270 Win, which bullet weight?

[SSG Graybush]

So here's my dilemma, I've got my father's Remington Model 721, chambered in .270 Win, built in 1952. I don't need it for hunting, as I have three other rifles in good calibers that fit all of my hunting needs. I just would like my grandkids to be able to hunt with their great-grandfather's rifle. It's in great shape.

I have worked up a load with Nosler 140 grain Ballistic Tip bullets that group about .700, so that's decent for anything that my family would use it for. I'm thinking about trying a different bullet. I like the ELD-X bullet for a good all around performing bullet on medium sized game, but it only comes in 145 grain in the .277 line.

Should I load the 145 ELDX, get the good performance and give up some speed and flatness, or drop down to 130 grain, get the speed back up, maybe with a Berger Classic Hunter? Or just stay with the 140 grain BT? Thoughts?

Your kids are gonna be shooting, <300 yards. Why switch? If anything maybe go to a 130 AB to flatten it out, but why really for minimal gain, or a 129 gr LRX if they may hunt elk. I would think flatter is better at close ranges. But a buddy used a 130 BT and it did pretty good on a cow elk, but it didnt hit any bone. It penetrated about 20" with a fist size hole just under hide with my 270 wsm at 100 yards.
In my 270 wsm the 130 BT and 130 CH are so explosive at only just over 3000 fps am going to the 129 LRX to minimize the damage. On deer at closer ranges. Plus incase I have to go through a elks shoulder. The 130 CH blew up a mules front quarter and made soup of lungs at 50 yards. But again initial explosiveness worries me about good penetration on a larger animal. There was no penetration by any piece of the core of the bullet past initial entery wound.
In your 270 win your getting 2800 to 2850 fps am guessing with the 140 BT. Thats probably just about right for good performance. Stay there or go to a 129/130 gr solid or AB or Partition. But going heavier doesnt make sense, you dont need a higher bc for long range performance, if only shooting under 300 and it wont be as flat.

 

[Gobbler256]

So here's my dilemma, I've got my father's Remington Model 721, chambered in .270 Win, built in 1952. I don't need it for hunting, as I have three other rifles in good calibers that fit all of my hunting needs. I just would like my grandkids to be able to hunt with their great-grandfather's rifle. It's in great shape.

I have worked up a load with Nosler 140 grain Ballistic Tip bullets that group about .700, so that's decent for anything that my family would use it for. I'm thinking about trying a different bullet. I like the ELD-X bullet for a good all around performing bullet on medium sized game, but it only comes in 145 grain in the .277 line.

Should I load the 145 ELDX, get the good performance and give up some speed and flatness, or drop down to 130 grain, get the speed back up, maybe with a Berger Classic Hunter? Or just stay with the 140 grain BT? Thoughts?

While I don't dispute anyone else's comments I will say that I hunt hogs & deer in the south, elk & mule deer in the west and venture to Canada, New Zealand and Africa occasionally. My go to rife is a REM 700 in 270 WIN. I shoot factory 130gr soft points or ballistic tips. After 45 yrs tit has never failed to quickly and cleanly put down the animal! In my humble opinion if your deer hunting with it the 130s will do the job as long as you teach them about bullet or shot placement!!!

 

[gilk1]

I would stay with bst u can really get some light weight in barnes ttsx less recoil and Lots of speed

Actually lighter/faster bullets produce higher recoil and recoil impulse (https://tigersharkballistics.com.au/pages/recoil-heavy-or-light-bullets). The results is more muzzle rise too.

Momentum = MxV so slightly reducing mass to greatly increase velocity results in more momentum (recoil). Heavier/slower bullets produce less recoil and spread it out over a longer time (impulse).

 

[Unoboats]

So here's my dilemma, I've got my father's Remington Model 721, chambered in .270 Win, built in 1952. I don't need it for hunting, as I have three other rifles in good calibers that fit all of my hunting needs. I just would like my grandkids to be able to hunt with their great-grandfather's rifle. It's in great shape.

I have worked up a load with Nosler 140 grain Ballistic Tip bullets that group about .700, so that's decent for anything that my family would use it for. I'm thinking about trying a different bullet. I like the ELD-X bullet for a good all around performing bullet on medium sized game, but it only comes in 145 grain in the .277 line.

Should I load the 145 ELDX, get the good performance and give up some speed and flatness, or drop down to 130 grain, get the speed back up, maybe with a Berger Classic Hunter? Or just stay with the 140 grain BT? Thoughts?

I grew up with this same rifle and it loved 150 gr Sierra spire point bullets. Think they were pro hunters over IMR-4895 with lg rifle mag primers. Can not remember the load. But it shot Bugholes all the time. I was 16-18 years old when I started reloading for it.

 

[HTJ]

So here's my dilemma, I've got my father's Remington Model 721, chambered in .270 Win, built in 1952. I don't need it for hunting, as I have three other rifles in good calibers that fit all of my hunting needs. I just would like my grandkids to be able to hunt with their great-grandfather's rifle. It's in great shape.

I have worked up a load with Nosler 140 grain Ballistic Tip bullets that group about .700, so that's decent for anything that my family would use it for. I'm thinking about trying a different bullet. I like the ELD-X bullet for a good all around performing bullet on medium sized game, but it only comes in 145 grain in the .277 line.

Should I load the 145 ELDX, get the good performance and give up some speed and flatness, or drop down to 130 grain, get the speed back up, maybe with a Berger Classic Hunter? Or just stay with the 140 grain BT? Thoughts?

Barnes 130 TSX or TTSX
For Varmints try a Sierra 90 grain

 

[Couesnguns]

I have had good luck with the Berger 140 hunter classic loaded at SAMMI specs and H4831sc. I have taken mule deer at 50 yds and coues deer out to 600 yards or so with combo. Never had one blow up or pencil through. I have also used the 145 eldx on javelina at close range with no issues. The 130 sst and barnes 129 lrx have also worked well on coues deer.

If the 140 BT works well, I worry about it. But if you like to tinker, I have had great success with the 140 Bergers.

 

[jeremy.b]

There are many good recommendations here, and surprisingly we've only seen one recommendation for hammers .

As a data point, I ran both sierra 130's and accubond 130's in my 270. The sierras made impressive holes on soft tissue hits and things didn't make it far. Meat damage was a thing though. The 130 accubond failed to exit on two hard bone hits on mule deer, one a small 2x2 and the other a mature 200+lb 4x5. That performance was what drove me to check out hammers FWIW.

 

[skipglo]

There are many good recommendations here, and surprisingly we've only seen one recommendation for hammers .

As a data point, I ran both sierra 130's and accubond 130's in my 270. The sierras made impressive holes on soft tissue hits and things didn't make it far. Meat damage was a thing though. The 130 accubond failed to exit on two hard bone hits on mule deer, one a small 2x2 and the other a mature 200+lb 4x5. That performance was what drove me to check out hammers FWIW.

Which reply was that Jeremy?

 

[v2pnutrition]

So here's my dilemma, I've got my father's Remington Model 721, chambered in .270 Win, built in 1952. I don't need it for hunting, as I have three other rifles in good calibers that fit all of my hunting needs. I just would like my grandkids to be able to hunt with their great-grandfather's rifle. It's in great shape.

I have worked up a load with Nosler 140 grain Ballistic Tip bullets that group about .700, so that's decent for anything that my family would use it for. I'm thinking about trying a different bullet. I like the ELD-X bullet for a good all around performing bullet on medium sized game, but it only comes in 145 grain in the .277 line.

Should I load the 145 ELDX, get the good performance and give up some speed and flatness, or drop down to 130 grain, get the speed back up, maybe with a Berger Classic Hunter? Or just stay with the 140 grain BT? Thoughts?

Others will have much better technical information than I can give, but the Berger 130s have been the best shooting bullet out of my .270.

The higher the grain, the worst mine grouped. If you're not using it for hunting a specific species (I.e. "bigger" big game), I would drop to the 130 and see how you like them!

 

[Jfagan1028]

So here's my dilemma, I've got my father's Remington Model 721, chambered in .270 Win, built in 1952. I don't need it for hunting, as I have three other rifles in good calibers that fit all of my hunting needs. I just would like my grandkids to be able to hunt with their great-grandfather's rifle. It's in great shape.

I have worked up a load with Nosler 140 grain Ballistic Tip bullets that group about .700, so that's decent for anything that my family would use it for. I'm thinking about trying a different bullet. I like the ELD-X bullet for a good all around performing bullet on medium sized game, but it only comes in 145 grain in the .277 line.

Should I load the 145 ELDX, get the good performance and give up some speed and flatness, or drop down to 130 grain, get the speed back up, maybe with a Berger Classic Hunter? Or just stay with the 140 grain BT? Thoughts?

My family has had great luck out of the 150GR SST

 

[mcdil]

I'm trying to avoid bone strike blowups with a really fast, light for caliber bullet. I know there's a passionate following for the monos, but I kind of like heavy for caliber bullets. Maybe someday I'll switch over, or at least try some out.

If you do step over to the dark side (monos), we will have our 103gr (not a typo) designed specifically to maximize your 1:10" twist rifle soon. It will have a better BC than almost every 130gr bullet with an extremely high muzzle velocity potential. It will good for game up to and including elk and would be amazing in the mountains of AZ going after the grey ghosts with that 721.

Afterburner .277" - 103 gr | APEX OUTDOORS

.277" Caliber, 1:10.8" Min Twist Rate, 103 Grain, Afterburner, 50 Count

www.apex-outdoors.com

 

[RB II]

I am currently loading the ABLR 150 grain for a Nosler M48 .270 rifle. Shoots about 3/4" right now with two in one hole, but there are some signs of keyholing with them in the 1-10 twist rifle. My point for this is post is that the newer "long for caliber" bullets are stretching the limits of the old "traditional" twist rates. I am going to try a few loads with higher velocity and see if that will correct it.

 

[mcdil]

rbotard,
Welcome to LRH. A 1:10" .277 caliber is a very slow twist for that small of a caliber when trying to work with dedicated long range bullets. In the old days with short, blunt bullets of moderate instead of heavy weight designs, it never showed up as an issue. If you're seeing keyholing in the air, it will only get much worse after hitting an animal, if in fact your desire is to hunt with them. Velocity will only help a very small amount.

 

[Rflshootr]

Personally, I like the lighter bullets in a 270. Right now, MidSouth has Hornady 120 SST's, 130 SST's, 130 Interlock spire point flat base and Speer 130 hot cor flat base in stock. Any of them should do just fine. Teach the kids how to shoot, how to pick a spot on an animal and hit it, let them practice plenty, and they'll do just fine. I used to shoot deer with Sierra 90's (@3500 fps) and 110's (@3200 fps), until they discontinued both bullets. Many a deer took instant dirt naps with both of them. And btw, Lighter bullets=less recoil. Not the other way around. Check it yourself @

ShootersCalculator.com | Recoil Calculator

An online calculator that calculates the recoil energy, impulse, and velocity of a firearm according to the firearm's weight, powder charge, bullet weight, and bullet muzzle velocity.

shooterscalculator.com