Questioning my 270win for deer

[sig220mw]

I've had a pair of 270's that both killed like lightning bolts. They both did it with ONLY 1 shot each time. A good soft point bullet, not even a "premium" 130 grn bullet did it. I usually make neck shots unless I don't have a rest for the gun or the shot is really long in which case it is a shoulder/lung shot. Sounds like you may be flinching and pulling your shots like someone else suggested. You have plenty of gun in the 270.

 

[Josber]

.270 for deer

I go along with the other guys.I have taken at least 6 deer with a .270 and all died in their tracks when hit with a serria 130 gr soft pt.I remember writing to the late Jack O'Connor the Outdoor Life shooting editor with the same problem.He told me the bullet I was using for deer had to heavy a jacket and was probally not expanding well.I switched to the 130gr and the problem was solved. Don't give up on that .270 it's a fine rifle for deer. Pratice,Practice ,Practice

 

[d2wing]

Another aspect is going after it too soon. I have made the same mistake of not giving the deer time to lay down and bleed. I don't agree that the .270
is as good as a 30-06, but it should be plenty with the right bullets, as said before, need to expand to work.

 

[Stainlessbutcher]

I've never shot a 270, but I'm thinking about getting one for my fiance'. I have a couple of good deer rifles but neither are what would be good for her. I took a little 4 pointer this year at about 70 yards using my Remmy Game Master 30-06 with 180 gr corelokt bullets. The shot went thru both lungs and exploded on the off side sholder bone. Only a very small exit wound from a piece of the shrapnel. Needless to say, it dropped where it stood. Shot placement is critical as everyone has said, but I'm leaning with the bullet choice too. You may have had a thru and thru that left a .270 sized hole in whatever vital organ you may have hit. Seems to me that would explain the lost deer.
B.

 

[AKElroy]

You may have had a thru and thru that left a .270 sized hole in whatever vital organ you may have hit. Seems to me that would explain the lost deer.

Not likely. Even with solids, 130 gr @ 3000+ fps is still going to put vital organs through a blender. That deer was not well hit. A shot in the hams missing bone & vitals = a lost animal; regardless the cartrige. Likwise, a shot through the lower gut will still liquify the innards, but might allow a nice mile or so run. In the snow, that might = lost animal.

 

[MNgunhead]

I have only shot two deer with my 270, though I have shot dozens of others with arrows and slugs. I shot both with a handloaded Barnes 130 grain Triple Shock. Both deer did the big belly flop without taking a step. The first one I hit went through the shoulder angling up went the full distance through one sided of the backstrap and angled down again to break the back leg. That deer was a mess, but I did manage to recover the bullet, which looked like an ad picture. I could post it if you want to see. The second was picture perfect shoulder shot/double lunger that had the same belly-flop result. Don't doubt the power of the 270. Work on shot placement. That seems to be the issue with your lost deer in my humble opinion.
Anyone who hunts will eventually lose a deer to a shot they thought was good. The one thing that you can be sure of is that the deer was not wasted even though you didn't recover it. You simply gave the coyotes an easy meal and saved them from having to kill a different deer to survive. All hunters will make bad shots now and then. Work hard not to let it happen too often. Keep your head up.

 

[bowyer58]

As bullets go, there is Sierra and everything else. A 270 with a 130gr Sierra Spirepoint Boattail at 75yds leaves a fist sized exit wound. If you hit that deer in the front half you'll find the blood trail on the far side of the corpse about two feet down the trail from the impact site. Hydrostatic shock puts an animal this size down immediately, vital organ destruction keeps them down. An elk will be another matter, but penetration on this size animal is something to be debated by 223 shooters

 

[Kentucky Jelly]

130 gr Hornady SST. Shot a Big 8 this year and the entry wound was big as a fist, and lodged in the opposite shoulder on a quartering away shot. Deer ran full speed for 10 yards and slid another 10 feet in the leaves. The Heart came out in 3 pieces. Massive trauma to say the least. Deer was real close about 30 yds. Weighed between 180-190 lbs. I used to shoot 150gr core lokts and switched to the 130 gr hornadys. They do not run as far with the lighter bullets. The 150s were singing right through with little expansion.

 

[saturno_v]

I'm sorry but nowdays a puny 270 Win is too light for deer....get a 30-378 Weatherby instead...the deer will die just ast the look of it.....

Joking aside, many decades ago the 270 Winchester was used as lion medicine in Africa (the name Jack O'Connor does ring the bell??) so.....good for deer?? You do the math.....

 

[robctwo]

You don't hand load from the sound of it. I have a Winchester .270 Featherweight. Bought it to go with my .243 deer slayer. I load the "youth loads" for range sessions. Have had a few guys new to shooting start out with that gun and loads at the range. They don't flinch, and have no fear of recoil. In the field with a full power round and a deer in the sights there is no issue with recoil, and much better shot placement.

 

[[Pb]]

If you can't kill it with a .270, you didn't get a good hit. You aren't going to gain much by using a bigger caliber, .270 is plenty.

 

[sleepyone]

i have dropped all three of my doe this year with my new model 70 featherweight .270 and plain 'ol 150 grain Federal Powershoks or Fusion factory ammo. None of them took a step.

 

[jbech123]

As bullets go, there is Sierra and everything else.

They make fine bullets, but that statement is funny. You were joking right?

 

[Nico Testosteros]

I can't testify to the .270s effectiveness on deer, yet. Hopefully this weekend.
But I can attest that 3 wild hogs, 2 of them pretty big, went down and died quickly when shot with 150 gr Federal VitalShok soft points last weekend.
The one we cleaned and skinned had its heart turned to mush.
The shots weren't particularly long range, but I have faith in the .270.

 

[Slamfire]

I don’t hunt for trophy’s and the thing I hate most is leaving a wounded animal behind.
Thanks for your input.

Your attitude and concern are commendable.

That deer did die. You can bank on it, wounds become infected and animals don’t use antibiotics, you can be sure that that deer suffered before dieing.

I would recommend checking the zero of your rifle with the ammo you use to hunt. I also recommend practicing between the hunting season.

There are a number of disciplines (highpower, action pistol) which, with enough sight alignment and trigger pull, will improve your hunting accuracy.

Accurate shooting is a skill. You have to work at it.

 

[Wildfire]

My 2 Cents.

Hey :
35 Whelen said it . He is right. I have studied bullet performance for many years now. The bullet you say you used is not and I repeat NOT the right bullet for 100 lb deer. The deer is likely dead. I see no reason it would survive.

Those premium Bullets were made for heavy hided Monster bucks and Elk.
You poked a hole through that deer and it walked off to die latter.
Period...
Nosler Balistic tips are well known for killing deer. Period. They are calimed to loose at least 40 to 50% of their weight .
The XP3 will NOT. It will poke a surgical hole clean through any smaller than Monster deer, etc. No one can disprove this. The manufacture even states that they will give complete penetration. But need a lot of meat and bones to open and expand and shed their power to that animal.

They would work on much larger game , But ALL of the results I have seen and heard about with that bullet and many just like it have come to the same ending as you report. Some even claimed that they missed completely.
Little if any blood. Expansion on smaller deer is the Key and the .270 caliber has absolutley no problem dropping deer in their tracks.
I have used the Nosler Ballistic Tips 150 grainers with Zero problems for years. Dumped every one of them in their tracks.

Meat damage ???? Bull. None of us today hunt just for the meat. If that were true we would all take head shots only or use .22s. Prime Beef is cheaper.... By the time any of us are honest about this and figure in all of the cost to bring home a deer for meat , how much did that deer cost per pound ????? Way more than the best beef you can buy.
A day atleast off of work ? Gun ? Ammo ? trip? Clothes ? Scents ? For some a quad ? keep it going. How much stuff do you own just to deer hunt ?

Shouldn't be much argument here.
Your .270 will drop any and all North American critters with the right bullets and good hits.
I hate Blood trails.

 

[jbech123]

Those premium Bullets were made for heavy hided Monster bucks and Elk.
You poked a hole through that deer and it walked off to die latter.
Period...

you saying period after everything does not make it a fact. While a bullet with lighter jacket and better expansion is certainly far far better, if you hit a deer in the boiler room with even a match bullet(which won't expand at all) and poke a whole through both lungs, it's not going real far. In my younger and dumber days I did it many times. The temporary cavitation from a 270 at that close a range will make jello out of the internals, regardless of expansion.

 

[natman]

Don't forget: a heavy bullet for caliber (>130gr in the 270), especially one designed for penetration, will tend to go farther in the animal with less expansion (sectional density: if you're not familiar with the term, it relates to mass per frontal sectional area - the greater the mass, the more oompah. Think of a freight train at 60 mph versus a Toyota Prius at 60...). That's what you want for larger game but a white tail can be punctured clean through like a FMJ with a heavy 270 that doesn't expand. If you're using 130s, you're back to placement and animals with stamina.

I agree with your analysis in general, but a 130 grain is not really all that heavy for caliber in a 270.

Gr. Caliber SD
130 0.277 0.242
165 0.308 0.248
100 0.243 0.242
125 0.264 0.256
110 0.257 0.238

I wish I had a dollar for every deer dropped cleanly with a 130 grain bullet from a 270!

I think that if there is any mechanical cause for this problem it would lie in the choice of too tough a bullet for such relatively light game. I think a Nosler Partition or even any of the conventional soft points would have worked better.

 

[Wildfire]

I understand .

Hey there ;
I agree and I understand this. I disagree on the Match bullets. cut one in half. Nosler and all the other 168 grain National Match bullets have a hollow cavitiy . Sierra and Nosler Both say that thye get 50/50 results reported when these bullets are used on deer. Half expand the other half can find no proof of expansion. they are made to come unglued at the point of striking any hard object. Their nose is empty. Just a thin jacket .

Any lung or vital hit will kill most any animal. But any none vital hit with a hard jacketed bullet designed for BIGGER game will poke a hole through most of the time. Bullets all act different , we know that . What most call Hydrostaic shock { Really is Hydrodynamic Shock } will upset any soft tissue.
Just like hitting a water jug. But yet worse because this soft tissue is CONTAINED inside of a hide and has no place to go. It in turn creates much worse damage than even what we see on a water jug.
That is what puts the critter down fast.

I agree with you all on the .270 and have no issue with that cailber. I use one. I have always used Nosler BTs , But now know that Barnes makes a better bullet and will soon switch.

The reason I used the word Period is because ALL of the results I have seen {Many} were as I stated. That makes it a fact up to this point in my records. Things can always change and often do. When that happens I will change my listing and call it a percentage.

 

[noob_shooter]

i think the shot placement was not as good.. if you hit the lung, i know the deer would be dead no more than 50 yards.. what the heck, i shot a good size buck with my PSE OMEN bow and it ran only 15 yards.


aim for the head, if the deer is running, you missed.. a head shot (never tried it) will most likely drop the deer every time even with a bow

 

[blackops]

Not the cartridge nor the bullet. Honestly you can use any bullet for a 270 and drop a deer easily at 75yds. I moved to the 150's from the 130's, but either is more than enough.

 

[Wildfire]

natman is right.

Hey :
natman is right . 130 grainers in a .270 are not heavy for caliber.
I use the 150s all the time. They groups right at 1/2 to 3/4" at 100 Yards and
always drop the buck.
Mine is a Rem. mountain light weight 700. The 150s will let you know you have a heavy bullet in there. I run them right at 2850 fps. And that has always worked well. recoil is up there and makes it something you don't want to target shoot with .

I hunted with guys that were using 30-06s with 165s at 2900 Fps. They felt they had an edge . Yep , they did , 50 FPS...
But they could not shoot, so mine was the better choice.

Bullets , bullets , bullets , no matter what caliber . the .243s kill deer every day . .257s take their share too.
Softer expanding bullets are known to kill faster than harder jaketed bullets no matter what the box says.
Most of the Winchester Bullets were tested in Africa on much different game than we have here . They worked very well. They were also fired by professional hunters and shooters . And would never have reported an bad hit or a miss. Or a messy chase. I would dare say not very many of these were ever tested on 80 to 100 pound Whitetail does.
No matter a killing shot is a killing shot. A wounding shot is just that.

 

[don]

I too shoot a .270 and my bullet of choice is Hornady's 110 gr. hollowpoint at about 3200-3300 fps. Believe it or not, these do more damage than the 130 gr. Sierra bt soft points I used to use. As Roy Weatherby said "velocity kills". The 130gr. will penetrate better. but how much penetration is needed for a whitetail deer? I recently shot a deer with the 110gr. bullet and the exit wound was huge. I have also shot deer with the 130 gr. Sierra and the bullet did not mushroom; hence, a rather small exit wound even though the bullet hit a rib before entering the chest cavity. Since it was a heart shot it really didn't matter. I am considering a .270WSM because of the increased velocity or a .270Weatherby magnum. What can I say, I am a speed freak.

 

[elkhunter101]

it may just be shot placement i shoot a 243 for deer and it does just fine

 

[nulfisin]

No matter what round you use -- and a 270 is enough for ANY deer -- you still have to be a good hunter. If you know the deer was hit, but didn't fall, it is your obligation to use every effort to find that deer. Unless you just grazed the animal, it is almost surely dead, perhaps killed by coyotes or other predators while weakened.

I bowhunt and sometimes can't tell where a shot landed. If you suspect a bad shot, you wait at least an hour and usually more before beginning a trail. Then you follow the blood and/or look for likely travel routes. If that doesn't work, get others to help you. Sorry to rant, but this is a touchy subject.