A .270 possible for a 1k target gun?

[LeonJ71]

A friend is gonna help me build a 1k target/hunting rifle mostly likely a .308. But in case I cant find a M700 in SA would a .270 be ok for say 500 yard deer hunting and 1k target shooting build?

I dont want a magnum round and if the LA is a 270 I can reload for both my build rifle and the .270 my wife hunts with. I currently shoot deer on a regular basis out to 300 yards since I hunt agro fields here in florida.

Any suggestions would be appreciated as I am totally new to building and also LR target shooting.

 

[J E Custom]

A friend is gonna help me build a 1k target/hunting rifle mostly likely a .308. But in case I cant find a M700 in SA would a .270 be ok for say 500 yard deer hunting and 1k target shooting build?

Yes.
The 270 is more than capable of 1000 yard targets with the right bullet and 500 yard deer are no problem ether.

J E CUSTOM

 

[LeonJ71]

Thank you for your answer..

 

[cowboyarcher]

I run 140 Accubonds's in mine and have taken game (antelope) to 650 yards.

I think it's a great round and if you want to build a fast twist rifle the heavy Matrix bullets should give you really good performance.

The new long range AB's or the Hornady 150 gr Interbond should shoot from a standard twist rate as well. . . Berger has some nice high BC bullets as well but I've no experience with them.

A 270 should out shoot a 308 in every scenario. . . Were you to build a 30-06 though you'd see some advantage due to the heavier bullets in terms of wind drift and energy carry.

 

[BountyHunter]

A 270 will not be competitive due to lack of match grade bullets.

Go with a 6.5, 7 or 30 caliber. A 6.5x47 or 280 would be a much better choice.

 

[bigngreen]

A 270 will not be competitive due to lack of match grade bullets.

Go with a 6.5, 7 or 30 caliber. A 6.5x47 or 280 would be a much better choice.

Plenty of match grade bullets from Berger and Matrix ballistics that will run with any any of the others, the only difference is it's in a 270 package!

 

[DREBS]

I shoot my wood 1988 stock factory Remington 270 800 yards and hit a steel plate thats 1 foot round everytime loaded with 140 gr. bergers.... That being said it is not an ideal long range gun... It's Ballistic CO efficient .... the most important thing with selecting a caliber for long range shooting and refers to how well the bullet fight's air resistance which is huge at long ranges due to wind and the general air resistence .... is not up to par with those of the .308.. or 6.5 caliber bullets.. The Ballistic coefficient is listed next to any bullet on their website and vary's bullet to bullet based on brand and weight THE HIGHER THE BETTER. All this being said to equal a .308 in a 180 grain bullet (the higher the grain the higher the B.C in caliber) you would have to shoot a 150 gr. 270 which requires a 1 in 9 twist this means the bullet spins 1 time every 9 inches ... 270 come from the factory at a 1 in 10 twist (which is the rifleing how much it spins in the barrel.. you have to have faster twist to stabilize heavier bullets) a 1 in 8 twist is faster than a 1 in 15 twist it's backwards so in laymans terms unless you are gettin a custom barrel made with a 1 in 9 twist go with the .308... if you wanted to take another step up the 6.5 x 284 norma which im shooting 1000 yards right now is the best of all worlds.. its a necked down 7mm mag to a 6.5 neck and it has mild recoil about on par with a 270.. so i would list them (since you don't want magnums)

1. 280 Remington .604 BC 168 gr. Berger
2. 6.5 x 284 norma .612 BC 140 gr. Berger VLD ( the reason i put it behind 1 is its only factory made by savage to my knowledge and ive had all kinds of issues with this gun)
3. 308 .549 BC 185 gr Berger VLD
4. 270 .487 BC 140 gr berger

All this being said remember that i shoot my 270 800 yards but if you want more reliability in wind and at greater distance this would be my lists

 

[DREBS]

I didn't see bountyhunter^^^ i completely agree with his recommendations they are spot on

 

[cowboyarcher]

I shoot my wood 1988 stock factory Remington 270 800 yards and hit a steel plate thats 1 foot round everytime loaded with 140 gr. bergers.... That being said it is not an ideal long range gun... It's Ballistic CO efficient .... the most important thing with selecting a caliber for long range shooting and refers to how well the bullet fight's air resistance which is huge at long ranges due to wind and the general air resistence .... is not up to par with those of the .308.. or 6.5 caliber bullets.. The Ballistic coefficient is listed next to any bullet on their website and vary's bullet to bullet based on brand and weight THE HIGHER THE BETTER. All this being said to equal a .308 in a 180 grain bullet (the higher the grain the higher the B.C in caliber) you would have to shoot a 150 gr. 270 which requires a 1 in 9 twist this means the bullet spins 1 time every 9 inches ... 270 come from the factory at a 1 in 10 twist (which is the rifleing how much it spins in the barrel.. you have to have faster twist to stabilize heavier bullets) a 1 in 8 twist is faster than a 1 in 15 twist it's backwards so in laymans terms unless you are gettin a custom barrel made with a 1 in 9 twist go with the .308... if you wanted to take another step up the 6.5 x 284 norma which im shooting 1000 yards right now is the best of all worlds.. its a necked down 7mm mag to a 6.5 neck and it has mild recoil about on par with a 270.. so i would list them (since you don't want magnums)

1. 280 Remington .604 BC 168 gr. Berger
2. 6.5 x 284 norma .612 BC 140 gr. Berger VLD ( the reason i put it behind 1 is its only factory made by savage to my knowledge and ive had all kinds of issues with this gun)
3. 308 .549 BC 185 gr Berger VLD
4. 270 .487 BC 140 gr berger

All this being said remember that i shoot my 270 800 yards but if you want more reliability in wind and at greater distance this would be my lists

BC is a big part of it but FPS makes up for some. It's hard to compare a 308 and a 270 as they are truly in different classes.

A 270 Win running a 150 Berger at 2840 fps with 100 yard 0 at sea level will have 325" drop and 85" 10mph drift.

A 270 Win under the same conditions with a 165 gr Matrix at 2750 fps and BC of .65 drops -305" and has 66" drift.

A 308 with the 185 gr Berger at 2550 fps drops -397" and drifts 90".

Besides that the 165 gr matrix bullet seems to be stabilizing from a 1:10 twist barrel and Berger recommends a 1:10 twist for their 150's. The former should be around .650 BC and the later .531.

Also a consideration for the OP is the fact that he is already running a 270. If all he has to do is pick up some new bullets he can save some cash switching to a new caliber and spend more time shooting.

 

[cowboyarcher]

I should say this though, given a specific case capacity the smaller diameter will have higher BC's and lighter bullets. This means similar wind bucking ability and flatter shooting.

The best advice I was given was to select the bullet weight you want and then pick a diameter bullet where that is at the top end in order to maximize BC. For example a 140 gr 6.5 bullet will have a higher BC than a 140 gr 270 and the 270 will be higher than the 7mm, etc.

 

[DREBS]

^^ true velocity does have an affect more than people assume I was just speaking generally

You can't beat a berger bullet in terms of accuracy and a hunting bullet but then again understand my benchmarks come at 500 + the highest a 270 bullet comes is 160 grain part that I can find whats a 165 gr part? Also the berger are VLD's( very low drag) this means the tail is tapered and not flat base ( much more accurate ) at 500-600 + but if you have a 24 inch barrel in a .308 with a 185 gr tables may say you can only get 2550 but I'm running 2700 with no pressure signs. So I mean ya you can shoot a 270 to save money and reload like I've said I shoot mine at 800 yards but if the wind kicks up I start getting into more trouble than if I have my .308 I guess I should have said I live I lubbock, tx the 2nd windiest city in the u.s behind chiacago avg 13 mph a day with lots of time I shoot in 17 mph at 1000 yards its a pain but has made me. Better shooter giving me wind experience yes a .270 will be fine. Just saying I'm a pushing things to the edge guy and personally if I didn't want the kick ruling out the 300 win mag 7mm 264 win mag. For where I live on the plains with wide open spaces and wind I would go with a 280 Remington with a 168 berger at 2800 fps with that .604 bc but hell ya a 270 will do the job. It's sectional density and bc lacks that of the .284 bullet . However I don't know this 165 gr. bullet ur talking about and don't know the availability of it. And by no means am I saying it doesn't exsist.

 

[cowboyarcher]

Yes my numbers were based on the Nosler site not a chronograph.

I don't think Laramie qualifies as a city but our average wind speed is over 20 mph so I know what you mean!

It definitely sounds like you have more experience than I do at distance, but given a set powder capacity, barrel length, BC, etc the lighter bullet will generally do better at trajectory and wind drift. Getting beyond 1k may change this.

Here are the Matrix bullets I was using in the above calculations:

.277 Caliber Rifle Bullets Built for Accuracy | Matrix Ballistics

All that said I think a 308 or a 270 would be a fine choice to do what the OP is after.

 

[J E Custom]

A 270 will not be competitive due to lack of match grade bullets.

Go with a 6.5, 7 or 30 caliber. A 6.5x47 or 280 would be a much better choice.

Years ago I would have to agree with BH, But now days there are lots of good bullets
for .277 cal. I have listed a few that will work at long range.

150 grain ballistic Tip
150 grain burger
150 grain inter-bond
150 grain SST

All of these bullets are boat tails and have high BCs.

There is also some very good 140 grain bullets that are match grade.

I used a 270 for 600 yard matches and beat lots of 30 calibers with it before all of these good
bullets were available. (I use a 150 grain game king from Sierra).

With the advent of the 270 WSM and the 6.8 SPC .277 bullets have come along way.

Some people are wild catting the 270 to 270 AI and increasing it 100 to 150 ft/sec with the 150 grain
bullets and bringing the 270 up a noch

Good shooting

J E CUSTOM

 

[bigngreen]

^^ true velocity does have an affect more than people assume I was just speaking generally

You can't beat a berger bullet in terms of accuracy and a hunting bullet but then again understand my benchmarks come at 500 + the highest a 270 bullet comes is 160 grain part that I can find whats a 165 gr part? Also the berger are VLD's( very low drag) this means the tail is tapered and not flat base ( much more accurate ) at 500-600 + but if you have a 24 inch barrel in a .308 with a 185 gr tables may say you can only get 2550 but I'm running 2700 with no pressure signs. So I mean ya you can shoot a 270 to save money and reload like I've said I shoot mine at 800 yards but if the wind kicks up I start getting into more trouble than if I have my .308 I guess I should have said I live I lubbock, tx the 2nd windiest city in the u.s behind chiacago avg 13 mph a day with lots of time I shoot in 17 mph at 1000 yards its a pain but has made me. Better shooter giving me wind experience yes a .270 will be fine. Just saying I'm a pushing things to the edge guy and personally if I didn't want the kick ruling out the 300 win mag 7mm 264 win mag. For where I live on the plains with wide open spaces and wind I would go with a 280 Remington with a 168 berger at 2800 fps with that .604 bc but hell ya a 270 will do the job. It's sectional density and bc lacks that of the .284 bullet . However I don't know this 165 gr. bullet ur talking about and don't know the availability of it. And by no means am I saying it doesn't exsist.

Matrix Ballistics make two 270 VLD's at the current time and one more in the works, 165 and 175 gr with BC's running .650 and .670 G1, availability is excellent!!! Berger has one in the pipe line ready to go at 170gr with a G1 of .703.

We shoot the 165 Matrix from a 270 win at 2835fps and it bug holes, I shoot them from a 270 WSM at 3060 fps and I do well out past a mile shooting them. We also shoot the 140 Berger at 3140 fps from a 6.5 and the 270 holds it own fine and in the 270 WSM the 165 makes the 6.5 look just a little sad!!
From a 7mm you have to stop on the 168 Berger to try to match the 165 from a 270 and it really takes the 180 Berger to compete.