Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Boddington on the .270 Winchester

I find it interesting the whole love/hate thing with the 270 Winchester. My father guided elk hunting in Montana in the 1940’s and told me how worthless the 270 was. He said he never had a client that shot an elk with a 270 that he didn’t have to finish with a 30-06.

I never had any use for a 270 and hunted and killed dozens of elk with the 30-06. Fast forward to the 2000’s and I wanted to get a pre-64 model 70. I thought that since Jack O’Connor was such a model 70 fan and an advocate of the 270, I would get the Winchester in 270. My father had died by that time and I felt somewhat vindicated by that decision and got the 270.

I will say from my experience, killing everything from varmints to elk, that the 270 is a fantastic cartridge, so much so, I haven’t shot my 25-06 since I got the 270. I don’t think you could improve on the 270 with 130 grain ballistic tips for any deer sized animal.

I concluded that his distaste for the 270 all those years ago was due to the poor bullet choices that existed then for the purpose of good results killing elk. You can also surmise the client’s ability to shoot had something to do with it.

I never read a single article by Craig Boddington, so his expertise has no effect on what value I see in the 270. For that matter I didn’t read Jack O’Connor either, but his affinity with the 270 is well known and because of that, I ignored my father’s dislike of the 270 and found it to be a very functional part of my hunting rifles.

I hope my dad will forgive me…

Shrapnel -

My father also was no big fan of the .270, or the .30-06 for that matter. He taught that if it didn’t come in a Savage 99, it was largely worthless. 🙄

Twenty years ago when I brought home my first .30-06, a Winchester Model 70 Classic Stainless, the old man was feeling double betrayed, a bolt action, and a .30-06!!

Since then I made a believer out of him.

I like the .30-06 and .25-06 so well that I just never had gotten around to using a .270 until a few years ago when my Uncle left me a Browning BBR thusly chambered from his collection.

I killed a cow elk with it last fall using the 130 grain Sierra Gameking bullet loaded to about 3k fps muzzle velocity. I like it. I have killed a couple of coyotes with it as well. That .270 is a fine cartridge!

Earlier in this thread there was a gentleman that stated the first shot out of a group will be so less accurate that if you contemplate a shot over 500 or 600 you need to shoot at the animal with a second shot.

Would a fouled barrel ( pre shot …pre hunt) mitigate this need. Is it even true?

Thanks

Shrap, JB, and others who are knowledgeable about all things rifle and cartridge, we appreciate your input to the campfire. Never fails, Ignorance and sometimes stupidity often show up on these threads…..Boddington, as previously stated, has a vast amount of experience in the field with a gun in his hands, and just like others who are willing to learn and share, has passed his knowledge on. I suppose opinions on guns and cartridges are never to be revisited and changed. Carry on.

In other words, you'd say he did have confidence it would work based on second-hand information?

Awesome Sako shrapnel. Good shooting!

Aren't we all in that position the first time we take a game animal with a cartridge we haven't used before?

I love the 270. It, the 308, and 6.5CM are my favorite BG cartridges. I used the 270 to take my first antelope many years ago just West of where shrapnels bottom photo was taken. I've taken antelope, whitetail, mule deer and elk with it. When anyone new to hunting here asks me what to equip themselves with, I tell them get a Tikka T3X in 270 Win (though you could substitute the 6.5CM or 308W). Top it with a Burris 3-9 with dots. Buy a box of Federal Blue Box 130's, and go hunt.

Some years ago during a phone call with my brother I mentioned I was heading out elk hunting the following week. He doesn't hunt, and made a comment where he assumed I'd be carrying a 270. Funny how even a non-hunter is smart enough to know it's a solid choice. Hunting Montana and the 270 go together like peas and carrots.

Nice photo T_Inman!

I was visiting with the local store owner about Elmer Keith……

He said “ I knew him…I used to serve him drinks at the bar in Salmon.”

I axed “Was he a nice guy.”

He answered “ No not really, he was O.K. I guess”.

“ Why is that?”

“ He didn’t like the 270.”

It’s tough to whoop a good 270 in my opinion. Been a go to for deer and elk for my family and I for a good spell. Plus, may be just luck but most any of them have been good to great without fiddling. For my boys, I managed to snag two of BobinNH’s Featherweights he had mothballed.

270 for the little man




And a 30-06 for my big son

Very nice Scotty... glad to see some of Bob's stuff has gone to the right home.

Results from my New Mexico DIY Public Land Aoudad hunt in October, and yes, 270 Winchester

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...038655/new-mexico-diy-public-land-aoudad

I've owned more rifles in 270 than anything else & have killed more animals with that round than all others put together, from antelope size to moose, almost exclusively with 130 or 150 gr Partitions. My goto rifle was an AV Sako Fiberclass.

The round has never failed me & a few of the kills to as far as 500 yards have been pretty spectacular in their swiftness.

First rifle was an old Parker Hale, last has been a custom pre-64 done by Keith Stegall.

But for the last 6-7 years, I've switched to a very lightweight 7-08 which satisfies my desire for a lightweight, short action rifle that works beautifully within my range expectations & is probably the reason that I may never own a 6.5 Creed..........maybe. LOL

MM

I hope the boys fill arks with them. I’ll outfit them with good scopes and mounts.

Hopefully they’re smarter than me and use them vs buying all the junk I have.

I suspect I'll always remember CB for his touting of the 8MM Rem Mag more than the 7.

Scott, I'm very happy to see that you got some of Bob's stuff & that it's in good hands.

Bob was a frequent correspondent & we traded some components back & forth a few times, one particular time relating to this 270 thread, I sent him several boxes of hard to find 300 H&H brass that he needed, then out of the blue & w/o notice, several boxes of 270 caliber bullets, magically showed up in my mailbox.

He left us too early.

MM

Yep, that's wonderful!

I had parts destined to become a .280 and in the gunsmith's shop at the time of Bob's passing. Brakes on project were halted and new .277 barrel ordered as a tip-of-the-cap to our friend.

Karma

I have purchased two rifles with intention to build another .280 AI. Here I am with two .270s; one of which I re-barreled. I'll probably give a .270 or a .308 to each of my sons when they are of age. I had originally planned on them a 6.5 Creedmoor, but the .270 is nostalgic, works just fine, and seems to feed more smoothly from a BDL style rifle.