270 win vs. 270 wsm

PrairiedogKnives said:
Considering one of these cartridges for a light(er) weight stalking/mountain rifle. Looking at the numbers it seems, much like the 308 vs 30-06 debate, the only difference is a couple hundred fps. Anyone have experience on the short mag? Is the difference noticeable over the Winchester?
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Ran 270 and 270 wsm for my mountain stuff primarily. Good bullets between em I remember wsm added a couple hundred yards. Started win then up to wsm then back to win. Both go plenty far enough. The wsm gets snappy in 7 lb all up rifles, let’s you go short action though. Loved em both and both shot and killed well. I wouldn’t buy another wsm doing it over though. I ran Tikka, Sako a7 and then blaser k95.
 
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I have an old Husky .270 win. It's a decent gun for it's age but really falls flat with cartridges over 130grn. IMO. So I purchased a .270 WSM some time ago now, for the benefit of speed and weight of bullet. It's a tack driver with 150grn Nosler ABLR's. I have become concerned with current governments possibly following California on the no lead hunting bullets so I made a purchase last boxing day and got a high twist 6.8 western. It likes the 165 ABLR's but loves the 162 copper impacts. I am working up a load with Hammer 160grn HHT's for it and am very impressed with the velocity and accuracy I'm getting.
They are all good. You need to base your choice more on distance your willing to shoot to and size of game your taking. And of course, budget. It's a great caliber. Cheers
 
Well was at range and I was listening to a guy who picked up a wsm 270 …holy Hanna try to find brass and ammo ..jumping hard …guy out in bc wants $130 for brass …hell no!when Winchester brass is 59.99…makes me wonder…is it worth it …270 win is capable of 400 and 500 meter kills ….I remember when I was a kid the Greek guy in our moose hunting group had a 270 …he whacked more moose and deer with that than everyone else …i remember him saying in a strong Greek accent if far…I aim at the top of shoulder …I remember I’d hear 2-3 shots and we knew moose was down
If one reloads you could tweet a load …but depends on the person ..
 
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Well they came out with the 270wsm along with all the wsm about 20-25 yrs ago. Really the only commercial success was the 300wsm. The Weatherby has been around about 70+yrs, an original Roy caliber. Less than 10 yrs for the 6.8 western, the Creedmoor treatment to the 270wsm. Seems the 6.8 fell victim to an over saturation of new cartridges, the plandemic, resistance from other companies, and poor marketing.

Through it all, the 270 win remains. Probably not the best, but still standing. If I was wanting a rifle close to .277, and wanted a new high twist, match bore choice, that looks to survive? Perhaps the 6.5 or 7 prc.
 
PrairiedogKnives said:
Considering one of these cartridges for a light(er) weight stalking/mountain rifle. Looking at the numbers it seems, much like the 308 vs 30-06 debate, the only difference is a couple hundred fps. Anyone have experience on the short mag? Is the difference noticeable over the Winchester?
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The 270wsm has some slight advantages, but none of them outweigh the additional cost and limited availability of ammo and reloading components.

If you need heavier bullets than the 270win offers, then why not just get a 30-06 or 308? Ammo is cheaper and availabe everywhere, and the animal won't mind one bit.

That said, a quality 130gr bullet travelling 3000 fps should be able to knock down just about anything with hooves without issue.

Just my 2 cents, but I truly believe that 3/4 of the chamberings available these days are no more than marketing gimmicks.
 
I never had any interest in any of the short mags..

I would go with a .270 Winchester... a long proven cartridge.
 
I've had a pile of 270 Wins, for a kid growing up on JOC it was pretty much gonna go that way. Can't complain too much about them.

As for what a 270 WSM can do that a Win can't, mine can do 3400 fps with 130s with published loads of old style IMR7828. It gives my 270 Weatherbys a real run for their money.

My 270 Wins can't get within a mile of that.
 
A few points here.

1. Feeding problems. Has anyone had feeding problems with the short and sharply-shouldered (35°) .270 WSM? This has been suggested as an issue in some articles I've read. The longer and more sloping .270 Win. case will always feed and chamber reliably.

2. Magazine capacity. Most .270 Win. rifles carry 4 or 5 cartridges in their magazine. The .270 WSMs I've read about can carry only 3 with the much fatter case. To me this isn't much of an issue at all, but to some it might be.

3. With some of the newer double-based high-performance powders (like Alliant Re26), 3200 fps is easily attainable with a 130-gr. bullet in the .270 Win. having a 24" barrel, and 3000 fps with the 150-gr. bullet, all with safe pressures of around 60,000 psi. This level of performance reduces the usually-reported velocity/trajectory differences a little between the two cartridges.
 
270-win-270-WSM-ammo.jpg


Are these those things I see at cabellas for $99 a box?
 
South Pender said:
A few points here.

1. Feeding problems. Has anyone had feeding problems with the short and sharply-shouldered (35°) .270 WSM? This has been suggested as an issue in some articles I've read. The longer and more sloping .270 Win. case will always feed and chamber reliably.

2. Magazine capacity. Most .270 Win. rifles carry 4 or 5 cartridges in their magazine. The .270 WSMs I've read about can carry only 3 with the much fatter case. To me this isn't much of an issue at all, but to some it might be.

3. With some of the newer double-based high-performance powders (like Alliant Re26), 3200 fps is easily attainable with a 130-gr. bullet in the .270 Win. having a 24" barrel, and 3000 fps with the 150-gr. bullet, all with safe pressures of around 60,000 psi. This level of performance reduces the usually-reported velocity/trajectory differences a little between the two cartridges.
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Never had any issues with any of my .270's chambering/feeding. I suspect that feed issues are more related to the particular firearm, magazine type or cartridge imperfections. I recently had to return three different boxes of 6.8W Winchester ammo for serious imperfections. They are having problems supplying these days so quality control has gone out the window. If there was a geometry issue with the case design Browning never would have chambered the BAR in all the WSM cartridges.
On another note. If you know where anyone in North America can find RL26 please pass it on. It's Pixie dust now. Poof, it's all gone lol.
As far as bullet weights and speeds go. The speeds become restricted to the barrel twist in most cases and bullet type.
My current load for my 26" Xbolt WSM is 150grn ABLR's over Magpro at 3120fps. I can push to around 3300 plus, but don't have the twist for down range or they just don't like going that fast. My older 270win can't compare. The heaviest it likes that I know of are 140grn Accubonds and are only hitting 2900 with any grouping. That said they are very different guns. Kinda like an old station wagon compared to a Forerunner or Xterra. I don't know what type of vehicle the Weatherby mag represents as I've never shot one. Good points. Cheers
 
270WSMXBolt said:
I have an old Husky .270 win. It's a decent gun for it's age but really falls flat with cartridges over 130grn. IMO. So I purchased a .270 WSM some time ago now, for the benefit of speed and weight of bullet. It's a tack driver with 150grn Nosler ABLR's. I have become concerned with current governments possibly following California on the no lead hunting bullets so I made a purchase last boxing day and got a high twist 6.8 western. It likes the 165 ABLR's but loves the 162 copper impacts. I am working up a load with Hammer 160grn HHT's for it and am very impressed with the velocity and accuracy I'm getting.
They are all good. You need to base your choice more on distance your willing to shoot to and size of game your taking. And of course, budget. It's a great caliber. Cheers
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I sold off the last of my 270 Wins before Covid just a a matter of housecleaning when I was moving south. I later picked up an XPR in 6.8 in a demo rifle when it just a new release and it has been a better rifle that I figured. I broke it in with Win 162 Gr Copper Impact as that was one of the only two offerings available at the time. The rifle seemed to like that bullet. I have since heard similar from XPR owners, less so from Browning owners. I bought the rifle with intention of reloading and my rifle seems to love 170 Berger EOLs and N570. I load with Barnes LRX 155 for Elk and Black bear and 129 grs for deer.
That being said, the 270 Winchester for most folks will easily serve their purpose and they have to option of easily finding quality, affordable and plentiful ammo locally.
 
Another thing I could have added to my comments in post #33 is the recoil difference between the two cartridges. One of the virtues often noted for the .270 Win. is its relatively light recoil--typically around 16-17 ft.-lbs in an 8.5 lb. rifle. Most shooters don't find this level of recoil all that unpleasant. The .270 WSM, on the other hand, will kick at about 21-22 ft.-lbs in the same 8.5 lb. rifle. This puts it in 30-06 recoil territory and is more than some shooters find tolerable, particularly during a long day at the range.

As for the availability of Alliant Re26, it does seem to be in very short supply these days. I guess I just got lucky several years ago and stockpiled a few pounds. However, Vihtavuori N560 and N570 are two newer double-based powders that should produce performance similar to that of Re26, and they are currently available at some sources in Canada.
 
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The pros and cons of both Win. and WSM have been well thrashed out here but I do have one thing to say that DogLeg alluded to:
Yes, handloaders can get a .270 Win to nearly equal the performance of (factory) WSM loads. But that’s not exactly an apples to apples comparison, is it? The question then should be, what can a handloader do with a WSM? I haven’t run the numbers and haven’t loaded enough of either to say for certain but my guess is that a WSM handloaded to the safe limit will leave a handloaded Win. in the dust, just like factory vs factory.
If you’re handloading your Win and feeling like you’ve cheated the system because you’re saving a few bucks and nearly getting factory WSM performance you’re kind of missing the point.
 
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