Ditto what Paul said, go with the 24". My personal .270win is a T/C Encore, and I have a 26" tube on it. The over all length of the gun is still pretty short, and I can drain every last ounce of Vel. out of the cartridge. I don't much like barrels under 24" on rifles under 30cal. The 7mm-08 may be an exception though.
Posts: 358 | Location: Stafford, Virginia | Registered: 14 August 2001
You will be able to get pretty respectable velocities out of a 22in tube. Personally, I prefer a bit shorter barrel to a bit longer. I always ask myself: Is that extra inch or two of barrel really go to change the velocity enough to make a difference during a hunt? Also, shorter barrels are generally more accurate than longer barrels of the same contour, all else held constant. Additionally, one of the advantages of a non-magnum like the 270 is that you don't need to haul around a 24"+ barrel to get good performance. JMO...
BTW, if you're having one made, just split the difference and go with a 23".
Definitely go with the 24" tube. If, in the future, you decide it's too long, it's a no-brainer to lop off an inch or two and re-crown for most gunsmiths.
The only reason I can come up with for not liking the 24" barrel would be if it seemed unwieldy to carry around and in/out of places, vehicles, etc. After all, in the field, rifles are carried much more than they're shot.
Good luck, RSY
Posts: 785 | Location: Central Texas | Registered: 01 October 2001
I've owned 3 .270's One (Ruger RSI)had a 17" barrel on it which I thought was unbearably loud. The 2nd (Winchester FWT)had a 21" barrel on it and it was alright, The 3rd one which I still own is an Interarms MarkX Mauser, it has a 24" barrel that's .550 thick at muzzle. It wears a McMillan stock and is probably one of the most balanced rifles I own. It points like a shotgun and is joy to carry. I like a 24" barrel on most of my guns.
Posts: 6315 | Location: Mississippi | Registered: 18 May 2002
I am a die hard 270 and have operating ones in 24,25, and 26. I have always liked longer barrels. I dont doubt major tom, I can get over 3000 in most 150s except the X bullets. Having a concentric and tight rifle helps.
Posts: 2045 | Location: West most midwestern town. | Registered: 13 June 2001
I am also a diehard 270W fan--I currently own 5 of 'em. Four have 22 inch barrels, one has a 24 inch barrel. I have messed with longer barrels but usually ended up cutting down to 22 inches in the past and just didn't think the 40 -60fps I was giving up was any big deal.
My "go to" 270's are lightweight ones (7lbs or less). Portability is also a criteria. I backpack and horse back the San Juans, Sangre De Cristos, West Elks and the Uncompahgre Plateau. For others weight and portability may not be an issue.
Now here is where I'll get flamed: I describe the 270 as a beltless magnum (65,000psi), long before the belted and beltless mags came along (and no, I am not forgetting the H&H's--back then it was a much lower pressure cartridge). More importantly, I will say the 270W is a efficient magnum (with apoligies to the new crop of short, fat mags).
The 270W doesn't need the long barrel in the same manner as the belted (or possibly the new beltless and/or short) mags. A 150gr in a Partition or Barnes X or TSX at 2900fps is a formidible cartridge for North American critters. This is probably just my rational, but I have used it well the past 30 years!
Majorcaliber: 270's generally like warmish/hot loads for accuracy, but 58gr of AA3100 is 3 grains over max in ALL of my Sierra and Nosler manuals. And I have shot several hundred rounds of 270's through an Oehler 43 Ballistics Lab to be pretty sure 3100fps with an 150gr bullet is probably in the neighborhood of 4000-6000psi over maximum. I doubt if things are going to blow up--but barrel and case life will be a whole lot shorter--you may start splitting cases at the pressure ring after a while. My favorite 270 is a tackdriver with 150gr Barnes X but it will only shoot them well with HOT loads. About 2930fps and the pressure graphs averaging 67000psi. I've got mucho pressure ring expansion also. At about 5-6 firings I have "popped' the web on the cases according to my micrometer--I throw the cases away after 8 firings.
Casey
Posts: 112 | Location: Western Slope of Colorado | Registered: 13 January 2004
The .270 will work very well with a 22" barrel. A 24" barrel, will on avergage get you 50-75 fps more velocity. In general, I prefer 24" barrels on my .270, but it probably depends more on how/where you hunt. If you spend a lot of time in the thick stuff, a 22" barrel probably makes more sense. Jack O'Connor, the long time .270 champion, prefered 22" barrels on his .270s and he shot just about all you can shoot with the .270.
Regards,
Lou
Posts: 333 | Location: Dallas, TX, USA | Registered: 15 January 2001
Here is the Accurate Arms 1st Edition manual. I got it 15 years ago when I bought my AA-3100 powder, which is not the same powder that they sell now. They show 3143fps with a 150gr in a 22" barrel with a 58gr charge. My gun couldn't match that, only doing 3109fps from a 24" barrel.
Now we find out that the data sheet is very old. That must be the same data that caused AA powder to start a head separation. I flushed the powder down the toilet.
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