.270 a good utility cartridge?

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ds92

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Hi everybody
I'm looking for a utility hunting gun for coyotes to whitetails and anything in between. I've settled on a remington 7600 in either .270 winchester or some larger .30 caliber round like the .308 or the 30-06. Would either of those do the job better? or would they be overkill for coyotes?

any advice is appreciated
 
The 7600 is generally as accurate as many bolt rifles, and any of the mentioned rounds will make you happy. The 270 with the lighter bullets would make a great predator or varmint round. Still a great flat shooting deer round too. They will all do the job with good bullet selection.

NCsmitty
 
I think you will be happy with a 270. I have a remington model 710 (very cheap) and is the best shooting rifle i own. The 270 is my eyes a great deer caliber and will work well for cyotes, while i use my 22-250 for cyotes i have used my 270 and have had good luck. You might also think about a 25-06, it might be more suited for cyotes and is more then enough bang for a deer
 
Though I prefer the .30-06(mostly because it was what I started with), the .270 is a great round.

It might be overkill for coyote's if you plan on keeping the pelts, but with the right bullets you can minimize pelt damage. Its pretty flat shooting too.
 
I have an older Remington 721 in .270 and I have developed a great shooting reload.

The .270 is reported to have taken all big game in North America but I think I would up the caliber for game larger than deer.

But, in short, I think you'll enjoy the Remington.
 
270 is an awesome round....all 3 of the ones you mention are, and will serve your purpose well.

That said...308 is my pick...more bullet choices, mil-surp ammo, short action are the reasons...
 
Yes, it will serve your needs well.

I vaporized a good-sized 'yote with my Savage 110 .270 a few years back...literally blew the dog in half with a 130gr Core-Lokt at a range of, oh, 10 yards or so...
 
.270 win is one of the all time classic cartridges. the 130 gr load has killed so many deer. i would use one, i would just use 130gr soft points and shoot everything with it and be confident of a clean kill. of course i would use heavier bullets for moose that you have in america
 
ok thanks everybody. i think im going to go with a .270 then
 
More easterners head west to hunt mulies and antelope with 270 than any other hunting cartridge. Although I once met a Dentist from Jersey who un-cased an unfired 300 Weatherby. His shooting was not impressive at all.

270 is a good one. I know a couple guys who take elk with their 270's and think nothing of it.

I've never owned a 270. .308 is my rifle for the elk woods and canyon country for mulies.

TR

muley4.jpg
 
I actually hunt with guys who believe all that stuff that Jack O'Connor wrote about the 270 being different from the 30-06.

I, myself, was taken in by Ice Road Truckers, until someone informed me that it was all scripted.

Now I feel like such a fool!
How could I have fallen for that?
 
270 winchester

I read an article in guns & ammo back in the 80's and the writer (don't remember his name) claimed that the 270 was sufficient for all north american game except the big bears. A few weeks later in the G&A letter section a man replied to the article and he said that he was getting up in age in his late
60's I believe but that in his life time he had killed over 30 grizzlies with his 270 and that it was bs that it wasn't a good bear gun. I'm sure he was also a hell of a shot and a skilled hunter. I had a 270 and sold it to pay bills while in hard times and want another so badly that I think about it all of the time.
I killed 21 deer with it and it took 21 shots. If you do your part correctly the 270 kills like a lightning bolt.
 
The minimalists here seem to thing all you need is a .223, but I think the .270 is a fine choice. Good range, a flat shooting round, light on the shoulder, good bullet mass for about anything you wanna do from Coyote to elk. .270 seems to have lost a bit of popularity. It was once an extremely popular round, like top three in ammo sales in parts of the country. I guess Jack O'Connor had a lot of readers.

BTW, how can you have "overkill" on coyotes? Oh, if you are shooting for the pelt, you'll want a .22 mag or something, but dead is dead if you're just shootin' them. I've taken a few with my .308. The .270 will kill anything the .30-06 will kill and is a little lighter on the shoulder.
 
I hunted for six years with a couple guys - a father and grown son - who went to Walmart one day, bought two plain-Jane Rem. 700 ADL rifles (two serial numbers apart) in .270. They both shot five deer per year with the old Federal red box ammo from Walmart and, if either of them ever used more than one shot for a deer, I don't recall it. In fact, I don't recall any of their deer that wasn't shot through the lower neck.

Not sure how one can be more effective than that.:confused:

In the (admittedly silly) "one gun for all N. America" scenario I would choose the 7mm/08 just because it is a short-action but my instantaneous 2nd choice would be the .270.


:cool:
 
As Shawnee has said the .270 is a very effective round. With lighter bullets it can be a very nice varmint round, with the 130's and 150's you can do a good number deer and elk and the like. Personally I have taken a number of decent white tail, and a couple of big russian type hogs (300lbs+) with the .270 and with good shot placement I usually got DRT. (which I like) I would not mind using the .270 for black bear at range or from a stand, but up close or for the bigger stuff I would want a little more gun. The .270 can do the job, but as you go bigger penetration become more important and in my experience the .270 doesn't handle bullets much bigger than 150gr so well, not that it can't handle them just that there are other options that are better when you go up. For most folks the .270 is all of the gun they will need.
 
Of the calibers you suggested, I prefer the .308. Light bullets for small critters and bigger bullets for big game. I used to say the 30/06, but my short action .308's are a little lighter and easier to carry. And easier on the shoulder.
 
If you look at ballistics charts, the .270 is very close to a .22-250 in terms of trajectory. I used my uncle's .270 on groundhogs for years. If it were me, I'd get a .25-06 for white tails and coyotes, but the .27-06 (.270) should be just fine. It's probably as good as you'll get for coyotes to elk.
 
The minimalists here seem to thing all you need is a .223, but I think the .270 is a fine choice.
Click to expand...
Very good choice and I agree with the above. You will probably find that you would prefer something a bit smaller for coyotes, but the 270 is a great place to start. I started with a 243 and then moved to a 270.
 
Any of those calibers would do you well. I'm partial to the .30 cals. but the .270 is a fine round. If you do choose the .270, I hope you will use 150gr. bullets and not 130's. I beleive the 150's are much better killers, with a better chance of exit wounds. Also, on the 7600, keep it CLEAN, especially the chamber, they will not tolerate a lax cleaning schedule.
 
I prefer the 308, 30-06, or 300WM over the .270, but I am not going to say that with my hunting buddies this fall.

I will keep my mouth shut.

If I zero at 200 yards with scope 2" above the bore, load a 130 gr to 65 kpsi with optimum powder and with 24" barrel, then the distance that the bullet drops to 10" below the line of scope is then:

270 drops to 10" low at 350 yards
308 drops to 10" low at 340 yards
30-06 drops to 10" low at 350 yards
300WM drops to 10" low at 370 yards

The problem is that the momentum of the powder in gas state is high, becuase the escaping gas figures at 1.5X the projectile velocity.

So when I build a 308 and 270 with the same accuracy, the .270 will have to be many ounces heavier.

The 270 may be more efficient than the 300WM, but it is less efficient than the 30-06 or especially the 308.

What does it all mean?
Tiny amounts of cartridge difference and large differences of opinions.
 
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