I done some searching (both on this site and the net as a whole) and haven't been able to find many factory varmint loads for my .270. Remington does make a corelokt in 100gr psp, but I would rather have something a bit more fragmental.

I will primarily be shooting groundhogs and coyotes back home in KY. Ideally I would go buy a .223 bolt action, but the wife is having a hard time understanding the "need" for a new gun. Since cash is my limiting factor, I'm not currently going to be able to get set up for reloading.

Any ideas on factory ammo?

For those interested, the rifle mentioned is a Winchester model 70 (ranger) topped with a 3-9x40 Leupold VX-II. It's been a death ray on whitetails. It was my first gun. I bought it when I was 16 (dad/7x57 did the paperwork) from WalMart before they went pinko-commie and stopped selling boomsticks.

Get yourself a Lee Loader, a box of Sierra 90-grain hp's, a box of Hornady 100 grain sp's, two packs of CCI primers, and a can of IMR-4350. That will be a complete reloading outfit for maybe $60. The loader and powder will be useful for larger bullet weights, if you want. One can of powder will last maybe 250 rounds.

Actually the Remington 100 grain is just a soft point bullet. The MV is 3300+ fps so I imagine what ever it hits it will explode on. Just using regular SP ammo in 130 grain does a number on prarie dogs in my rifle and I don't have to go and change my scope settings.Ballistics

Agree with taylorce1, soft points that you might be using anyway make mince meat of prairie dogs.

With the $ you'll save not buying a rifle, scope, etc. you can buy a ton of ammo and have a great time. The only issue would be on a very high volume day (prairie dogs) your shoulder would get a might tender.

Thanks to all for the input.

The 100 gr soft point is designed to retain it's mass I believe. Based on my experience with the 130 gr corelokts on whitetails, I would rather have a more explosive round.

I never knew I could get set up to reload for so little. I spoke with my dad today on the phone and he said that the Lee Loader is a very good product. I think I'll pick one up tomorrow with some Hornady 110 gr V-maxes, 90 gr Sierras, and primers.

I used the 90 gr HP when I first started. Thing to remember about the 270--it was developed to have the most accurate factory ammunition. For a long time it was hard to get better than the factory ammo. Also, I want to find a bull barrel for the 270. Any thoughts?

90gr HP sierras over 58.5gr of IMR 4350. Remington brass. CCI 200 primers.

I'll report back with results when I get a chance to shoot these. Thanks for the advice. I think I've got a new hobby.

There's two ways you could look at this...

Regard the long range varminting as 'practice' using your regular hunting loads... you'll sure get a good idea of what the rifle will do, and you won't have to touch your sights.

The other would be (as others have suggested) get yourself a basic reloading set up and play

IIRC, the Lee Loader is effective and cheap, but very slow - another possibility would be the RCBS Partner kit (and others in its price range)... bit more $$$ but much easier and quicker to use.

I use 110g Sierra Pro Hunters for that sort of shooting - not as explosive, but we don't get a great range of bullets in Oz... easy on the shoulder, although 100 in a day will give you a headache either from the recoil or noise or both...

Them's my thoughts...