A friend recently purchased a .270 and has asked me for advice on what to feed it for whitetails. Unfortunately I don't own a 270, but a little looking around I've come up with some tentative recommendations for him: Federal Premium, Black Hills Gold or PMC Gold with the 130 gr. Barnes XLC or Federal Premiums with a 130 gr. Trophy Bonded bullet.

I was hoping some of you .270 owners who have used these rounds could share your thoughts or recommendations. FYI, I've never shot either Black Hills or PMC ammo, so I'm leaning toward the Federal Premium.... but only because I've worked with it before.

I've shot many whitetails with the Federal Premium 130gr Sierra boattail, it works very well.

I've used Remington corelok, Winchester ballistic tip and Winchester Silvertip. All have been 130gr..that seems to work best with the .270. Excellent results with all three.

The Barnes XLC and TBBC are very, very good bullets (=$$$). But, we're talking whitetails here, so they're not really needed, in my opinion (uninformed as I am about the hunting scenarios your friend plans to be in).

When I hunted with factory loads, my favorite was the Hornady Custom 140-gr. InterLock. In fact, I still use this bullet, just now on top of rounds I've rolled myself. Before I'd go with any Sierra bullet, I would choose:

1. Hornady InterLocks

2. Winchester PowerPoints

3. Remington Core-Lokts

Any weight 130-gr. or above will do the trick on Mr. or Mrs. Whitetail.

Good luck,
RSY

The Remington Premier and Federal Premium 140 grn. NBTs are great whitetail rounds.

Reloader

A steller performing factory load is the Winchester 150 grain power point. Always opens and fully penetrates deer. Though I don't take hip to shoulder shots. Works fine on elk too but the bullet does not always exit. As a fine point after you shoot em you have that good Winchester brass to reload.

Save yourself the money and heartache and just go down to your local WallyMart and buy the 130 grain Remington Corelokts. These are some of the best bullets for deer and some of the most economical ammo out there. They have also been accurate in most of the rifles I have used them in. You just don't need a super premium bullet for deer.

Tim

I've used 130 gr. Remington Core-Lokts for about 18 or so years. The others listed above may work as well or better, don't know. I'd like to try some 140 or 150 grain premium bullets but have never really had to because the 130 Core-Lokts just keep piling up game and I don't shoot my big game rifle much in the off season.

The price is right, bullets stay together pretty well in most cases. Frankly, some bullets have come completely apart after they've passed through a shoulder bone, a rib and destroyed the heart/lung area. They've worked wonderfully on whitetails and mule deer, some weighing upwards of 250 pounds.

Doesn't your friend know that the puny .270 will bounce off white tails and/or leave injured game all over the woods? Is he crazy? He needs at least the extra 0.031 inches diameter to really knock them off their feet. Tell him to sell it and buy a real man's gun!

I agree with the buying of Core-lokts or Power points. I'd go by a box of each in 130 grains and see which one shoots the best and use it. Both have counted for lots of game for me. Good Luck.

I've had my 270 BDL for about 20 years and it was one of the first rifles I reloaded for. I've spent big bucks on all the premium bullets I could find, used about 6 different powders, and did all the little gimicks you can think of to make the rifle accurate. This rifle shot some pretty impressive groups with some of these loads but non of them could beat the cheap Federal Classic 130gr. High-shok soft point.
I've taken lots of whitetail and mule deer both here in MI and out west, and instead of beating my brains out trying to come up with a perfect load, I go down to Wally-World and pay $11.75 for a box of 20. I've never had a bad kill with this bullet.

Winchester 130 gr Power Points

Remington 130gr works fine on whitetails.Every deer shot thru boiler room only went 30yds.