Thanks 6.8 SPC for making .270 Win the most versatile cartridge ever!

[pert near]

I’ve been reading on this & various other forums that deer hunters love the .270 Win. I too grew up reading Jack O’Conner’s monthly column & I have a life time of hunting experience with this venerable cartridge. Factory loads are everywhere & if you are a reloader, your bullet choices are many. Start with a 90gr Sierra & go up to 170gr Berger or Speer.

Here is something that you don’t see mentioned much but pushes the envelope even more for the .270 Win. AR-15 shooters love their highly customizable rifles & as their popularity grew more AR’s began to show up in deer camp. Many of these hunters felt like the only draw-back was the .223 cartridge which they deemed too light & even outlawed for deer in some areas. Military experiments spawned the 6.8mm SPC as a more powerful cartridge suitable for the AR rifle platform. Many hunters jumped on the band wagon because only a bolt, barrel & magazine was needed for the conversion.

This surge in popularity caused bullet makers to take notice & a bunch of new bullets soon evolved. 6.8mm (.277”) varmint, match & deer bullets! Here’s a partial list:

• Barnes 85gr TSX & 95gr TTSX
• Hornady 100gr GMX, 110gr V-Max & HPBT & 120gr SST
• Nosler 100gr & 110gr Accubond
• Nosler 85gr E-Tip
• Nosler 115gr Match
• Speer 90gr Gold Dot
• Speer 115gr Gold Dot
• GS Custom Bullets 80gr and 99gr HV
• Remington 115gr Ultra-Bond
• Lehigh Defense 100gr Controlled Chaos (CC)
• Cavity Back Bullets 105gr & 120gr MKZ
• Cavity Back Bullets 95 CB Tech

All of these bullets are designed to work within the velocity window of the 6.8mm SPC. In my own experience, 100gr bullets teeter around 2,700 fps & 115gr teeter around 2,600 fps out of my 6.8mm SPC with a 22” barrel. While I haven’t tried all of these bullets I can say for sure the 110gr Accubond & 115gr Gold Dot perform fantastic, if you can ever recover one to examine!

So what does this all mean for the .270 Win? Well, you can’t make a .270 Win into a .270 Weatherby but you sure can make it into 6.8mm SPC! The 6.8 has a case capacity of 36 grs of H2O & the .270 Win has a capacity of 67 grs. If you want to cut recoil down a quantum & still launch an excellent deer bullet, try a 100gr Accubond or 115gr Gold Dot with a reduced charge of Varget. Great for young shooters or any recoil sensitive hunter.

My own experience with my various .270’s, all with 1-10” twists, bullets down to 90gr stablize just fine. As a matter of fact, I’m getting the smallest groups in one rifle with a 90gr bullet.


JIMHO & perhaps some food for thought!

 

[Riomouse911]

Ammunition progress has various effects, some positive such as your mentioning the increase in .277 bullet variety, others negative like the replacement and ultimate obsolescence of earlier cartridges...

I like the .270 a lot, and find it'll do anything I'll ever want or need.

Stay safe!

 

[25-20 WCF]

Hmmm, I can't fully agree that the loss of “earlier cartridges” is a bad thing. Are we really diminished because the .25-20 SS or the .38-70 have been replaced by the 6 PPC and the .30-06? No more .40-72 WCF but the .338 WinMag instead? The .30 Remington replaced by the .308 ME? Most gun buyers won’t think so.

Bottom line, there is a limit to the number of cartridges which gun and ammunition makers can offer at one time, to add more means that older less popular cartridges must be dropped. Life is about change, just because what we used to love is gone doesn't mean it is a bad thing for most...

.

 

[mustanger98]

Some of those earlier cartridges are a handloader's game, too, and that's not all bad either.

Now, while I don't personally need to download a .270Win at this time, we've recently seen reasons to pursue it. That 120gr SST looks interesting. That said, a handloaded 140gr BTSP with enough IMR 4831 to run 2700fps by the book... as I recall, it don't kick near as bad as factory-loaded 130's or 150's. The 120gr SST is another tool in the toolbox.

 

[jmr40]

The 270 is a great hunting cartridge. But the thing that keeps it from being versatile is the lack of 170+ gr bullets with BC's in the upper .6's or low .7's, along with barrels that will shoot them. I believe the 6.8 SPC will be an improvement over the 5.56, but I'm not convinced yet that it will be as big of an advantage as some believe. But time will tell.

 

[<*(((><]

The 6.8 SPC II in the hands of a skilled shooter with premium bullets is very effective.

https://68forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2737#/topics/2737

Bull Elk - 372 yards, 110gr Accubond @ 2,880 FPS. Now this isn’t your normal hunter shooting here as this is a person with extensive knowledge of the ballistics of the 6.8. But gives you a point of reference.

 

[mshootnit]

I have killed two deer with 6.8, and some prairie dogs.
I view the cartridge to be in line with 5.56, 7.62X39, and 30-30.
True and rightfully noted that it has spurred on some new 277 projectiles, and some neat AR rifles.
Performance for me was "acceptable" but not authoritative. This being out of a 16" carbine. But I do think it would make a fine woods/ whitetail cartridge.
Pushing the cartridge out into the open plains, to me would require a 20" barrel at least, and the hottest 120 gr. loads your rifle can safely handle. It seems to me that the 6.8 is just on the verge of lacking for speed and can use every FPS you can safely give it. To me the terms "110 gr." and "2600 fps" when put together do not evoke particularly high levels of awe.
That being said, my outfit was one of the fine Armalite chromed midlength SPC II uppers, with a built lower, and SSA trigger, Wilson combat Accu Rizer scope mount, and if I could get it back I would.

 

[MCgunner]

Meh, won't do anything my 7 mag won't do. Good caliber, though, and a lot more bullet choices now days, as you point out, than when I bought my big 7. I really don't hunt with the 7 much, though. I shoot a .308 and I loaned the 7 mag out last week.

 

[Olympus]

I download my 270 to 6.8 SPC velocities and it's truly wonderful! It does make a very versatile cartridge. I use the same 120gr SST bullet that Hornady uses for the 6.8 SPC. Downloaded makes a great, light recoiling rifle for new shooters or ladies and loaded up makes an excellent open prairie deer and elk rifle.