I recently picked up a M70 SS Classic in 338WM that had the barrel cut down to 23" and was sporting a McMillan Supergrade stock. I liked the feel so much, I decided to get the same rifle in 270 Win so I'd have nice pair of hunting rifles and that one should be here hopefully sometime next week. The 270 has the factory 24" barrel and I was planning on leaving it that length, at least for now.



When they're all said and done, my hope is to have them handle/balance the same and shoot as close to eachother as possible out to 400 yards. I'm not sure if this will be do-able or not so I'd really appreciate anyone with any pointers on setting up a matched pair 270/338 combo for big game.



BTW, I'm not so stuck on the idea of matching trajectories that I'd want to handi-cap one or the other when it comes to it's intended purpose so if this isn't a good idea, please speak up. Thanks.

I have compared trajectories of different bullets fired from the same gun, but I haven't done what you are about to, myself, but if I was to compare and match two rifles, here is what I would do:
I would find the individual sweetspots of those rifles, (most accurate load) with the bullets that you like and then compare trajectories.

To compare trajectories I have found that RCBS load is great, I have also seen, by using the RCBS software, that often there is very little difference between trajectories of moderne long range calibers, so little diff. that it shouldn't matter in most cases.
but, ok, 400yrds is a long shot. So to check it out I did an example on my RCBS load.
Here goes: You said big game hunting, so I picked bullets that are heavy for caliber.
I found that a 150gr. travelling 2900fps sighted in at 210yrds hits 22.5 low at 400 and is 1.5" above the line of sight at 120. That gives you a PBR out to 225.
Then sighting the .338 traveling 2650fps, in for 400 yrds makes it go 2.95 high (above line of sight) at 120 and a gives you a point blank range out to 230yrds.

Not much difference eh? biggest difference is at 120yrds and the diff. is 1.5 - 2.95 = 1.45

Hope this helps you out.

Matching trajectories would be fine if matching the bullet to the game came first. It would also help a lot if the cartridges were similar which they are not.

Once one get's over 300 yds or so then a rangefinder and charts are a good idea. At that point one has to look up the data anyway. Why not just settle for the lesser point blank range which for smaller game will be the 338.

Jeff, among other benefits of your combo, both "sing" with RL22... sweet simplicity!

Thanks guys.

I'll definitely give the RL-22 a whirl! I realize that my guns are unique and I'll have to develop my own loads but if anyone else has a favorite load/bullet for the 270/338, I'd like to hear about 'em.

Thanks again.

RL-22 is my favorite all around powder. RL-22 and 140 accubonds have shot sub 1" groups at 300 in one of my 270's.
However, IMR-4350 is the first choice in all bullet weights to try in the 338 win mag. I saw a 338 win mag pet loads section and 3/4ths of them used IMR-4350.
Load a 140 accubond in the 270 to about 3000fps.
Load a 225 Accubond in the 338 to about 2800fps.
Sight them both in dead on at 200. According the the new federal ammo ballistics for these loads the 270 with be 6.8" low at 300, and the 338 with be 7.5" low at 300. The difference at 400 yds is less than 2". If you can hold any better than that in the field you need to sign up for the olympics.
I really like a 200 yd zero because you aim dead on at 95% of the shots you make in the field, and at 300-350 you aim at the top of the back and still are holding on hair. The last time I used a PBR zero I shot over the back of a doe. Most normal velocity calibers with this zero shoot suprisingly close to each other. A 300 ultra mag shoots 4-5 low at 300, to a 375 H&H is about 9-10inches low at 300. You can use the same hold strategy for all of them.