For years my go-to hunting rifle for bushveld use was my Remington Stainless 700 in 308 (1:10" twist with 180gr Core-Lokt Softpoints is a real hammer on everything from Impala and warthogs to Kudu and Gemsbok (Oryx).
In the late 1990s I managed to get a new Remington 700 in 270 Win, a calibre I always admired and wanted. Having this rifle was a game changer for me. It was very fussy and only grouped upwards of an inch with 150gr rounds at 100m (109 yards), but using 139gr Remington Pointed CoreLokt those 3-shot groups shrunk to well under half inch at the same distance off a rickety bench at a remote hunting camp. The accuracy of this rifle just inspires massive confidence - the longest shot I took was on a female springbok facing me at a measured 410m (448 yards) in the open plains of the arid Karoo. It hit her in the neck front on and dropped her on the spot!
I managed to get one of the last Fajen laminated thumbhole stocks before they went into receivership. The rifle is fitted with a Lynx Professional 4-16 X 42 scope with NATO Range Finding reticle and I developed a ballistic dope card for the scope range finder matched to the ammo. This is my go-to rifle and has been for many years.
More recently, I had a fruitless hunt after a few days in Northern Zululand although I had guided a colleague the previous afternoon late and he had taken a good impala ram. On the last day of the hunt at last light I was despondently walking back to the pick-up area and had just climbed up out of riverine forest gully with my tracker when I saw three impala rams in a bachelor herd standing side-by-side some way off. A shoulder shot on the closest animal would have hit the other two. My last resort at this late hour and in f
ading light was a head shot on the furthermost ram. It went down at a measured distance of 126m (138 yards).
270 Winchester ammunition is always readily available at reasonable prices here in South Africa and is a popular calibre so obtaining rounds should never really be a problem. I've used it successfully on everything from the diminutive springbok and mountain reedbuck, on impala, warthog, bushpig (the African equivalent of wild boar), up to and including kudu (in the same weight range as a large female elk).
Whatever you hunt and whatever other weapons and calibres you use, I believe a 270 Winchester is always a useful rifle in one's arsenal, for both North American and African hunting.
