Remington .270 Long Range?

[Washout]

Hey Guys,

Clearly I am a new guy here and interested in long range shooting/hunting. My question is do I need to start over with a new rifle or is the .270 I have in the window for Long range? I've a Rem .270BDL, the action has already been professionally beded, the bolt trued to the action and the trigger worked to a safe hunting weight. It appears that a barrel in is order as I can only get .750 accuracy at 100 yards. Of course that may be because I haven't started handloading yet and have been using factory ammo. I usually buy 3 or 4 boxes from the same batch and then sight in with those and make them my hunting rounds. I thought that this winter I might send the gun off for a new barrel and start reloading. Any recommendations?
Regards,
Gregg

 

[Guest]

Your gun is fine to get into the longrange thing. Reloading is almost a must when you get into this game. How many rounds through the barrel? I would start reloading before changing the barrel. I shoot a 270 win tikka. My shooting range goes to 750 yards and I am comfortable taking deer at 5-600y. I reload using Wildcat bullets and get just under 1/2 inch groups at 100y.

 

[slintz]

Greg,
I'm in the same boat as you. I was recently in Montana and needed better optics and I thought a better rifle. I was able to shoot a doe at 396 yards (according to the range finder) with my .270 Browning A-bolt hunter (no work done to it) with factory ammo off my friend's homemade tripod/gunrest. I had sighted my rifle in at 320 yards with roughly a 4" grouping prior to my shot. Not a bad shot for a novice.
I'm sure there was a lot of luck involved. I am curious to see what the experts say about your question.
My friend has a .300 winchester (all kinds of work done to it) with a 6x24 elite scope on it. I shot my buck at 300 yards with his rifle. This seemed to be a much easier, comfortable shot. No doubt about that shot.
That is why I am currently looking for a new rifle. I was told about the Sendero or the Savage 112BVSS (thinking .300 win mag. because my friend loads this caliber) for longer range shooting. Leaning towards the Savage because it's cheaper.
If anyone has any advice on this rifle, please e-mail me.
Good luck with your shooting Greg. Hope I didn't waste your time rambling.
Scott

 

[Charles A]

What animals are you hunting? For deer your fine. Whats going to limit your range is the caliber. There's just not that many good bullets available for .277cal. I would start with Nosler Ballistic Tips, Hornady Interbond and SST's, and see if they shoot.

Dont sweat all this talk of .25in groups every time, if you can get consistant .75 inch groups at 100yds thats fine. What I mean by consistant is every time you go and shoot groups, measure them all, even the "fliers", and whatever the average is, thats what your gun is capable of. A one or two time .5 group does not make a half inch rifle.

What kind of scope do you have? Almost any gun will shoot good enough for moderate ranges, but without a capable scope it isnt going to happen.

 

[budlight]

It's very easy to move up to 270 Ackley Improved when you rebarrel. It adds just enough more powder volume to the case to really bring the speed up. My chrono testing has shown it being equal to the 270 weatherby out of my long barrel

It's an excellent sub 400 yard varmit gun with 100's and 110's and long range or big game with the 150 sbt.

 

[Fiftydriver]

A new barrel will certainly help your groups especially if it is fitted to a fully accurized receiver and bedded properly.

In the 270 caliber, there are no better long range bullets out there then the Wildcat Bullets. E-mail Richard Graves at [email protected] and tell him what you have. I would suspect he will recommend something in the 140-150 gr ULD RBBT range for long range shooting and hunting.

If you want to go long range with the 270 caliber rounds, the best and only bullet choice in my opinion is the Wildcat ULD RBBTs. Best commercial bullet in my opinion would be the 140 gr Accubond but still feel the Wildcats are vastly superior for long range shooting and hunting.

Kirby Allen(50)

 

[Washout]

Thanks for all the input guys, it looks like I will be learning about reloading in the very near future. I think I'll start there and then re-evaluate if I need a new barrel. The current gun was used when I bought it so I really don't know how many rounds have been down the pipe. I have probably shot 400+ rounds through it. I have a Leupold 4.5 to 14 x 50 scope on it at this time.

One of the guys I work with shoots competition at Camp Perry, he too said to start reloading if I want better accurracy. Since I'm going to be in that mode now, what reloading manuals/books do you recommend for the beginner? Thanks again for all the ideas.

Regards,
Gregg

 

[Ankeny]

[ QUOTE ]
What animals are you hunting? For deer your fine. Whats going to limit your range is the caliber.

[/ QUOTE ]

I couldn't agree more. I would be comfortable with a .270 on antelope and deer, but I would feel undergunned shooting an 800 lb. 400 class bull elk at long distance as he stood on the edge of the coulee from hell. If you are going to reload, it's pretty easy to step up to at least a .280 AI when you rebarrel.

 

[41mag]

Hey Greg,

For just starting out and not dumping a lot of $$ into manuals you might brouse through what might be listed on E-Bay. To get the basics down, most of the manuals printed in the last 10 years cover most of it pretty well. I would however consult some of the newest manuals for up to date powder choices as well as loads. Also most of the powder manufacutrers have on-line data as well as pdf files which can be downloaded.

Shoot me an e-mail addy and I will put you on some decent links, at least it will help you get off to a start in the right direction.

 

[Mysticplayer]

Let's get you started. Consider pillar bedding if you see compression in the stock. Check that bedding without the action screws in place, the action should have no play at all if properly bedded. Free float that barrel not done already. Get that trigger as light and crisp as you are comfortable with.

When you start to reload, use the Lee collet neck die for sizing (helps with the standard oversized factory chambers). Seat the bullet to allow function from the mag. For powder, H4831SC (look for data on the Hodgdon site). Brass, fireformed and necked sized WIN. Primer CCI BR2. Bullet Hornady 150gr SST.

If you rifle will shoot, this combo will work. No issue shooting to 1000m MOA or better IF the rifle and you are up to it.

Enjoy...

Jerry

 

[Derek M.]

I'd recommend you visit Dan Lilja's site and watch his bore scope video if you haven't already.
check out the video comparison of a handlapped bbl, vs Remington take off bbl.

Allow that to assist you whether or not you should go with a new bbl. Personally, a new handlapped bbl., coupled with handloads is the only way to go, IMO.

If you are going to reload, my first recommendation is to get the manual that accompanies the bullet and powder you plan to use. Unless of course you plan on using a bullet like Wildcat, then you have to go at it with what you have.

If you plan on shooting Sierra MK bullets and H4831, then those are the 2 manuals you should be looking at when loading. Especially the bullet manual.

I have 3 270's and all have different bbl lengths and are used for different purposes. My Ruger wears a 25.5" Hart bbl and is a tack driver. It prints on average 1/2" groups with 130 TSX bullets and Re19 powder. But several groups are just about one holers.

I feel that a new bbl is such a step in the right direction. AND, you can rechamber the rifle to another long action if you wish. A 280 AI was mentioned and that would be an excellent choice, especially with a 150-160 grain bullet.

 

[Washout]

I hunt deer with this gun, If I were to step up to elk I would probably move on to the .300 mag. I figure I will end up with a new barrel and here in the winter is the time to do it since I won't be in such a hurry to get it done. There always seems to be one company that shines the brightest. Who is the barrel company that has the best product and who does the best work at rebarreling? If I were to change to the .280, what else would the action need to accept this cartridge?

Thanks for all the input, I do appreciate all of your thoughts.
Gregg

 

[Fiftydriver]

Washout,

To be honest, with todays top quality bullets, the 270 Win is a MUCH better elk round then it used to be. That said, it is not overly powerful for this job but a well placed 270 bullet will kill any bull elk that walks the planet easily.

As far as barrels go, there is a pretty good list that will work great. My personal favorite is Lilja but there are others as well. Krieger, Rock, Broughton are a few others that I have total confidence in. Pac Nor barrels are pretty good as well but I would not quite put them in the same class as the first four brands listed.

There really is not a BEST brand of barrel. In barrels I think the top four are in my opinion all about the same quality, VERY GOOD!!

As far as smith to do the work, again, there are several top smiths on this website alone that can do world class work. Chris Matthews, Shawn Carlock, myself and several others as well that frequent this site are very good at what we do. Ask around get recommendations from other shootes with our rifles. The rifles themselves are the best proof of our work.

Please do not think that just because I mentioned these three smiths in particular that I feel they are the best on the board. I just have a somewhat personal and professional relationship with these other two gentlemen so that is the only reason I list them specifically.

Biggest thing, get referrences and do some homework.

Going from a 270 Win to a 280 Rem will simply require a rebarreling job, no receiver mods needed at all except accurizing of course.

Kirby Allen(50)

 

[Washout]

Thanks for the info Fiftydriver. I guess the last question for me now is what are the real gains I would see by ungrading to the .280 vs. staying with the .270?

Regards,