Are .270s inherently accurate?

[sgt_zim]

Oh , yes ! Several , as a matter of fact . During my time , clients came to India for shikar with :
7 × 57 mm Mauser calibre rifles
7 mm Remington magnum calibre rifles
.270 Winchester rifles.

I have unfortunately never seen a 7mm 08 Remington unfortunately . I believe it was introduced after l retired ? I wonder how that 1 performs.

This is a client with his Griffin & Howe Mauser action custom rifle , chambered in 7 mm Remington magnum.
View attachment 326590

This is Tom Bolack ( who would eventually become the Governor of New Mexico ). I guided him in 1963 for a royal Bengal tiger shikar . He won Allwyn Cooper Limited's " Tiger of the year " award for securing a 503 pound royal Bengal tiger. He took his royal Bengal tiger with a pre 64 Winchester Model 70 , chambered in .270 Winchester and a single Winchester Silver Tip soft point bullet.
View attachment 326591

7mm-08 and 275 Rigby are ballistic twins, though the latter can be goosed a little faster than the former simply because of case capacity.

7x51 vs 7x57

as to other people asserting the 270 is "flatter" shooting than some calibers, while true, not particularly relevant. As has been pointed out any number of times, most modern cartridges are pretty flat out to about 275-300 yards, assuming the zero is set to a distance which takes advantage of maximum point blank range for deer- or boar-sized game. It's a real shame nobody (that I know of) has ever come out with a 170 gr .277 bullet. IMO, that would put it in the same category as 155-160 gr .264 and 175 gr .284.

 

[Hogpatrol]

Sarge, Berger makes a 170 for the .270 but recommends a 9 twist. IIRC, most .270s are ten twist which would negate their use in most factory rifles.

 

[Standard Velocity]

The new 27 Nosler will create some market for heavy 27 cal projectiles. I think the standard is 1:8.5 twist.

Blow out the 270 into an AI with appropriate twist barrel and you may get 280 AI/7mm Rem Mag performance. Lack of appropriate twist in existing 270 barrels will probably lessen the chance of this.

This would really be creating a solution in search of a problem but that’s what wildcatters do.

 

[bruce moulds]

speer might once have made a 170 gn round nose 270 bullet.
bruce.

 

[Major Khan]

Here you are , @Skinnersblade . He was big ( for cheetal deer ) . I shot him from a blind with my 12 calibre double barreled Belgian side by side shot gun and a hand loaded spherical ball cartridge. The cartridge was Eley Alphamax 3 inch plastic case . The bullet was a 16 calibre hardened lead spherical ball . I gave him a double lung shot from a broadside position at 33 yards . He went 80 yards , before dropping dead.

 

[Major Khan]

7mm-08 and 275 Rigby are ballistic twins, though the latter can be goosed a little faster than the former simply because of case capacity.

7x51 vs 7x57

as to other people asserting the 270 is "flatter" shooting than some calibers, while true, not particularly relevant. As has been pointed out any number of times, most modern cartridges are pretty flat out to about 275-300 yards, assuming the zero is set to a distance which takes advantage of maximum point blank range for deer- or boar-sized game. It's a real shame nobody (that I know of) has ever come out with a 170 gr .277 bullet. IMO, that would put it in the same category as 155-160 gr .264 and 175 gr .284.

Why thank you , Sergeant Zim . I think , based on what you said , l prefer the original 7 mm Remington magnum calibre more.

 

[Dr Ray]

I am on my fourth 270 (latest one is a Sako).
I also had the luck of lead alloy Bullets I made shoot to the same east-west as my full powered Bullets. Obviously not to the same height but by sheer good luck they happened to shoot to a point that I could use successfully on small critters.
I have had a love affair with the 270 for a mighty long time and used the 270 for competition shooting years ago.
I could say that the 270 was inherently accurate but then again just about any cartridge could also be said to be the same.
Depend on loads, the barrel, and lastly but importantly the shooter.

 

[fourfive8]

Major Khan, Thank you for the inside info on Tom Bolack. Always good to learn about people from another perspective, most reassuring.

As to the 270-
I've had 3 different Win M 70s in 270. 1st one I still have and has always been an extremely accurate rifle. It is one of the "despised"- DOM 1972. Used and dragged around a lot in all parts of western US and AK and always 100% reliable. I experimented a lot with it and no doubt it preferred a more conventional 130 gr bullet namely the 130 Nosler Partition. Accuracy with the 150 NP was acceptable but not stellar. It hated the earliest iteration of the Barnes X and was the reason I did not load or try another X bullet of any caliber or flavor until well into the TSX era.

2nd one I also still have. It began life as a later Win M 70 CRF Classic Model in 270. I tried to get it to shoot but it was never better than so-so. Likely a "shot out throat" barrel issue. Fate stepped in, I cannibalized the action, put a Krieger barrel on it, chambered it for 338-06 (fits exactly to the OPs thoughts of doing similar) and it IS my go-to current deer-elk-PG rifle.

3rd one I recently sold to generate funds and to thin a bloated herd over-grazing the pasture space in the safe. It was a pre 64 Win M 70 DOM 1950. Actually one of the "classics" fitting in exactly the era of O'Connor and others. It, just like the post 64 push feed "deplorable" model , shot like a house afire with the lighter and comparable TSXs, specifically the 110 TSX.

So, is the caliber inherently accurate or not?... I've had a couple (2 out of 3) that certainly were more accurate than average. Is that a trend? - I don't know. Also, seems the standard twist in the 270 Win slightly favors the 130 gr conventional and the monolithic of similar length- the 110 gr TSX.

I did have a 100 yd target handy for a pic (attached) of one of the pre-64 targets- 110 TSXs with a moderate load of Varget.

 

[Timbo]

@Major Khan I would very much like to see one.

Here in Australia they're known either as "axis" or "chital" deer. They're plentiful down the eastern seaboard of Australia, but I've shot a few here in the West. After scanning the pic, I'll post it up of a couple I took with a .223 Rem.

 

[Foxi]

Just sticking with this load.
Every 15-20 shots clean the barrel with chemical foam to keep the result.
I didn't think the old 700lady could do it.
Today I'm sorry I sold mine.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

Just sticking with this load.
Every 15-20 shots clean the barrel with chemical foam to keep the result.
I didn't think the old 700lady could do it.
Today I'm sorry I sold mine.

I to was suprised with the results I had bought it with the entent of caniblizing it for components to build a .338-06. At this point I don't think I can bring myself to tear it apart.

 

[BobT]

I to was suprised with the results I had bought it with the entent of caniblizing it for components to build a .338-06. At this point I don't think I can bring myself to tear it apart.

A lesson I learned long ago. I have had good luck with the .270 Winchester as far as accuracy goes and on game performance has been stellar. A CZ550 I currently own gave me fits for a while trying to find a load it liked but I finally hit the magic combination. I will probably always have a .270 of some sort in the stable.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Watch this video, especially around the 5-7 minute mark. Cheap Browning A-bolt 3, testing variety of factory ammo.

https://www.randywakeman.com/BrowningAB3VideoReview.htm

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Good afternoon gentleman, as some of you know I recently bought my first .270. I had planned to convert it to either .338-06 or .35 Whalen.
I took the rifle to the rang today and was suprisingly impressed with performance.
To this point I have always shot single shot rifles. First fathers .303 martini endfield and then a single shot Henry of my own in .45-70.

My questions are : are bolt actions more accurate or are sub .30 calibers more accurate?
This is my first bolt action gun so please forgive my ignorance. Also the first rifle I've fired under .30 caliber.
Attached is a five shot group fired at one hundred yards and a picture of the rifle. A 700 Remington classic bdl lh with leupold 3-9x40

For clarification sake I pulled the last round. Completely user error.

View attachment 326262 View attachment 326263

Skinnersblade
Leave it as is, that's dam good shoot'n. A,lot of people like the 270. The only reason I changed my very accurate savage 270 to the Whelen is that my 25 will do everything the the 270 will and then some.
When you become unhappy with it or wear the barrel out then rebarrel.
Cheers mate Bob

 

[CoElkHunter]

My mid ‘70s Winchester M70 will shoot consistently 1/2-3/4” groups with Sierra 130gr BTSP bullets. I have taken one wild pig and several deer and pronghorn with it.

 

[Mr. Zorg]

Speer manufactured a .277 170 grain RNSP bullet at one point in time. Here's an auction listing for some of those bullets.

https://www.gunauction.com/buy/17059676

I saw my first Axis deer as a boy with my father in the early 1970's, at a game processor near Kerrville Texas. Another hunter had bagged it and brought it to the processor at the same time my father and I were there.

Now, Axis deer are naturalized across Texas in such great abundance that tags aren't required for legally bagging them, just a general Texas hunting license (resident or nonresident). There is no season, Axis deer can be legally hunted 24/7/365 - yes, even at night.

 

[Mr. Zorg]

I find this magazine article to give a good summary of 7X57mm and 7mm-08 cartridges including the slightly higher case capacity of the 7X57mm. Major Kahn, the 7mm-08 cartridge was adopted and standardized by Remington in 1980.

https://gunsmagazine.com/handloading-2/the-7mm-08-remington/

 

[Von S.]

There are way more bad shots than there are bad rifles.

 

[Uwe Jaspersen]

The few 270's that I had dealings with were super accurate. The caliber that I struggled to get to shoot accurately consistently was the 30-06. After two guns I gave up and rely rather on the super accurate 7x57. I am a big believer in OBT (Optimum Barrel Time). By managing the velocities of my reloads I get all my rifles to shoot better than 1/2 MOA , from my 243 right through to the 404 Jeffery. So, Skinnersblade, maybe you should play around with OBT a little to finetune your 270, which judging by the picture, seems to be pretty much on the money already. Good shooting

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Conventional wisdom mandates that generally a bolt rifle is more accurate than a double barreled rifle or a lever rifle . But this is not a hard and fast rule.
The .270 Winchester calibre is exceptionally accurate and flat shooting . But then again , so is the .308 Winchester calibre and .30-06 Springfield calibre .
Perhaps the lesser recoil of the .270 Winchester aided you in making a better grouping , Skinnersblade ?
At any rate , congratulations on the marvellous rifle and the brilliant shooting . The .270 Winchester would be my ideal calibre for cheetal deer .

Friend Ponton
For chital deer I would prefer the 25/06 with 100grain Barnes TTSX. The 270 is ideal for sambar and Wapati deer.
Cheers my Friend, Bob