270 Caliber (which Brand of Ammo?)

I'm selling my son's .243 this weekend, and he wants a Marlin XL7, (best bang for the budget minded buck I think), and the first rounds to go down his new rifle barrel will be a box of Remington 130gn Core Lokt. Other than the eventual worked up .270 hand loads for it that will be Speer, Sierra, and/or Hornady, I'll probably send a few Winchester Silver Tips down the pipe too just to know which factory offering is the most accurate. I've always been happy with the performance of the Core Lokt and the Silver Tips out my .30cal barrels.

-Steve

What do you plan to hunt with it? That makes a difference.

My own .270 Win (a Weatherby Vanguard) fires the factory-loaded Winchester 130 Power Points almost as-accurate-as my own 130 grain handloads. So, why handload? Enjoyment and cost. In the past, I have also had excellent results with Federal Premium, 130 grain spire points. However, those were quite costly. I and a friend have used these rounds successfully on whitetail, ram and Russian boar.

Doc2005

+1 for federal premium. I use it exclusively in my hunting rifles never had any complaints.

Hornady 140gn ---the cheaper ones.

Brownings love em.

Any brand will do for whitetail. The 270 has been the only cartridge for 75 years in this caliber (the 270 wtby is a fairly new comer with different bullet requirments) and bullets are specificly designed for its velocities and common game hunted.
Try a few brands and use the one that your rifle shoots best.

You won't need premium ammo or bullets for deer (or hogs). The CoreLokt and the PowerPoint and the plain-Jane Federals are all just fine. Stick with 130gr. bullets.

Your specific rifle may shoot one a bit more accurately than the others but don't be too surprised if it does real well with everything you put in it.

If I had to bet my Pepsi money on one caliber to shoot all factory ammo very well, it would be the .270.

Congratulations !

While most people use the 130 grain bullets (and they do work)...I always liked the 140's better in my 270.

The reason is the higher ballistic coefficient...most here already know that my shots can get kinda long at times.

So that begs the question...what are you going to hunt with it and at what ranges?

I've had/have 2 Browning .270's---they both hated 130gn bullets--shotgun patterns.

Start with the Hornady 140's and don't waste your time(and money) with anything else.

Believe me. Hornady ONLY

I bought Federal Premium 140's that shot as bad as the 130's in my current gun---live and learn I guess.

For that...try both. I second the recommendation for Hornady ammo too. Federal Premium has never done me wrong either...but 99% of my ammo is my own reloads.

Both my ruger #1 and styer pro-hunter liked the 140's as well.
Federal premium with Trophy bonded bear claw's -- I have seen more accurate but a great hunting round.

Not sure how much you have read up on the .270 Winchester, but there does exits one handload that is considered the "gold standard" to test any .270 Win's accuracy.

According to outdoor writer Jim Carmichael, that load is a 130 grain projectile, over 60 grains of H4831 powder, and a large rifle primer. I personally went the extra step and used Federal 210 bench rest primers. I know...crazy.

For the best projectiles (manufacturing consistency), Sierra has the best controls over manufacture, unless you really want to lay out some serious coin for higher grade, custom target projectiles. I would like to try and split the difference one of these days and test the 135 grain Sierra MatchKing projectiles for accuracy loads. Also, check Sierra's GameKing and ProHunter projectiles. These hit like sledgehammers.

Oh yeah, how could I forget...Lordy, test some Speer HotCores. I used to buy Speer 90 grain HPs for varmint, and Speer 100 grain HotCores for varmints. In these weights, the .270 Win is capable of some speeds that will shock you!

You never, never, never should get me started taking the .270 Winchester. It's just plain a fun round. Again, JMHO. Oh yeah, and I had custom reloading dies made for mine, neck re-size only. Okay, now I'm really finished and will shut my trap.

Doc2005

Mind if I jump in here with my favorite .270 load?

58 grs. 4831 (original 4831)
130 gr. Sierra BT
CCI 200
WW cases
Overall length 3.320

When I used to sell guns, I would include a box of these with purchase of a .270. Never tried them in a Browning, but in probably 8 other makes, they have grouped less than 1 inch.

Would be interested in how they do in a Browning.

dialwim

Hi Doc...

I had two friends, a father and son, who went to Walmart one day and bought two Remington 700 ADL rifles in .270 because they were on sale. The serial numbers were one number apart.

Anyway, we got the wild hair to try and find a good 130gr. load that would shoot to the same point of aim from both rifles. I think we found it on the third or fourth try. I'm pretty sure the powder was IMR4350 and it eas either a Sierra or Speer bullet.

Gotta love the .270 !

one to consider

Without going out and looking up barrel twist rates, I would recomend you try 2 things. Get a box of 130's, and a box of 150's, and just see how they group. I had a remington 760 pump that i couldnt have hit an elephant at 50 yards with 130's, but would shoot 1.5 inch groups all day with 150's. At that saem time, I had one of the first ruger 77 stainless synthetics in 270, it shot 1 inch groups with 130's, and 4 inch groups with 150's. If my feeble mind remembers correctly, the difference was the rate of twist on the 2 barrels, for some reason there were two options out ther eat that time on one or th eother guns.

Just a thought..........

ALL OF THEM!!! You wont know untill you try them all.

My abolt hated the remington premier scicorrio(sp.) Also hated the federal fusions. Didn't care much for the winchester supreme, or the hornady sst. She kinda likes federal premium ballistic tips (just about 1"). She LOVES the hornady light mag in 130g interbonds (under 3/4").

These aren't suggestions, you need to try them all and see in yours, oratleast untill untill you get satisfied. For what its worth, my a-bolt loves a dirty barrel. When I clean it I have to shoot 10-12 rounds to make her behave. I love that dirty girl.

Yup...gotta love that .270 Win. My fantasy rifle is a pre-64, 26" tube .270 Win. Anyhow, I need to stop right there. Those are down-right dangerous thoughts. Here is a pic of my Wea Vanguard in .270. It's no pre-64 Winchester model 70, but it shoots:


By doc2005, shot with hp photosmart 733 at 2008-11-17

Gosh, Doc - a pre-64 Winchester 70 in .270 would put you Jack O'Conner's track !!! Are you sure you wouldn't rather have a 7mm/08 ???

Shawnee:

The 7mm--08 is a great round, but the .270 Win so nostalgic for me. I have a lot of experience with the .270. In fact, the only rifle round I have fired more of, is the .22LR. My old Sako Finnbear in .270 Win was frieghteningly accurate. But, I do admit, for me, the .270 is Nolstalgic. That's kind of wierd, I know.

Some day I'll get one of those pre-64s. I may be 105 years old when do, but I shall. Now, in a Remington Model 7, oh yeah, pass me the 7mm-08. I don't think I've ever met a firearm/cailber combination that I didn't admire. I need to stop. I don't want to hijack Coltdude's thread. It's just that I am a 270-geek. Sorry, Coltdude!

Doc2005

LOLOL !


Coltdude is cool. He won't look down his nose at a ".270 Geek". LOLOL !

The 7mm/08 is just the short-action response to the .270 anyway.


The beauty of the .270 and the 7mm/08 is that there aren't any calibers that can beat them.

Haaa! I've got it! I can create a new .270, and call it the ".270 Geek".