I'm in the mood for a new rifle. It would be used for deer and spring black bear from moderate to long range. Any ideas on which is the better option?

I think I am going to order a Win 70 Stainless Classic in 7mm WSM. I know it's not as powerful as the cartridges you are looking at but most of my shooting is at the range. It seems that my hunting spots have a lot of trees and thus not really long range. I would try it out on varmints however.

If you burn out the barrel on a Remington 700 I think they would replace it at a low cost. I am not positive of this but Ruger put one on a #1 for me at a giveaway price and it's a good barrel.

There is nothing I like about Weatherby's except the cheekpiece.

Of the two choices you mention the 7mm ultra has clearly superior ballistics.I myself shoot two 7mm stw's and suggest this might be an additional chambering to consider.I have always prefered the .284 bore over the .277 bore for anything larger than deer.

I view the 270Wby as one of the most overlooked cartridges in history. I know from experience that modern powders and a 26" barrel will let you get well over 3400fps with a 130 grain bullet, and 3300 easily with a 140. That with +-70 grains of powder. It's a fantastic long range deer cartridge, and works just fine on black bear as well. I realize the 7ultra is a great cartridge as well, but I'm positive that for the game species you mention, the animal has yet to be born that could tell the difference. Advantages for the ultra consist of computer generated minutiae, not real world results. And before someone tells me how many tenths flatter the ultra shoots at 500 yards, I'll politely suggest that if that makes a difference to you, you need more practice and less time in front of a computer screen.

[ 05-31-2002, 01:29: Message edited by: RickF ]

Keep in mind that as you approach bore capacity the lighter bullets for that caliber will be driven by a cartridge close to bore capacity just about as fast as the biggest cartridge will.

It's with the heavier bullets in a caliber that the extra case capacity does well.

So for just deer and black bear a 140 gr or 150 gr might be all you want and the recoil will be less. I still would not get a case however with freebore, radiused shoulder and a belt. If you must the new Nosler book says that a 7mm Rem Mag will shoot the 140's just as fast as the Weatherby Ctg will!

I agree with RickF 100%. I have killed four black bear and many mulies with my 270 WBY and it has worked just great on both close and long range shots. (50 yards to 350 yards) Good luck on which ever you choose.

I have to throw in a few remarks about the 270 Weatherby Magnum. My Rifle is an older (1975) Mark V topped with a Leupold VXIII 3.5x10. It has brought home moose, black bear, caribou, blacktail deer, Dall sheep, kudu, gemsbok, warthog, springbok, impala, and several varieties of varmint, mostly with 150-gr Nosler factory ammo. I suppose a new, hot 7 could have done better....but I'll stick with this old gal.

I personally don't care for the radiused shoulder and the freebore built into Weatherby chambers, but that's mostly just a prejudice of mine. There's nothing wrong with the ballistics of the .270 Weatherby for deer and black bear.

The 7mm bore will give you a bit of an edge if you also want to use the rifle for larger game like elk; however, the 7mm RUM has no advantages over the 7mm STW, and has the disadvantage of holding one less cartridge in most magazines. If you decide on the 7mm, I'd strongly advise you to go with the STW version (or even the 7mm Remington magnum, so long as you don't depend on factory loads).