Help in rifle selection, 270wsm/270/280Ai

[MajorSpittle]

I am looking at buying a hunting/target rifle that will get me out past 1000yrds. I reload and have a ton off 30-06/270 brass (current rifles '06 tikka, 270 rem 700).

I just acquired the 270 remington 700 from my father-in-law (pick it up next friday) but it has a 10" twist and I would like to shoot high BC rounds. My goal is a mid-light weight long range hunting rifle with low recoil. Problem is that all the factory rifles seem to have stupidly slow twist rates (why?).

Does anyone know of a .270wsm/270win/280Ai with a twist rate that will work for say 170/195 Berger EOL bullets?

So far the only rifle I have seen is the Steyr Pro Hunter .270 Win with 8.6" twist. I wish I knew what COAL I could load to for the Magazine. Does anyone have any input on this rifle?

Bonus Rant:

WTH do manufactures put such slow twist rates on rifles? Is there a reason my 30-06 TiKKA is 11" twist? Does this help with lighter rounds? Less heat? Is there a real reason? Why are all the .270 rifles twisted the same as 30-06 @ 10"? Even the so called "Long Range" or "Target Grade" rifles that come in Magnum versions with long barrels? Are the Manufactures lazy and buyers stupid?

I must be missing something with how twist rate works. :-/

 

[elkaholic]

What's happened is rifle manufacturers have not caught up with the current explosion of longer, high b.c. bullets, with twist and/or magazine length to run them efficiently! Also, new data shows an advantage at distance with more twist, which was not previously known.
Check out Shermanwildcatcartridges.com before you make a decision. If you don't want to go that route, it will still help you to understand the concept so you can buy/build something that works! Especially true in the short action.

 

[Hatrick]

If you don't want to wildcat, check out the new Brownings. They have started the ball rolling for fast twist barrels.

 

[MajorSpittle]

All I see is 10" twist for .270 and 9.5" for 7mm.

 

[Hatrick]

 

[zr600]

I would just rebarrel that 270 Remington 700 to a 270, 280, or even 6.5 Sherman and go shoot it. It will out perform the other cartridges in the same class. Unless you are against fire forming but I like to have fired cases to verify my loads anyways. Get 50 pieces of brass and make some low end loads and clean between groups now your barrel is broke in and you would have formed brass.

 

[MajorSpittle]

What's happened is rifle manufacturers have not caught up with the current explosion of longer, high b.c. bullets, with twist and/or magazine length to run them efficiently! Also, new data shows an advantage at distance with more twist, which was not previously known.
Check out Shermanwildcatcartridges.com before you make a decision. If you don't want to go that route, it will still help you to understand the concept so you can buy/build something that works! Especially true in the short action.

I am trying to stay $800 and below. While I like the idea of case capacity provided by the 270/280 sherman, I would rather stay main stream.

My '06 has a muzzle brake on it to tame the recoil and is @ 9.2lbs with the bi-pod and sling. This is about as heavy as I want to go with the rifle and I want to lose the muzzle brake. Without the muzzle brake or bi-pod I could shoot 150gr bullets @ 3100 fps comfortably/accurately with this rifle and it was probably about 8lbs. I figure that is about the same recoil as a 270 shooting a 160ish gr round at 2800 or a 280ai shooting a 180 round at 2700 if the rifles weigh about 8.5lbs.

I don't want to shoot anything lighter then 165gr, as I believe you need a certain amount of Energy and Material to be effective for Elk and I set my limit to 165gr and 1400ft lbs.

 

[MajorSpittle]

View attachment 105165

Oh, I guess you actually have to read when you go to their site.....

Well, maybe I will be getting a 7mm RM. If I load them light the brass should last forever.

 

[MudRunner2005]

.280 Sherman with a 26" 1:8" twist barrel.

 

[Deleted member 25294]

Since you have a remington action with a standard bolt face I would say 280ai. You could throat it for 180 eldm's, it's perfect with 3.6" to work with.

 

[Canhunter35]

280ai or 6.5-06 are options then ur not limited to a few high bc 270 bullets. If you have a particular bullet in mind, then a rebarrel job with a chamber cut for a particular bullet is the way to go

 

[lancetkenyon]

Rebarrel your .270Win to 1:8.5" or 1:9" .280AI if you want the ability to have properly headstamped brass. Bartlein, Brux, Kreiger, Shilen, Lilja, (plus several others), or to stiffen it up without adding weight, Proof Research.

My 26" 1:9" .280AI pushes a 175 Berger @ 3030fps. That is pretty much 7RM speeds.

If you don't care about headstamped brass, that opens it up a lot. .280 Sherman is a great option.

 

[MajorSpittle]

About how much would it cost to get a barrel and have it put on my action? From what I have seen a chambered barrel would be about $400 and I have no idea what a gunsmith would charge to put it on my rifle?

It seems like it would be pretty expensive by the time it was done. I think for about $700 I could just buy a Steyr .270 win with a 23.5" 1:8.6" twist barrel. It wouldn't be the fastest to launch the 170 EOL but would probably get me to 800 yards hunting and close to a mile for targets. Recoil and weight would be about right. So I think getting the 270 rebarreled would need to be less than $700.

If I do rebarrel the 270 it will be for a 27" 1:8.5" 280AI that will end up a little on the heavy side but will be able to stretch 1000 yrds hunting and over a mile @ targets with 180 or 195 rounds. I seriously doubt I would ever be in a situation to take a shot over 700 yrds, but the option is nice. 600ish is the farthest I have killed anything and that was trophy mule in the Montana Bear Paws, most long shots with my 7mm RM back in the day were under 450 yards but I zero'd at 300 shooting about .7 MOA. I used to say I got a lot of Par 4s but only one Par 5. With technology today I think 800 is pretty reasonable if conditions are right and it would be fun to take that shot and get off the golf course distances.

 

[elkaholic]

You could just buy the Steyr for $700 and it would be about what you would pay for a custom barrel on what you have. For what you want to do though, a good barrel chambered in 280 A.I. and installed by a qualified smith would likely perform better. I would go with the A.I. with potentially more accuracy and certainly more range......rich