Thread: .270 cal questions

Am adding a Tikka T3 lite in .270 win to my gun cabinet.
What do you recommend is projectile weight & ammo type ?

Are you hand loading? If so you can get nearly the same velocities from the 140 grain as the 130 grain pills.
I've loaded 140 grain SST's and comfortably get 3050fps with .495BC and sub .5 MOA after a little messing around with seating depth...I'm sure I could have shrunk the groups more but was happy with that for now.
140 grain accubonds come in at .496BC and are a favourite of mine too.

If you want cheap and cheerful then the federal blue box 130's nearly always shoot well from tikka T3's, but you will suffer at longer ranges in drift and drop with their poor BC. Were still ok on wallabies out to 500 ish yards though!

Thanks Matt ,wasn't thinking bout reloading for it at this point but it may come to that realistically.Would probably tend towards a Seirra SPSP .Not too worried about cost for the amount of ammo I use ,whats $3 for 50kg's of meat.

What are you hunting and at what ranges?

I would buy 3 or 4 packs of different makes of factory rounds and see which shoot the most accurately out of your rifle.
There are a lot of good factory loads to choose from, all will get the job done with good bullet placement, which is usually more important than what bullet you use.
Federal blue box 130's are loaded with the Speer Hot-Cor which is actually a very good bullet and has performed well on a lot of game for me...they shot sub .5 MOA out of my Tikka, so at ranges out to 350m I couldn't justify paying any more for different bullets.
For longer range hunting, Hornady Superformance will give you nearly .270WSM performance but wouldn't group under 2 MOA in my rifle!

interesting as I've bought a rem700 in 270 and thinking about what works for factory ammo. Rifle is shortened to 22inches, gunworks can.

Chris i have had my Tikka .270 for about 4 years. She absolutely loves the norma soft point 130s.
The highland are better than the federals in mine. Get bout 1 moa with the highlands and about .8 moa with the norma's.
hornady sst are shit in my gun, bout 2-3 moa, i think that they need to be seated out more than they are factory. Im an amateur though so this is only my opinion.
Oh and i also found the hornady custom 140s to be pretty good too.
I only shoot to 300m so not sure what factory round is best past that.

Federal make factory Premium Accubond and Gameking loads.

Hornady Superformance ammo shoots pretty well in an A bolt I know, its just better than 0.75 inch at 100m. And 1 inch at 200m.
Im replicating performance with handloads of 130gr SST's (although im not a fan of SST's).
150gr are getting a bit heavy for 400m+ shots.

Come to think of it the Hornady Custom ammo shot very well for him but im not sure you can get it anymore

I have had a really good run out of the Federal 130 grain in my t3 270. Usually a lot of damage and they don't run to far (if at all) if you get 'em in the right spot.

Coreloct,130 magic mutchroom

Highland AX 150g . . . . . . wait for the flack . . . . hehehe. Shoots good for me anyways.

Hey Chris,

I get good results out of the sierra gamekings in 130gr that I hand load. I've used sst in handloads too, and while they were accurate they do alot of meet damage on deer when used at distances under 200yds. I've stoped using them as one of the last times I nearly lost an animal as it literally blew up on impact when shoulder shot and it wasn't a pleasant experience tracking a deer for 15 mins that was slowly making it's get away on 3 legs. I'm no expert but I think the nosler Ballistic tips are very similar to the sst's.

G

Stay away from the 130 sst's mate, had a few blow ups when I used them. IntErbonds performed much better and as has been said previously the 130 federal blue packs are good value for money and do the job

Federal blue box (Hot-core) recovered from a deer shot at about 350 meters. Was found under the far side of the deer just under the skin. They're underrated in my opinion but the BC sucks!
SST's are quite explosive at close range, I'm using 140's for a bit of extra SD and chose your shots carefully if really close.
The accubond would be a better choice for close shots or any kind of shot where shooting through heavy bone is needed.
The Nosler ballistic tips seem to be even more explosive than the SST's in my opinion.

If the sst's are explosive & have been compared to ballistic tip I won't be going near them .
Seen what a ballistic tip from a 270wsm did to a sika spiker ,hit high behind the shoulder,the back steaks from just behind the shoulder to front of hips where gone.The poor bloody animal needed a second shot to put it out of its misery ,flailing round on the ground in agony.
Ballistic tips are just nasty.