270 Bee or 270 WSM

As the OP said, ammo is not an issue as he reloads. Duncan Idaho hit on a key point in his response, in that the 270 WSM shoots well with just about any load. I haven't even bothered to 'develop' a load for the BLR in 270 WSM, because it shoots everything I have tried to an 1.5" at 100 yards. Bullet choice is another matter and I only use Barnes TSX or TTSX in the 270 WSM. The aforementioned is based on the use of H-4831.
 
As a deer rifle, my choice would be the WSM... the weight differential is inconsequential, however there is no good reason to intentionally choose a heavier rifle if the lighter rifle fits well and feels good... the .270 WSM is a good cartridge, almost as good as the 7mm WSM.
 
has the 270's barrels been updated for twist and heavier bullets, if your not interested, no worries, but it's enjoyable to hit rocks way out there. The 6.5 rifles are more updated?
 
SuperCub said:
It's too bad no one seems to be interested in the classic 270Winchester any more, esp for deer hunting.

Not many better for that and a whole lot don't come close. Not much will be gained from either of the choices and at greater expense.
Click to expand...

My mainstay might be a 270WSM but I love the 270Win and have a couple of rifles in this chambering. I have taken quite a number of deer, elk, and moose with the 270Win. Honestly, I am very tempted to sell my Finnlight 270WSM and get the Finnlight in 270Win. The only reason I have not done so the crazy accuracy and velocity I get from my WSM.
 
As someone who recently bought a Bee (257) I thought I’d chime in here and share my thoughts.
It’s nice to carry a gun that’s really light. And an extra pound or two really becomes noticeable all too soon.
I bought a MkV lightweight and it’s really nice to carry but not so nice to shoot. And groups are affected by light weight. When I pull the trigger on my lightweight Bee, the thing literally leaps, comes alive. Best groups I can get are 1.5. I got this thing for shooting further than 100 yards, and at 1.5MOA, well, you do the math.
So I’m currently adding some weight to it. Just enough to get it to the weight of my fav hunting rifle, a 695Tikka in 25-06. And I’m hoping it will be much more manageable to shoot and more accurate as well.
 
Gatehouse said:
Frankly, if I was after a reasonably quick deer cartridge right now I would go with the 6.5 PRC. It gives up a tiny bit of energy to the 270 WSM but the 6.5 bullets will have a little less wind drift and the rifle will certainly have less recoil.
Click to expand...

but it wouldn't be a 270 :HR:
 
SuperCub said:
It's too bad no one seems to be interested in the classic 270Winchester any more, esp for deer hunting.

Not many better for that and a whole lot don't come close. Not much will be gained from either of the choices and at greater expense.
Click to expand...

I have a 270win chambered in a Kimber 84L MA. Its the only rifle I grab when going deer hunting. Having a slender rifle that weighs barely over 6lbs all up with the ballistics of a 270win is a good place to be imo.
 
SuperCub said:
It's too bad no one seems to be interested in the classic 270Winchester any more, esp for deer hunting.

Not many better for that and a whole lot don't come close. Not much will be gained from either of the choices and at greater expense.
Click to expand...

I agree with this completely; but I'm actually pretty old, so.......... So much fuss can be made over so little gain
 
SuperCub said:
It's too bad no one seems to be interested in the classic 270Winchester any more, esp for deer hunting.

Not many better for that and a whole lot don't come close. Not much will be gained from either of the choices and at greater expense.
Click to expand...

The .270 Win was main-stream America's first real look at high velocity in a big game cartridge. 25s didn't count. Because of that it was the first look for many at point blank ranges over 300 yards and the first lesson in "speed kills class". It sure didn't hurt that every .277 bullet was optimized for the 270s velocity range, and the quaint idea that the best bullet to kill one deer was one that could shoot through 3 of them hadn't reared its ugly head yet. Throw in that the recoil is light enough that anyone who actually wants to shoot one can shoot one. It was hard to go wrong.

I've had many 270s, used nothing else for years. Still got a couple fancy handled CRF M70s. Trouble is; I have many rifles that can out-270 a 270.;) Some of them share a bore size. It's hard to pluck a Win out of my own rack for my own hunts when there's a couple of 'Bees and a WSM standing there that can flat out do everything better at the cost of pennies more in powder. I can't be the only one who feels that way.
 
Go with the Bee, if you want more performance than the classic 270 winblaster, you might as well go all the way. I see Nosler has load data for a 160gr Partition at 3100 fps - i bet that would be quite a hammer on game.
 
I dont own either one but my ‘opinion’ (fwiw) is that the Weatherby round has been around for quite a while and will probably continue to be. Dont know about the WSM. I think the Weatherby actions are nice and apparently very strong. As well they seem to sell well when placed on the used market if that ever happens. Another factor is how well and reliably the rifle feeds, extracts and ejects. I havent heard of issues with Weatherby rifles. IIRC Sako used to chamber a rifle in a Weatherby calibre.... they usually dont chamber in ‘dogs’. I have nothing against ‘short fat magnums’ (have a 350RM) and I do also like the 270 and the 160 Nosler Partition is a terrific projectile. Its just my sense is that longer cartridges feed smoother.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom