Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 270 Winchester

That's exactly what I read in that!

I have a late uncle that hated the .270. Why? Because he lost a nice blacktail buck that he wounded. He told me he found a chunck of leg bone and that was all. He didn't say much when I asked him why he expected a leg shot deer to be DRT....

Brad, did you get 2 holes with that 140 BT?

If it's laying there dead there doesn't seem to be much need for two holes.

Jim

Its just an anomaly with the .277 calibre. Deer don't die when hit with an object of that diameter as quickly as if it were of 6.5 or 7mm diameter.

That for sure and maybe some crappy bullets.

I did, in and out through the lungs and DRT. Nice sized cow.

I love Ballistic Tips. Would happily hunt elk with them over any case suitable for elk.

This is what baffles me. I can't get 130 grain Partitions, Accubond, TTSX and ballistic tips to exit deer or antelope (not to mention poor blood trails). While everything died it seems to me those bullets should have all exited if 140 grain BT exits a cow elk.

Dink

A lot of poor performance with bullets is the result of poor shooting!

I've never been able to keep a Ballistic Tip launched from the 270 in antelope, elk or mule deer. Not one.

Well now that I have this M70 Lightweight does anyone have a good light .270 load that would be good for a kid.

http://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/H4895%20Reduced%20Rifle%20Loads.pdf

In addition to the above, a starting load for a 130 grainer with H4895 (around 42 grains).

An 85 grain TSX loaded to around 3000 fps makes a dandy kids load, and still shoots flat.

Daughter #1 wrote me that she's been thinking about a .257 Roberts ever since taking her first ever big game animal, a doe antelope in Wyoming, this past October. Given the paucity of factory offerings for ammo and rifles, I suggested a number of other cartridges, instead of the .257 Robert. These included the .260 Rem, 7mm-08 and .308 Win in short action and .25-06 and .30-06 in long actions.

She is not a gun looney but has a Kimber .45, an AR 5.56 and two stripped lowers, one of which she has completed with a kit from CMMG. She is smaller framed than my other daughters. After my first email I realized I had omitted the .270 Win from the discussion. I sent her another email with this to say about the .270:

"One other cartridge I didn't mention was the .270 Winchester. Think of it as a lower-recoil, flatter-shooting .30-06. Not as suitable as the .25-06 for prairie dogs (ricochet factor due to heavier bullets) but fine for coyotes and with 150 grain bullets it is excellent for elk. With 130 grain bullets it is arguably the best dedicated long-action deer cartridge available. Also excellent for antelope with the 130 grain bullets. Barrels are typically 22-24" with many options for factory ammo. Consider it a step up from the 7mm-08 in terms of range. Basically a .30-06 necked down to .277". This cartridge uses modern pressures. An excellent choice that can handle light varminting to moose."

If she decides on a .270 I will have no qualms about her using it for any game in NA short, perhaps, of brown bears.

Pull your head out your azz. Brad said he did get an exit. It's pretty obvious the elks laying there dead, regardless

Pull your head out of your azz. I made this comment before Brad mentioned having a pass through! Not that it matters anyway when the animal is dead.

Jim

I also hear it kills deer as well for adults as it does for kids.

Thanks guys the info on the H4895 is interesting to know.
Of course I have none but do have about 5 pounds of IMR4895 go figure! Guess I will have to pick up a pound when I run across some.

It does! Though ours are loaded a bit warmer.....3700-3800 fps with RE-17.

Don't quote me on it since I'm not a gun writer but I believe Mule Deer mentioned in another thread that because IMR4895 is also a single base powder the 60% rule works for it as well when working up reduced loads. If you do a search there are # of threads on reduced loads for a bunch of different calipers and powders.

Three bad experiences with a .270:

Distance about 80 yards. Three double lung shots. Buck kind of humped up or flinched, but kept moving. Enough, I raised the aim point and severed the spine in front of the shoulders. Borrowed rifle, lender furnished ammo, 150 Bronze Points. Examination revealed a three holes in that could have been covered with a softball, and three holes out of the same diameter, through the high lungs. Field dressing showed no massive damage to the lungs themselves, just holes punched through. My diagnosis, wrong bullet or bullet failure. I was not familiar with that bullet and didn't know what to expect.

I was watching a sendero in south Texas. A buck stepped out really close, maybe thirty yards. I decided to be cute and shoot him in the neck at the base of the skull. No real trophy just a good meat deer. I shot a little low. I trailed the deer almost 150 yards through the thick brush. My shot cut the trachea. I don't know how he made it that far. Blood loss was also severe. Diagnosis. Bad shot.

Rancher told me there was a good buck hanging out in the oaks adjacent to the Lampasas river bottom on the corner of the ranch. I set up one afternoon in a fence line dividing a wheat patch from the next ranch. The buck came out briefly to meet a hot doe, they went back into the brush and neither came out before dark. Next morning, daylight broke with a heavy fog cutting visibility to yards. I drove down the fence line, backed my jeep into some fence line brush, and waited (legal in TX). An hour or so after light, the fog began to lift a little. I could see the good buck nervously grazing on the wheat. Rifle ready, proper look for a neck shot. Bang, flop. I pulled the gun in, poured a coffee, and hit the starter. As I looked up my dead deer jumped up and in a few jumps was back in the river bottom.

Daylight without fog revealed that I had parked much too close to my work. More like 60 yards, rather than the 140-150 that I had thought. And too, I had not yet learned my lesson about the cute shots. I found a small tuft of hair, with a little skin attached, and only a couple of drops of blood where he lay for a for maybe 30-40 seconds. Diagnosis, bum shooting/shot placement selection. I think I just clipped enough of the neck to temporarily KO the deer.

I don't think one can blame the cartridge for any of these incidents. I made poor shot choices on the latter two.