Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting .270 Weatherby Mag Question

I agree with what wbyfan1 had to say as it is one flat shooting sob. The first rifle my dad bought me was a 270 wby mag and it was my only hunting rifle I had for many years. I have killed everything from Pronghorn to Buffalo with that rifle. Not many ills left uncured by the 270 wby pill. I have other rifles now, but it is a case of more dollars than sense.

I had a semi-custom 270 B for about ten years; it was on a 700 action with the long Wby throat because I presumed at some time I'd shoot the Norma factory loads. At that time and perhaps still, this factory stuff was loaded to the fire wall. Anyway, in the 24" tube I could spit out a 150grain Nos handloads at 3200 fps with no sweat and could easily hit 3050-3100 fps with the 160 grainer. I distinctly remember early on, and having been used to the 270 W, the 308, and other standards, shooting over a whitetail at a little over 300 yards. It is a very flat shooting cartridge and an excellent one as noted by Bob Hagel in Guns, Loads, and Hunting tips. He was also fond of the 340 and was one reason I built one of those too--it is another very good, flat shooting cartridge. But then he also liked the 378 B which was where I drew the line.

Wby's 270 was propietary for a long time which means it was only available in B rifles which were more expensive and style-wise not suited to everyone's taste. It's the marriage of cartridge and rifle that goes a good way to determing it acceptance and popularity or not. Perhaps had it been offered in Sakos and 700s at the get go it would have had much wider acceptance. And it's true too that the 700--7mm RM marriage was a home run, but in the field were one handed a rifle without knowing it's chambering, you'd never know between the two which was what. And it's also true that factory ammo (initially Norma and later the much more anemic Federal) was a little spendy.

Bottom line is it's a very good cartridge that got a slow start and still goes against very rough competition--the 270 W, the 7 mm RM, the 7 mm W Mag, the 257 W Mag, etc. Had I to do it again I would have had a shorter throat cut but in a 26" tube. With the 130 grain bullet it's a laser and this is a cartridge for which I think the newer mono- bullets are really ideally suited.

I've had a .270 WBY for years and love it. As George noted above the factory ammo is loaded hot, too hot for my taste. In my factory Mk V the factory ammo has badly cratered firing pin indentations and bright ejector marks on the brass, too much pressure for my comfort so I only use handloads but can get 3,200 fps with a 150 gr bullet easily.

George also mentioned the .340 Wby. I have its big brother the .375 Wby which is also a fine cartridge, a 300 gr bullet at 2,800 fps is a breeze with no pressure signs and modest recoil. I love it.

FWIW the 270 was a available in the Vanguard for a time but has long since been dropped from the line.

Well there is not a whole lot of difference field performance wise between the 270 Weatherby, 7mm Weatherby and the 7mm Remington Mag. If you was just handed a rifle not marked and already loaded and was just told to go shoot something with it, you would not be able to tell the difference. The 7mm RM is very very popular for a reason, its on the shelf every were and a box of cartridges is about half of what you would pay for a Weatherby. Now, if you want to shoot one by all means do so. Its a fine cartridge and a MK-V is a fine rifle. Its nothing special, just a 300 H+H case shortened and blown out launching bullets behind around 70 gr of powder. Oh its recoil is at a manageable level. In other words most can shoot it well enough to hit something at the usual distances.

My favorite is a Kleinguenter K-15 270 wby. It has a 26 Sheilen ss select with no free bore. Shoots 140 Fail Safes at 3335. Only problem is I'm low on FS boolits. Hasbeen

I've got a 257 Mk.V , but my favorite do-it-all rifle is my Ruger No.1 in 270 Roy.It shoots everything pretty good,but 130 XXX are all I shoot in it anymore.

..................Several reasons imo;

When it comes to the initial costs to get a 270 cal rifle, either new or used, the 270 Win will always win hands down. 2nd place will probably go to the 270 WSM.

Reloading and factory ammo costs will be less for the 270 Win and WSM. Higher costs for 270 Wby factory ammo and brass.

Many aren`t necessarily Wby rifle and cartridge fans.

The 270 WSM has probably taken alot of big wind out of the sails of the 270 Wby. Depending on what manual you`re looking at, the 270 WSM basically retains roughly 97%-98% the performance of the 270 Wby Mag. In the field, the 270 WSM can do anything the 270 Wby can do.

270 Wby chambering available in the MK5 only? I could be wrong, but I don`t think you`ll find a 270 Wby chambered in a cheaper Vanguard, Back Country, or in another lesser expensive Wby model rifle. I would assume that Wby would like to keep it that way too. Wby cartridges exclusive to and made available in the Mk5s only.

For their use, many 270 Win and WSM owners don`t feel the need to own a 270 Wby. Cannot justify the additional expense.

For a broader bullet selection choice, many prefer the 7mm over the 270.

Imo, those are the primary reasons.

Maybe Wby will throw a 270 Wby into a Back Country or Vanguard down the road.

They list a 300 Wby available in the Back Country and Vanguard. I didn`t know that.

I used to own a 270 wby, and it performed very well, but I can,t think of anything it did much if any better than a 7mm Remington mag or my 300 mag rifles.
luckily the rifle had amazing wood so I sold it to a friend for just a bit less what Id paid for it, and purchased a 300 wby and never regretted the change

I've always thought 270's performed well. The bullets designed for them all run close to the same velisosity. Not much difference in the different calibers .A 150 thirty cal. can be used in a 300 savage or 300 wby. Big difference in speed. Hasbeen

I love mine.

...and the 240 Wby and the 257 Wby, in Vanguard

Remington has made some 257's, and Winchester made a 270 Wby as a special run several years ago....both have possibly made special run 300's as well. Most companies these days just have their own magnums of various flavors to promote instead of carrying the Weatherby lines. This always makes me chuckle a bit, on here, and every single other gun forum you always see the stupidest comment about calibers ever "well XXX has been doing it since XXXX so why is it even here? Answer to an unasked question!!".

I always like to chime in, that nearly every single Weatherby, was doing it before any single Win Mag, Rem Mag, Ruger mag, Short Mag, Ultra Mag, blah blah blah, was ever even a thought in someones head lol. Remember, most of them besides the 240 and the 378-based cases, came out in the 40's. Only the original H&H's beat them to the punch.

Man you guys are the worst enablers ever, this thread has really got me thinking about changing up my current build that is at the smith right now. I haven't ordered my barrel yet. It WAS going to be a 375 Ruger on a pre-64 but now I'm seriously giving deep thought to the 270 Wby, which had crossed my mind before. I already have a M70 in 300 Wby, and am having another M70 turned into a 240 Wby. I've got a thing with Winchester rifles and Weatherby chambers....darn you all.

Of course this still leaves me with the need for a 375, guess my other spare M70 SS Classic might have to take that 375 barrel instead of the pre-64!

It certainly should be more popular than it is. A fantastic cartridge.

I think that the .270 Weatherby originally suffered from the supposition that it was "too much for deer and too little for elk". There was probably a grain of truth in that back when deer were rarely shot at more than a couple hundred yards and elk were mostly shot with cup and core bullets. I know a small cadre of rifle loonies that have used the .270 Weatherby for just about all their hunting for many years--mostly in rebarreled or rechambered pre-64 Model 70s.

I believe the .270 Wby Mag might be the most useful of all Wby mags. However, there are practical considerations that must be considered. The most obvious is ammo cost, which is moot if you reload. While I have abiding respect of .277 caliber projectiles, .284 caliber are superior. And it's difficult to find rifles chambered for that cartridge outside of a Mark V.

If you reload, you ought not find difficulty achieving 3200 FPS with 150 7MM Rem Mag Partitions & 310 FPS with 160 grain Partitions.

But if you like the .270 Wby Mag, it will work on all North American game.

I love my 270 Weatherby from the WBY Custom Shop.
130 gr.@ 3450 fps will work on just about any thing.

Maybe true of a very few and specialized high BC 7mm bullets but that is changing.

Among more or less standard stuff, it really isn't so...not enough to matter one way or the other.

BobinNH,

You're right, especially when considering the practical ranges at which big game is shot.

I have difficulty justifying paying twice as much for a box of Wby cartridges when standard mag cartridges will do the same thing. Hell, an '06 will kill big game just as dead.

It seems to be an issue of personal preference.