270 Winchester musings
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“Assuming a cartridge can make its way on merit alone, that cartridge is the .270 W.C.F. In its early years it sat in the corner, dressed in sackcloth and covered with ashes, while few riflemen suspected that underneath it had a figger like Miss America, a disposition like an angel, and it could bake pies like Mother used to make.”
— “The .270 Can Do Big Things,” featured in The Lost Classics of Jack O’Connor, originally in Outdoor Life, 1943
— “The .270 Can Do Big Things,” featured in The Lost Classics of Jack O’Connor, originally in Outdoor Life, 1943
the spank
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I'm sold! And I'm sure my wife would agree. She took this buck in the 2020 rifle season here in AB shooting my Mossberg Patriot Revere in 270 Win with factory Hornady 140gr interlock btsp's. One shot one kill two years back to back for her using this combo. Lol
I asked a friend about the age old 270 vs 30-06 debate a year or so ago. Here was his response.
“That is a tough one, but I will give you my personal assessment. I have been using both since the mid 90's. At first, I used the two mixed in with several 7mm and 300 mags, but have hunted almost exclusively with a 270 or 30-06 since 2008.
The 30-06 has a much better selection of bullets available, both in factory loads and component bullets. You can find almost any bullet you could possibly conceive from lightweight varmint bullets to 250 grain Woodleighs. The 1-10' or 1-11" twist you find in most 30-06's will stabilize most of them. I think this is due to the fact that 220's were a fairly common load from the early days of the 30-06.
Like all older cartridges, new powders have given the 30-06 velocities that were unheard of 20 years ago. 150's at 3100 or so, 165's around 2950-3000, 180's around 2850 and 200's at 2750 are all easy to achieve. At that point, it is pretty hard to say a 270 has any real world advantage. I doubt a hunter would notice much difference in a 150 grain 30 caliber bullet at 3100 or a 130 grain 270 caliber bullet at 3100, without getting too gacky. about SD or frontal area.
Last summer I spent some time with my new 30-06 loaded with the 212 ELDX and R26. I was able to get 2750 without any effort at all and the cases have been fired 8-10 times and are still trucking along. That brings up another point, that Lapua brass is readily available for the 30-06, if a guy likes Lapua brass. The 270 has a smaller selection of better quality brass. I recently got 100 pieces of RWS 270 brass. I paid more than Lapua and while good, it is not as consistent as the Lapua.
As far as effect on game goes.....I have not been able to discern any difference on sheep and deer sized game. Both will kill with more power than is necessary. In my experience, I think I have seen more 'effect, or impact, or reaction to the shot' or whatever you like to call it with a 30-06 on animals starting with grizzly, caribou, and elk sized stuff. It may be a mental thing, but I would rather carry a bloody pack full of caribou meat through the alders with a 30-06 loaded with .308, 220 grain Partitions (or whatnot) than .277, 160 grain Partitions.
I will probably always have a 270, as I am a far gone O'Connor fan, and my wife likes to shoot my 270 due to the slightly lower recoil with 130's. Having said that, I have spent hundreds of hours with Brad O'Connor over the years, including staying at his house multiple times, and he claims Jack would always say the 30-06 was a more versatile all around cartridge. He will then point out that while he always had a 270 available while hunting in Canada, that something like 11 of Jacks 12 grizzlies were taken with the 30-06's he also had along on the trips.
Another guy I know, who is a dyed in the wool 270 guy, goes to Africa every year on high volume plains game hunts. He sees literally dozens and dozens of animals taken every year, from impala to eland. Multiple times in the last few years he has told me that while he still loves his 270's, he has found the 30-06 to be a little better on the bigger plains game. And as John Oosthuizen once told me, if you run out of 30-06 ammo, just look under the floormats in the Land Cruiser….there will be some there.”
“That is a tough one, but I will give you my personal assessment. I have been using both since the mid 90's. At first, I used the two mixed in with several 7mm and 300 mags, but have hunted almost exclusively with a 270 or 30-06 since 2008.
The 30-06 has a much better selection of bullets available, both in factory loads and component bullets. You can find almost any bullet you could possibly conceive from lightweight varmint bullets to 250 grain Woodleighs. The 1-10' or 1-11" twist you find in most 30-06's will stabilize most of them. I think this is due to the fact that 220's were a fairly common load from the early days of the 30-06.
Like all older cartridges, new powders have given the 30-06 velocities that were unheard of 20 years ago. 150's at 3100 or so, 165's around 2950-3000, 180's around 2850 and 200's at 2750 are all easy to achieve. At that point, it is pretty hard to say a 270 has any real world advantage. I doubt a hunter would notice much difference in a 150 grain 30 caliber bullet at 3100 or a 130 grain 270 caliber bullet at 3100, without getting too gacky. about SD or frontal area.
Last summer I spent some time with my new 30-06 loaded with the 212 ELDX and R26. I was able to get 2750 without any effort at all and the cases have been fired 8-10 times and are still trucking along. That brings up another point, that Lapua brass is readily available for the 30-06, if a guy likes Lapua brass. The 270 has a smaller selection of better quality brass. I recently got 100 pieces of RWS 270 brass. I paid more than Lapua and while good, it is not as consistent as the Lapua.
As far as effect on game goes.....I have not been able to discern any difference on sheep and deer sized game. Both will kill with more power than is necessary. In my experience, I think I have seen more 'effect, or impact, or reaction to the shot' or whatever you like to call it with a 30-06 on animals starting with grizzly, caribou, and elk sized stuff. It may be a mental thing, but I would rather carry a bloody pack full of caribou meat through the alders with a 30-06 loaded with .308, 220 grain Partitions (or whatnot) than .277, 160 grain Partitions.
I will probably always have a 270, as I am a far gone O'Connor fan, and my wife likes to shoot my 270 due to the slightly lower recoil with 130's. Having said that, I have spent hundreds of hours with Brad O'Connor over the years, including staying at his house multiple times, and he claims Jack would always say the 30-06 was a more versatile all around cartridge. He will then point out that while he always had a 270 available while hunting in Canada, that something like 11 of Jacks 12 grizzlies were taken with the 30-06's he also had along on the trips.
Another guy I know, who is a dyed in the wool 270 guy, goes to Africa every year on high volume plains game hunts. He sees literally dozens and dozens of animals taken every year, from impala to eland. Multiple times in the last few years he has told me that while he still loves his 270's, he has found the 30-06 to be a little better on the bigger plains game. And as John Oosthuizen once told me, if you run out of 30-06 ammo, just look under the floormats in the Land Cruiser….there will be some there.”
The 270 Winchester is a higher pressure round compared to the 30/06. Shoots flatter. Has plenty of hunting bullets to choose from. Recoils less. Doesn’t have lapua brass I’ll give you that. And I have never needed to shoot modern bullets heavier than 150 gr for anything in North America.
And I keep a few extra 270 Winchester rounds under the floor mat of my GMC. Just in case.
And I keep a few extra 270 Winchester rounds under the floor mat of my GMC. Just in case.
Don’t take it personally.
Some may argue that the 30.06 gives an advantage for larger game with heavier bullets. This may be true but the increased selection of .277" premium bullets has closed that already slim gap.
Most of us will be hunting deer and maybe the odd moose. If you are a one-gun-hunter <most of us are not>, the 270 will do just fine for this, but if there was a steady diet of hunting moose and larger bears, the 30.06 would be the obvious better choice.
Most of us will be hunting deer and maybe the odd moose. If you are a one-gun-hunter <most of us are not>, the 270 will do just fine for this, but if there was a steady diet of hunting moose and larger bears, the 30.06 would be the obvious better choice.
the spank
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Planet Earth Wearing My Tinfoil Hat
I'm a one rifle hunter for the most part. I had several and thinned the herd to two. A 270 and 30-30. The 30-30 just sits in the safe though I did sight it in last year which was a first in all the years since inheriting it. I just like my 270. It works for anything I'm going to hunt with it and within the distances of my capabilities.
A friend of mine shoots only the .270, he has taken more than 50 moose, all with 130 grain loads... and has taken countless deer aswell. Within Canada there really is little (other than bison), that can't be cleanly harvested with a .270. Personally, I don't much care for the .277" bore and don't own any... 6.5mm and 7mm do whatever I need in that class... but you could easily make the point that a .270 would render those moot... and that would be a compelling argument.
my thinking is the 270 is fine. not my favorite nor do i hunt with it. i do own a couple. i carry anything from 7 08 to 375 changing almost every time i hunt. deer and bear fall to anything i choose to use. although gunnutzs in general have a lot of opinions, it would be boring if we didn't almost any 6.5 and up will do most anything we hunt. i tend to like mid bores but a 7 08 or 308 seems to work as well as a 338 06 or 35 whelen.
Most of my big game animals were killed with the 30-06. If I had used the 270 Win., my kill count would probably be the same. Remember what we all preach, "shot placement and a good quality bullet." I love both cartridges, the ought-six for bullet weight diversity, the 270 for it's accuracy and velocity. Both have their own attributes for hunters and killing game.
Ha Ha, I found Peterson brass in the 270 Win. about a month ago. I purchased two boxes of 50, weighed and measured case length ............. "very, very consistent, and much, much better than Hornady! HOWEVER, at the same time I weighed and measured two boxes of new Nosler Custom brass in the 300 H&H, 50 cases, and they were more consistent than the Peterson......most impressed with Nosler, as usual.
I started a thread about a month ago in the reloading section, advising hand-loaders that X-Reload received a big shipment of Peterson brass......give them a call. 6.5 PRC, humbug!
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