.270 for a sniper?

ndb86

ndb86

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So I see everyone and their dog has a remington 700.. well i don't like being like other peoples dog and i want to get a browning blr in .270 for hunting. I WILL get it either way, but i'm wonding would it make a very good "sniper" rifle? will i be able to get as good of groups with a lever as i could with a bolt? AM I better off souping up my OLD savage 110 in .30.06 for my "sniping" needs?

at the moment i don't do any competitions but i'm hoping that as my funds increase i'll be able to. Is a .270 a flat enough shooter? I dont' really know much of the ballistics on it. hunting i won't see much over 200 yards, but in practice at the range i will see 400meters most of the time.

I also hat emessing with a scope. I figure i'll get a multi reticle of some sort and sight it for 150 yards and use the other reticles for the other distances... hopefully. anyways i'd appreciate you guy's advice.

Oh and the reason i want a .270 is that i always hunt with my old man and he uses a .270. I'd love to use the same as him, simplify things. I could wait until he dies to take his old huskavarna but that will be a long time from now (hopefully) so until then i must wait.


BLR
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Re The 270 I once saw an article in rifle magazine called the 1/4 mile rifle it may have been Bob Hagel or some other firearm hand loader the point of the article was to find the flattest shooting cartridge out to 440yds. He tested the most popular calibers 300 win Mag. 7mm rem mag 30-06 ,308win and possibly some others I can;t remember at this time all calibers were hand loaded to extract there potential and sighted in to shoot 3'' high at 100yds results were as follows the flattest shooting cartridge was the 270 win the most accurate was the 308 win. very interesting results . this article may be found on google not sure but I will try and find it .
 
struff55 said:
Re The 270 I once saw an article in rifle magazine called the 1/4 mile rifle it may have been Bob Hagel or some other firearm hand loader the point of the article was to find the flattest shooting cartridge out to 440yds. He tested the most popular calibers 300 win Mag. 7mm rem mag 30-06 ,308win and possibly some others I can;t remember at this time all calibers were hand loaded to extract there potential and sighted in to shoot 3'' high at 100yds results were as follows the flattest shooting cartridge was the 270 win the most accurate was the 308 win. very interesting results . this article may be found on google not sure but I will try and find it .
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hmm i'd be interested in reading that. i'd love to be able to punch 1 hole groups and to be honest i don;t have to have a .270 but i was waiting to buy a .308 until after i bought an aia and an m14... hmm. like i say i want the lever gun simply becasue i don;t have one yet and becasue my dad uses 270 i want a 270.
 
I have not heard about anybody shooting long range precision with 270 or lever actions. Check bullet manufacturers web sites (Lapua, Nosler, Hornady) to see what they offer in terms of match type bullets. I think you will find limited options for 270 bullets but I could be wrong.

Typical LRP rifles are short action (308 length) bolts. Bolt actions have many advantages in terms of tuning, caming tightly resized cases,etc. Also, a lever is more difficult to operate from prone. This is one of the reasons levers were never adopted for military use on a large scale (compared to bolt actions and semi's)

As far as hunting with a 270 Husky, why wait? Check out Tradex. They have lots of used Huskys and some may be in 270.
 
A .270 shoots flatter than a .308, in fact it is one of the flattest shooting rounds we have, without going to an overbore (WSM, Ultramag, Weatherby) type cartridge. If you are shooting on a range at a known distance at targets of a known size, this is of little concern provided your sight has enough elevation adjustment to compensate for the trajectory of your bullet. In a hunting situation where it can be difficult to estimate range within 50 yards, a flat trajectory is a confidence builder, although all modern bottle neck cartridges shoot flat to their zero range.

The BLR has a reputation for good field accuracy, but whether this translates to impressive paper groups I can't say. The exposed hammer will not have as fast a lock time as a modern bolt action, and some believe this matters, but if you practice follow through the difference should be mostly theoretical. I would say the BLR's greatest attribute is that it is a handy, nice to carry rifle. If you find this to be true, and the rifle turns out to be a shooter, you have a winner.

The one caution I will bring to your attention is not to over-scope the rifle. The only reason I bring this up is that you seem to be intrigued with long range shooting. While there is nothing wrong with a dedicated long range rifle, I doubt that a BLR is it, and too much scope makes an otherwise quick handling rifle slow to use at close range, and physically large scopes, particularly the affordable ones, are more delicate than smaller scopes. Don't buy more scope than you need to see your target, and don't disregard the need for short range performance if you intend to hunt with this thing. A big game scope seldom needs more than 6X at the top end and 1.5X-2X is appropriate for shooting at close range.
 
I have not heard about anybody shooting long range precision with 270 or lever actions.
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Me neither,the 270 is not at all popular as a long range precision cartridge,one reason being the lack of really good long range .277" bullets.As far as lever actions go,the actions are not as rigid,and the triggers are not as good as a bolt action for long range precision.
 
stubblejumper said:
Me neither,the 270 is not at all popular as a long range precision cartridge,one reason being the lack of really good long range .277" bullets.As far as lever actions go,the actions are not as rigid,and the triggers are not as good as a bolt action for long range precision.
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This is the key. I have a .270 with a Shilen barrel and Timney trigger that is a tack driver. I asked Mystic Precision why these aren't more popular for competition and he said it was all about the bullets. If anyone does end up making good precision ammo for a .270 there will definitely be a lot of championships won with .270s.
 
Agreed. It's hard to find distance match ammunition for the humble .270. That said, my Tikka M695 is a fantastically accurate and flat shooter, but I've yet to wring it out at any significant distance - the local range only runs out to 200 yards.

Peter
 
If anyone does end up making good precision ammo for a .270 there will definitely be a lot of championships won with .270s.
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Possibly with some cartridge using .277" bullets,but not likely with the 270win.The most successful target cartridges are built on shorter cases,not on long narrow cases.
 
Sniping rifles are invariably military cartridges, since the only real snipers are military snipers. .270 is not now and never has been a military round - hence no 'sniping' rilfe has been made from a .270 anything, let alone a springy mechanism lever-action. Sure, there ARE lever-action .308Win - the Winchester Model 88 comes to mind, but how many of THEM have you seen on the F-Class gun line, or on any other long target range?

Wannabe's can call anything they like a 'sniping rifle' but wearing the hat with 'captain' on it does not make you any kind of a captain, except in your own mind.

A police marksman can call himself a 'counter-sniper' since invariably any POS out there shooting at the civilian population gets called a 'sniper'.

M/Cpl Rob Furlong was a sniper - so is/was anybody else who has done the course and walked the walk, else you're a Walt.

tac
 
270 is a good long range hunting cartridge. BLR is as accurate as most out of the box bolt actions. Should be a good hunting rig.

Most of the advice you're gonna get on here will be from armchair experts who have never used a BLR, or a .270.

Regardless of the expert advice, a .308 is no more accurate in a hunting rifle than most other cartridges, and the .270 is better for longer shooting. If you like a lever then the BLR is modern and accurate and a .270 is a great hunting cartridge as you already know. Go for it.
 
I think Berger bullets makes a 155ish grain match bullet...I have seen the 270 perform very well at long ranges(out past 1000) with just quality hunting bullets.

I am glad I am not the only person that has thought to break the mould abit and try something out of the norm.....I have thought of a Tika in a 270 varmint contour..but I can not figure if the twist rate is ideal for heaver bullets....since no one really shoots a 270 in compititions (or at least for a very long time) not much info for that kind of stuff.

:cheers:
 
270 is a good long range hunting cartridge. BLR is as accurate as most out of the box bolt actions. Should be a good hunting rig.

Most of the advice you're gonna get on here will be from armchair experts who have never used a BLR, or a .270.

Regardless of the expert advice, a .308 is no more accurate in a hunting rifle than most other cartridges, and the .270 is better for longer shooting. If you like a lever then the BLR is modern and accurate and a .270 is a great hunting cartridge as you already know. Go for it.
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The original poster was the one that introduced,the "sniper" word to this thread.As such,the 270BLR is being discussed as a "sniper"rifle.The BLR will never be accepted as a "sniper" rifle,and the 270win,has never been accepted as a "sniper" cartridge.

As far as accuracy goes,there are reasons that the BLR is not used in any type of benchrest or long range target competition,the same applies to the 270 win.

A BLR in 270win is certainly a decent hunting rifle,but this is the "precision rifle forum",and the BLR in 270win is not considered a "precision rifle",by the vast majority of shooters.
 
Just about any of the big game cartridges, matched with a decent bullet and talented gunsmith can be made to shoot accurately. However as noted by others, calling it a sniper rifle...does not make in suitable, nor accurate.

Maybe the question should have been presented a bit different like.....what is the best precision I can glean out of my 270 BLR lever?

Maybe if you paint it black, slap some rails on it and attach a light/laser combo, you can call it a tactical sniper BLR! Just kidding....err not really.
 
B said:
Somewhere out there someone has done this.
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I admit it was me... ll


No But seriousely thanks for your advise to all. By sniper i merealy meant distances 400 meteres and farther. my range only goes to 400 so i have no idea how well those cartrigaes can perform past that... as i said in my origional post nomatter what you guys say i'm getting that BLR. She is beautiful rifle and i have no doubt she will be a great hunter. I'm not a fan of single use guns so i was hoping to make it into a precision rilfe as well..

I'm not looking for 1 hole groups at a mile just an inch or so at 400 yards.

I was just wondering if anyone had expereince with .270s or levers in this area and it seems as not many have. So guess what? I'll be one of the first and I'll let ya knwo how it goes! Again thanks guys I kinda thought i'd get flammed pretty back but it was kept to a dull roar.
 
i have made the same terminology mistakes when i first joined the board, but what you have to consider, is that somewhere, sometime, there will be an article in a newspaper saying, "see this is why we need stricter gun control... on this site, they talked about "this subject", and this fellow was looking for an ,,,,, rifle.
its those kind of BUZZ words that fuel anti gun people. but you post and learn. everyday =)
 
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