Thread: I need help! 270 barrel chop, cant make a decision

Originally Posted by No.3

Semantics. Should have added the disclaimer that my comments were for available factory loads, correct you can adjust things with reloading to offset some loss of barrel length.

As far as the short barrel .308, again with factory loads the real world performance is crap in a word. Reloading you can adjust and offset the loss of barrel length, but with factory loads most rounds are using projectiles of suitable jacket density and core hardness to offer reliable performance from short range out to say 250m or so give or take at standard SAAMI velocities. Chopping a barrel takes it out of SAAMI spec, something that needs to be considered. OK if you are happy to accept the consequences of the decision, and basically treat the round as a wildcat and reload accordingly.
For .308 I've seen some of these rounds start to have expansion issues (slug velocity too slow for reliable expansion) out of what are considered 'short' barrels (14" overall) at some fairly close ranges, not something I'd consider a reliable option after watching a few animals clean disappear after what should have been a solid hit and a definite killing shot. Yes you can offset that with reloading but with this discussion, I didn't see any reference to reloading in the initial question so have only considered the factory load option.

Re. 7.62x39 (getting off from the .270 subject obviously), but yep some of the chinese sourced ammo is not good - having said that with respected brand ammo loaded with an on-spec projectile used within it's limitations from a standard length barrel (and standard on a lot of x39's is 18" if not shorter) the caliber will drop anything in a bush hunting situation out to 150m with complete reliability. One of the issues with the x39 in NZ is it often gets reloaded using whatever .308 pill is on hand, which can lead to issues in the bore sealing area in the Russian-spec barrels (.312) and weird/variable terminal performance. I stand by the statement no real world advantage with the .308 but add the proviso 'over the average bush hunting situation out to 150m', and the package is far more pleasant to handle, shoot and work with. And I've used a lot of 7.62 and .308 over the years. Probably dropped more animals with the x39 recently though, a cheap, cheerful JW-103 which is just nice to use (after bedding and sorting the scope mounting setup, originally factory tapped by foot not hand). Given ideal conditions, I'd have no issue with taking a 200m shot from the x39, but again that's using decent factory ammo and not chinese stuff of unknown parentage and likely carting different pills in the same box. Worst example of that I saw was a box of 50 sporting soft points, that turned out to be 34 copper jacketed soft point, 14 copper washed magnetic soft point and 2 FMJ...

Scott Traill who is a very well respected gunsmith used to have a few videos of shooting with 10" and 12" 308s he made including shooting deer out to nearly 500 yards with them.

There are 168gr eld factory loads available which are probably more powerful than my reloads so do equally as far. 178gr eld factory loads, 165gr SST loads and 150gr superformance loads all factory that will all most likely do 400 yards on deer out of a 16" 308 barrel. So yup plenty of factory .308 loads. Don't know of a factory 7.62x39 load that I would even consider to shoot a deer with over 200 yards with a 16" barrel in a 7.62x39.
You stated no real world advantage in bush hunting ranges out to 150 metres. I know what I would rather have in my hands out of a .308 and a 7.62x39 on a big roaring red, Sika, Rusa, Wapiti or a Sambar and I can tell you that not many if any hunters would choose the 7.62x39. I can run reduced 130gr loads in the .308 that don't recoil at all and still eat the 7.62x39.

However the discussion was about .270s and the factory eldx load and superformance load will do more than fine out of a 19" barrel with not a significant amount more blast or recoil than a 22"