I grew up with the disdain for the .270 than any youngster would acquire after reading reading reams of what Elmer Keith had to say on the subject. Its only in the last 15 years or so that I've come around to appreciate this cartridge. Thinking back to it now, its funny how I thought so poorly of the .270 but so highly of the 7mms. Yet 7mm does not measure .284", rather it measures .27559" making the .277" bullet closer to the measurement of a true 7mm.
Just before my epiphany, I owned a butt ugly sporterized .30/06 M-17 Enfield (which happened to be made by Remington) and a 700 Remington in .270. The 700 should have shot circles around the old war horse, but it wouldn't, not even close. But that didn't matter, what mattered was that the '06 was a lucky rifle for me but that particular 700 wasn't, which further ingrained my distaste for the .270 cartridge, to say nothing of a miss on a caribou at 70 yards! Now that couldn't have been my fault now could it.
Some time later I acquired a mystery Mauser with A Herters stock and a light contour 22" .270 barrel. My eyes were opened. This thing would shoot! The stock fit me as if it had come from a high end custom rifle maker. Although the barrel's lineage was unknown to me, there's no doubt as to what it would do. I liked the look of the plain stock and the clean lines, and I killed a bunch of stuff with it.
About that time I met Crazy_Davey in Calgary, who mentioned that his Dad worked as a big game guide and carried a .270. I was reminded of Hosea Sarber, one of Alaska's premier game wardens, and brown bear guides from a couple of generations ago, he too carried a .270. That Mauser should have been my favorite rifle, but by then I was smitten with the .375 Ultra, and when a fellow at work found himself unarmed, in a moment of weakness I sold him that Mauser, a scope, and some loading gear at a price which should brand me as a sucker for the rest of my life; thus the .30/06 remains my favorite.
When my son came up here I started looking for a rifle for him to pack around, and naturally wanted a .30/06 which I have oodles of ammo for. The hiccup is that this guy is a south paw, and backwards rifles aren't that common when you get down to searching one out. As it turned out, I found a deal on an "As New" LH Ruger Hawkeye topped with a 3.5-10X40 Leupold, at a price I couldn't pass up, in you guessed it, .270 Winchester.
Today's selection of .277 bullets is phenomenal, and the premium bullets pretty much dismiss Elmer's biggest complaint about the .270, that bullets of his day couldn't be counted to hold together at impact velocities of 3000 fps. That and his apparent dislike for O'Conner didn't help, unless you made a living selling gun magazines. This leads to the disappointment I had with my boy's .270. I bought some .277/180 Woodleighs expecting great things from them, but they wouldn't stabilize in the standard Ruger twist. Its too bad, but with his supply of 140 gr TSXs and 160 gr Partitions, he's pretty well armed.
