270 Win For Long Range Shooting

[ADMIN]

I've used a 270 Winchester since about the age of 14, when my "Grandpa Jack" gave me one. It was a Herter's U-9 (Parker Hale action I believe) and was a beautifully well maintained rifle. In my immediate family, rifles were tools used to put food on the table. They were kept in good working order but were more often than not, beat to heck. Not my 270! Mine had an almost perfect coat of gloss finish on the sharp looking stock. The bluing was flawless, bolt jeweled, and the action was lubed and slick. I took pride in keeping it nicer than the other rifles in the house. Sub MOA groups out to 200 yards were the norm, opening up to about 1.5 MOA at 400 yards. I've taken a couple bear, a few deer, caribou, and occasional coyotes with this rifle. The performance was always more than adequate. My father and other Grandpa (Ed) had also used previous 270's to bring down many elk, bear, deer, mountain goat, etc. We used 130gr Nosler partitions, and our loads were hot. To say I'm partial to the 270 Winchester would be an understatement. Read More...

This is a thread for discussion of the article, 270 Win For Long Range Shooting, By Lucas Beitner. Here you can ask questions or make comments about the article.

 

[texas270]

thanks for the article!

I am enjoying finding out how far out I can effectively take my custom 270.

would you need a 9 twist barrel to use the 165 gr Matrix bullets?

I've been shooting 130 gr Nosler accubonds with 61.0 gr RL 22 at about 3230 fps and sub 1/2 MOA. Tried going to the 140 accubonds for the higher BC, but lost accuracy and wasn't that much to gain anyway.

thanks for any feedback

 

[royinidaho]

I too have shot the 270 Win for more than 3 decades. It started life as a M-98 w/a 24" Douglas premium barrel and a VX-II 3x9 duplex reticle.

It was until 2004 my only rifle. Many chucks, yotes, mulies and one moose fell to it.

420 yards seemed to be its limit pushing a 130 grain boat tail @ 3190 and a 90 gr hollow point @ 3440. 130 class bullet for big stuff. 90 gr for chucks and yotes.

Had to rebarrel in 2004 going with a Lilja 10 twist 27" barrel. The barrel switch brought the average group size down from ~.75" to an average of ~,50"

The magic of the rifle was that the adjustment between the 130 and 90 grain offerings was 0.50 inches of windage. Pretty sweet.

I'm surprised that texas270 has problems with the 140 NAB. Mine shoots all Nosler offerings equally well.

Before switching to a 270 Allen Mag the ol' girl was tested to 645 yds with the 140 NAB @ 3200. It took work to miss milk jugs at that distance.

With new bullet offerings the 270 Win may well again rise to its prior status along with other 277 cal cartridges.

Thanks for the article. It gave ol' Jack and the Winny the respect due both.

 

[landcbeitner]

I'm glad you guys enjoyed the article! I think there are so many of us who've had great experiences with the old 270 win. It's exciting to have new bullets breathing life into a cartridge all but ignored for long range. I've heard rumors of a new 170gr offering from Berger.

would you need a 9 twist barrel to use the 165 gr Matrix bullets?


thanks for any feedback

You MAY be able to stabilize these bullets with a 1:10 twist (I know of a couple 1:10 270 short mags using these bullets with success). However both the bullet manufacturer and the barrel maker recommend a 1:9 twist. You can see in the last pic in the article, these are very long bullets... they are actually both longer than the .284" 168gr Berger VLD. If you are able to choose your twist (like with a custom rifle) I would definitely go 1:9. If you already have a 1:10 barrel I would certainly give them a try... just be sure to test them in colder temps and lower elevations to insure you won't have problems in the field.

Lucas

 

[FEENIX]

Excellent article! The .277 Matrix bullets and the upcoming Berger addition shows lots of potentials.

I'm currently in parts acquisition for a .270 AI build and will be taking advantage of the 175gr.

 

[MuleHunter]

Nice article Luke.

Brings back memories

Funny how good bullet choices open up the way for cartridges we wouldn't otherwise consider.

Gotta love the Cascades.

 

[blurry6]

Nice article Lucas! Makes me wanna take my 270 out for a shoot! If only it wasn't raining,... and dark,... Now I'm not so sure I wanna sell that 'twin' of your rifle Ron made for me,...

I gave it several coats of Duracoat,... looks pretty sharp, eh?

Here's the mini-muscle brake,... it kicks like a kitten,... like my 260 without the brake.

Bad pic, but I think you can see I left the jeweled bolt,... classy!

 

[TheKySharpshooter]

Next year I will be building a new rifle, and just last night at work I was pondering the idea of doing a .270 Dakota. I don't know why but the .277s keep getting my attention for this project. Of course, so do many others though!

 

[7stw]

It's funny how some things in life go full circle. I began my hunting " carreer" if you will. Then I advanced and shot bigger and longer reaching guns, and I recently just rekindled my love affair with the .270 again. I picked up a Browning A- Bolt due to a gun trade, that the guy " threw in " . I took it to the range just to shoot while waiting for my STWto cool. Well, this thing shoots like a house on fire, and it has repeated itself several times. Yes, it is limited, but not really for the most part. Some of my shooting is at less than 400, and this this is the ticket for a lite carry gun as well. But, I had forgotten how it feels to shoot something that is simple to get it to shoot, and it is easy on the shoulder too! Not to mention the incredible history of the round. New, re found love affair. AIM SMALL, MISS SMALL, lightbulb 7 STW.

 

[lobster]

Thanks for the great atricle on the 270, enjoyable read. I have been concidring the 260 for 1000yd shooting, but your article has opened up new possibilities

 

[Derek M.]

Next year I will be building a new rifle, and just last night at work I was pondering the idea of doing a .270 Dakota. I don't know why but the .277s keep getting my attention for this project. Of course, so do many others though!

270 was my first ever. Bought it along with a Taurus 9mm when I was young and skinny.

I have 2 custom 270s in the safe and another that should arrive any day now and a 4th in process while waiting on another McMillan stock.

I'll kill a lot of game with them all. It's a perfect deer rifle.

 

[kc0pph]

I have been always told the 270 is a 500Yd gun. Have shot it out to about 400 (only once). Can shoot bugholes at 100yd. Bought my 2nd rifle a Wby Accumark 338-378. Hope to take this one long range. Was thinking i would keep my 270 as a close range iron sights carry rifle (I could put a bullet through an elk at 300 with iron sights). I may be putting a scope back on this, and trying some bigger bullets. Not sure if i can stabalize them but ill try.

My 270 is my dearest rifle. I am glad it is a 270 and not an 06.

 

[bigngreen]

Great article!! This last has been a banner year for the 270 with bullets worthy of it's capability finally brought to us by Matrix Ballistics, and now Berger is jumping on board this next year or two should see a fresh look for the tried and true 270's
We primarily target elk and the 165 class bullet sure gives you a noticeable advantage out in the 400+ yard range and in the timber they destroy elk at close range. Between my buddies and I we took elk from 85 to 865 yards with the tried and true Win and the WSM gun)

 

[Glass4days]

The 270 for longe range shooting is real people. My dad and myself both use the 270 for our longe range rifles. Granted the game we are shooting are the wonderful coues whitetail in Arizona. A large coues buck tends to weight 90 to 100 lbs field dressed. My dad is shooting a savage 270 win and mine is a savage 270 wsm. Both are stock rifles with vortex vipers mounted on top. My dad is shooting the 130 Berger and I'm
Shooting the 140 berger. They both shoot 1/2" or less at 200 yards. My dad shot his buck in December at 880 yards! I shot my buck on the same hunt at 825 yards! The performance on both was amazing! Can't wait to try the heavier 277 offering. The 270 is real!