Interested in 270 winchester or other similar caliber for sheep and goats on backpack hunts. anyone with experience in such calibers will be appreciated. tired of carrying a heavy rifle around in the Brooks and chugach Range. I believe that this direction will be better than customizing an expensive rifle to cut down on weight. Thanks in advance to all that input.

I've shot my ex-brother inlaw's 15" .270 Encore quite a bit. The recoil is fairly stiff but not unmanagable. The worst part about shooting it was the muzzle blast. Others may disagree but I opted for the 7mm-08 instead of .270 in my Encore. A lot less powder, less muzzle blast, and I get between 2665 and 2700 fps with 120 grain Hornady's out of a 15" barrel. Like I said, just my opinion.

David what kind of range do you want to be able to shoot at for both of these animals?



Ernie

If you want more info on LR handgun hunting shoot me an e-mail at ernie1 @ ourtownusa.net

PS Take out the two spaces on each side of the @ symbol so there are no breaks in the address.

David_McNesse,

One of my first Encore barrels was the 15" 270 and it has served me pretty well over the years on deer size game. Our deer here in Montana can often weigh well over 300 lbs on the hoof so they would be a fairly close comparison to sheep and goats. Perhaps not as much front end thickness.

In my opinion, I would and have made one shot kills with the 270 Encore out to 250 yards with ease. I used the 140 gr Ballistic Tip at just under 2750 fps. Performs great on deer with full penetration on any ethical vital shot.

Problem is that I would not recommend reaching much past that on big deer and on a heavy ram, I feel 200 yards would be a wise range limit.

There are better rounds out there now that would serve you better on the sheep hill if that big ram or billy is 300-400 yards away.

I would say the Encore is somewhat limited in rounds you can use in it. They say the belted magnums are fine but I can not endorse them from what I have seen from practical experience.

A much better system would be an XP-100 with a composite stock and a lightweight match grade barrel, I prefer Lilja but thats just personal opinion.

I just ordered reamers for my gunsmithing shop in the 6.5 WSM and the first thing that will be made is my personal long range deer handgun built to those specs.

I have a 338 WSM that drives the 180 gr B.T.'s to a full 2900 fps and is a hammer clear out to 400 yards but it is also heavy and much more then you need for your purpose.

THe 6.5 WSM has plenty of velocity and bullets with very high B.C. numbers to allow shooting to at least 400 yards on 300 lb class game.

hoping to get the handgun built here soon(next few months depending on my customer load, they do come first) then I will give a full report.

Good Shooting!!!

50

I got the 15" Encore in 270 and topped it with a 4x Leupold M8 EER this past summer and took a doe with it this firearms season. I really like it. It shoots well for me and if I've been practicing I can hit a milk jug at 150yds each time. The recoil isn't much. Very managable. It does have a lot of muzzle blast. I used a 130gr. Nosler ballistic tip on that 150lb doe I took. Took her right down on a frontal shot and that was it. I really enjoy it and it's easy to pack around.

Matt

My Dad has a 15" 270Win and he loves it! He's pushing 77 years old hunted with a rifle all his life and now he said,after shooting this I'll never go back to the rifle.