stepping up from a .270win

Shot my moose every year out to 300 yards with a 760 Remington .270. This is a 50'vintage rifle my dad bought used and also used on many, many animals.

A couple of years ago I noticed it was getting a little shot out so I bought a 7mm mag. to replace it for the long shots. Basically a bit flatter shooting.

Now that I reload it's cheaper to shoot than the. 270 with factory stuff.

I'm going to give the old 760 rem another go with reloads but the magazine length doesn't allow a lot of room for longer seating depth.

Anyway, for me the 7 mag was a good upgrade but I only did because I wanted a newer flatter shooting rifle with a new bore. If not I'd stick with the. 270.
 
Not being a lover of the .270, Boomer, that would be almost any animal larger than a sheep or deer. You pose a good question though, so I'll put it this way, there are many animals and hunting situations where I would feel under gunned with a 270 that I wouldn't with a 300 Mag. I will also say though, that the new homogenous bullets do level the playing field considerably. All the hunting I do locally is in grizzly country and I personally would feel under gunned for any of these wanderings.
All of the larger African antelopes I would feel significantly under gunned with the 270 but not a 300 and most of the PHs feel the same.
Is it really a step up, is a good question or maybe the 300s are just a better choice or better suited for much of my hunting.
To put it another way, there is absolutely nothing a 270 can do that the 300s don't do much better. Maybe that only qualifies for a 1/2 step.
 
My left handed son has taken a recent interest in rifle shooting, so I was on a search for a decent rifle for him. What I found was a new condition LH Ruger Hawkeye in .270 topped with a 3.5-10 Leupold. The price combined with its pristine condition made this rifle a can't pass up proposition, even though I would have preferred a .30/06 for him. He's a hiker, and around here polar bears are a normal hazard for much of the year, so I'll be picking up some 180 gr Woodleighs for that thing. I'm anxious to see how they'll compare with the 240s I load in my '06 anyway. Naturally, Tradex showed them as sold out last time I looked. If I can't find any, I'll get some 160 gr Partitions, Barnes says the .277/150 TSX needs a 9.5" twist. The DNR guys here dumped their wonderful M-70 .338 in favor of a 7 mag Browning for bear work, and I'm willing to bet a bullet from 150-180 grs put into the pointy end of an oncoming polar bear, at bad breath range, won't do it much good.

I grew up reading Elmer so for years I had an inherent distrust of the .270, which was reinforced by the fact that the cartridge had proven to be an unlucky one for me. That lasted until I realized that the 7mms were at least as useful as the .30s and the .270 is essentially a 7mm. Sometimes a difference in attitude is all it takes to see things in a different light. Who knows, someday I might even get to believe that a .243 is more than a gopher gun. For now, the .30/06 and the .375 Ultra remain my favorite cartridges though, but we'll see how my son fares with his .270.
 
c-fbmi said:
All the hunting I do locally is in grizzly country and I personally would feel under gunned for any of these wanderings.
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You ever been attacked by a bear? Me neither...


A few years ago I got a nice FN .270 on trade with an older gentleman I know. This was his grizzly bear rifle that he used on more then one bear with quite good success, and that was in the days before super bullets were commonplace. If I remember correct C-I-L was his brand of choice.
 
Boomer said:
This is interesting. C-FBMI, is there game you'd hunt with a .300 magnum that you wouldn't hunt with a .270? The game I wouldn't hunt with a .270 I wouldn't hunt with a .30 caliber rifle either. The difference in the diameter of the expanded bullet between a .277 and a .308 is minimal, velocity is similar, and bullet weights are comparable. Its not until you get to the mediums that the larger expanded frontal area combined with and the penetration enabling mass becomes proportionately larger to the extent that there is a clear advantage in wound volume on heavy/dangerous game.

To my way of thinking, the most dangerous thing about owning a .375 big game rifle, is justifying the ownership or use of anything else.
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I had a full sized .270 and a lightweight .308 at one point. The .270 was more accurate and more pleasant to shoot by a fair stretch. I regret selling it. I wanted a .270 back for years after that and now I finally have one again, along with a .30/06. These days everyone says there isn't much difference between a .270 and a .30-06. Lots of people seem to do well as an all-rounder with the 150 grain Nosler partition bullet in the .270. I'm still torn between the .270 and the .30/06 and would probably have one of each just to fiddle around between 130 and 200 grains with good ballistics - leave the .270 at 130 and the '06 at 180 or 200 grains. I like them both too much to only have one or the other, but if forced to choose and I could still have the .375, I'd pick the .270.

I still think maybe the .270 is the ideal combination of recoil, bullet SD/BC, velocity, ballistics, and hard hits. OTOH, there may be something to the idea that velocity becomes jarring after 2700 fps or so. I don't find 180 grain .30-06's unpleasant at all. I don't find 130 grain .270s hard to shoot either, though recoil seems a touch sharper - ? I need to shoot both more side by side to really figure this out.

But when I got the .375 H&H, it was instant love. I don't know why. Perhaps it was because I expected hell on walnut, but found the cartridge fairly pleasant, even fun! I can group with it offhand, scopes shouldn't be a bother if they have enough eye relief, and it doesn't cost what .458 Win Mag costs. The .458 Lott/Win Mag might be over my upper limit as I find it unpleasant and punishing (time will tell). Not so with the .375. I just don't see a need to play with .338s or other medium bores since I like this one so much.

I'm a very inexperienced hunter, but have a little experience as a shooter. From reading, I think an ideal brace of rifles might be:

1. a .270 with 130 grain Nosler Partitions or Barnes TSX to snipe any big game animal with plenty of range, punch, and less recoil. 150 or 160 grain bullets if you think a grizz might eat you.

2. a .375 H&H magnum for everything huge or nasty that one doesn't have complete confidence in the .270 for, whether the lack of confidence is justifiable or not.

No point in buying a camera with 85 and 100mm lenses. Get a 50 mm and 100 mm and make the choice clear. A 30/06 would probably work as well as a .270, but either way the .375 doesn't change, and when you would load the '06 with 220 grain solids, why not just put 300 grain solids in the H&H and settle the matter? It seems to crowd the heavy end, leaving a gap for 110-130 grain bullets.

For me,
One gun: .30-06 or .375 H&H
Two: .270 (or 30/06!) and .375 H&H

There you have it. Lots of blathering from me.

Boomer said:
The DNR guys here dumped their wonderful M-70 .338 in favor of a 7 mag Browning for bear work, and I'm willing to bet a bullet from 150-180 grs put into the pointy end of an oncoming polar bear, at bad breath range, won't do it much good.
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Did they give a reason why they went smaller? Obviously felt that the 7 mag was adequate, but why dump the .338?
 
Next question. If one decides to buy a 'premium rifle' should one buy it necessarily a 'premium cartridge' caliber? If you spend roughly 2000$+ on a rifle does it imply that it shouldn't use a 'regular' .270, 308, 30-06...?

Mid end rifle / Premium Rifle
270 / 7mm Rem Mag
308 / 300 Win Mag
30-06 / 338 Win Mag

???
 
philthygeezer said:
I had a full sized .270 and a lightweight .308 at one point. The .270 was more accurate and more pleasant to shoot by a fair stretch. I regret selling it. I wanted a .270 back for years after that and now I finally have one again, along with a .30/06. These days everyone says there isn't much difference between a .270 and a .30-06. Lots of people seem to do well as an all-rounder with the 150 grain Nosler partition bullet in the .270. I'm still torn between the .270 and the .30/06 and would probably have one of each just to fiddle around between 130 and 200 grains with good ballistics - leave the .270 at 130 and the '06 at 180 or 200 grains. I like them both too much to only have one or the other, but if forced to choose and I could still have the .375, I'd pick the .270.

I still think maybe the .270 is the ideal combination of recoil, bullet SD/BC, velocity, ballistics, and hard hits. OTOH, there may be something to the idea that velocity becomes jarring after 2700 fps or so. I don't find 180 grain .30-06's unpleasant at all. I don't find 130 grain .270s hard to shoot either, though recoil seems a touch sharper - ? I need to shoot both more side by side to really figure this out.

But when I got the .375 H&H, it was instant love. I don't know why. Perhaps it was because I expected hell on walnut, but found the cartridge fairly pleasant, even fun! I can group with it offhand, scopes shouldn't be a bother if they have enough eye relief, and it doesn't cost what .458 Win Mag costs. The .458 Lott/Win Mag might be over my upper limit as I find it unpleasant and punishing (time will tell). Not so with the .375. I just don't see a need to play with .338s or other medium bores since I like this one so much.

I'm a very inexperienced hunter, but have a little experience as a shooter. From reading, I think an ideal brace of rifles might be:

1. a .270 with 130 grain Nosler Partitions or Barnes TSX to snipe any big game animal with plenty of range, punch, and less recoil. 150 or 160 grain bullets if you think a grizz might eat you.

2. a .375 H&H magnum for everything huge or nasty that one doesn't have complete confidence in the .270 for, whether the lack of confidence is justifiable or not.

No point in buying a camera with 85 and 100mm lenses. Get a 50 mm and 100 mm and make the choice clear. A 30/06 would probably work as well as a .270, but either way the .375 doesn't change, and when you would load the '06 with 220 grain solids, why not just put 300 grain solids in the H&H and settle the matter? It seems to crowd the heavy end, leaving a gap for 110-130 grain bullets.

For me,
One gun: .30-06 or .375 H&H
Two: .270 (or 30/06!) and .375 H&H

There you have it. Lots of blathering from me.



Did they give a reason why they went smaller? Obviously felt that the 7 mag was adequate, but why dump the .338?
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The fellow who is their primary bear killer, a local hire, is a small bore fan, who considers the .30/06 a big gun, and seems to think highly of the 7 mag for bear work. Typically bear shooting is close, sometimes very close, or through the truck window, perhaps he just found the recoil of the .338 a bit much when shooting from awkward positions. I'd sooner have more bullet mass myself, but that's just me. Whenever I brought it up, the answer was, "Yea, yea, yea, I know." Anyway, that guy's probably killed more bears in his life than I've seen in mine, and I've seen a few, so experience in this case supports the mouse gun. Having said that, the majority of the bears that are killed here are killed in town, where the shotgun is preferred for it's limited penetration. The rifle would more likely be used when a problem bear is identified and shot from a distance. A few years back there was a cabin robber that had his protection removed, and everyone was keeping an eye out for him. Finally a pal of mine who lives out of town shot this bear with his .375 from an upstairs window when it tried to push in the front door of his house.

Another consideration is that they appear to have a policy now of using factory ammo, where they used to handload for the .338. I don't pay attention to the price of factory ammo, but Federal 7 mag might be a bit cheaper than factory .338, when both are loaded with good bullets. Unit price of ammo is an important consideration at budget time for a department that runs on a shoe string budget.

For the rest of us, I think you've got it right; a .375 is the next logical progression if you've found that the .30/06 isn't quite enough.
 
I have a related issue. I know that my next big rifle purchase will be a model 70. What i don't know is whether i want a model 70 safari in .375 or whether i want a featherweight in 30-06. Functionally i will only ever need a 30-06 , but considering i already have a remington 7600 in 270. That being said i love the feel of the model 70 so it would make sense to use for hunting around here.

Any suggestions from the always wise gun nuts. Also sorry if this is considered a hi-jack im posting it becasue i think it doesn't deserve its own topic but it goes along with this one
 
"THE .375 H&H MAGNUM
But the queen of the medium bores is the .375 H&H Magnum, one of the world's most useful and widely distributed cartridges, and probably the best all-around cartridge ever devised." -- Jack O'Connor, The Complete Book of Rifles and Shotguns, Outdoor Life (1961).
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I just love that quote of O'Connors... :)
 
ryan32 said:
I have a related issue. I know that my next big rifle purchase will be a model 70. What i don't know is whether i want a model 70 safari in .375 or whether i want a featherweight in 30-06. Functionally i will only ever need a 30-06 , but considering i already have a remington 7600 in 270. That being said i love the feel of the model 70 so it would make sense to use for hunting around here.

Any suggestions from the always wise gun nuts. Also sorry if this is considered a hi-jack im posting it becasue i think it doesn't deserve its own topic but it goes along with this one
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So you pack th 06 when you are hunting larger game, and if you have an issue with it, the 270 is ready as a nice spare, and vice versa for deer.
 
Waterfowler said:
Can someone explain to me how and why the 270 is a better choice than a 308 or 06.

Thx.
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Probably not, its just another way of accomplishing the same thing. Because I'm an unapologetic die hard .30/06 fan, I'd say its better than any of the others due to its ability to digest very heavy bullets. Townsend Whelen on the other hand, made a case that the .280 Remington was ballistically just a bit better than either the .270 or the .30/06. There are lots of folks around who claim the .308 will do anything the '06 will do.

What the .270 does do is put a good bullet on target at 300 yards with only 6" of drop with a 200 yard zero, and with less recoil than a .30/06 with a bullet of similar SD. With a 180 gr Woodleigh, the .270 has a SD and velocity similar to a 220 gr bullet in the .30/06. Some folks will be impressed by that. It all comes down to what catches your imagination. If you can shoot the rifle you choose to carry, the diameter of the bullet is the least critical element we need to be concerned with when we confine ourselves to 6.5-.30 caliber bore sizes, yet folks do have their favorites. But as bullet diameter becomes smaller than .30 caliber, and as muzzle velocity increases, the choice of bullet to do any one particular job becomes more critical.
 
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