I'm not talking Moose, Elk, Scottish Reds, that sort of thing...just ordinary deer up to about 110 kilos weight (242 pounds).

Got to thinking about some of the .270 stories, questions, and recommendations I've read, and no instance where a .27O wouldn't do just fine for deer ever popped into my head.

I know other things will do just as well, like an '06 with 150 grain bullets, but is there ever a situation where a .27O is a just plain bad choice?

Only when you get that once off chance and its a looong shot and need a 270 Weatherby!

I witnessed a 5x5 bull elk get killed at 500 yards with one shot from a 270 using 150 grain bullets.

I am fairly sure that bull weighed just a tad more than 300 pounds, so using that formula I would say someone that has a 270 that they can shoot could take out a under 300 pound deer a lot farther than they would want to have to walk and recover the dang thing.

I am not a 270-308 or 30-06 fan, but throw all 3 in a sack pick out one and put the proper ammo using a good 150 grain bullet and put the shot where it is supposed to go, and neither the shooter or the critter would know the difference between the three. JMO.

When is IT a bad choice???

NEVER.

The only time I can think where a .270 wouldn't make sense as a perfect deer gun would be, and don't get me wrong because I do not hunt this way, is if you were driving around looking for deer. Look across a 1/4 section of land and see the deer of a lifetime standing up against the bushline completely oblivious to your presence. And no way to get closer. In that case a super duper .338 of some kind would be handy. Other than something such as that, no, it's never a bad choice. I shoot a .270 and with 140gr bullets and couldn't be happier. Cheers.

NEVER!

The.270 Winchester is a helluvalotta power.....and in some cases might produce a lot of meat damage.

In some cases the recoil would be less if one used a .257 Roberts or similar round.....and some shooters might be better off with less gun.

Never

These threads tickle me.... the post above, about using a 338 for whitetails? Almost all rifles fall off the table at about 350 yards. Take a look at the .270 versus the 7RM at 500 yards, and compare retained energy, using the same projectile weight. You will find the .270 slightly eclipses the big 7, if my memory is correct.

I will say it again: the .270 shoots and kills like a magnum, and recoils like a mid-sized rifle. It is very much a "blase" round, but it does what it does with aplomb year after year without the blaring of horns or the front page news so many new cartridges garnish...

And Vapo, I typically appreciate what you write, but I have never seen a .270 ruin a lot of meat. But I shoot Speer GS, maybe that is why... I won't shoot Sierras as they are too violent, BTs for the same reason, but I have shot Hornadys with great success and minimal meat loss.

I have a lot of centerfire rifles, but if I am on a pure meat run, I grab my BDL in .270. If I do my part, it is as predictable as the sun coming up in the east!

none of the deer i've shot with 270 even ran 1 step. the only place a 270 would be a hiderence would be tight brush or an alder swamp, i like the 30/30 or slug gun for that kind of stuff.

Biggest bull elk I ever shot, was with a 270 Winchester, bang flop, he never moved after the shot. As to the guy who needs a loudenboomer for that shot across the great field. I have a 26" Sendero in 270, with a 130 grain bullet nearing 3300fps, it'll put any deer down, and do it easily out at 500yds, if that's your game. Never a bad choice. Hey Alberta, see you soon!

Jerry

Looking forward to it Jerry - Got a new (to me) toy or two I need to show you.

Though the .270 isn't my regular choice for elk, the farthest away elk I ever killed on a "control" shoot was a full 1/2 section and about 20 more yards away. A single .270 shot broke its back and it rolled downhill thru the snow into the section line barbed wire fence. (That's how I know how far away it was.) The bullet, BTW, was a 150 NP over a case full of compressed H-4831.

Luckily I know my rifle's trajectory pretty well from having shot it a fair bit at targets all the way out to and including 1,000 yards just for fun.

I would never try that long a shot again with anything, at any LIVING thing, but the limp dink running the "hunt" insisted I try the shot. I refused to even go on the control hunt the next year......shooting at game that far away makes me sick as I personally do NOT consider it sporting or ethical.

AC, my buddy had 338-378 made so he could do what I mentioned earlier. He thought he was going to be able to shoot deer at extreme ranges. I told him he was wasting his time and money and to get something along the lines of a .270. Now when he goes out to his deer stand he grabs his son's 7mm-08. Same type of cal. as the .270. Just plain effective. So never a bad choice.

quote:

Originally posted by Dewey:
NEVER!

NEVER in my mind as well - any caliber can or will maybe fail if you are using a cheap shitty bullet and exspect a great kill, so bullet choice is much important then the used caliber - but that goes with ANY caliber and not just with the .270 WIN

quote:

Whammed in by AC:
When is the .270 Winchester ever a BAD choice for deer?

Anytime you have someone who is scared of the rifle because they only shoot it 2-3 shots before the Season Opener. And , when the Game is larger than a Coyote.

quote:

Originally posted by Hot Core:

quote:

Whammed in by AC:
When is the .270 Winchester ever a BAD choice for deer?

Anytime you have someone who is scared of the rifle because they only shoot it 2-3 shots before the Season Opener. And , when the Game is larger than a Coyote.

Ya just had to know that Hot Core would jump on the band wagon on this one!!!

For me? Anytime, because I have a 6.5x55 that I'd rather use!

I've shot a couple of whitetails at really close range (closest was 4 yards) and I found the high velocity tore up a lot of edible meat.

Perhaps in tight, thick cover situations the round was be better replaced by something heavier and slower.

The only time I ever disliked a 270 was when I was standing in a bad place and caught a wicked muzzleblast from another shooter, my bad, not the rifles.

Otherwise, as far as Im concerned, the 270 could well be the "perfect" deer rifle.

Never.

The only game I would feel undergunned for in the Western Hemisphere with my 270 is for the really big bears, Kodiak and Polar.

Welll, didn't Ol' Elmer postulate at one time that a .270 was barely adequate for coyotes?
Anyway, you guys know I'am a .270 slut but being a displaced New Yorker, I'm thinking I might prefer something like my old model 94, .30-30 if'n I was deer hunting up in the Adirondacks. Just thinking here as my 1st rifle was an old model 94 and I used it there. I got rid of it and got an FN Mauser in .270, came to Ak., and have never looked back.
I do think, I might prefer my old mod. 94 in those circumstances but otherwise, no way Jose. It just plain works.
Bear in Fairbanks

Actually Old Elmer preferred the 270 over the 30-06 for deer/antelope sized game because in the 30's it had better bullets available for it. He also personally told me while we were deer hunting that he thought Nosler Partition bullets made the 270 an acceptable elk rifle if you were careful with your shot placement.

465H&H

Hello from the UK. This is from a European perspective.

My viewpoint on the 270 Winchester is that with the standard high velocity 130 grain load it is too light a bullet at too high a velocity.

Indeed the "classic" British and European deer cartridges all seem to launch a 140-160 grain bullet at between 2,600-2,800fps.

I use a 270, as do many here, and a lot of us now use handloads to optimise it OR factory ammunition with 140 grain bullets.

It is certainly one of the great cartridges BUT not one loading "fits all" and IMHO it is actually an even better deer cartridge with 140 or 150 grain bullets at around 2,700-2,800fps.

Just my input.

I also have a 280 Remington and that is really what the 270 Winchester should have been from the start...a true 7mm based on the 30-06 case with an ability to be America's (better) take on, or answer to, the 7x64.

I have three .270s, have owned and used probably a dozen at least and I have had several custom .280s, I now have two Brno 22H rifles so chambered and the Brno actions to build two more. I have shot the .270 since 1968 and the .280 since 1981 and if there is ANY real difference between them on ANY game animals, I have never seen it.

I keep trying to get a friend of mine to sell me his CZ-537 (I think) in 7x64 and consider this an excellent and equal cartridge to the other two. They are all "peas in a pod" and none is superior to the others.

With a .270 and .338WM combo, or a9.3x62-.280Rem. combo or a 9.3x64 B-7x64B combo, you are set to hunt anything, short of Elephants and Rhinos, which hold no interest for me, anyway.

NEVER.

When you have a .25-06 in the cabinet

I'm going to stick my head above the parapet on this one.....


The 270 is a bad idea if you have chest shoot small deer, say Roe, Muntjac or Texas Whitetail size, at woodland stalking ranges with factory ammo.

It makes one hell of a mess, even if you only clip a rib let alone the shoulder.

Then again everyone I shoot for, including myself, is very interested in eating the deer I shoot.

If one home loads then the 270 with a 140-150grain bullet at around 2800,as pointed out by ES above, is wonderful.

Same with 150grain bullets in the '06 IME.

For everything else it's great, the flattest shooting of the "standard" calibres and convenient and comparatively cheap to run.

That is true and I have had some problems of that nature as several hunting partners have also had. I only load 150s in my .270s and 150s-160s in my .280s. I get 2900 fps-mv in the .270s, a hair more in the .280s with the 150s and about 2850 in the .280s with 160s.

These are safe "max" loads and I use Nosler Pts. by preference and I have had excellent results on every type of deer we have in BC, these range from 85 lb. yearling females to 350+ lb. male Mulies. In fact, these three cartridges WILL do it all in BC and this includes killing trophy Grizzlies, as I have witnessed a friend doing.

The big issue, to me, is that one can have a light rifle and still have excellent "killing power", so to speak and the recoil is not onerous. With today's bullets, almost any hunting can be done and well done with the .270.

Around 03:00 on someone else's land without permission & out of season - in that case a suppressed .22rf might be more appropriate.

quote:

Originally posted by Oddbod:
Around 03:00 on someone else's land without permission & out of season - in that case a suppressed .22rf might be more appropriate.

Yeh, if used on the poacher instead of the deer. A .270 would give him too quick and too merciful a come-uppance.

Geezuzmurphee, Lloyd, you ARE getting to be an ornery old redneck, eh? But, yeah, I agree, poachers rank with paedophiles and animal abusers and NEED a "bang flop", IMO.

quote:

Originally posted by Dewey:
Geezuzmurphee, Lloyd, you ARE getting to be an ornery old redneck, eh? But, yeah, I agree, poachers rank with paedophiles and animal abusers and NEED a "bang flop", IMO.

Yeh, I almost didn't hit the "post now" button after I wrote that, Dewey. But, I've lived here in the U.S. of "Hey!" 29 years this time....it's getting more and more difficult to remain "genteel".

Plus, I pretty much believe what Sports Afield used to post on almost every page of its magazines about 60 years ago...i.e. "The game law violator is a thief!".

Doesn't mean I've never done it to feed my family, but I try neither to be proud of it, nor to do it again now that I don't have to.

Still, I recognize that was a humourous post, and the "used on the poacher" line was just my trying to be humourous back.

I purchased a Winchester Mdl 70 270 in 1952 and started to reload ammo for it in 1953. That rifle has dropped pronghorn, mule deer, elk and some varmints. I have used 100, 110, 140, 150 and 160 Gr bullets in the 270 rifle. Over the years I have tried out various brands of rifles and cartridges but that old 270 Winchester was all I ever needed. It never was a bad choice.

The .270 is never a bad choice for Deer of any kind. The only better choice in my opinion is the .270 Wby or .270 WSM, I shoot four of the later. I have taken Elk and many Deer with my rifles, all Model 70's. Good shooting.

NEVER is the 270 Winchester a bad choice for deer!

The 270 Win. is one of the ALL-TIME BEST deer cartridges ever designed!

quote:

Originally posted by Oddbod:
Around 03:00 on someone else's land without permission & out of season - in that case a suppressed .22rf might be more appropriate.

When is the .270 Winchester ever a BAD choice for deer?
When one is 16-18 years old and he and several buddies decide the local golf coarse needs a little game management at 4:00 in the morning.
I have been told that a .22LR is a much better choice.

I am told that bows are the weapon of choice these days.

Kinda funny that I have never really liked the .270 probably 'cause everyone else had one. That being said, I have owned more .270s than anything else simply because the rifles I like seem to show up in that caliber when I have money. I also have never had a .270 fail me on any game

When you coulda had a .280!

The .270 IS a little on the large side for muntjac & Chinese water deer & I prefer a .243 for roe.
If however, I were limited to the .270 it would be no great hardship.

quote:

Originally posted by Rae59:
.....I am told that bows are the weapon of choice these days.

Crossbows around here - I can recall a couple of incidents where deer were found with bolts in them. The poachers don't seem to care that they are using target, rather than hunting heads.