.270 Winchester old and new

[Gordon]

Getting ready for Africa real soon. I had a hard time deciding what which 2 guns to take. My PH wants me to take a light caliber and a medium caliber. He suggested a .243 and a 30-06! I countered with my German made .300 Weatherby and .224 Weatherby Varmintmaster. He said good BUT could I stand to lose them or have them damaged?Have I hunted with them? (not lately)
Sooo I said what about a .270 (my old 1953 cherry Model 70 which I have hunted a lot with and retired 10 years ago) and the Rem 700SS .375H&H I hunt with alot these days anything over blacktail with. The .375 H&H he could not argue with as I have extensive good luck with it!
Now the .270 Model 70 is a gun since boyhood that I have babied and still has the 4x Unertl dot scope on it from the early 60s that is pretty bright. Not bright like a new Leupold Varix 3 however AND I don't want to lose that gun either!
So I bought recently a Winchester Ultimate Shadow SS Model 70 in.... .270 WSM. I know I said they were bozo calibers those short mags and I have a 7mm Ruger #1 that is close (and another 1962 Model 70 .264 that is a safe queen) but the gun was new for $425 and I have a nice new silver Leupold Vari x 2 3x9 that would go on it. My reasoning is it is replaceable AND good factory premium ammo is available for it. My hunting partner is taking a .243 and a .300 WSM both Vanguards (or Howa's) in Houge stocks with new Leupolds.
So I went hunting deer on a friends ranch recently and took the new .270 WSM. I have decided to shoot 150 grrain Federal Premium Nosler Partition ammo and bought 5 boxes at $40 each! I sighted the gun in with 13 rounds to hit dead on at 150 yards. It grouped 11/16th" of sand bags at 100 yards! The scope was well certered, I love those Hart one piece mounts!
I shot I nice 4 point 137 pound blacktail at 246 Lazered yards with a shoulder hit broadside. Of course both sholders were broke and the lungs jellied and the heart torn apart! The animal 'bounced' ! It also ruined the front shoulders and drew alot of critisim from the other hunters as a meat waster. I don't care, I think I am well armed for GemsBok warthog,and Impala with it!. I'll use the .375 on Eland and Wildebeast.I think these plastic stocked stainless guns can take on Africa and not have me try to baby them! BTW I am bringing 4 boxes of the Federal 150 grain Nosler Partition ammo I have left AND 3 boxes of Federal Premium 300 grain Nosler Partitions for the .375H&H.Ammo is the last thing you want to worry about or mickey with on Safari!

 

[goldminer]

I can't help you with Africa but I can tell you that I've harvested many, many white tails over 40 years of hunting...in latter years I take six a season because that is the number grandma and I will consume.

Anyway, I shoot a Browning A-bolt with a Boss, and Federal cartridges loaded with 150 gr. Nosler Partitions and have never failed to recover an animal. The bullets are awesome; they knock a deer completely off it's feet out to 80 yards, and in every case shoot completely through the animal so there is always a good lower exit wound through which blood pours leaving a great trail.

As a side bar, for two years before I began using Nosler Patition Bullets, I shot 140 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips (man did they do a bang-up job at marketing those bullets!) and can testify that that a Ballistic Tip is a TERRIBLE bullet to use on White tails. The bullets expand too fast and in bigger deer loose their energy so fast that they don't shoot through the animal = no exit wound = no good blood trail (particularly if you hit a bit high) because the animal bleeds inside, and when coupled with woods and the absence of a defined trail to follow = have no idea where the deer went = at VERY high risk to loose the animal. Bet on it!

 

[Grumulkin]

I countered with my German made .300 Weatherby and .224 Weatherby Varmintmaster. He said good BUT could I stand to lose them or have them damaged? Have I hunted with them?

If you have them properly insured, then you can afford to lose them. Insurance doesn't cost all that much. If you pack them in a good aluminum hard sided case, it's also quite unlikely that they'll be damaged. If you haven't hunted with them, so what. Go out and do some target shooting.

In short, it's nothing to agonize much over; take what you want.