Favorite 270 Winchester rifle, ammo?

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mshootnit

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Whats your favorite 270 Winchester rifle/ scope and ammo? Feel free to share pics or hunting stories. I've got two right now. One is a Ruger Hawkeye, the other is a Tikka stainless laminate, with a custom pad and LOP. I added the High Desert Rifle works bottom metal. Finally settled on the Leupold PRW system for scope mounting and it is sweet! About the only improvement now would be bedding.

For ammo, the best load I have found is the Federal Fusion 130 gr. ammo in the orange box. It groups really well and hits pretty hard.
 
My Grandfather's immediate post-war production Winchester Model 70 that he used hunting deer and elk in Colorado for 40 years. It still has the pre-war safety configuration, Lyman 2.5X scope, and is far from pristine. I usually shoot it with various commercial 150 gr cup & core- just like he used.
 
For years (1988- 2019) I used a Steyr Professional model with a 2.2-9X42 Swarovski that I bought from the Grafenwoehr Rod and Gun Club in Germany. I killed a lot of animals with that rifle; Whitetails, Blacktails, Mulies, Boar and Chamois. Past couple years the accuracy started to drop off as the throat was gone. Just too many 130s at 3100 FPS. Unfortunately the older Steyrs had pressed in barrels, no easy way to re-barrel them, When I contacted Steyr they told me they were no longer re-barreling the older rifles and had moved to screw in barrels.

So luckily I found a Nolser M48 NIB in .270Win for a steel on Gunbroker. The same rifle in "more modern" catridges was going for $4-500 more, seems like nobody wanted an antiquated .270. Since I'm heavily invested in .270 (dies brass tooling etc) I bought one. I then mounted a Leupold VX6HD 2-12x42 scope and developed 2 loads, 130 BTs at 3170 and 130ABs at 3154 FPS (24" barrel), the rifle is sub MOA with both. Weight "all up" with ammo + sling is just over 8lbs. In 3 years I've taken 3 shots on game; 2 bucks and an antelope, from 263-327 yds.

Practicing off the tripod:

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Off backpack:
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I've had a few but the two I've had the longest are both Winchester M70's. One is a pre 64 that was gifted to me when I was a kid about 14. I hunted with it a lot but never really killed anything with it, as i was not a good hunter then. It shoots great with Cup and core 130gr bullets and 58-60 grs of H4831. The other is one of my main go to rifles. It's a semi custom built on an M70 Classic, with a fluted Rock Creek barrel (I bought it that way in the early 2000's). It also likes about any 130gr bullet over H4831. I have also loaded 110gr TTSX (have yet to kill anything with that combo) and for awhile I loaded 140gr Hornady BTSP.

I made my longest shot on a game animal with that combo - somewhat over 500 yards ( I don't remember exactly, I have it written down somewhere), prone over my backpack, on a nice Mule deer buck here in Idaho. The bullet hit behind the front shoulder (animal was quartering towards me) and went through the heart and liver. It killed it pretty much right there (he rolled down the hill into some sage brush) but the bullet had come apart more then I like, so I don't use it anymore. If I can find a photo, I will post it up.
 
Waaaay back in the day when I first got my used 1953 like new Win Model 70 .270 with Unertl 4 x scope at 15yo in 1963 I used the aluminum capped Winchester Silvertip 130 grain ammo.. Every one knew who hit the deer with that ammo as there were silver shards thru the wound channel ! I did't have that gun from 68-78 because of deployments and moves but got it again in 78 from my dad who was holding it for me. When I started using it again it was the good old Win Silvertip 130s and my hunting partners were astonished by the silvery large wound channel and great performance until the end of the 80s or so when Winchester stopped making those loads and I was loading the equally explosive Nosler Ballistic Tips 130 of the era ; worked great on deer to 400+ yards . I used 150 grain Remington Corelokts on Pigs BTW during the 1978-1990 era I lived in heavy large Boar area and never hunted elk with it. The man I traded for electrical work on my home for that well used but still great rifle DOES use it STILL successfully for Elk in Oregon with 150 grain Remington Corelokt ammo still !!!

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tominboise said:
I've had a few but the two I've had the longest are both Winchester M70's. One is a pre 64 that was gifted to me when I was a kid about 14. I hunted with it a lot but never really killed anything with it, as i was not a good hunter then. It shoots great with Cup and core 130gr bullets and 58-60 grs of H4831. The other is one of my main go to rifles. It's a semi custom built on an M70 Classic, with a fluted Rock Creek barrel (I bought it that way in the early 2000's). It also likes about any 130gr bullet over H4831. I have also loaded 110gr TTSX (have yet to kill anything with that combo) and for awhile I loaded 140gr Hornady BTSP.

I made my longest shot on a game animal with that combo - somewhat over 500 yards ( I don't remember exactly, I have it written down somewhere), prone over my backpack, on a nice Mule deer buck here in Idaho. The bullet hit behind the front shoulder (animal was quartering towards me) and went through the heart and liver. It killed it pretty much right there (he rolled down the hill into some sage brush) but the bullet had come apart more then I like, so I don't use it anymore. If I can find a photo, I will post it up.
Click to expand...
Quartering shots are hard on bullets it seems, but glad it all worked out for you.
 
mshootnit said:
Quartering shots are hard on bullets it seems, but glad it all worked out for you.
Click to expand...

That's why on threads where people suggest 2-3 moa is enough for hunting, while true in good conditions. When an animal is quartering the kill zone shrinks dramatically. People don't think about that.
 
Don't ask how old this pic is, please. Mountains in backgrown are the Bighorns. It was my first elk and the rifle is a .270 Pre-64 M-70 Super grade featherweight and load was 130 gr Speer over a case full of 4831. I wish I still had that rifle. YoungJim8.jpg
 
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I only have one 270 and don't currently have a scope on it. When I do, it's likely a Burris Fullfield II or E1 4.5-14x42. The only ammo I have for it is Federal Power Shok 130 grain JSP, so that's my favorite right now. ;)
BRNO ZKK 600.
c6X3PNC.jpg
 
I have a BAR safri grade the older one. it loves the old fed blue box 130 gr. killed alot of deer with it. My new 270 I built on a savage 110 action likes 150 gr fed premium. Will work up a load for it soon as weather gets better.
 
jc higgins model 50 in 270. built around 1953. i am a 54 model. high standard in hamden conn. me also in new haven county, conn.
...action is fn. not military as no clip slot or thumb cut out either.
.....scope is a luepold with a small ends. like discussed in the vintage rifle thread no room for today's modern scopes.
....ammo is a reduced handload of 5744. no recoil, less noise.
 
Offfhand said:
Don't ask how old this pic is, please. Moutains in backgrown are the Bighorns. It was my first elk and the rifle is a .270 Pre-64 M-70 Super grade featherweight and load was 130 gr Speer over a case full of 4831. I wish I still had that rifle.View attachment 1121172
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I'm lucky enough that I can see the Bighorns right out my windows . ( I'm west of Greybull , Basin ) I love everything in that picture of yours , old trucks , sheep wagon and simpler times !
 
Mention of the JC HIggins reminds me of one......also in 270......used to make one of the more bizarre shots I ever witnessed. I was about 10 at the time, so it made an impression on me. Neighbors were an old couple.....long term family friends and we farmed for them. Old boy Frank was 2nd husband and from California. His 270 with fixed 4X scope. Day in question, one of Frank's sons from Kali was there visiting, and when we pulled up, son was setting up an 8 foot wooden step ladder in the driveway. Proceeded to pull out the rifle, layed it over a pillow, rolled up coat or some type of soft rest on top of stepladder, and pointed it south......across a federal highway at a pond about 200 yards across the road. Was aiming it at a muskrat swimming around in the pond. I'm only 10 and can't believe what I'm seeing. But after 30 seconds or so, gun goes off and muskrat meat flies about 10 feet in the air.

So standing several feet off the ground, on a rickety stepladder, shooting across a busy 2 lane federal highway, at a very small target moving thru water at least 200 yards away. And hit it.

My dad later used that gun to kill his first deer. When the old boy passed away shortly after that, his kids came for his stuff, including that rifle. Dad then went on a quest and found it's replacement.......a Rem 700......also in 270.

This group was shot with the replacement Rem 270 what is still going strong. That was 55 grains IMR 4350 under 130 grain Interlocks zipping along at around 3150 fps.

IMG_0091.jpg
 
Pre-64 Model 70,1951 production.
130 gr. Silvertips. (I still have around 750 of them left). Loaded with around 60 gr. of surplus H-4831 (I bought 50 pounds of it from Hornady in January of 1973, still have a few pounds left).
Today it wears a Leupold 3x9 but during it’s hay days it wore a Weaver 4X scope. It shared time with a SAKO 243 I bought at Patch Barracks in Stuttgart in 1972. I haven’t hunted with either rifle since 1992. Today I’m 75, retired, have cancer, but doing pretty well, but the excitement today isn’t like it was 50 years ago. I wonder how much venison I’ve eaten those long past years? About all I hunt anymore are prairie dogs with my Krico chambered in 22Br on days between 60 and 90 degrees.
No, neither are for sale, nor any of their many safe mates.
 
Pivot Dr said:
Pre-64 Model 70,1951 production.
130 gr. Silvertips. (I still have around 750 of them left). Loaded with around 60 gr. of surplus H-4831 (I bought 50 pounds of it from Hornady in January of 1973, still have a few pounds left).
Today it wears a Leupold 3x9 but during it’s hay days it wore a Weaver 4X scope. It shared time with a SAKO 243 I bought at Patch Barracks in Stuttgart in 1972. I haven’t hunted with either rifle since 1992. Today I’m 75, retired, have cancer, but doing pretty well, but the excitement today isn’t like it was 50 years ago. I wonder how much venison I’ve eaten those long past years? About all I hunt anymore are prairie dogs with my Krico chambered in 22Br on days between 60 and 90 degrees.
No, neither are for sale, nor any of their many safe mates.
Click to expand...


I'm right there with you sir, as many others here are also or maybe even more ripe vintage !
Just wondering; do you remember your 130 grain Silvertips leaving aluminum traces in the wound channel ? Are they the old school ones with the hard aluminum nose cap ? My huge stash of bullets was .30 Remington 150 grain Bronze points . I loaded them in .308 as they were slightly boat tail and worked good always on the Big Sur Boar , a good target load, they were accurate . The problem was once in a while they did not open in game and I by early 80s saved them for target shooting in M14s and such as they were great in semi autos simulating Ball profile and with a Bronze point ! My son is still shooting them up in various .30s and tells me in magnums with 3000 fps they always open :) .

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I have a 721 Remington 270 that I'd hoped to get a buck with this season. It was used when we bought it about 30 years ago for my wife and I had to shorten the stock for her. It also had a Herter's scope on it, 6 power I recall. I found an old original stock for it and made it "adult" sized again. :)
Kinda wish that I'd kept that scope for the "vintage" effect now tho ..o_O
 
Dave DeLaurant said:
Just have the one .270 right now, a post-war Husqvarna with an FN action:

View attachment 1121300

She's only been shot with mild handloads since I bought her about 25 years ago. I'm thinking about swapping this 60s era Weaver K2.5 with one of the older El Paso K4s I just bought, to be more period correct.
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Ohhh, pray tell, what will you do with the K2.5?
 
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