Loaded up some 270 loads for my cousin who was headed for a spring black bear hunt. Bear over bait at 100yds max. Loaded some 150 bullets and they worked just fine. I found I had a box of Barnes originals in ,277 cal 180 gr. I see that Woodliegh also makes a .277 cal 180 gr. These should have great penetration for a 270. Anyone out there have any experience with 180's in the 270 ?

I have hunted extensively with various 270 cartridges.

I used 130, 140 and 150 grain bullets.

Largest animals shot were eland.

Over several hundred animals, I was not able to tell if there is any difference between the performance of these bullets.

Most important factor is hitting them in the right place.

Not with the 180'.. I have used 160 gr Barnes in a Winchester Mod.70 Hunted in Maine but no luck for Bear.
I did shoot a deer with 160 and most of the front half was a waste. It did a bunch of damage.
The 180 with the High BC. would be good for large bear
from a stand
My opinion for what its worth.. I discovered the Hornady 140gr BTSP it has as high a BC (489)and it has never failed me. I have only been able to recover a couple bullets and they have retained over 90% of there original weight. Most of my shots are inside 200yrds.
If he is hunting over bait 25 to 50yrds 140 gr would work for me.

If that is what you want to use.

Use them.

As with any animal when hit properly bears are not that hard to kill.

It is when one screws up the shot when one has problems.

Last years bears son and DIL's one was shot with a 7mm-08 139gr plain jane Hornaday 45 yards.

Ran all of 30 feet.

The other 338 250gr Hornaday shot at 40 yards ran 50 yards both double lung shots.

So yes use a good big game bullet and it well work.

Perhaps I should rephrase this question. I'm interested in hearing about peoples experience on how these 180 gr bullets penetrate on large game compared to say 150 gr or lighter bullets.

i'll bite - what this does is make the 270 even more like the 7x64 in classic loads.

your twist is likely too slow for 180s - they may likely yaw or keyhole .. though, heck, it might be just fine.

I've shot elk and nilgai, 150 gr being the heaviest bullet. I can not imagine a 180 being that much better.
With modern bullet designs I would rather use a 150gr NP, Accubond or TSX over a 180gr cup and core.

Perry

Never tried the 180's but in a similar concept I used 250gr Barnes Originals and a similar local brand in my .30-06 for a while.

Penetration was superior to Barnes X and "normal" cup-and-core bonded bullets in "normal-for-caliber" bullets (180gr Hornady Interlock, Speer Grand slam and a few others) in wet-pack, but not by as much as you would expect. Only 5-10%. Weight retention was pretty good though, and the penetration was straighter than many of the other bullets.

The problem was with accuracy. Some days they stabilized OK, other days they didn't. It was just on the verge of working.

My understanding is that you might have the same issue in the .270, but you won't know unless you try.

Thanks Peter Thats the info I was looking for

Ive used the 160 Nosler partitions and the old Speer 170 gr. round nose on elk and black bear, the speer was soft and killed exceptionall well but didn't compare in penitration to the Nosler in 150 gr or 160 gr..and neither will the old Barnes..Thoes old Barnes bullets arn't that great to start with IMO, they were good in the day, but not with whats out there today, but It doesn't take much to punch through a black bear, the problem is you need a big exit hole as that hair soaks up a lot of blood that needs to be on the ground, and that applies to any caliber, as Im sure you know that damp forrest floor, sucks up a blood trail pretty well in a short time...IMO the 270 isn't an ideal black bear caliber as it kills by velocity more than bullet weitht, a 35 or 338 caliber is ideal for bear and good blood trails.. Just my two bits and to each his own on such subjects, as any opinnion is just that, opinnion..

I have shot the 180 barnes originals in few 270s over the years, but did not take game with them until tbis year. I shot 3 boar hog, one which was very large for my area. I always over estimate hogs but think it was berween 250-300 and certainly well over 200. In all cases got through and through penetration and fast kills. Based on this I would have no qualms using for bear. For the record shot several good sized boars with 162 hornady in 7rm and 180 horn SP in 300 Win and Wby and they normally do not exit. The 180s were going just under 2600 fps in this rifle. In a different 270 the same load ran 2700 fps. In any case I have found good accuracy with 180s in my 270s. I have a bunch of speer 170s. Plan on trying those some day.

Lou

With the new fast twist 6,8 western, 27 nosler and the army NGSW 6,8mm program heavy bullets may be the new standard for 270cal.

Not surprising in many cases low velocity gets more penetration than high velocity as bullet upset is larger with high velocity creating a larger frontal cross section and that slows but bullet down. then add a 277 or 284 bullet length thats as long as a #2 pencil ( ) makes for success on big game.

Is it better than a 300 win. mag, as the poster says? not with proper .308 bullets like a 200 or 220 gr. woodleigh, Nosler partition or accubond, not by a long shot..

Back many years ago I shot some deer, and elk or two and a Hereford bull with the speer 170 gr. in my pre 3 mod 70, std wt. It was great on the Texas heart shot, and not so great on a broadside shot was my experience, it killed of course but exit hole was small, Id call it a fairly tough bullet..

IMO one is crippling the great 270 with bullets over 160 gr. and I prefer the 150 and 130 in no particular order, the 130 is an awesome killer of anything in the NA hemisphere short of the big bears, any many a big bear has been killed with the 270 and 130 gr. bullets as a matter of fact..