I shot a rifle chambered in 270 WSM over the weekend and loved it. I've been assembling components for a new hunting rifle and am at the stage where I'll sending everything in to my smith to start the build but I still haven't finalized the caliber so I haven't purchased the barrel blank yet. The 270 WSM was great but I don't know how it performs past 200 meters. Can anyone provide more insight as to the performance of the 270 WSM? Oh, I'll be hunting Mule Deer and maybe Elk with it.
- Thread starter komifornian
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load for a freinds wsm and if you are going to be shooting long there are better choices as bullet selection for the 270 lacks. If for hunting under 500 yds it will kill just as dead as any thing else
My buddy uses a 270WSM with 150 VLD hunting. Works really well, and is a great LR hunting rig.
Bullet choice is the issue with the 270 flavored WSM, much like the 325. I rebarreled my 270 WSM to 7-300 WSM to get the 7mm bullet selection and maintain the 270/300/325 WSM brass selection without having to fireform for the longer shoulder on the 7WSM.
For longer range I'd highly recommend the 7-300 WSM or 7WSM over the 270 due to the bullet choices and the slightly bigger bore will give slightly longer barrel life although it's probalby negligable.
The potential is definitely there with the 270 WSM with the right bullet, but unfortunately there's 2 issues. First about the only redily available bullet that really gets it done is the berger VLD, which is "typically" sensitive to seating depth. Then combine that with the fact that most off the shelf reamers have a LONG throat for the WSM's and you start to run into issues tuning them especially if you want mag fed from a short action.
So if you go 270, make sure it's throated short enough to utilize the VLD's well and maintain your mag (if applicable).
This is where the bullet selection of the 7mm comes into play a lot more than just BC. Mine is a Browning A-bolt, so short action, fairly short mag, and a long throat (had I known ahead of time that reamer was that long in the throat, I'd have ordered a custom reamer) But by virtue of the bullet selection available with the 7mm I've been able to find both match bullets and hunting bullets that shoot great in it. If I were limited to VLD's I'd be screwed because despite trying every seating depth I could, I can't get them to shoot well and fit the mag.
Mine is pretty much strictly a hunting rifle that may see a match here and there (local small stuff) but if I were going to build a custom rifle from the ground up on a WSM, I'd definitely use a long action, to take advantage of all that case capacity, feed it from a mag, and really ring out everything it has to offer.
Just some things to think about when piecing it together, The round (WSM - you pick the flavor) will definitely perform even sacrificing case capacity to fit a short action mag, but in that case I'd most definitely make sure the throating is more appropriate for that configuration before the build.
For longer range I'd highly recommend the 7-300 WSM or 7WSM over the 270 due to the bullet choices and the slightly bigger bore will give slightly longer barrel life although it's probalby negligable.
The potential is definitely there with the 270 WSM with the right bullet, but unfortunately there's 2 issues. First about the only redily available bullet that really gets it done is the berger VLD, which is "typically" sensitive to seating depth. Then combine that with the fact that most off the shelf reamers have a LONG throat for the WSM's and you start to run into issues tuning them especially if you want mag fed from a short action.
So if you go 270, make sure it's throated short enough to utilize the VLD's well and maintain your mag (if applicable).
This is where the bullet selection of the 7mm comes into play a lot more than just BC. Mine is a Browning A-bolt, so short action, fairly short mag, and a long throat (had I known ahead of time that reamer was that long in the throat, I'd have ordered a custom reamer) But by virtue of the bullet selection available with the 7mm I've been able to find both match bullets and hunting bullets that shoot great in it. If I were limited to VLD's I'd be screwed because despite trying every seating depth I could, I can't get them to shoot well and fit the mag.
Mine is pretty much strictly a hunting rifle that may see a match here and there (local small stuff) but if I were going to build a custom rifle from the ground up on a WSM, I'd definitely use a long action, to take advantage of all that case capacity, feed it from a mag, and really ring out everything it has to offer.
Just some things to think about when piecing it together, The round (WSM - you pick the flavor) will definitely perform even sacrificing case capacity to fit a short action mag, but in that case I'd most definitely make sure the throating is more appropriate for that configuration before the build.
Thanks for the VERY insightful and thorough advice Assult116!
Perhaps it makes more sense to just go with a 308. I don't currently own one and from what I've heard it's more that capable for taking Mule Deer and Elk. It also has the added benefit of a lot of bullet readily available bullet options, barrel life is good, and it it's very effective out to 800 yards. It's not as "sexy" as some of the other more exotic calibers many folks here use but this rifle will be dedicated to hunting only.
In that case, I'd go 7mm-08 you get better BC from similar weight class bullets in 7mm than .308. IMHO 7mm-08 does everything that .308 does and some things better. ie there's really no down side to the 7mm-08 when compared against the .308 except the availability of milsurp brass and ammo that you get with .308 and even then it's a very minor step down to neck 308 brass down, and if you want accuracy, milsurp ammo typically isn't where it's at.
and yes 308 or 7mm-08 is not going to have any problems taking down muley's or elk if you select the correct bullets and do your job behind the rifle. They aren't lasers like the WSM's are, but your barrel will live twice as long or more, and you won't spend nearly as much $$ on powder per round of ammo either. For example, I run 42 grs of H4350 in my 260 rem and 69.5 grs of H1000 in my 7-300 WSM.
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Hmm. So many choices! I'm definitely going to reload so milsurp ammo isn't a consideration. If brass and bullets are a wash when you consider price and I'd get better performance from a BC standpoint it probably makes sense to go with 7mm-08. Are the comparable in recoil?
Recoil is going to be about the same with comparable bullet weights.
Price is pretty much the same from a reloading standpoint as well.
Price is pretty much the same from a reloading standpoint as well.
