Just picked up a Stevens 270...which raises a delimma

[NorthBorder]

My big game rifle is a Tikka .270. I always thought it was a good idea to have a backup in the same caliber, so I got a Stevens from my LGS last week. My Tikka is zeroed with 140 gr Accubonds. My thought was to go with a lighter 130 gr load for the Stevens to double as my predator getter. Now the delimma. Last Spring I bought a Howa 6.5Cr. Yea, I jumped on that bandwagon. A beautiful rifle that I planned to load 140s in some flavor (had heard that the CR was designed around a 140 gr.). But I got to thinking, can the 6.5- 140gr do anything that my Tikka 270 can't do better? So I thought to load the 6.5 Cr in the 130 or 129 gr loads. But my Stevens will cover that bullet range, probably better? So possibly now the 120 gr range or lower? If anyone has any pet loads in that range I would be interested to know. I load 68 SPC w/ 110 gr TSX but will start experimenting with 95 gr TTSX. When I buy a rifle my intended use is for hunting purposes. But it seems I have the range pretty well covered without the 6.5Cr. So, maybe the great minds of THR can enlighten me as to what I can do with my 6.5Cr that will fill a hole the lineup. Or, maybe just give it to my Son. He would love something heavier than his .243.
Thanks in advance.

 

[earlthegoat2]

Take the 6.5 CM off the table. Use the .270s. I am not a 6.5 CM hater but it doesn't seem to make sense for your situation. Im sure there will be plenty of folks who will say the 6.5 is superior for predators and it probably is but it is not fitting with your simplicity of cartridges.

 

[LoonWulf]

truthfully, it doesn't really matter from a functional standpoint. I'd keep the rifles I liked best in whatever cartridge they were chambered for, and give the other to your son. or if keeping them all I'd probably just run 123s at 3k or so from the 6.5, and 145s from the .270

 

[jmr40]

The 6.5 will shoot the same bullet weights as the 6.8 (270) about 150 fps slower at the muzzle with 1/3 less recoil and much better accuracy. But the much better SD and BC of the 6.5 bullets mean that they will out penetrate the 6.8 and narrow the velocity gap as ranges increase. The 270 will always shoot flatter, but with modern optics that isn't a concern.

Comparing 130 gr 6.5 bullets to 140 gr 270 bullets isn't going about it the right way. Both of those bullets are going to give you exactly the same results on game. If anything the 6.5/130 is better suited for big game than the 270/140 because it has a slightly higher sectional density. If you want a varmint bullet for the 6.5 you need to be looking at the 95-100 gr bullets at about 3300 fps, or the same bullet weights in 270 at about 3500 fps.

In 6.5 anything 120 gr and heavier is a big game bullet. You need to be comparing comparable sectional densities, not bullet weights. For bigger game such as moose or elk a 6.5/140, a 270/150, and a 308/180 all have approximately the same SD's and give the same penetration.


In a nutshell there isn't any animal you can hunt with one that you can't hunt with the other. Both are effective on everything from varmints to bear and moose with the right bullet. The 6.5 is just more efficient, recoils less and is almost always more accurate. The 270 just works too, but I've come to appreciate the efficiency of the short action cartridges. I've pretty retired my long action rifles in favor of 308, 6.5 and 223. I don't own a 7-08 but like them too. It's a pretty small gap to justify sliding one in between 308 and 6.5.