Experience with .270 WSM (Elk, Deer, Hog)?

P

Para Bellum

New member
Hi Folks,

I am getting more and more interested in the .270 WSM. On the paper it seems to be a perfect cartridge (for 7mm people like me). Short barrel (60cm/23,6"), great performance, flat trajectory, moderate recoil, high energy, good bc...

Do you folks have any real life experiences with the .270 WinMag?
 
I'm with Art as far as only using the plain .270 Win. As far as I'm concerned you can never get too much of a good thing. At a minimum if you are going after anything as large as elk use 130 grain premium bullet. I like 150 grain bullets for a one bullet does all in the .270 Win.

I've got 4 cow elk with the .270 and 150 grain Nosler Partition longest shot being 250 yards. I've since retired the rifle from elk hunting as I now have larger calibers to hunt with. I've used the 130 grain bullet to take deer and smaller out to distances I probably wouldn't have tried with any of my other rifle. The .270 in any configuration is a pretty hard caliber to beat.
 
Para,
From what I have discerned, this is a hard caliber configuration to handload for. Factory bullets seem to be okay but the hand loaders I know have struggled big time w/ it. In fact, one of them gave up\ and sold a perfectly good Tikka rifle over it.
elkman06
 
Specifics, please.

"...a hard caliber configuration to reload...handloaders have struggled...", etc.

Exactly what aspect of the 270 WSM is hard to reload, caused reloaders to struggle?

Hard to achieve factory velocities? Hard to get decent accuracy? What?

I would like to know because I own one, and I have purchased reloading dies for it, but have not yet attempted to reload it. The only bullets I have purchased with reloading in mind are 130 grain Hornady Interlocks. I intend to just use them to "get some trigger time" with the rifle - it is new, and putting 100 rounds through it should be a good "break in" process, I would think - and get me accustomed to how the trigger feels, etc.

Using factory 130 grain loads I have had excellent results with small Texas deer (2 does, 1 buck, all @ less than 100 yards).

I am planning on hunting cow elk in Colorado with it this fall, using factory premium bullets.

I might want to handload some 150 grain Barns Triple Shocks, or maybe some 150 grain Nosler Partitions - so what is the nature of the problem(s) I should expect to encounter if/when I attempt to do so?
 
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My hunting buddy grabs his 270 WSM most of the time for hunting, while his other rifles spend time in his safe. He uses it much more than his other 270s or any of the .30 calibers.

His 270 WSM is a Tikka Hunter and he reloads using Nosler Accubonds and RL-19. Accuracy, velocity, and performance have been outstanding. I also reload for 2 WSMs and haven't had any problems or struggled with reloading.
 
From what I have discerned, this is a hard caliber configuration to handload for.
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I don't reload, and I don't consider starting to.

If you are a 7mm person why didn't you go for the 7mmWSM? I love mine.
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Because, as far as I understand, the .270 WSM is a tiny bit better/stronger? Please convince me of the opposite if I'm wrong...
 
7mm WSM / .270 WSM

...now I know why I favor the .270 WSM. The 7mm WSN is not a 7mm (.270) but a 7,2mm (2.84) diameter bullet. So not a 7mm in my sense (like my 7x57)...
 
I don't see a thing wrong with any of the WSMs. They have a tad more velocity than the standard critters, so you have a bit longer effective range--if you are a good enough rifleman to use it.

For all practical use as a big-game hunting rifle, you'll never burn out a barrel, so that issue is irrelevant. The cost of ammo isn't all that important, given how relatively little "pleasure shooting" is commonly done with a primary hunting rifle.
 
.270 Wsm?

Well, I owned a .270 WSM (Tikka T3 Hunterl) for one hunting season two years ago. It wasn't much different than my regular .270 (T/C Encore).
I took three deer with the WSM and two of the three ran a good distance after pretty good hits for some reason. Of course, I have had this happen with my standard .270 now and then too.

Bottom line: The WSM is a good caliber (especially at longer distances than I normally hunt, (tops is around 250 yards here at my hunting lease here in the South).

I do think that the extra pop or recoil of the .270 WSM, cost of ammo for this caliber, availablity in some areas, etc. really isn't worth the extra expense to me and I ended up trading it towards a 1911 pistol. The regular .270 can take just about any game in North America and it too is a super accurate caliber (130 -150 grain bullets).
 
I've never shot a WSM, but I have owned 3 standard length 7mm Mags. Using factory ammo, the recoil will be substantially more in a smaller, lighter rifle. I also haven't seen any data for the SM pushing a 150 Nosler much faster than 3050. My current 7mm RM pushes a 150 to 3200 over my chrono.

Marketing - pure and simple.
 
.270 WSM or 7mm WSM?

...now I know why I favor the .270 WSM. The 7mm WSN is not a 7mm (.270) but a 7,2mm (2.84) diameter bullet. So not a 7mm in my sense (like my 7x57)...
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I have to correct myself. The 7x57 is a 7,2mm bullet. The 7mm WSM has the same bullet diameter (7,2mm). The .270 WSM has "only" a 7.0mm bullet. Still like the .270mm more than the 7mm WSM because it performs (slightly) better. Or am I wrong here again? :confused:
 
I am a .30 cal fan but I won't knock the effectiveness of the .270 family. I currently own a .300WSM, and, while it is a very good shooter I think I am closer in line to skydiver's way of thinking. The WSM's are fine but have trade offs as he mentioned.

One of the pros is that they don't have to be built on a long action. Some companies (I think Tikka) use the same action regardless of the case length so you don't save anything in weight for example. Availability of ammo, especially if you don't roll your own, is of critical importance to me.

I went to a gun show before Christmas and some guy had a closeout on factory ammo. He was selling stuff like .30-06 180grain accubond for $20 flat per box. The local shops all had it for around $43 a box before tax. I ended up taking the money I had brought for a new gun and bought 800 rounds of '06.

Now, due to my large stash of good ammo, I prefer my '06. If he had .300WSM, I would have probably gone that route or split it down the middle.

IMO If you have lots of other guns and want to try something new, go ahead. If you are a one or two gun guy, worried about ammo, etc. I'd probably stick with regular .270.
 
Real life experience with the 270 WSM? Yes ...Plenty. I had enough rifles until my daughter bought her 270 WSM. It's a Win Model70 classic stainless. I helped her load the first rounds and then sight it in. I was really impressed with how it handled the 130 gr loads. Very fast flat and seemingly low recoil. Kills mule deer like a bolt of lightning.
A couple years later I bought mine. Also a Winchester but a classic ultimate shadow. It's a custom shop rifle and in hunting trim is just 7 lbs. (incidently my buddy Vinnie has a Kimber Montana that is half a pound lighter). All my loads for this have been 150 gr bullets, starting with Nosler Partitions and currently Hornady Interbonds. Its very accurate with these loads and tends to like the Max loads. I started out to duplicate the velocity of a Federal Fusion 150Gr. They advertise 3085 fps. Using 70 gr of Hodgdons Retumbo behind a 150gr hornady I chrono 3125 fps. I have since backed this load down to 69 grains and to date the rifle will shoot .750 groups off of sandbags. (worse if I drink a pepsi first...go figure) Recoil is fierce and shooting this rifle off the bench takes a lot of concentration. (Vinnie's Montana is much better...the stock I think). Hunting though it carries and handles and shoots like a dream. Spot on accuracy, I am using a Burris ballistic plex and the hanging crosshairs seem to be made for this rifle.
Bullet performance on deer is spectacular. On Elk I am still looking for that right bullet. I think that the Hornady Interbond will be the one as it will open a bit more than a partition yet retains most of the weight. The partition bullets seem to skip right through the animal and I have yet to have them knock an elk off it's feet. One Cow elk the 150 partition traversed the length of her body from front to back and I recovered the bullet just ahead of her off side hip. Yet that elk gave no indication whatsoever that I had even hit her. (about a 100 yard shot) 50 yards later just fell over dead. I have also considered the Barnes TSX and the new Hornady GMX in 130 gr. They would have much better recoil.

To sum up, I love my 270 WSM Almost as much as my .243.:D:D

Ken
 
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