?amp

Yeah, Dave has changed his tune after more decades of experience. When I first met him, in the 1980s, he was firmly convinced (due too reading much Elmer Keith) that anything less than a 250-grain .338 bullet was inadequate for elk.

Also know that he once shot a big bull elk several times with a .340 Weatherby with, if I recall correctly, 250-grain Nosler Partitions before it succumbed.

But such is life.

For some reason, I just do not like Petzal's writing style, never have. I always find myself just little annoyed after reading his stuff for some reason.

No kidding. I can be acerbic as well but that guy takes it to a whole other level.

RE 19 and 130 gr Sierra Gamekings

I had a Savage WW 116 in .270W that shot as accurate as any rifle I ever owned. My wife and her brother bought it for me and my brother in law really admired the rifle and its amazing accuracy so when I got a stainless Weatherby Vanguard2 in .30-06 which was a sub-minute rifle I gave it to him. It shoots 130 SST beautifully but also will shoot almost anything sub-minute. It got the least accuracy with Nosler Partition although my daughter's .243W. shoots NP 100s the best. That same 130 NP .270 load shot very accurately out of my neighbor's Savage Axis. We loaded 130s with 58 to 58.5 of H4831. I acquired well over a thousand Winchester Power Point 150s from my cousins estate so now we mostly load .270 with that with IMR 7828.

I have 4 each 270’s all 700’s.
It wasn’t hard to get accurate loads. I started by using Nosler’s most accurate load data, Ken Waters and Gun Gack loads.
I’ve shot different mono’s, partitions, and interlocks to the most part and from 130 to 160 grain.

I have not had 270’s nearly as long as many rifles in other cartridges. I now understand why people that started with 270’s don’t feel compelled to change.

In my opinion, Elmer Keith’s experience was valid for his time and what was available to him. I enjoy reading his stories very much! I think his criticism of manufacturer’s rifles, revolvers, and ammo got us better hunting equipment and ammo.

Exactly! Which is why I have all of Elmer's books, and refer to them often.

I've got a few and have had a pile of them. I've not yet owned one that wouldn't shoot a speer 130btsp with 57-58grs imr4831 very well.

This entire thread has apparently confirmed something I've known (or suspected) for a long time:

The .270 Winchester is apparently one of those "inherently accurate" cartridges, despite not being short, fat, or having a 30-degree shoulder, or any of those modern requirements. It may not be accurate enough for competition target shooting, but I have owned and handloaded for too many .270s that shot very well to believe it's inherently "inaccurate.

The example I've mentioned more than once was my first, a Remington 700 ADL purchased in 1974 from a local hardware store. After basic accurizing (epoxy bedding and free-floating the barrel) it would put three 150-grain Hornady Spire Points into around an inch--at 300 yards. This was with the original mil-surp H4831, using Jack O'Connor's favorite charge of 58.5 grains....

Great post JB, what epoxy were you using in 1974 or thereabouts?

Don't remember, but probably something from the local hardware store!

I gave up on the 270 for it’s lack of penetration.
I was killing a Buffalo for a friend. Shot the Buffalo in the chest, the bullet exited the chest and went into a small hill behind the Buffalo, and completely failed to penetrate the hill.

All these years I been crediting the CZ 550 for the boringly redundant groups across bullet weights in my 270.
The set trigger helps me but now thinking the cartridge does too.

If memory serves, I could not get Barnes X or XLC to shoot. Have never used any 130gr Sierra or Speer.

The 180gr Woodleighs shot OK, but not bug holes. On the plus side did not key hole either. Going to give them another try when I get my 1:8 twist rifle put together.



The CZ's I had were incredibly accurate. Kind of along the lines of the Tikka's everyone raves about now a days.

Before I went to 60 gr of H4831 and the 130 TTSX, (due to local regs in California), I shot 56.7 gr. of RL22 and the 130 Sierra GK. Not a screaming velocity rate, but dang was it accurate. LH Model 70.

What a piece of junk

Been using this load in a few of my 270's for years, has been good on paper and game. Groups equally as good with Hornady 130 gr. spire points. Got it out of one of JOC's books like in the 70's.

Same thing happened to Eileen when she got a mature cow buffalo on a ranch in Texas, using a .270 borrowed from Charlie Sisk with 130-grain Barnes TSX handloads. It took a while to get a good shot because they'd been hunted some, and the country was typical South Texas brush. But we finally got within 150 yards, and shooting off sticks Eileen put the bullet just behind the shoulder of the biggest cow. It went about 40 yards and keeled over, leaking blood from both sides of the chest.

I have had a flock of Rem 700 in 270 Win and a couple of Browning A bolts.

I always shot:

130g Speer btsp
130g Speer Hot Core flat base
130g Nosler Ballistic tips
130g Sierra BTSP
130g Hornady Flat base

58g of R#22 with a Fed 210
55-55.5g of IMR 4350, 9 1/2 primer
59-60g of H4831, WLR primer
7828 is one heck of a powder for this bullet, work up, and I used a 210 primer.

Recently tried some 140g Nosler ballistic tips, shot groups less than 3/8" with Leupold 6.5x20 with 58g of H4831, with CCI 250. Groups at 300 were 1.5"

Many do not realize how much primer choice makes in a load, and especially the seating depth. The Sierra and Speer were more jump tolerant than the ballistic tips that LOVE to shoot tiny groups seated just barely off the lands, say no more than .005.

I have killed quite a few deer with the Sierra 110g Pro hunter at 3300 fps with R#17 and H4350, along with the 110g TTSX. The 110's are extremely flat shooting, quite an eye opener to say the least! On broadside shots, the 110g Sierra shoots holes through both sides, but if you contact the off side shoulder, bullet may not completely penetrate, dead is dead. 110g TTSX shoots holes through deer from any angle, quartering coming and going.

I have had a 270 since 1978. I bought that Ruger M77 with the 200 dollar scholarship that I won from writing a patriotic paper in a contest by a local Elks lodge.

I asked my High School counselor if I could buy the rifle with the money and she agreed.

Started handloading for that 270 in 1980 in college.

Had many 270s since then and still have four model 70s as well a Steyr and a BAR. Used the aforementioned Ruger to kill my first rifle taken deer. That Ruger was a 2 moa rifle and I foolishly it traded away.

But I have had several accurate 270s and later used one of them to take my first bull elk with a couple of early 130 grain Barnes X bullets. Both hit the bull sguare in the shoulder and both exited. Also killed my first wild boar with the same bullet. the 175 pound boar was running sharply away and the bullet entered the left hip and exited the right shoulder.

The most accurate bullets have been Nosler Ballistic Tips and Hornady Spire Points. My favorite 130 grain bullet now is the hard to find Hornady Interbond,

It has been accurate and seems to hit stuff really hard as well as exit. It hits stuff about like the old Bear Claws. Bonded bullets tend to be very quick expanders and killers in my experience.

I can't tell you about rifle after rifle, I've only owned one .270. What I found most accurate was pretty dang standard though. 130 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip, max load of H4831, WW brass, and Fed 210M primers. In my stainless 700 SPS that was good for quarter inch 100 yard groups. (I don't recall why I sold it, probably something else shiny caught my eye and I needed funds to get it.)

In the same gun I shot 150 grain partitions .. 'bout MOA with the same components. I don't recall the amount of H4831 but it was enough to shorten case life to 3-4 firings before the primer pockets got too loose. Lesser loads were also noticeably less accurate. (Would have been a good one to try with RL26 if it'd been available.)

Tom

Even into the 80s we couldn’t find any decent epoxies around here that would be thick enough for bedding rifles with.
Most of the stuff we used was polyester with the associated shrinkage problems, I was just curious as to see what you’re using

Sorry “were”

One of the tricks I used back then was to mix some sawdust--or "sanding dust"--from the stock I was working on with the epoxy, which gave the mix somebody. Probably read about that somewhere.

But one thing I have discovered in the years since is that even 5-minute epoxies can work for "skim bedding" some stocks--as long as the inletting is already pretty close. In those sorts of instances there doesn't need to be much structural strength to the epoxy itself, like in Acra-Glas Gel or Steel Bed. Instead it just fills in slight imperfections in contact between stock and action.

Always had good luck with 55gr. IMR-4350 with just about any 130gr. bullet.

Lately I've been having great luck 61gr. of RL26 with 130gr. TBTs. 3225fps and groups repeatedly under an inch.

Elk Country

Elkcountry- same IMR load here.

I still have 5 270's. They all loved Hornady sp's... of any weight. All shot very well with 55'55.5 grains of i4350. Also all shoot 150 NP's very well with R23. 56.5-57 grains. Not much of a challenge to make a 270 shine.

I had those XLC's and never got them to shoot well either. The 130 Sierra Pro Hunter shoots lights out in three M700s with RL22. VERY accurate bullet.

One of the problems with X-Bullets back then was variations in the copper they were made from. Randy Brooks told me this himself, along with several other gun writers. The XLC coating helped--sometimes. The first Barnes Xs that I got to shoot well, consistently, were 100-grain .25-caliber XLCs from a NULA .257 Roberts Ackley Improved I had for a while. They averaged well under an inch in that rifle, but never got as consistent results from other XLCs.

But shortly after that Randy was able to buy consistent copper, and I started finding uncoated X-Bullets shooting much better. Used them quite a bit in both a very accurate 6.5x55 Ruger Mark II and a couple of 9.3mm rifles, with excellent accuracy and good results on game. However, that didn't solve the copper-fouling problem, and the barrels had to be decoppered fairly frequently to keep shooting well. The TSX solved that problem....

I gave up and ended up selling the rest of the XLC's I had. Ironically I picked up a bunch of the .348 200 grain X bullets and they shot pretty well in my Browning. I really didn't get too many more Barnes (other than some 225 TSX's) until the TTSX.

I've pretty much used a 130gr Sierra Game King or a 130gr Nosler Partition. With IMR-4831, RL-19, or RL-22 powder.

Pretty sure the owner of Swift bullets echoed the same thoughts with their all copper jackets.

41

Agree 100% with the 150 grainers and I have had 270s as bench style guns. Partitions seem best in 150 grain and 160 in 7mm and 200 in 30. I think it has something to with the position of the partition. I once shot a 15 shot 1/2" group with the 270 using 5 ballistic tips, 5 solid base and 5 partition. I have never done anything like that with 130s and the partition lets things down.

But 130 grain Hornadys are very good.

I started shooting a bdl 270 in 1976 and have never shot 130 grain bullet in any of my many 270 rifles. 140 hornady interlock has always been my favorite deer and bear bullet.

I Have a Remington 700 classic wood stock that shoots the 140g nosler ballistic tips into a ragged hole at 100 yards. Gun is bedded, bbl free floated, trigger tuned, 4x14 Leupold.

Win brass, win primer, 58g of H4831, bullet is seated .010 off the lands.

For many years I shot the 130g Nosler Ballistic tips with 58g of R#22 with a fed 210, uncanny accuracy. Hornady and Sierra sp were also used.


Having said all of this, the 110g Barnes ttsx with 58g of Win 760 or 57.5g of R#17 is 1/2" or slightly less with .050 bullet jump from the lands. This load is a crowd pleaser!

Just checked the handload chart for my chapter on the .270 Winchester in my upcoming book, GUN GACK IV: The Little Book of Rifle Handloads that Work.

It consists of handloads that have shot well in more than one rifle of the same chambering over the decades. If I would have depended on my memory, would have said 150-grain bullets generally shoot better in the .270 and than 130s. But have loaded for 15 .270s and found that wasn't true: 130s were just as accurate, on average.

Just turned the chapters and charts into Eileen, so she could get started on laying the book out for publication--so we're on schedule to get it out by around October 1st, depending on how quickly the printer can get it done. There have been slight difficulties due to paper availability lately.

Can't wait!

Mine shoots Sierra 130 grain Gamekings really well.

thank you all for sharing. As I look back on the numerous posts, it sounds like the answer to my original question is NO, there isn't one particular bullet that's been consistently accurate in numerous rifles. Reason for my question is that my Alaskan son and I are considering doing a sheep hunt and I would like to take one of my old .270s, despite knowing that both my rifles and the cartridge is rather inferior to the many new rifles and cartridges. Despite that and having loaded for mine for quite a while, I'd like to do some more load development hoping to find something especially accurate ( as in 1/2-3/4 moa) and want to avoid spending lots of money experimenting. I realize that accuracy is contingent on rifle, loads and the shooter but still want to start with some proven combinations. thanks again.

The “old” 270 isn’t inferior to much. Actually the latest and greatest…the 6.5 PRC pretty much duplicates your ancient 270 within the first 440 yards.

I have had very good results with the 130 TTSX in many rifles. I prefer H4350, IMR 4831, or R17.

The cheap Federal Hi-Shok 130 factory load always shoots very well. I use that ammo to test new 270 rifles. If your rifle won’t shoot that stuff well (.700” @ 3050) then you have an issue with your rifle.

.7" with cheap factory ammo kinda takes away the incentive to handload!

I’d like to formally reserve my copy of Gun Gack IV! Can’t wait for my copy to arrive just in time for winter reading season!

Elk Country

Will put you on the pre-publication list--and when we actually get copies in stock will PM you that they've arrived. (Somebody already asked if they could pre-pay, but Eileen won't know how much to charge until we get the bill for printing and shipping.)

Thanks,
John

MD
Put me down for the second copy off the press. Have enjoyed the others immensely.

GreggH

Count me in too, please John!

Start with 130 grain Hornady and Ballistic would be my second choice to first try, 4350 for powder and standard primers. If bedding of the rilfe is so so or just factory rifle then I would first use 4831 powder.


There are 3 Hornady that have been my first choice to test gun. 130 in 270, 180 in 300 Winchester and 300 round nose in 375 H&H.

John,

I don't know if it would be easier for you, but sounds like you may need to start a sign up page. I'm in.

If you want to know about how well a particular bullet shoots in a 270, load 55 gr of RL19 with the 130 gr missile of choice. Seat (usually) as long as the magazine box will allow. (I know there can be a lot of variation here, so optimize for your rifle.) This is not usually close to a max load, but this is a very specific experiment. It might not be too bad a load for a youngster.

If your bullet doesn’t shoot ‘3’s, try something else. High quality rifles will do it every time.

Well, not EVERY rifle. I know of a quality 270 in which several different 130gr bullets were tried with varying amounts of IMR4350, including 55 grains,with mediocre (1.5"ish) results. It shoots 140s and 150s much better...much to my chagrin.

Hmm. Have found a couple .270s that group 130s more accurately with RL-19 than H4831 or whatever other "standard" powder. One of mine grouped 130s best (including Nosler Partitions) with RL-19--though with around 58 grains rather than 55.

But there are two problems with RL-19. First, it's more temp-sensitive than H4831--or even IMR4350--though not as bad in that regard as RL-22.

The other is finding any--though it's showing up more often on websites than other Alliant powders. If temp-sensitivity isn't a factor, then it's definitely an option.

Have also found a similar load in the .300 Winchester Magnum: 72-73 grains of RL-19 with 165-168 grain bullets. Have never encountered a .300 Winchester that didn't shoot this well, and while velocity is only around 3100 from 24" barrels, with a deep-penetrating bullet that's plenty for most big game on earth.

Yes, and before that, there were the Nosler Solid Base.

I decided to take your advice. I did post a sign-up page a while back, but it's way back on the forum now. But we're getting close to enough to sending the book to the printer that I should start another one, partly because I want to make some other comments.

Thanks,
John

PS--You and everybody else who asked to be added to this list on this thread are on it!

I haven’t played around much with 130 gr. bullets in my .270 Win, just because I started reloading for it during the pandemic and I bought what bullets I could find. Like my .270 WSM, I get great accuracy out of 140 gr bullets in it. I have some 130 and 150 gr BT’s but I haven’t loaded them as I o my have a single box. 140’s I have plenty. My best load to date though is with Berger 140 VLD Hunting ulcers and Magpro. I get ragged 5 shot groups with it. I worked up a load with 150 gr. NOS ABLR last year that I haunted with using IMR 4831, but I only got 1.25” at 100 yards on a good day. I passed on the line caribou I could have shot with it. I may play around with seating depths to see if I can get it to at least a 1” group. The 140 gr. Nothing bigger than 3/4” though and I like that.

I really like these .270 wcf threads.
For me, It was my very first centerfire rifle, I was 12 and a Husky. This was 1970.
Luckily, my uncle was a fully immersed, nuts and bolts handloader. He had an almost unlimited supply of milsurp powder to burn.
Naturally, the armory increased, and then over the last two decades decreased, centrally because of the excellent bullets available now.
The more well suited the bullet, the greater the .270's 280's and others performed on Elk and Moose.
In the old days, other than the Partition( which seemed unaffordable) bullets just seemed to frangible and hunters chose .30 caliber magnums because of this.
It is not the same these days at all, the 130 gr mono's and the 150 cup and core bullets( partition like) bullets have changed the rules, imo.
I am no longer a believer in kinetic energy as killing power, unless you want to kill your budget, with a new rifle, a short / fat round and high priced brass that allows 2 or 3 loadings.
The .270/.280, and 30/ 06 still rule , imo

Great thread here......👍

Late to the party here, but like comerade, 270 was my first real centerfire (a mid-70's 700 ADL). WRT to the OP's question, I always got great results accuracy-wise with the Speer HotCor 130 (>1 MOA), usually with IMR 4831. Hornady SP was good also. Oddly, I never had much success with the 130 partition, or H4831. The 150 HotCor and 150 Partition were both outstanding as well. These days I usually use the 140 AB over Magpro, but they all work great.

Just my .02 worth.