My dad recently passed away so I inherited his guns etc. He owned among others, a 270 and a 30.06. He had several boxes of ammo with mixed 270 and 30.06 cartridges in them. I'm no stranger to handguns, but fairly new to rifles. I've done some searches online and found plenty of comparisons for trajectory, ballistics, etc. What I really need to know is... is this ammo interchangeable? I don't want to put the wrong cartridge in the wrong gun and have catostrophic results. Any help is appreciated.
Mixed boxes of 270 and 30.06 ammo.
- Thread starter dan4nier
- Start date
mrawesome22
New member
No, they are not interchangable.
A rifle chambered in 270Win takes a 270Win shell and a rifle chambered in 30-06Springfield takes a 30-06Springfield shell.
Same goes with your handguns. Good luck and be careful.
A rifle chambered in 270Win takes a 270Win shell and a rifle chambered in 30-06Springfield takes a 30-06Springfield shell.
Same goes with your handguns. Good luck and be careful.
Look at the headstamp or base of the cartridge case to help identify the cartridge. However, be aware that caliber cases may be resized for a different caliber. Are these cartridges reloads or factory new? If they are reloads, who did them? If your dad did them, was his mental ability impaired at any time (stroke or poorer memory from old age)?
The .30-06 and the .270 have virtually identical case dimensions, except for the bullet. If your eyes are good, you can compare the two side by side and see the difference.
If not, use a caliper (or micrometer) to measure the bullet at the case mouth. .270 is approx .277" and .30-06 is approx .308".
Reloaders have, for many decades used 06 brass to make .270s, and vice versa. Going by the case headstamp alone is not enough except for ammo you know for certain is factory made.
Back in my younger days, when every case was worth its weight in gold, I made .308WIN cases from .270 brass (which required a bit of work), but they worked fine, and I still have a few.
Measure the bullet diameters, then you will know for sure.
If not, use a caliper (or micrometer) to measure the bullet at the case mouth. .270 is approx .277" and .30-06 is approx .308".
Reloaders have, for many decades used 06 brass to make .270s, and vice versa. Going by the case headstamp alone is not enough except for ammo you know for certain is factory made.
Back in my younger days, when every case was worth its weight in gold, I made .308WIN cases from .270 brass (which required a bit of work), but they worked fine, and I still have a few.
Measure the bullet diameters, then you will know for sure.
They are reloads with no history attached. I suggest that you get rid of them, not shoot them. Start fresh with new brass.
A lot of people are obviously going to disagree. The thing is, you don't know how many loads have run throguh them, what rifle, or even if they are safe to use in that one. It could be that they are crap handloads that he inherited from someone else, and just stuck them into a cabinet and forgot.
A lot of people are obviously going to disagree. The thing is, you don't know how many loads have run throguh them, what rifle, or even if they are safe to use in that one. It could be that they are crap handloads that he inherited from someone else, and just stuck them into a cabinet and forgot.
jimmythegeek
New member
briang+ - just like leftovers
When I find something in the back of the fridge and I'm not sure about it, I go through the "best case/worst case" comparison. Best case: don't have to make any food, I can just eat this. Worst case: sick like a dog for 1 or more days.
With "several" boxes, that's what, $90 max if you compare them to retail? Maybe $50 if you compare with reload costs? Unless they are really big boxes...I think the potential downside outweighs any upside.
I'm a newb, going to reload but haven't yet, so I have no experience. On the forums, seems all the reloaders are very leery of mystery reloads.
When I find something in the back of the fridge and I'm not sure about it, I go through the "best case/worst case" comparison. Best case: don't have to make any food, I can just eat this. Worst case: sick like a dog for 1 or more days.
With "several" boxes, that's what, $90 max if you compare them to retail? Maybe $50 if you compare with reload costs? Unless they are really big boxes...I think the potential downside outweighs any upside.
I'm a newb, going to reload but haven't yet, so I have no experience. On the forums, seems all the reloaders are very leery of mystery reloads.
mrawesome22
New member
This.
And if you can't read calipers, or don't have any, try and chamber them in the 270Win. A 30-06Springfield won't chamber in a 270Win. 270Win will however chamber in a 30-06 gun.
Hell, maybe they are 25-06Rem just to add to the confusion lol.
Both 270Win and 25-06Rem are just a 30-06Springfield case necked down to .277" and .257" bullet diameters.
If it were me, I'd dig a hole, chuck 'em in, fill hole back in. My face and hands are too valuable to be shooting reloads that may have been filled with 70 grains of Bullseye by someone who had no clue what they were doing.
If you don't trust the headstamp, you can always stick the bullet-end of the unfired cartridges into the barrels of the rifles. The .270s *should* be swallowed by the 30 caliber 30-06 diameter up to the brass. The 30-06 bullets should not go all the way into the 30 caliber barrel (unless it's completely worn out).
Or just ditch 'em all and buy new....
Or just ditch 'em all and buy new....
The 30-06 brass is the parent to many cartridges. The 270,280, 25-06, 35 Whelen, 338-06 and a couple of others are simply 30-06 cases where the neck is basically resized to .27, .28, .25, .35, .or .33 caliber. It is easy to take 30-06 brass and resize it to these cartridges. I own a 338-06 and make my brass from 30-06 brass. They are .338 cal, but will have 30-06 stamped on them. It is quite possible someone used 30-06 brass to make 270 cartridges at one time. Or 270 brass to make 30-06 cartridges.
Either way, I don't trust unknown handlaods. I'd toss them and start with cartridges of known quality.
Either way, I don't trust unknown handlaods. I'd toss them and start with cartridges of known quality.
chris in va
New member
I wouldn't even bother chambering them. Just stick the bullet in the muzzle.
I've resized dozens of 270's for my Garand, just have to do a bit of extra trimming.
I've resized dozens of 270's for my Garand, just have to do a bit of extra trimming.
warbirdlover
New member
It's a short life. Get rid of them. You don't know how many times those cases have been fired. How well they were re-sized and on and on. I would never fire reloads someone else made and that's what you would be doing.
FWIW, 30-06 is not the parent case for the 270 Winchester. That honor belongs the the 30-03 case. Winchester was kind of weird that way, always wanting to be different, similar reason the .270 uses a .277" bullet instead of using the available .284" 7mm bullets. The 30-03 is also the parent case for the 30-06, in case you were wondering. And no, they are not the same.
Technically correct, but splitting hairs in my opinion. The 30-03 only existed as an experimental platform to develop what eventually became the 30-06. Only a handful of 30-03 rifles were ever chambered before the military made a last minute decision to drop the 220 gr bullet in favor of a 150 gr bullet.
They made some very, very, minor changes to the 30-03 case to better work with the 150 gr bullet resulting in the 30-06. The changes were in fact so minor that existing 30-03 rifles could shoot both 30-03 and 30-06 ammo interchangeably. It was not safe however to shoot the 30-03 ammo in the 30-06 rifles.
They made some very, very, minor changes to the 30-03 case to better work with the 150 gr bullet resulting in the 30-06. The changes were in fact so minor that existing 30-03 rifles could shoot both 30-03 and 30-06 ammo interchangeably. It was not safe however to shoot the 30-03 ammo in the 30-06 rifles.