Best all around rifle caliber advice

IMO the 3 most versatile cartridges are the 6.5-06, .270 win, and .280 rem. with the parent, the .30-06 following closely.
They can all pretty much do exactly what the 30-06 does but faster and flatter. The .308 cal has more bullet choices, but I find the 06' to be rather uninspiring. You generally need bullets 200grain+ to get high BC for long range, and with that amount of weight the 30-06 is a bit 'slow' compared to the 280 or .270 with heavy for caliber bullets.
The .270 has been proven capable of harvesting any game on the planet. So why would you want the extra projectile weight, extra recoil, and less flat trajectory of the 06' when the .270 can do it just fine? And the .270 is more forgiving, if your range estimation, is slightly off.
Also, I find the .270 to be better for varminting, with light weight bullets. You can load light bullets, up to and around 4000fps. These light bullets (80-90grains) generally can be fired at similar velocities to the .204 ruger, and 22-250, with bullets, that have similar Ballistic Coefficients. The only difference is the .270 is firing a projectile with roughly twice the mass as the .204 and .22-250
Just my opinion.
 
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I will repeat what I wrote on an earlier thread:

You overlooked the beloved .264 caliber. This would be the 260 Remington or 6.5 Creedmoor in short action, or the classic 6.5x55 Swede in long action. You also have the option in the long action of the 6.5x284 Norma or .264 Winchester Magnum. In the 140 to 160 grain bullet there are few calibers that can compare. They are long for caliber bullets with high BC (ballistic coefficient) and high SD (Sectional Density). Scandinavian's have been using the 6.5x55 SE with 160 grain bullets to kill European Moose (roughly the size of Roosevelt Elk) for decades.
 
Yes, I love the 6.5 series and have several myself but don't try to find ammo at the local Walmart. Ammo availability was one of his primary goals.
 
I've never heard of anyone taking a lion, hippo, cape buffalo or elephant with a .270. Does anyone have information to validate this statement?
I'm not trying to be contentious, just curious about caliber capabilities.
 
hodaka said:
Yes, I love the 6.5 series and have several myself but don't try to find ammo at the local Walmart. Ammo availability was one of his primary goals.
Click to expand...

I am surprised one cannot find 6.5x55 SE @ WalMart. I thought it would be universal enough to be stocked by them.
 
Jack O'Connor has been reported to take a number of big cats and large Aftrican game with his 270. I never heard of any Elephants but those bushman did some amazing stuff, so who knows?? Elk was considered a ideal game for the 270 with moose stretching it but not outside the 270 winchester's ability. 2 calibers he always took to Africa and India were the 375 H&H and his 270. Considering Roy Weatherby was a very good friend, he used the 300 Weatherby for a litle bit but admitted the same animals were just as dead when being shot by his 270. He also used the 30-06 and 7Rem Mag. Pretty much the same major calibers were available to JOC but he kept going back to the 270. ;). Shot placement was always preached by JOC.
In North America he is know he killed 8-9 Grizzly bears, several moose and dozens of Elk with his 270. Jack would eagerly say just about all the dozens of Elk he killed with his 270 dropped in their own shadow. I alway get a kick out of new hunters asking if the 270 is enough to kill elk. ;) I would love to see what he would do with the 270 with today's bonded bullets. JOC knew the capabilities of the 270 as well as many other calibers.

One very well reported experiment he did with Roy Weatherby was to take a 26" barrel of a 270 Weatherby Magnum and incrementally cut the barrel down to the traditional size of 20" of most 270 Winchester guns. The results yielded the same speed as the 270 Winchester. Roy laughed and reported to say..."Don't give away all my secrets"...

This book should be required reading for all serious Rifleman. It explains about every thing you want to know about most calibers and why things work the way they do.
42ffed6df6c4af7bcf7bb83ac307157a.jpg




I've never heard of anyone taking a lion, hippo, cape buffalo or elephant with a .270. Does anyone have information to validate this statement?
I'm not trying to be contentious, just curious about caliber capabilities.
Click to expand...
 
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6.5 Swede

in a modern action you can get 2-300 fps faster than factory loadings for those awesome 140 grain bullets if you handload.

The swede is superbly accurate, boasts mild recoil and their 130-140 grain bullets are deadly on medium to large game animals. The swedes hunt moose with them.
 
.308 Win, great in semi autos, bolt actions, and most game in N America. Not ideal for self defense but with proper ammo selection it could work.
 
While the 270 is a good caliber it would not be my choice either. All calibers listed here will do a 400 yard shot with ease. As written by JOC shot placement is the key.. With that in mind I would take the 243,308 or 260 way before the 270. I feel any of those 3 would be more accurate in the long run. Now the 25-06 is another flat shooting one to. All that put together with todays modern bullets,, any rifle listed here would do the job. Find the one that suits you the best,feels the best,and when you pick it up and hold it,,,They just kinda mush with you.
 
4runnerman said:
With that in mind I would take the 243,308 or 260 way before the 270. I feel any of those 3 would be more accurate in the long run.
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I'd disagree, those cartridges do have more bullet options available for the hand loader. However, for a non re-loader there will never be any noticeable difference in accuracy. There sure won't be much difference in recoil between a 130 grain .270 and a 150 grain .308.
 
that is true taylorce-- There are people out there that don't reload?.;) Now maybe we could talk 270 WSM. Now that would be sweet. Now,, Me never having hunted Moose or Elk can't really say. I have had a 30-06 and the me it was not worth the little extra you gain from it in speed. I know it shoots flatter and faster than say 308, but to me a 308 will drop any thing with ease and the 243,,well that is just fun to shoot. I hear people talking at the range about how bigger is better. I just laugh inside to myself at them. IMHO - The 270 is in the same class as the 06, just extra that you don't need for hunting in N. America.
Now thats just my opinion. Nothing at all wrong with those 2, just not for me.
 
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Really? Look at the bullet drop of the 270 against the 300 Win mag from Hornady over the counter ammo. Nearly identical out to 500 yards and way out performs the 30-06. There is no way a 308 can keep up to a 270 Win if the more powereful 30-06 can't. Remember the 270 was solely designed from its birth as a hunting round.
What other non magnum caliber is gonna run with the 270? Not even the 6.5 Creedmoor will match the 270. The 243 or 308 are not even close. Look at the energy of the 270 at 500 yards.


270ballisticnetchart.jpg


Here is a good article why the 270 is a great long range (1000 yard +) caliber platform.
http://www.longrangehunting.com/articles/270-win-long-range-shooting-1.php



Here is a standard Savage 270 taking a goat at 721 yards. That's a long poke for a sporting rifle.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-VBAInIDlG4
 
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When I need real results, I take my Sako 270 with me. The biggest thing I ever shoot is a big whitetail or a big pig, and I've had no failures that I can blame on the caliber. If I had the urge to shoot something significantly larger and tougher, I'd probably get a 30-06 or maybe a 30-06AI. And when I say 'larger and tougher', I'm not talking about a grizzly but more about a moose. Still, I think the 270 will do all I need on this continent.

But there really isn't a best all around rifle caliber for everyone. The best all around caliber for a woodchuck hunter isn't the same as the best for African game. Get a 270. You won't be sorry.
 
Again Mystro- I do not disagree with anything you have posted,Don't get me wrong. The 270 is a great one for sure. I just was saying that it is more than needed to do the job. Nothing wrong with using it at all. I just feel many more cartridges are just as good if not better for the job.in terms of recoil,cost,and accuracy. I got rid of my 06 because I found the 308 to be more to my liking in all 3 categories i stated. The 270 is all around more powerful and flatter shooting,only I never found those 2 issues to be a problem in the first place. I shoot my 308 out to 1000 yards with very good accuracy. Could i do that with a 270-- Yes I'm sure I could. I would never turn my nose on one if it was offered to me.:D With accuracy being my main goal,,I will stick with the 308 all the way.
 
Mystro,

As was pointed out in the other thread, you are comparing .270 Superformance to regular .30-06 and .300WM. Why don't you compare are apples to apples and show Superformance for all three?
 
Of course the a owner of what ever caliber is going to purchase the best performing load for his caliber. Do you want me to pick the worst to handicap it so it looks close?? Go pick whatever load you want and put it against the Hornady 270 Superformance 130 grain. The 30-06 with a 150 SST Superformance drops 38.40" at 500 yards and has 1366ftlbs in energy. Sill behind the 270 at 33.70" at 500 yards and 1414 ftlbs of energy.

The point is even with the other calibers in Superormance, the results are the same. The 30-06 regardless how you load it won't have as much energy and will have more bullet drop than the 270 at 500 yards. For long range shooting, the 270 Winchester has performance closer to the 300 Win Mag and always out performs the 30-06. JOC knew this by putting the 270 under a microscope and comparing it to other calibers performance. Better ballistic coefficient and bullet sectional density. That's why he favored the 270's performance. Factor in less recoil , superior ballistics, and ammunition availability and its a no brainer.

I did all this research as a die hard 300 Win Mag owner for 15 years. I started to read some of Jack O'Connors books and philosophies in calibers. It was easy to see the superiority of the 300 Win Mag over the 30-06 but when comparing it to the 270 Win, it was eye opening and gave me a reality check. Maybe JOC was right.;) Why was I carrying a Magnum for deer and black bear?? :rolleyes: It didn't take me long to figure out the 270 would give me the same longer range of shooting as my 300 Win Mag with ALOT less recoil, cheaper ammo, and smaller gun platform. It was a win, win.

Military cartridges always have had a following for one reason or another be it cheap surplus rifles or ammo that gives them more accessibility than purpose built hunting calibers. Its always been that way.
You can shoot what you want but when you dig a little and compare calibers specs, there is a hell of a argument why the 270 Winchester is as good as it is and why its been so popular for so long especially being a purpose built hunting caliber and not a military round.

The cool thing is with today's better bullets, the old tried an true calibers have had their potential raised so the 243,308,270,30-06 etc have only gotten better for hunting and have raised the question even more why you probably dont need to a "magnum" for hunting in North America.
 
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First off considering that Hornady has halted production of the Superformance rounds for the foreseeable future it is kind of pointless to compare it to anything. Second Hornady doesn't offer a 150 grain .30-06 load in Superformance it is a 165 grain SST load. The third thing is that after maximum point blank range (MPBR) every round is going to have to be shot using holdover or twisting the knobs on your scope.

So if we compare MPBR of the .270 SST it only gets your 36 more yards and 109 ft-lb when compared to your .30-06 standard load when shooting at a target with a 10" diameter. So after MPBR if you've worked out the dope properly on your chosen cartridge and you can read the wind correctly then there is no real world difference between the capabilities of the .30-06 and .270. As much as I like the .270 in reality it only offers a 20 yard advantage over a 150 out of a .30-06 in MPBR and lacks 10 ft-lb energy at the MPBR compared to the .30-06 when using standard ammunition of 3060 fps for the .270 Win.

Back when JOC hunted with the .270 Win most of the standard loads were 180 grains in the .30-06. When compared to a 180 grain load to the .270 130 grain load ballistics offer an advantage of MPBR that was enticing to a lot of hunters back then. Then they found up how much less recoil it offered vs. a 180 grain .30-06 and they fell in love with the cartridge.
 
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