.270 rounds

[Baylian]

I bought a .270 Win. CZ 550. I was wondering what would be a good practice round? What would be a good deer round? I was thinking 130 grain boattail spitzer for deer. What would be a good elk round? I was thinking a 150 grain Nosler Partition. Suggestions Please!!

Thanks in advance, TJ :p

[Brithunter]

Well it might seem strange but unless your going to be shooting regularly at over 300 yards then a Boat Tailed bullet is not needed and plain base bullets can be more accurate ;) . So a 130 grain flat based bullet would work very nicely.

I would also practice with the ammo I would be hunting with, means less re-zeroing and you get a feel for the cartridge/rifle performance :D . As I have never even seen an Elk let alone hunted them I am not really in a posotion to advise on hunting them. But from freinds who do live in Elk contry and DO hunt them the .270 is adequete but not the best Elk cartridge their is :( but also I could not fault you thoughts on using a heavier tougher bullet on these large animals :)

Congratulations on your new CZ 550 :D it happens I like the CZ-Brno rifles :D having an older one, it's a Model 601 in .308 Win, now back to ammo. Not sure who loads flat based bullets in their commercial ammo. I am just getting to the last of a box of 130 grain Nosler Solid Base bullets in my .270 :( wish I could get some more :eek: Good Luck.

[Jack]

Most of the 130 grain loads on the market for the 270 are designed as deer bullets, and will do the job just fine. You could use the same load to practice with.
For elk, your idea of using a 150 grain bullet of sturdy construction is a good thought. The classic is the Nosler Partition, and for good reason- it is the standard controlled expansion bullet that all others are compared to. Or, some of the new bullets like the Barnes X bullets, Winchester's Fail Safe or the new one (XP3), Speer Grand Slam, etc.
I would agree with Brithunter about boat tail bullets- don't worry about whether a bullet is a boat tail or not. The boat tail's advantage doesn't even begin to show, for practical purposes, until the range is 400 yards or more. And the advantage is very slight.

[Dom]

Congrats on the .270 Baylian I do believe you will like it - great caliber!! I recommend one load using the 150gr Nosler partition in the .270. There are others, but I prefer the 150s in a .270. When I grab my .270, I have "one load for all" and that's a 150 Nosler partition. Since I reload and have that load worked out, when I get low a roll some more.

Maybe if I was doing really long range varmint hunting, like you might, I'd work on a 130 grainer, but since I don't have that option I needn't worry about it. No muss no fuss and it does the job -- and I practice exactly with what I hunt with, and not from the bench, but different shooting positions, Waidmannsheil, Dom.

[razmuz]

Don't let any of these gun nuts tell you that a 270 is not enough gun for elk. Those gun magazine educated nimrods think you should use a different caliber for each game species (sell more products). Hell, the 270 was enough gun even before the age of the Super Bullets. The Speer Grand Slam will kill the biggest bear. I'd go with the 150 grain, but I've had just as good luck with the 130 grain. Yes, it'll even work on quarting shots. Go to an elk camp and see what the women are shooting. In many cases you will find the 257 Roberts which will also work. The 270 is not a specialty caliber, it will work on any thing in N/America.

[270man]

Baylian,

As a long time 270 user, I can tell you that just about any of the 130gr spitzers from major manufacturers will work for deer. 130gr seems to be the "sweet spot" bullet weight for the 270 -- 3000fps velocity (or higher) and good accuracy. I used the Nosler 130gr Partition for my one elk taken with the 270. In the future, I plan to buy the 140gr weight NPs. Writer Jim Carmichael states that the 270 stops being itself with 150gr bullets. Its forte is high velocity with flat trajectory, and these go down dramatically with heavier bullets. I can't speak from experience but I know many who have used 130gr bullets and downed their elk with no problems. I wouldn't feel handicapped with them either, but I would go with premium bullets.

270man

[PJgunner]

I prefer the heavier bullets in a .270 Win. My experience with a .270 is very long and extremely thin. I took a nice mule deer with one back in the mid 1970s, or thereabouts. One shot, one deer. A true bang/flop.
Frankly, the story of that deer hunt in better than the kill. :D
If you're not bored with hunting stories then you might get a bit of a kick from this one.
I was hunting with my next door neighbor whose only knowlege about deer hunting was what he read in OUTDOOT LIFE, FIELD & STREAM and SPORTS AFIELD which usually covered hunting in the eastern part of the country for whitetails. Tom kept moaning and griping about this country was too wide open with no cover for a deer to hide. We're sitting on a ridge that ran from easy to west with another ridge running north to south intersecting it about 80 yards way. At the intersection there was a nice saddle.

I'm sitting kind of looking at the saddle, Tom is griping about this being the wrong type of cover for deer ad nauseum when there was a flurry of shots over on the other side of the saddle. My radar goes on, because these dude are making it sound like Little Beruit. About this time a nice 5x5 buck comes trotting through the saddle. I guess Tom was looking the other way when I shot, because he's all over my butt hollering, "Be careful with that gun, Guns are dangerous.", and so on. Me? I'm looking at where the deer dropped. :D I look at Tom and asked him if he wanted to help me gut the deer. He didn't belive me until we got to where the deer was. :D :cool: A perfect 4x4 with two matching drop points. I still have that rack.
I forgot to mention, Tom was from New York City. Here I teach him about the freedom of the wide open spaces of the west and he moves back to NYC. I guess some people never learn. :rolleyes: he a hell of a nice guy though.
Paul B.