Why was the .270 invented?

[rangerruck]

270; I hated it for years, for no good reason. After a ballistics study, I found they are a great flat shooting round. And then after many years of not shooting, I shot one, right after shooting a 30.06. If you have not done this, and have not shot either for a while, you should. the difference in recoil, at least felt recoil, was amazing; the 270 was like butta...

 

[ants]

It started out as a joke...

They introduced the .270 Winchester in 1925 because they wanted to instigate endless debates among gun owners over the telephone, telegraph and radio: Which caliber is better?

Unfortunately, gun owners didn't get the joke and took it seriously. Instead of endless debate, they wanted the new caliber. Gun manufacturers made and sold millions upon millions of rifles in .270 Win. Millions and millions of animals fell to the 130 and 150 grain rounds. Everyone was happy!

Then, 80 years later, internet forums replaced telephone, telegraph and radio. Suddenly, the debate was on and just wouldn't stop...

At least that's my theory...

 

[cougar1717]

Why did they invent it? Because they could. What else did people have to do in 1925?
But seriously, everyone necks existing cartriges up and down to try and find a winner of commercial success. Sometimes they got a 243 Winchester, other times a 25 WSSM.

 

[nelsonal]

I'd guess, because lighter bullets are fine for popular US game (whitetail, antelope etc), and lighter bullets in a .30-06 have a very low BC, so they didn't retain much energy at longer distances (which are common for almost all Western hunting). So the cartridge was necked down and someone either got lucky the first time or found that BCs were pretty near optimal the desired weight at .277 cal.

 

[Savage99]

Of course the 270 was introduced to sell each of us, who already had an 06, a new rifle!

I started handloading in 1953 and back then we could get all the 06 ball ammo we wanted free from the DCM and that included rifles, chambered in 30-06 of course, that we could borrow.

It made zero sense to bother with the 270 but some did for the fun of it.

I would rather that they came out with a 7mm or just chambered one of the euro. rounds that were already being made.

 

[d2wing]

The .270 shoots flatter? By maybe an inch at some ranges. In bullets of the same weight, loaded to the same pressure there is very little difference.
Strictly a myth created by Jack O'Conner along with others. Short mags were pretty much created the same way by some gun writer, I don't remember which one. Most gun writers won't tell you about crappy stuff or useful info camparing ammo or guns because gun company ads pay their wages. So they make up bs to sell mags. Most those myths persist because
too many people don't check stuff like actual ballistics tables.

 

[GunsBeerFreedom]

Probably because back then the lighter bullets, higher velocity and subsequent flatter trajectory in limited factory ammo made a bigger difference that it does with the wide varieties of 30-06 loadings. But that's just my speculation.

 

[OrangePwrx9]

270; I hated it for years, for no good reason. After a ballistics study, I found they are a great flat shooting round. And then after many years of not shooting, I shot one, right after shooting a 30.06. If you have not done this, and have not shot either for a while, you should. the difference in recoil, at least felt recoil, was amazing; the 270 was like butta...

Interesting comment, rangerruck. For awhile I had two nearly identical Rem. 700s. One in 270 and the other a .30-06. Bought 'em new a year apart. Both had walnut stocks and no recoil pad.

Never felt the .270's recoil was "like butta", and I fired them side-by-side several times. In fact (and I never understood this), I felt the kick of the .270 was more annoying than that of the -06. Mostly this was comparing 130 gr. 270 loads to 150 gr. .30-06 loads.

As a result, I never had much love for the 270 and traded it off. Part of the reason was that the -06 was quite accurate while the 270 wasn't. Couldn't justify keeping a less accurate, less powerful and more annoying gun when I had that 06.
Bob

 

[Art Eatman]

Going back to the "Why?" of the original question. Remember that?

Armed Bear is correct...

Back in 1923, and continuing on into the 1960s if not later, factory '06 loads were limited to around 47,000 to 49,000 psi because of the older rifles. The .270 could be loaded to 50,000 to 55,000 psi without worry about low-number Springfield '03s.

With the lighter bullet, this gave higher MVs and flatter trajectories. Complaints from hunters about meat damage caused the introduction by Winchester in 1933 of the 150-grain loadings at lower velocities.

So sayeth Phil Sharpe; he was there.

If you run across a copy of Sharpe's "Complete Guide to Handloading", buy it. Aside from multitudes of load data, it gives some bit of history about just about every factory cartridge and wildcat used prior to around 1951. Aside from beaucoup other all-inclusive information and histories.

 

[Kernel]

The Army developed the .30-06 to effectively kill draft horses at 1000 yds through the use of volley fire. (Remember, the military is always preparing for the LAST war). Civilian arms manufactures realized it was overkill for 90% of most North American hunting. The .270 was introduced to provide less recoil and a flatter trajectory, while still retaining the general form factor and powder capacity of the .30-06 case.

 

[rdb]

Because God wanted a nice hunting rifle.

Model 70 in .270.

 

[sig220mw]

The 270 has great ballistics, good sectional density, not a lot of recoil and kills like a lightning bolt.

I've never had to shoot an animal twice with a 270.

 

[jlbpa]

I know why..... load up a .270 with a 110 grain hornady. Then load up a 30-06 with a 110 speer. Now tell me which one looks sexy. The 30-06 looks like a stumpy girl with no neck who wants to go home to momma....the .270 looks long and lean and ready for anything.

 

[Al LaVodka]

Invented?

To make Jack O'Conner a career!?

Al

 

[dgarvin1]

Someone said that without Jack O'Connor, the 270 likely would have faded into obscurity. I disagree.

I think the fact that the .270 shoots flat, hits hard, and is perfect for most North American game is the reason why it is one of the most popular calibers ever.