.270 Winchester

P

Photon Guy

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The .270 Winchester from what I've heard is a good round for small or large game. While it doesn't pack the punch of a .30 06 its faster than the .30 06 at 3603 fps with a 90 grain bullet. Does anybody know of any round of similar size that's faster?
 
How about the .270 Weatherby or the .270WSM? Same projectiles but a little more speed.

May I ask why a little more speed is important?
 
From a utility standpoint, the '06 with a 110-grain bullet at some 3,400 to 3,500 is just as nasty on coyotes, in my experience.

I've used swaged-down .32-20 80-grain bullets ahead of a bunch of 3031 for around 3,900. What that load does to a poor innocent jackrabbit should not be shown in a family magazine.

Ever seen how a buzzard will have a momentary pause when soaring into the wind, and turn cross- or down-wind? I made the mistake of succeeding in a snapshot when one was directly overhead. Center-punched the buzzard. Yuck! I ran to escape the rain.

Some things are better left untried. :D
 
If you want to shoot 90 grain bullets why choose a .270 Win? 3600 fps at the muzzle is impressive, you're around 3200 fps at 100 yds and 2800 at 200 yds. A 90 grain bullet out of a .243 at 3200 fps is 2900 fps at 100 yds, and 2600 fps at 200 yds. So for the first 200 yds a .270 has some advantages, but at 300 yds the two bullets are the same with both at 2400 fps and essentially equal energy.

Beyond 300 yards the .243 Win takes over being faster, dropping less, less wind drift, and hitting harder. It isn't by a drastic amount the .243 stays ahead in velocity and energy, but wind drift and trajectory is substantially better due to the higher BC of the bullets. 90 grain .277 caliber bullets are designed to work in AR15 magazines for the 6.8 SPC and just don't have very good BC to make the good bullets for the .270.

The .270 Win really shines with bullets weighing 130 to 150 grains. There isn't much in North America I wouldn't hunt using a .270 and bullets in that weight range. It'll handle 90% of what a .30-06 will with slightly less recoil, and it's one of my favorite cartridges.
 
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Beyond 300 yards a 90 grain .243 Win is already headed to the dirt. Drops like a brick past 300.
However, like taylorce1 says, with a 90 grain bullet, why go with a .270? A 90 in a .270 is an extremely light bullet for the cartridge. That 3603 fps with a 90 grain bullet is only with one powder and only with the 24", 1 in 10 barrel(that was likely a universal receiver and not a rifle) used by Hodgdon for their tests.
And a 130 will give 3200 FPS MV. A 24" barrel, sighted in about 1.75" high at 100, it'll drop about 30" at 500.
"...of similar size..." The length of the cartridge is irrelevant. Anyway, accuracy is far more important than velocity.
 
Was loading Hornady 100gr HP in 7mm Rem Mag. I think they were near 4000fps from load data. Never chronoed. Good for exploding groundhogs.

Not sure where you are going with this.
 
T. O'Heir said:
Beyond 300 yards a 90 grain .243 Win is already headed to the dirt. Drops like a brick past 300.
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You say this ignorant statement a lot and about most cartridges, and I just don't know of one single cartridge that the bullet isn't headed for the dirt as soon as it leaves the muzzle. Plus what does "drops like a brick" mean? All bullets follow a trajectory, and after they reach the apex of that trajectory they start to drop. I don't know of one bullet that glides in, as there isn't a single bullet out there capable of producing lift.

However, most bullets do reach their apex far inside 300 yards and are dropping. All bullets are not created equal either, so which one drops like a brick more a 90 grain .277 or 6mm bullet of similar design? I mean a 90 grain 6mm bullet isn't the best BC by a long shot when it comes to 6mm projectiles but its a far sight better than a .277 of equal weight.
 
If the claim to fame about 243 is that it has better ballistic with 90gr over 90gr from 270 I think I'll sell my 24 and buy another 270 and shoot 150gr.
 
How fast a bullet leaves the muzzle is largely irrelevant. How fast it is moving at impact is what matters. Yea, you can start a 90 gr bullet at 3600 fps from a 270. But at 200 yards a 105 gr 243 bullet is going faster. By the time you get to 400 yards the 243 is over 700 fps faster than the 90 gr 270 bullet.

Nothing at all wrong with 270. But it is at it's best with 130's @ 3100 fps or 150's @ 2950.

Nothing at all wrong with 243. With bullets designed for big game it is a proven round.
 
And a 130 will give 3200 FPS MV. A 24" barrel, sighted in about 1.75" high at 100, it'll drop about 30" at 500.
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Just for reference, a 243 loaded with 95gr Bergers will drop 29.8" at 500 with the same zero.
 
I don't shoot 130gr in my 270 but I do shot Berger 95gr in my 243 and 243AI. I just changed sight height using Berger data that I use for my 243 ballistic and I come up with 41.50" @ 500yds. Just for fun I ran ballistic using Berger 130gr in my 270 sight height 1.75" @ 100 and I was 34.71" @ 500yds and biggest difference is energy and that goes to 270.

The 270 @ 500yds (1760 ft-lbs) has same energy as 243 @ 100yds( 1705 ft-lbs).

I could build 243 to handle 115gr Berger VLD hunting bullets and it's not going to make lot of difference in energy maybe couple hundred ft-lbs is all.

I build 6x284 and 6BR with 1/8 twist barrels and 6x284/6BR with 1/14 twist barrels, but again I never didn't hunt with those rifle.
 
Photon, you are asking some very general and very basic questions. Not to be rude, but is there a point to all this?
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Im trying to find or come up with a round that is bigger than the .270 winchester and faster. The .30-06 is bigger but its slower. Im thinking if they made a lighter bullet it could be faster than the .270 winchester.
 
.257 Weatherby.




taylorce1 said:
If you want to shoot 90 grain bullets why choose a .270 Win?
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...Because 90 or 100 gr HPs in .270 Win are the most impressive "RED MIST" loads I have ever come across.

.270 Win pushing a 90 gr HP or 100 gr "bucket mouth" HP is so much more destructive on varmints that it's one of the few cartridges where I make an exception to my "use it the way it was designed" rule.

Absolutely devastating, impressive, and awesome.


I had a .220 Swift.
I have a .243 Win.
I have a 6x45mm.
I have multiple .223s.
And more...
I've pushed 60 gr XTPs to Mach 64 in .30 WCF...

An 'ultra-light' bullet in .270 Win blows them all away for "holy mother of ____"-factor, when it comes to vaporizing varmints.

It's a beautiful, unequaled experience.

My own preference is for the Speer 100 gr HP, but most of the 90s do very well, too.
 
We kids (all old now) bought Dad a Ruger Ultralight in 270 years ago. It replaced his old 308. I still remember when he called me to tell me about the coyote he had shot with it. He said there were coyote chunks all over the palmetto fronds. He was really happy with the rifle (light) and the caliber. Shot zillions of deer with it in the decades that followed.
 
Photon Guy said:
Im trying to find or come up with a round that is bigger than the .270 winchester and faster. The .30-06 is bigger but its slower. Im thinking if they made a lighter bullet it could be faster than the .270 winchester.
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Maximum muzzle velocity with light bullets is fleeting, I'll take a slower muzzle speed with a high BC bullet any day. I gain more downrange power, and better trajectory. I don't agree with Frankenmauser's reason, but I don't have to. If I want velocity I'll load a 55 grain bullet in my .243 to 4000 FPS, IME it offers plenty of red mist on prairie dogs.
 
.270 winchester

As far as a medium game killing cartridge, there's none probably as popular and as old as the .270 win.
Like others have said here, you can load it with light bullets and evaporate varmints, and load it with heavy bullets to take most of if not all of the North American game species.
I prefer bullet weights between 130 and 150 in my .270, and because I had mine built with a 1:9" twist, I'm going to have to try the 165 category also.
So far this rifle likes, ( and shoots well) four bullets in the 130 grn range, and more testing is ongoing with high bc 150's.
It also is super consistant with 140 grn weight bullets also, and the Partition has stood out so far with minimal testing at this point.
If I were to get a chance at a mule deer and elk combo hunt I would use, (with what data I have seen so far) the 150 grn Accubond Long Range bullet, I wouldn't be hesitant in that choice.
If I were to have a chance with an antelope hunt, then the 130 grn Btips and Partition loads would go.
For my deer hunting range here in Missouri, all the bullets and bullet weights I've tested would work wonderfully.

The .270 Winchester is a flat shooting, easy to find ammo for in a pinch, moderate recoiling delight...
 
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