Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 270 Winchester

Bob, guess I need to stock up. I am down to two .270's and have shot big game with 130, 140 and 150 grain bullets. Whitetail, mule deer, antelope, caribou, bear and coyotes all have met their match with the Win 70 classic in .270. Just got a Forbes this past year and have not yet hunted it.

RaceTire
Bucks were killed on the eastern plains of Colorado.
Thou I still guide I no longer work for that Outfitter.
Lots of good outfits on the E. Plains.

After multiple affairs with various magnums over a span of a couple decades I bought a .270. It did everything the fire breathers did, but with less drama, on my end of the rifle anyway. Only problem was I couldn't bring myself to hunt with the high grade walnut the gun was stocked with. It got replaced by a stainless synthetic .270 WSM. With 140 gr Berger VLD's it is a tack driver, and that same bullet laid a cow elk low just last week.
I have guided for over 30 years and was licensed as outfitter for 9 so I've had the good fortune of doing a bit of elk hunting. My experiences have led me to believe that the ol' .270 is one of the best elk cartridges available, reason being that anyone can shoot it well, and well placed shots is what kill elk.

Strange, you have gay elk in CO?? Interesting..

At present I don't own a .270 Win. I sold my last one to a young friend about 6 years ago. To date he has taken 18 or 20 deer with it. He just loves it.

The majority of moose I have taken were with various .270's and 150 grain Partitions.


Two or three years ago I decided I needed (wanted?) another .270 so bought a WSM. It didn't shoot to my satisfaction so it went down the road. On my loading bench are a lot of .270 caliber bullets that I need a gun in order to get rid of them. Trouble is I have 7 or 8 big game guns in my safe and I really don't need another one, at least not for hunting purposes. Guess I'll have to wait and see how good Santa is to me. Maybe I'll have to buy myself a present early next year.

Jim

Yep, +1.

I moved here to Idaho from Alaska, I lived and died with my .300 win mag. up in the 'great land' with many dead sheep, moose and bou. But it was heavy and kicked like a mule.
In 2011 I bought a .270 KS and went out and killed two mountain goats, two whitetails and an elk in just that year.
All with 150 grainers.
Frankly the other Idaho goat tag holder used my rifle to kill his Idaho billy as well.
Three mountain goats in one year with that rifle, and those buggers can be tough to kill.

I became a .270/150grn. believer in short order, most kills were DRT.
Helluva caliber; O'Conner had it right.

Well played.

This is from Petersons hunting letters June- July '13 by Joseph Von Benedict (of Petersons Hunting).

With the nosler 150 accubond LR, BC .625 at 2900 fps. Vs 180 accubond BC .507 at 2600 fps. At elevation of 5000 ft. And zero at 200 yds the 308 drops 49 in at 500 yds and drifts 17 in with 10 mph crosswind. 270 drops 36 in and has 11 in of drift. At 500 yds it has 307 ft.lbs more energy than the heavier 308.

With the 30-06 with the 180 gr.nosler, 308 at 2600 vs 06 at 2800 fps. Plus, the 30-06 will handle the nosler 190 gr Accubond LR with a BC of .640 which at 2700 fps drops 42 in at 500 yd and has 12 in of drift and yields 474 more ft lbs in energy.

Freaking awesome deer here, Raven, for sure.

Dogger: I began using Rifles in 270 Winchester caliber back in the 1960's!
The 270 Winchester is a wonderful and efficient medium and big game cartridge - I know, I done'em!
With todays bullets and powders the 270 Winchester has just gotten better with time.
I also own Rifles in the other calibers you mentioned (30/06 & 280 Remington) and have taken many head of game with both of those as well.
IF... you don't have a Rifle in 270 Winchester then I heartily recommend you give one a try!
I have not killed a Moose with any of my 270's but I have killed Black Bear, Bull Elk, Mule Deer, Antelope, Blacktailed Deer, Mt. Goat and Whitetailed Deer with them.
In fact just 2 weeks ago I used my Remington 700 Sendero in 270 Winchester to harvest a very nice 10 point Whitetailed Buck here in SW Montana (130 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip one shot at long range).
I think if I ever break my "jinx" on drawing a Bighorn Sheep tag I would not hesitate to use one of my 270's on the Hunt.
The 270 Winchester does so many things so well and has so many attributes for the North American game Hunter that I think I better restate my previous "hearty" recommendation and upgrade that to to an emphatic "must have one"!
Best of luck to you if you decide to try one.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Barnes makes an 85gr TSX, my son killed a deer with a reduced load moving at 1900 fps.



Let's see 1,2,3,4..... heck, I think it is about a dozen right now.

Beautiful animals!

I notice this about 270 users. Critics carp about low BC bullets and the shooting press has been loaded with accolades about "better" rounds for decades,yet I see few of these cartridges afield,except the 7 Rem Mag, the only cartridge since 1925 that has ever seriously challenged the 270 Winchester.

In the meantime the 270 continues to stack up BG animals by the truck load,easily numbering in the millions by now; and far exceeding the tally taken by its competition in the aggregate.Those "low BC" bullets sure seem to work.

You see lots of pictures like these among 270 users (got a few myself).

Wonder why that is?

Minimum arsenal. I guess I have one too

Hey Bob -
I don't think (hope) too many folk around here don't believe the .270 won't work on elk; especially because a bullet has a low BC. However, those folks in the LR crowd trying to squeeze as much performance as they can out of bullets likely don't look at that .270 as a first choice because of this. In the LR crowd, most people I know enjoy shooting LR for fun and may occasionally take shots on game at longer ranges if the conditions/situation permits. Best tool for the job, so to speak.

As a matter of fact, when I was a teen (pre-LRF) the 270 and 7RM were rifles of choice in my area due to flat shooting characteristics. Since the advent and proliferation of the LRF, BC's seem to be an increasingly important factor (if not the most important factor); especially for those of us that seem to shoot in constant wind.

The LRAB may change this dynamic if reports continue to be promising. I personally would have no problem toting one for shooting and hunting pursuits.

I've been using a featherweight in .270 for goin on 25 years now (since I was a 17 Y.O. kid in high school) and have killed more game than with any other rifle that I own. 110 gr. V-maxes for coyotes, Hornady 140 gr. BTSPs for practice and goofing off, and Swift 140 gr. A-Frames for hunting. I just can't see using any thing else.

Richard

Bravo: I understand that...I have some of those "better" cartridges myself,that fling those higher BC bullets.

Dogger-

You need to let your wife or girlfriend read that article.

Hurry--times a waist'n.

I am an ardent 270 basher here and associate the G word with it too, but when a couple friends approached me for suggested first rifle/"all round big game rifles for lower 48" purchases it was 270, 308, and 30-06.

Of course I do give my $.02 on the superiority of the latter, but there can be no denying the 270s effectiveness in that role.

Of course those three cartridges all suffer the same shortcoming in my mind... They make the purchase of any other big game rifle a "pure want" issue, negating "genuine need" as a rationale.

Not that this rifle loony has ever given a rat's rear about need...

efw: Well there's an honest guy!

Yeah I love to poke fun at 280 and 280AI advocates,even though I think both are excellent cartridges and I have had quite a few 280's.

Some of this is retaliatory for stones tossed at the 270; but much of it is the LGS jam sessions of years past,where some guy looked me in the eye,and tells me a 280 is "Way Mo' Betta" and kills animals "deader-better" than a 270.

Whereupon I usually ask..."Tell me how?" Which usually brings the conversation to a halt

I kinda like the 130 grain Partition in my 270.