Improve on a .270wsm?

[WHITEBULL]

I have a 2007 Model 70 .270wsm that I can't for the life of me, get to shoot tight groups. I have tried 130-150 gr pills, but not much luck. It seams to like vertical stringing as its natural progression. I bought it used, so not sure how much use it has had. I have not tried the 165 gr Matrix yet, just a little discouraged I guess. The barrel heats up so fast that after 3 shots I have to wait 15-20 minutes for it to group again. I have made sure the scope and mounts are secure, so no movement there.
If I decide to rebarrell, I would definitely go to a faster twist rate, probable 1:9.

So my question is, has anyone done a .270 WSM Improved version? One that uses the same action? I like what a .270wsm does, and to me it seams like an ideal caliber for most any game, excluding dangerous game. I like accurate guns, but I have a hard time tolerating guns that don't shoot well. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Methow Packer]

I shoot .5 moa reliably with my 270WSM in a Kimber. They have very thin barrels so you need to let the barrel cool before each shot. Try Berger VLD 150s and IMR7828 . MV is almost 3100. Cases are Norma and trimmed consistently , shoulder bumped .002. Bullet seated .010 OL, .002 neck tension . Good luck

 

[Shortmagman]

I bought a Winchester Model 70 in 270 WSM just after they were offered for sale. That gun shot very well for a stock gun as I was able to shoot 1/2 groups with 140 grain Nosler Accubonds and IMR-4350 powder. I liked it so much I shot the barrel out.

Last year I sent the action to Bartlein and they put a new 5R barrel on it. I have been able to shoot some very good groups with this new barrel. I have a thumb hole shock and a Timney trigger on this gun, so the only thing that is Winchester is the action. I am very pleased with the outcome.

 

[royinidaho]

Give the rifle a chance.

Clean the barrel until is is spotless. Use a good copper remover such as bore tech.

Insure the barrel if free floated from tip of forearm to action.

Give the bedding a rough check. With the rifle vertical, muzzle up, grasp the barrel around the end of the forearm with one had, while alternating between the rear and forward action screws.

Mess with it for a bit, you'll get the hang of it.

If the you can feel barrel movement while doing combinations of loosening and tightening the mounting screws, the bedding is in the ditch to some extent.

If this is the case, pillar and skim bed the action. When you skim bed let the bedding material sneak a couple of inches up the barrel. Maybe as many as 3 inches but at least two inches.

This is what I do when things don't work out initially. This procedure either fixes the problem or reveals another problem.

Also keep in mind that the objective is one shot one harvested animal. If the second and third shots are reasonably (reasonable is up to you) close the don't worry about it.

This is a hunting rig not a BR rifle.

BTW, I've seen those pencil barrel Mod 70s shoot lights out.

Just my 2 cents...

 

[J E Custom]

Give the rifle a chance.

Clean the barrel until is is spotless. Use a good copper remover such as bore tech.

Insure the barrel if free floated from tip of forearm to action.

Give the bedding a rough check. With the rifle vertical, muzzle up, grasp the barrel around the end of the forearm with one had, while alternating between the rear and forward action screws.

Mess with it for a bit, you'll get the hang of it.

If the you can feel barrel movement while doing combinations of loosening and tightening the mounting screws, the bedding is in the ditch to some extent.

If this is the case, pillar and skim bed the action. When you skim bed let the bedding material sneak a couple of inches up the barrel. Maybe as many as 3 inches but at least two inches.

This is what I do when things don't work out initially. This procedure either fixes the problem or reveals another problem.

Also keep in mind that the objective is one shot one harvested animal. If the second and third shots are reasonably (reasonable is up to you) close the don't worry about it.

This is a hunting rig not a BR rifle.

BTW, I've seen those pencil barrel Mod 70s shoot lights out.

Just my 2 cents...

+1
Very good advice from someone that knows.

J E CUSTOM

 

[johnnyk]

Whitebull,
The .270WSM is a great round, with the right setup. +1 on what Roy said about the bedding job. That will probably help that Winchester more than anything else you can do cheaply. The M70 triggers are a good design and simple to adjust.
I owned a M70 Coyote in .270WSM a few years back and to start with it seemed dismal also. I never did bed the action but I adjusted the trigger and found a load it liked alot. It was the 140gn Ballistic Tip with a max+ load of AA3100 (no longer produced!) and the BR2 primer. It would shoot .3's - .4's right at 3200fps.
Got rid of that rifle but would love to have another in .270WSM. Now is Hornady would just make AMax's in that caliber! JohnnyK.

 

[WHITEBULL]

Thanks for the help. I am definitely not going to give up. Just frustrated. I will put more time into this set up. I just goes to show you that it doesn't matter how much money you spend in reloading products, scopes, ammo, you gotta put the range time in. Most of my guns have been pretty simple to find what works. This one has not been that easy.
I appreciate the help and encouragement!

 

[AZShooter]

To answer your question: has anyone tried an improved version? I would have to say that no one has done it. If you look at the cartridge it has a 35 degree shoulder so going to 40 degrees which improved cartridges use it wouldn't add enough powder to make a difference. Might feed worse.

Body taper can't be altered much either or extraction would become an issue.

Want to improve on its performance? Rebarrel with a longer barrel. Or get a long action in 270 Weatherby.

I hope you get your rifle sorted out.

 

[azsugarbear]

It could be a bad barrel. At the end of its life, Winchester was turning out some really crappy firearms. They knew they were being sold and that the plant was closing. Although some good rifles came out of there, most were plagued with problems. I bought a rifle in 223 WSSM with a barrel that was junk. I spent a lot of time and money trying to get it to shoot.

In the end, I sent it back to Browning (after FN had bought Winchester). They were contracted to do repair work for Winchester. They confirmed the barrel was bad. Unfortunately (or fortunately for most of us), Browning/FN felt the WSSM desgn was plagued with problems, so they refused to rebarrel my rifle. Instead, they offered me full retail value towards any new firearm made by Winchester or Browning.

Since 2008, the Winchester model 70 has been restored to its former glory - along with a price tag to match. Earlier model 70's are also great. But I tend to avoid any model 70's built between 2005 through 2007. The quality control simply was not in place.

 

[WHITEBULL]

So, I have decided to rebarrel, and stay with the .270wsm. This will be my 1st LR build, to have fun ringing steel out to 1,000 yrds and may be used for large game out to 600yrds. I will probably go with a PacNor 26" light varmint type of barrel, with a 1-8" or 1-9" twist rate. Would like to keep the rifle around 10-11lbs with optics. I will be using the large for caliber Matrix 165gr and 175 gr pills along with whatever new Bergers are available. I think there are enough .270 cal. bullets to do whatever anybody wants at this point. I know there are better calibers available, but I am doing this build because I already have the gun. My questions are, is the Model 70 short action strong enough for a slightly hot rodded build, and is there anything else I need to tell PacNor when ordering this barrel? Do I need to specify what bullets I will be using? My maximum length in the box is 3.040". does that leave me enough room for the heavy's?
Thanks for any help.

 

[azsugarbear]

To take full advantage of the newer VLD bullets in .277 cal, you will want to seat the bullets as far out as your action will allow. Going with a longer throat will allow you to do this, but will probably not allow you to use the box magazine. There are aftermarket extended boxes for the Rem 700, but not sure about the Win model 70. After years of shooting, I find that I use most of my rifles as single shots, even though several of them have the ability to hold the longer bullets in the magazine. I guess I am paranoid about damaged tips effect the flight path of bullets.

Not even sure if PacNor has a reamer with a longer throat for the 270 WSM.

 

[Capt RB]

Make a dummy round to send. I'd have a smith that has a 270wsm reamer that is set up for the 165 mattrix or 170 berger if that is what your going to shoot. Contact Bigngreen. He has made a few 270wsm's for big bullets

 

[el matador]

I have a Pac-Nor barrel in 270 WSM. It's a 24" 3-groove #5 that shoots anywhere from low .2s to mid-.6s depending on how picky I am with my hand loads and how patient I am with barrel cooling. I really like it. As far as I know they just have one reamer design, and on mine it puts the ABLR out at 2.9" touching the lands. They may have a throating reamer that could get you out a bit further. The 270 WSM is about maxed out in a short action with 150 grain bullets. You can shoot bigger bullets of course but you start eating up case capacity and you get marginal gains from going heavier than 150. The only way to get around it is to seat the bullets out a ways further but then you're looking at a longer action and you defeat the purpose of the WSM. I decided to stay with the 270 WSM when I rebarreled since I already had a bunch of brass, dies, bullets, etc. It would have been nice to squeeze some more performance out of it, but I just use it as a medium-long range round and it works very nicely. It's fine for target shooting past 1000 and I'm comfortable taking deer out to 800 if needed. Took a nice muley this year at 563 no sweat.

With your somewhat generous weight requirements I would probably go with a 26" barrel and the 165s should do pretty well. Talk to the guys at Pac-Nor about your contour, twist and throat requirements, they were very helpful in my case.

 

[AZShooter]

Wyatt's offers a longer mag box for the Model 70s.

WYATT'S OUTDOOR, INC.

call them so you get the correct one.


As for worrying about seating a long bullet deeply into the WSM case DON'T. If I can get 2735 fps with a 230 gr berger seated to fit and feed from a 2.8" A-bolt with a 22" barrel ( 61 gr of RL-17) then you should be able to use the bullet of choice. As long as it fits and feeds who cares if it is sitting on the primer flash hole? <grin>

look at the 300 WSM: