More on the 270 Winchester

The 270 Winchester has been around a long time. Jack O’Connor, of Outdoor Life, was it’s greatest promoter right from the beginning.

I have been sitting back waiting to write a report on it as I was taking one to South Africa, and wanted an up dated report on performance.

My particular rifle just did not care for 130 gr bullets. When I went to 140 and 150 grains, all settled in quite well. Rel 22 seemed to be the powder of choice. I was not all that interested in what the 270 Win would do on paper or over the Chrony, I just wanted to remind myself what it would do on game.

So taking it to Africa with me was the perfect option. Shoots lots of game in a short period of time, and compare the results.

I spend many an hour in the cold rooms and lockers doing dissecting and autopsies of game. I wanted to know just what happens when a bullet moves thru an animal.

Often, the deciding performance, can be as simple as if the bullet hits a rib on the way in, causing aplenty of bone fragments to be driven thru the heart and lungs, or if the bullet slipped between the ribs going in, and heaven forbid, slipped between the ribs going out.

This gave entirely different performance. Or did the bullet hit a major leg or shoulder bone going in or out. I tried to take as many of these things as possisble into consideration in my research.

The "best" performance came from the new Barnes 140 gr Triple Shock bullet, known as TSX.

My best groups were at about 2950 fps out of my 25" Walther barrel, and they shot as well as any bullet I’ve tried.

On game, there were just awesome. The PH’s I hunted with were quite impressed. We recovered none of the bullets. This is indicative of them holding together and just plowing on thru.

I took the follow game with the 140-gr TSX:

2 Cape Kudu 1 Black Wildebeest

2 Blesbok 2 Springbok

1 Blue Wildebeest 1 Fallow Deer

1 Mountain Reed Bok 1 Impala

I also shot some game with 150 gr Speer Grand Slams, 150 gr Hornady Spire Points, and 150 Nosler Partitions.

The game was taken quite cleanly, but both the Grand Slam and Hornady Spire Point, were a lot softer than I thought they would be. They put quite a hole in those animals as compared to the TSX.

In fact I was surprised just how soft that Nosler Partition was too. I really thought it was a tougher bullet than the results indicated.

A bullet that really surprised me, was the factory Remington 130 gr Pointed Core Lokt. Granted I only shot one animal with it, a Blue Wildebeest at 110 yards, but nonetheless it was informative.

He was nicely broadside, and I put the bullet right where the front leg joins the body. The bullet broke both shoulders, and lodged in the skin on the far side. It put the Wildebeest right on his nose and he was dead almost as quick. The heart was blown to pieces.

Did the bullet "fail"? If so, at what point? There was no perfect mushroom like one would get with a Trophy Bonded Bear Claw or Swift A-frame, but the game was dead anyway.

Would that 130 gr be my bullet of choice for another Blue Wildebeest hunt? I don’t think so, but it sure should work for Springboks & Reedbucks.

The "toughest" animal that we seemed to come across this trip was the Blesbok.

Not only with the 270 Win, but with 7 mm Mag as well. Several times, they were hit right in the boiler room, only to wander off and either offer another shot, or be found dead 100+ yards from where being shot.

The couple Blesbok I shot with the 338 Win Mag were a different story. That big bullet certainly gets their attention.

The end results of testing the 270 Win on this trip just reminded me just how important bullet placement is. Any of the big Kudu or Small Springbok are no match for a well placed shot, and both will get away from you with a misplaced shot with a larger caliber.

Feel free to contact Terry by e-mail at tblauwkamp@superior-sales.com or call days to 616-896-6500.