Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 270 Winchester

Well Bob you and I both know that camps are full every year of the old two hundred and seventy along with the ought six and seven mag. In over 40 years afield I have seen very few of the cartridges often mentioned here.

Yeah I know some are out there but their numbers are so small they would be left out of a survey

Randy

rta if I show up at the ranch in Wyoming lugging something other than a 270,my old pal rancher looks at me (with eyes narrowed),and says....

"What are you messin' with now?...You should know better by now you don't need anything other than your 270..."

This is easy for me, convincing someone that the 270Win isn't what you want for big game, cause I'm a hater down to the bone.

I grew up hunting with two groups of guys. The first group, Old School Maine deer hunters: 300 Savage & 30/30 all lever gun users and all wore peep sights. The second group, The Magnum Boys, 300WM & 7mmRM, Browning BAR's with high power scopes. I was the odd ball out and showed up in both camps with Bolt Guns is cartridges that had head stamps of 25/06, 270, 7mm Express (280 Rem before it was cool), 308 Win, & 30/06.
Two totally different hunting style in both camps. Old school boys-still hunters in big woods..never drove the deer but would bump the deer and usually the deer would come in front of one of the other guys in the line. The magnum boys were sitters, watching big cuts, fields, and power lines. The magnum boys relied on other hunters to move the deer around and hope fully into the area they sat on.
On the average the old school boys killed more deer than the magnum boys. I personally preferred the old school boys hunting methods so hunted with them the most. Boy did I get a lot of guff from the old school and magnum boys when I showed up with anything other than what they used and swore by, especially the Old School boys.
The worst was when I showed up with the 270. The old school boys started calling me "O'Connor the ballistic expert". After shooting a couple of deer square in the chest and having to track them in thick woods for some distance they started calling me "Jack Azz" for using the sub 30 cal. One thing that I noticed when I hunted with this group of guys was when they shot their deer there was never any tracking. The norm was neck shots dead right there or through the lungs with a very short blood trail.
It took me a long time to learn this since I then tried the 25/06 & 7mm Express with the same results as the 270. Long hard track jobs in thick woods, coupled with the harassment from the boys, pushed me to carry 30 cals. Then the deer started dieing right there or shortly after.

Fast forward 12 years and a move out west. Bought my wife a 270 for hunting out here. There again the same results that I saw in Maine. Shoot a deer square in the chest and it would run forever it seemed. Recoil was to much for her so we dropped down to a 243 and that really sucked. So I had a rifle built for her a 7x57 and we load it very mild. Kills stuff dead. I tried the 7mmRM out here and had troubles with it on elk and deemed it to light for elk.

So the moral of this story is 30 caliber or larger for me and for my wife 7mm going slow is her minimum. If I can ever convince her, she will be converted to a 30 caliber minimum also. The 30/06 in my mine is just about the perfect rifle over any 270. Save your money or just shoot and hunt more with your 06!

I mentioned this before, but over the years I've found myself describing several of my favorite chamberings to folks who aren't into such things. Telling them, "It's about like a .270", generally gets the point across and is not far from the truth. 120 to 160 grains at 3,100 to 2,800 fps, and you're lumping in about a dozen 6.5's and 7mm's. Not a bad place to be, but I like rifles too much to cut back to just the 270Win, even if it makes sense.....

A buddy recently called me about his wife's rifle, a walnut 700ADL in .270Win. They were at a sporting goods store looking for ammo and a scope. I told them to buy some 150gr WW Powerpoints and a Redfield Revolution. 4-5 shots later and I had her zeroed at 200yds and she can effectively kill anything that she might encounter locally with no fuss.

Bout time you saw the light Frank.

I've been hunting with my M70 270 since I bought it new around 1983, all but 2 animals I have taken since then have been with the 270.

The older I have gotten the less Mountain hunting calls me. I now spend much of my time sitting and glassing for whitetail. Because I move very little I have began experimenting with other calibers. I have a 280ai, 243ai and 223ai should arrive any day now.

The 280 ai is a wonderful cartridge and with the high BC 284 bullets it can be shot much further than I have ever needed on a animal. 150 grain Nosler BT's have worked very well on game.

The 243 ai with a 105 gr bullet just is fun to shoot. I have been told it is a game getter. I have not shot any game with it but I should be changing that any day now.

This is all fun and games and gives me something to do that I really enjoy doing. However, I would love to have my youthful waist line and legs back. I would grab my 270 and head West again.

There are still days when I reach for my old Ruger 270 thats been with me so long. It's comforting having it with me, kind of like an old friend you can trust.

Well, I guess one guy on the fire can't kill stuff with a 270. Glad it's not me.

Some of his most memorable hunting articles for Outdoor Life magazine include: "We Shot the Tamales" "Santiago and the Lady Hunter" "Lions Don't Come Easy" and "A Tiger Has Killed".
In this short passage from his story, "Up To Our Necks In Deer," Jack's love for the .270 rifle and impressive writing style are evident.
When the rifle cracked, the buck turned over clear over in the air, and hit like a bag of potatoes.
"Whoopee!" said Zefarino. "That's the kind of rifle I like, one that has power. One shot and the buck doesn't move. How do you call it?"
"The .270," I said.
"The same one you shoot the ram with, no?"
"The same."
"With the .30 you shot a buck and it ran. Then the smaller boy shoots a buck with the .25 and it ran. Now the large boy shoots a buck with this rifle and it is dead in its tracks. How good a rifle, this .270!"
"It shoots a good ball," I said, "--a very fast ball."
"Like the lightning!" said Zefarino. In 2006 the Jack O'Connor Hunting Heritage and Education Center opened at Hells Gate State Park on the Snake River, near Lewiston, Idaho. Many of his big game trophies are on display there, along with other memorabilia, including his favorite .270 rifle.

JOC also said no cartridge can make up for poor shot placement.

Sounds all too "Broke Mountainish" to me Bob. You sure it wasn't a gleam in his eye instead...

I was leaning 280AI for my next project (boat paddle ruger) but dang if this thread isn't making me want to go 270!

bsa: Bill is anything but Brokeback..

His 270 has only bumped off about 30-40 bulls;and about as many mule deer,lots of them pretty big.Last bull was 363...

Shot my two biggest whitetails with an ADL 270, couple nice antelope with it as well. Lucky gun!



What are the fancy new 270 bullets to use? Long range AB's?


Shot a lot of random factory stuff in my 'younger' days, 140 AB's loaded up for the last 5 or so years now.



Next rifle I get will be a 270 Montana.

GAY!

You know, I thought about a 6.5 SAUM and all the fun prepping brass. And then I thought....

[bleep] that!

270 is way easier.....grin

For sure.

Wildcats are all fine and dandy, until your first run and gun on a coyote when you lose a handful of carefully prepped brass into the sagebrush. Suddenly that really cool Lapua brass, or all the time spent neck turning and fire forming seems more like money pissed down the drain.

My hero Dave Petzel from Field and Stream said the 270 is never the wrong choice.

I thought you 270 guys just used partitions.

Fixed it. It is much easier to find bullets that don't work in a 270.