Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .270 Win, the perfect hunting round?

Some of you are funny. The .270 is boring, because it works so good? You'd rather have a caliber that can't hit the side of a barn?

Some of you are funny. The .270 is boring, because it works so good? You'd rather have a caliber that can't hit the side of a barn?

I'm going to the range now.....a 270 is in the truck.

If I shoot something and it does not die the way I think it should have you can almost bet the gun involved will be a 270 winchester

I think I just have bad luck with the 270 winny.

Reading DINK's post makes me think that Elmer has been reincarnated.

Let's think a bit about some of what's being said here.....we will increase bore diameter .031,increase case capacity by 20-30 grains,bring velocities to around the same as a 270 with bullets weighing 30+ grains more, and then compare killing effectiveness,and therefore the 270 "sucks" and leaves ironclad deer rambling through the countryside leaking blood all over the place......something ain't right...

Ananlyze this......."I gotta go up in bore size,bullet weight,case capacity,and velocity to beat a 270.." Well, no shidt Dick Tracy!

I have read some really stupid shidt in my life but some of this stuff just takes the cake.

Do I think a 270 is as powerful as a 300 or 338 magnum? Of course not....

Do I think a 7 magnum shooting heavy 160 or 175 gr bullets is a step up from a 270? Yes,I do.

Do I think a 30/06 kills anything "better"? No...not until you get into the class of the very heaviest game (brown bear,Cape Buffalo,etc.)with 200-220 gr bullets,simply because the heavier bullets will penetrate better, and break heavy bones on such game better than a 270's lighter bullets.This is called common sense.

But do I think the 30/06 or 308 Winchester kills lesser game "better"? Nope.

A 7x57,7-08,280,284,264,etc etc.....any of them kill game "better"? Gimme a break....it isn't even worth discussing. Complete waste of time....

Second, no one mentions bullets .....

I think the reason some have problems with the 270 is that they use junk,thin jacketed,plastic tipped stuff under this "theory" of bullet blowup being the path to rapid kills with small bores.....well,maybe. I am still really conflicted on this notion,and think it has good application for very LR shooting....but under more conventional distances, I still like bullets of tougher construction.

Following that line of thinking, I have had no problems killing with any cartridge from a 257 Roberts through the 375H&H.If there was a "problem" (damn few)it was all placement....

I am mystified by the difficulty some folks have had killing animals with a 270 Winchester. I have had "zero" problems.I think the reason is that,almost from the start back in the 70's,I have fed 270's nothing but Partitions and Bitterroots.I have some recovered BBC's back here from 270's that killed game,that have broader frontal areas, and more retained weight,than 180 gr bullets fired into game from a 300 magnum....I don't give a flying rats ass about how good a bullet looks on a ballistic chart....I want to know results in an animal.I have noticed that if I use a bullet fully capable of reliably expanding,punching through a chest cavity and destroying vitals,and retaining enough weight to reliably break up bones on the offside,animals simply die.

All I know is I have never had these "mysterious" difficulties killing anything with a 270 at any distance or circumstance I have bumped into using these bullets.So I simply do not understand when a guy says a 270 sucks, but a 30/06 or 280 is hell on wheels.....I wonder if we hunt on the same planet for the same animals.

RinB on here has as much or more 270 experience in Africa(where I have not been yet)as anyone I know,except Johnny B.He won't talk about it but I will. He has killed over 200 head of African game from eland down with the 270 and 130 gr bullets;mostly Bitterroots, Barnes X, Swift S-co's and Aframes.He tells me of whacking a zebra with a 130 Aframe on the point of the shoulder quartering on with a 130 Aframe...the zebra collapsed in a heap,the bullet ranging back forward of the off side haunch,after breaking the shoulder.What's a zebra weigh? 500-700 pounds? Floored by a 270 and a great bullet? How do we reconcile this with notions of little does shrugging off hits from a 270?

He sends bullets over there for these African guys to test.....they say "Send more Barnes and Swift Aframes.....hold the Accubonds!" Mmmmm.

Another pal took his Dad and 12 year old son to Africa...all three spent 10 days knocking the snot out of kudu, gemsbuck,zebra,eland,and whatnot with 130 gr TTSX's from a 270 Winchester.

Reconcile this with half starved little deer running all over the place after a chest hit and it makes you wonder, what's the difference? Bullets .

I don't think the perfect hunting cartridge exists (unless it's the 375H&H because what is "perfect" will change with range, size of animal,impact velocity, bullet performance, etc.But the notion the 270 does not perform with anything else in its power class and powder capacity ....is silly.The notion that a 10 gr increase in bullet weight and increased diameter by .007 results in some "magic", is nonsense.Bullets,bullet construction, and placement are the key....not some silly notion about the headstamp being somehow inadequate.

As to paying a deposit, and taking a 270 on an important hunt beng out of the question? Gimme a break...what ridiculous nonsense.I have paid tens of thousands of my own money and put it on the line for important hunts and thrown a 270 on the plane. So have friends....and I would do it again tomorrow.

Here's the dirty little secret to killing game with a 270....use good bullets, and put them in the right place.