What would you rebarrel a .270 into?

[onehandgunner]

I am a 270 Win fan, if I was doing it I would get a 26" stainless barrel, heavier than #3 contour, of the best quality in a twist that would fit the bullet weight range of my loadings and go for it.

 

[Lab rat]

So I did the same thing your going through I decided to rebarrel my 270 to a 6.5-06 and absolutely love it I did mine with a 26" barrel so I take 25/06 brass run it through the 6.5 resizing die and your done shooting 140 accubonds and RL-26 and scary
accurate 3040 fps (3 shot group)

 

[19elkhunter51]

I am old school. My two cents, your mileage may vary, new tube in that fine caliber, .270 with the 1:8 twist and a 24" or 26" length. Although I am a homer 30-06 type, if it was good enough for Jack O'Conner it will probably work for everyone else. Just remember what O'Conner also said. If just one rifle, 30-06.
I don't believe in going down to a more marginal caliber if elk hunting is big on your list.

 

[sturner]

280AI so you can share with Dad

 

[WHITEBULL]

270 with 1:8 twist, 26" barrel. That's what I did with my 270wsm. 165 Matrix are a pleasure to shoot.

 

[arch408]

If there's nothing wrong with the .270, leave it. If you have to rebarrel, of the three you mentioned, I'd go with the .280AI.

 

[Dirty45]

.280ai hands down imo. I did this to an old 06. Great velocity and bullet selection

 

[FEENIX]

I've asked the same question you are asking. I don't like the expensive dies and fireform barrel-wear associated with most wildcat cartridges. The 280ai has become a factory option with reasonably priced dies brass and ammo. It would be a clear winner hear. Unless you went with a 27-280ai instead of a 270ai or Sherman. All you would need to do is get 280ai bushing dies and a smaller bushing. It would even give you a little more capacity over the 270ai.

A regular .270 Win in 1:8" twist propelling the heavies (165/170/175) is no slouch. There was an excellent article about .270 Win long-range written by Lucas Beitner (sp) on this site but I cannot seem to find it anymore. .270 AI and .280 AI useable case capacity is nearly identical.

 

[JC in Calif]

Question/options first, justification below.

.270 Win with a 1-8" twist
.270 Sherman
Both of these let me stick with the do-all Jack O'Connor caliber.

6.5-284
6.5 Sherman
More velocity, more bullet options, maybe lose some elk capability?

.280 Ackley
Can share ammo with my dad.

Other?

My Savage .270 Win has become a project gun. 25% because I want a bit better long range capability than the factory 22" sporter barrel, 75% because I like to tinker for the sake of tinkering. So know that a lot of my motivation is "because I can". Hell, setbacks in "upgrading" this gun have forced me to borrow my dad's .280 for my first elk hunt in two weeks.

338/06, 25/06 AI, 6.5/06, 280, 6.5x47, 6.5/284.....lots of good choices

 

[Kaptoe]

280AI

 

[FEENIX]

Question/options first, justification below.

.270 Win with a 1-8" twist
.270 Sherman
Both of these let me stick with the do-all Jack O'Connor caliber.


.280 Ackley
Can share ammo with my dad.

Staying with .270 Win is the only way you can pay tribute to the Big O.

Each rifle's load development is unique. What your Dad's rifle load might not necessarily like the same load as your rifle. I have 3 .300WM and none of them have the same load development.

The bottom-line, I do not think you can go wrong with any of your choices. I assure you, this is not going to be the last time you are faced with the same situation. You'll have plenty of builds ahead of you.

 

[Alibiiv]

Question/options first, justification below.

.270 Win with a 1-8" twist
.270 Sherman
Both of these let me stick with the do-all Jack O'Connor caliber.

6.5-284
6.5 Sherman
More velocity, more bullet options, maybe lose some elk capability?

.280 Ackley
Can share ammo with my dad.

Other?

My Savage .270 Win has become a project gun. 25% because I want a bit better long range capability than the factory 22" sporter barrel, 75% because I like to tinker for the sake of tinkering. So know that a lot of my motivation is "because I can". Hell, setbacks in "upgrading" this gun have forced me to borrow my dad's .280 for my first elk hunt in two weeks.

Wish that what you were going to use the rifle for, game/distance, I did read "elk-ability" so that's got to be one of them. I wasn't a .270 fan until I bought a rifle to use as a donor in .270 Winchester and found that I really liked the cartridge. I wanted a wildcat cartridge, so I built a .270 Ackley Improved and very happy with the performance; 150gr ABLR, 3200+FPS out of a 26 inch Lilja barrel. I also believe that part of the heart of the .270 is the 130gr and 150gr bullets and really do not have a desire or a need to shoot anything heavier out of this cartridge/rifle combination. My rifle will handle any of the game that I intend to hunt at the distances that I am going to be shooting at; whitetail deer/antelope/mule deer at 300-500 yards. It's great to read about all of the heavier rifle/bullet combinations for "really" long shots, I think that the 130 and 150s give all that is needed for the .270. I like the .270WSM but I had the long-action donor receiver. I would have gone with the .270 Sherman, but at the time I could not find anyone who wanted to do the build because I was using a Ruger 77 action and could not find anyone who wanted to do the build for various reasons; I wanted a Ruger 77 tang safety build to match my other rifles. If you PM elkaholic (forum search) on the site he will gladly provide you with some answers to your questions.

And....I'l probably get beat up here, however I do not believe that if given true comparisons there's really not too much out there that can be more versatile than the .277 cartridge/caliber, and that includes some of the new "high-velocity" 6.5s. If a comparison is made and barrel for barrel length are part of that comparison, mostly everything is within 200-300fps and the faster cartridges are burning a whole lot more powder, powder= weight=recoil.

 

[Rudolph Ferdinand]

Question/options first, justification below.

.270 Win with a 1-8" twist
.270 Sherman
Both of these let me stick with the do-all Jack O'Connor caliber.

6.5-284
6.5 Sherman
More velocity, more bullet options, maybe lose some elk capability?

.280 Ackley
Can share ammo with my dad.

Other?

My Savage .270 Win has become a project gun. 25% because I want a bit better long range capability than the factory 22" sporter barrel, 75% because I like to tinker for the sake of tinkering. So know that a lot of my motivation is "because I can". Hell, setbacks in "upgrading" this gun have forced me to borrow my dad's .280 for my first elk hunt in two weeks.

Many years ago I took a 24" barrel 30-06 ream it to 30-06 improve put in 1.5 grains more using a 180 grains bullet for a velocity of 2950. It is a very efficient round than the standard'06 cartridge but such conversions means fire forming . I took IMR 4895 and a 110 grains bullet, and I had what I was after just using a little more powder over the old'06 that would do handloaded to 2700, hope so.

 

[Hespco]

Another thought in favor of the 6.5 since you mention deer to be your primary target. The 6.5 with the Barnes 100grTTSX or the Nosler 100gr partition has proven over & over to be very capable of taking mature muley bucks . We do so every year. My favorite being the Barnes 100gr TTSX because of it's high BC. Firing these 100gr Barnes out of the 24" bbl 1/8 twist of my 6.5-06 gives a little over 3440 fps. Shooting on my own range out to 522yds target ( my max range ) I have found them, to be very capable. They get to the 522 yd target right now. Comfortable recoil with flat trajectory & complete pass thru penetration even if bone is encountered. Almost no blood shot meat.With the 120gr Barnes also very elk capable.
With the 24" Bbl this rifle is handy to carry & of reasonable weight. What is not to like.