Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 270 Wby, rechamber or rebarrel?

partsman- 86's computer is off line for a while waiting for a new high speed hookup. He might know your friend. 86 is a big engine / compressor mechanic specialist- Waukeshas, Cats etc. Currently working for Anderson (now Devon) oil. Perhaps he'll spot your post when he gets back in business. If your friend has lived there long or went to school there during the 70's chances are he'll know him. stocker

You Whitehorse boys: Do you fellows know T.J. Grabowski? Worked for me in Ft. St. John for several years. If you do ask him to send me an e-mail as per address in my profile. Thanx, Dennis.

Yukoner,
<br>
<br>It sound to me like your on the right track. One thing I would look into if I were rechambering is to have the freeboring taken out or at least reduced. I would try to get that fine radial shoulder a little snugger and thereby reduce thoat erosion, increase barrel life, and up the accuracy potential by seating closer to lands. After all, this is a 350-500 yard chambering and accuracy becomes paramount at those distances. There are many who have done this with the Weatherby chamberings and really suffered no great loss in velocity at all. The 270 Wby is not seriously overbore and therefore gives outstanding trajectory without tremendous recoil. Who could ask for anything better. I like the 270 Win, and the 270 WSM isn't that much better than the 270 Win as Winchester would have everyone believe. But the 270 Wby is heads above both, factory loads rip and for the mad scientist locked in the powder room, neither of the other 270s hold a candle. I have seen a few 270/300 Wby chamberings, but other than that, the 270 Wby is hard to beat. I would rechamber the Douglas if it is in good shape and has at least a medium #2 sporter contour between .585" and .620", preferably the latter. If I was to opt for a new barrel it would be stainless in even a larger contour .650" to .700" barrel. The 24 inches is fine on any sporter rifle as I find 26 inches to be gangly and not as user friendly, the game at the other end will never realize you sacrificed 60 or so fps at the starting point.
<br>
<br>Good Luck,
<br>rossi

<<Off topic a bit, but I have friends up in Whitehorse>>
<br>
<br>Sure do!
<br>
<br>Kip only lives a few blocks away from my wife, Marg, and I
<br>
<br>You ever visited "Up Here" ?
<br>
<br>Ted

Dennis,
<br>
<br>Tony and I are very good friends. I will give him your e-dress in the morning.
<br>
<br>Ted

Well to make a long story short, so you know a bit more. They moved to North Vancouver where I was brought up in 1971 and they rented the house next door to us. So got to know them real well, used to babysit Nicole, Christine and Mark as the older girls were away at Private school. They told me to come up and see them sometime, but as per usual it was usually Mark that would come down and say hi. So after about 19 years I finally made the long drive up to there and stopped in to say hi, of course as luck would have it, The only girl in town was Nicole and she was too young to remember me, but Mark was around so after getting to see his mom and dad and Having a beer with his dad, I looked up Mark and spent an evening with him and his wife and kids. That was in I think 89 or 90, forget for sure, but it was funny when I walked up to his mom when she was coming to work, she just looked at me and said it took you long enough. The folks up there just seem to be the type that expects to see you again sometime somewhere. Then passed through again in 92 on my way up to Fairbanks because of the anniversary of the building of the Highway. Meant to say too, that I never forgot their address on Teslin, so made it easier to find them.

The obsolete .270 Weatherby aside. It makes no sense to open a bolt face and action rails to "magnum"
<br>
<br>I would make far more sense to shoot "light magnums" in the .270 or buy a 7mm Rem mag. There is no way a .270 Weatherby will kill better than a 7mm Rem Mag.

Rossi,
<br>
<br>Sorry I have taken so long in getting back to you. Really do appreciate your response here.
<br>
<br>I feel the same as you, that the 270 Wby is not seriously overbore. A few years ago things were different, but with all the powders we have now there are several that one can use a case full and not pressure out when loading, even with the heaviest bullets.
<br>
<br>I have shot a 270 Win, along with many other calibres, for almost four decades and it has never let me down. Sheep, caribou, moose, bears, they all went down with no problem. My lovely wife Marg, will be carrying her Husqvarna this fall and woe to the animal that she determines to put in the freezer.
<br>
<br>The main reason I am doing this project is that the bbl on this particular rifle is 24" and a fairly heavy contour and it will never be a lightweight rifle. Seemed like a good candidate for rechambering. The muzzle is .625" and the bore is excellent. Accuracy is very good, virtually any load will shoot under an inch and a quarter, many go way under an inch.
<br>
<br><<the 270 Wby is heads above both, factory loads rip and for the mad scientist locked in the powder room, neither of the other 270s hold a candle>>
<br>
<br>Sounds like you may have had some experience with this calibre. Care to share some of your experience?
<br>
<br>Ted

1886,
<br>
<br>Thanks very much for your reply. I am really looking forward to getting mine back and putting a few over the Oehler. Will let you know what the velocities are when I have them.
<br>
<br>I am curious about the loads in your Model 70. No flame at all, but I would not have even considered H380 as a powder to load in this cartridge. My understanding is that this powder is a bit faster than 4350. Seems to me that slower burning would be the way to go. You seem to be getting about 100-150 fps more that I get with the rifle I am having rechambered. That isn't bad, but I am wondering if you ever tried any slower powders?
<br>
<br>Thanks again,
<br>
<br>Ted

Hi Dennis,
<br>
<br>Talked to Tony on the phone yesterday and sent him your profile page. He is a top notch guy and a wonderful asset to our Wildlife Branch here.
<br>
<br>Sent a message to your son (1886) on this thread about his loads and velocities. Hope he gets it. I am really interested in his experience with this cartridge. Forgot to ask him if he still has the rifle and any hunting experience he has had.
<br>
<br>Ted

Hi Don,
<br>
<br><<The obsolete .270 Weatherby aside. It makes no sense to open a bolt face and action rails to "magnum" >>
<br>
<br>Besides shooting flatter and hitting harder at all ranges up to 500 yds, the best reason to have a 270 Wby is that not everyone has one. :-)
<br>
<br>Seriously though, I have used the great 270 Win for many, many years. This is just a fun project and when the bbl is gone the action will be all ready to have a 358 Norma Mag bbl installed if not another 270 Wby.
<br>
<br>Ted

Yes he still has the rifle although I came close to swapping him out of it this fall. Finally decided to keep my old M70 fwt. 243 for a while longer. He's taken a couple of good scoring deer with it maybe some moose. Not sure why he tried 380 other than I know he had a whack of it on hand. Perhaps something that Ken Waters wrote regarding accuracy with it. Again not sure. Perhaps it has an advantage in the shorter barrel that some slower burners wouldn't realize or maybe he opted for it because of pure accuracy. Be glad when he's up and running again. stocker

The introduction of IMR (DuPont) 4350 was the powder that made the performance of the 270 Wby. possible and was used in the original loads for a advertised 3364 in a 26" bbl. I have not seen a maximum load from anyone that exceeds 3286 fps from a 26" bbl. with this powder. You will not find data with H380 from anyone except Waters and was tested in a 24" gun, and the choice to try it was based on his experience,and stuck with it because the accuracy exceeded any other powder I tried. Considering a 24" bbl. and loads that were chronied at -7 degrees C and this is not a maximum load, I believe this powder exceeds 4350's potential, but I do plan on trying some different powders with it again. Very good velocities can be obtained with IMR 7828 and RE25 with a 26" bbl. I have considered building a single shot with a 28" bbl. as an ultimate 270 Wby. which would have an overall length about the same as a 24" bolt gun. I have used 140 X and Nosler 130 Part. on game with good results.

Yes I have.

1886,
<br>
<br>Thank you very much for your reply and especially your thoughts on the use of H380. I can certainly understand your thinking on this, especially if you have a whack of it on hand.
<br>
<br>I chronographed the 24" 270 Win that I am having rechambered a few weeks ago. Temperature was around -12C and velocities with 130 gr Speers averaged 3174. This was using H450, the same load that I have used in several other rifles, and shows no indication at all of excess pressure. Case life is good and primer pockets stay tight. I am curious now if I should try some H380 in my other 270.
<br>
<br>My thoughts for after the rechambering, are to start out with H450 and see how things go. Won't give any less velocity and I am hopeful that it might show a lot more. Re 22 is a great powder in the 7mm and 300 mags with 24" bbls and that is a powder I plan to try, along with good old 4831.
<br>
<br>I really appreciate all the participation on this thread. Everyone has had good stuff to share and given me plenty to consider. Spoke to Bevan King today, and should have the rifle around the middle of Feb. We'll know for sure then what it really does.
<br>
<br>Do you know Bevan? He is one of the few barrel makers we have in Canada and lives just down the road from you in Pouce Coupe.
<br>
<br>Thanks again '86,
<br>
<br>Ted

Yukoner
<br>I have one of the MK IV .270 WBY mags with the 24" #1 contour barrel. I've hunted with it a few years and
<br>have no complaints. I'm driving 130 gr. nosler partitions
<br>to 3350 over RL22 and the 150 partitions to 3180 over RL25.
<br>The big advantage to me is the increase in point blank range
<br>over open ground.
<br>Some free advice:
<br>Get a redding neck size die and let the brass headspace on the shoulder, I get about 10 loads out of a case this way and I never full length size them, after 10 loads I retire them. Avoid the plated federal brass, it has a slightly smaller head diameter and a shorter life in my experience. Unless your experience is different than mine, you'll give up some velocity to use the A Frames. They showed higher pressure earlier than the partitions did in my rifle. I paid Lee $25 to make me a factory crimp die, this cut my SDs in half with moly coated bullets.
<br>Have fun!

BD,
<br>
<br>Thanks very much for your reply. This is exactly the kind of information I have been looking for, velocities out of a 24" bbl.
<br>
<br>As you can see from my earlier posts my plan is to use Re22 and H4831. Looks like you really have the answer for the 150 gr with Re 25.
<br>
<br>Thanks also for the heads up about the neck sizing and the Federal brass. I'll let you know how I make out with the A-Frames.
<br>
<br>Ted

Yukoner,
<br> If you email me at bdallamNOSPAMime.net (remove the NOSPAM of course). I'll send you some load data. I'm very hesitent to post data for the .270 WBY on the web as it is operating at the high end of the pressure range and there are a variety of rifle configurations out there.

Hey guys,
<br>
<br>Talked with Bevan King this evening. He rechambered and did the test-firing on the rifle today. He says the chamber looks as good as gold and the loads I sent him, 72 gr Re 22, CCI 250 with 130 gr Hornady, yielded perfect cases. He loaded and test-fired three rounds with proof loads that loosened primer pockets on two cases and blew the primer on one case with no lug setback. Everything is AOK, packed and will be out of his shop tomorrow. Should have the rifle back here early next week.
<br>
<br>I had Bevan take enough metal off the chamber reinforce to remove the old lettering before stamping the new calibre designation, so will re-glass it into the stock and let it cure for a couple of days in the furnace room before taking it to the range. Should have the first results late next week. We'll know then just how much increase in velocity we get .
<br>
<br>BTW, he told me the load that loosened the primers was 75 gr of 7828 with a 150gr in Wby brass. Anyone have any experience using this powder in this calibre or the 7mm?
<br>
<br>Ted

Nosler #4 lists 68.5grs of 7828 as their max,with a 150gr. I'd say 75grs is pretty "juiced".
<br>
<br>Very curious to hear your results,both on paper and through the chronograph....................