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Thanks Sarg.

You know what...... I started shooting the 270 when I was 12 and re-loading ammo for it when I was 13.
I do remember thinking the Bronze Points and the Silver Tips both came apart way too much but the Power Points and the 150 grain Core-Lokts were excellent. In fact, the blow-ups in the 130 grain BP and Silver Tips were one of the things I tried to avoid when I started to load my own. I have not purchased a box of factory 270 ammo since I was 13. Almost 50 years of nothing but my own hand loads.

Your post made me think............... there are some factory 270s that I didn't think were so good. But it's been so long since I fired any of them I had forgotten about those horrid erratic wounds I saw back then. With that remembered, I may be able to see why some men don't like the 270.

When I see the 270 haters post things, I should ask them what ammo they are using. I am always a bit surprised when someone tells me of a failure, because for me the 270 has been very close to a death ray. As I said above, I have never lost an animal to a 270, and I have only one time had to fire 2 times. But most of my ammo had been loaded with good bullets. I did learn a bit about Sierra Boat Tails, and how they were not always the best at holding together, but I quit buying them in about 1974

Since the mid 70s I have been loading ammo with tough bullets and I have not had any problems at all since then.
I think this only validates my position about the bullet being far more important then the shell.

Since I have not fired a factory 270 in well over 40 years, I'd have to ask the readers here:

What brands and loads have worked for you and what loads were not so good?

For me the bullets I have a lot of faith in are the Nosler partitions in every weight.
The Barnes X bullets.
The Norma Bonded Core bullets.
The OLD Remington 150 grain Core Lokts were outstanding. (I have not bought any new ones, so I don't know about them, but I am told Remington makes then now with much thinner jackets)
Winchester 150 grain Power Points. Nothing fancy here, but I have not had any problems with them at all.
Bonded bullets by Hornady in 150 grain and from Nosler in 140 grain. Also the Bonded A Frame bullets by Swift.
The old Speer 170 grain round noses. These are now discontinued and I have only 1 box left.
The 150 grain Speer Grand Slams and the Trophy Bonded Bear Claws in 140 grain.
And every Woodleigh I have seen used.

I have had good but not great results with these:
Hornady 150 grain Inner Locks and also with Remington 130 grain Core Lokts.
The very best Sierras I have used were OK, but not great, and many were pretty fragile. All were very accurate however. The very best one was actually their old 150 gr. Round Nose, but it's discontinued now too.

Speer Hot-Cores also have a tendency to come apart in 130 grain. 150s shot well, but I think I only ever killed one deer with a 150 grain Hot Core, so I can't really say much good or bad about them. It left me a good exit but one kill doesn't give me enough info to really say much about that particular bullet.
In the early 70s I shot a lot of Norma Sliver colored steel jacketed bullet. They were silver colored 130 grain, had a small lead tip and would draw to a magnet. Hard on deer meat, but shot very well.
The130 grain Winchester Silver tips were bad and so were the 130 grain Remington Bronze Points

The very worse performance I have seen in my life (and not just with the 270s) are from Burger bullets. So bad in fact that I refuse to buy them for any reason other than varmints and paper shooting. I cringe when I am told one of my hunters has Burgers in his ammo no matter what caliber they are.

I have yet to see ANY Burger hit ANY animal and not come apart. I have now seen hits with Burgers in 257 cal, 264 cal 277 cal, 284 cal 308 cal and 338 cal. Some have given exit wounds (mayby 1/3 of them) but even those with exits are full of fragments. I have not even seen ONE that I felt was what I'd call good game bullet performance. 100% failure, 100% of the time so far.

Yes they have killed game.

A car with a smoking transmission and over-heating engine can go down the road, but that doesn't mean it's the best car on the road. Or even a good car. If it gets you to work, that's good, but I am not going to believe that because it got to work it's the best car on the road.

Just like I am not going to believe Burgers are any kind of big game bullet because some men have killed and not lost game hit with them.
I don't shoot them myself BECAUSE I have seen so many Burgers give bad performance on game. Not just in 270, but in everything ---- so far.
Burgers are nearly always accurate. But that the only good thing I can say for them.

Heck, they even advertise that they are designed to blow up, and somehow they have convinced a lot of hunters it's a good trait. IT'S NOT!!!

Will a bullet that shatters into small metal fragments in the lungs of an animal kill it?
Sure.

But so will a good bullet that balls up and hold it's weight, breaks big bones and still exits. And the good bullet will get through when the animal is quartering away from you and still exit.

If the position is held---- the deer/elk/sheep/antelope is dead, so the Bullet is good" --- then that same standard has to be accepted if the bullet balls up, holds half or more of its weight and exits. Right?
Or is that same position now somehow not accepted------------- from bullets that don't break up and fail to penetrate well, don't break bones and still hold together, and fail to exit?

Ok.........rant over.

Edited by szihn (22/12/17 01:18 PM)

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