270 BAR Question

[BA-IV]

I recently bought a 270 Browning BAR. I dated the serial number to 1980 or 81. Anyone else been using these guns pretty regularly? It operates good, and I’ve looked for one for awhile, BUT it seems to only like Winchester deer season XP bullets. Is the new stuff like Hornady eld-x or sst to hot for that barrel? I can only get the xp’s to really group dime size groups at 100 yards, anything else is pretty much all over a 10” target.

 

[RockAndSage]

That's not an uncommon experience - getting a BAR under 2 MOA is pretty good. They're cool, awesome rifles, but accuracy and reliability are not their strengths, unfortunately. Reliability goes up a lot with really good lubrication, but accuracy is hit-or-miss. Seriously...if you've got yours doing dime size groups with Winchester XPs, go buy 2 or 3 cases of that stuff immediately, making sure it's same lot. That actually matters, and a good match like that is hard to get.

 

[Taudisio]

First deer rifle dad put in my hands was a 270 bar my mom bought him as a wedding present in the 80’s. Fantastic meat gun. Ya don’t need to shoot a dime to hit deer ribs under 300 yards. I remember shooting the Winchester 130gr ballistic silvertips. Used to shoot a milk jug at 200 one time, the weekend before the season, and go hunt. Never had an issue with the rifle except I remember it was heavy for a kid 100 pounds soaking wet. Dad still has the rifle and same box of winchesters in his safe and I killed at least 4 deer with it.

 

[KenLee]

Dime sized group is great for an original sporting BAR. Be glad you found a round that shot so good.
The MKII rifles tend to group better.
I've probably owned a dozen of each and whittled those down to four MKII.
I have no experience with the long track, short trac and MK3.

 

[BA-IV]

My problem with the round is I don’t really care for it. It doesn’t leave good blood trails no matter where you hit the deer. I’ve shot them for years along with some other bullets, and just don’t care for em, but I’ll use whatever the rifle wants me to use.

 

[KenLee]

My problem with the round is I don’t really care for it. It doesn’t leave good blood trails no matter where you hit the deer. I’ve shot them for years along with some other bullets, and just don’t care for em, but I’ll use whatever the rifle wants me to use.

Try cheap Hornady Whitetail, Core-lokts, and cheap blue box Federal ammo. If none work, sell that BAR to a collector and move on to a MKII or an x-bolt.
I wasted wads of $ at gunsmiths trying to make shooters out of old BARs. Never helped much.

 

[BA-IV]

You’ve got me looking at new MK3 bars…they sure look good!

 

[180ls1]

My problem with the round is I don’t really care for it. It doesn’t leave good blood trails no matter where you hit the deer. I’ve shot them for years along with some other bullets, and just don’t care for em, but I’ll use whatever the rifle wants me to use.

I honestly think that's a better choice with the .270 anyways. Something that blows up their heart/lungs and maybe exits, maybe not.

I am a big fan of the 130sst and ballistic silver tip as @Taudisio mentioned. I am not sure the 145eld-x is worth trying or will be stable. The bonded types pencil through a bit too much for my liking (based on my experience).

 

[BA-IV]

I honestly think that's a better choice with the .270 anyways. Something that blows up their heart/lungs and maybe exits, maybe not.

I am a big fan of the 130sst and ballistic silver tip as @Taudisio mentioned. I am not sure the 145eld-x is worth trying or will be stable. The bonded types pencil through a bit too much for my liking (based on my experience).

It’s hard for me to not love the SST’s. I’ve used em for awhile now with my 30-06, and out of 25-30 bucks I’ve shot with em, I can remember TWO running past eye sight, and that’s cuz the brush was thick as heck. They’re devastating, but you know once you get an itch to try a new gun or new caliber, you have to scratch it!!!!

 

[Honyock]

I must have got a good one. I've used a Mark II Safari Grade 270 on whitetails and elk for over 30 years and it will shoot pretty much everything I put in it except for junk ammo (I made the mistake of buying a box of Herter's from Cabelas because it was cheap for the range. Nastiest ammo I've ever used.) I've primarily used Federal Nosler Partition and Federal Fusion and it shoots both a little over an inch MOA at 100. I ran three rounds of Rem Core-Lokt through it this morning at the range to check a scope that my son banged off a four-wheeler and it shot 0.916. Definitely not the lightest gun but follow up shots are a breeze.

 

[Honyock]

My problem with the round is I don’t really care for it. It doesn’t leave good blood trails no matter where you hit the deer. I’ve shot them for years along with some other bullets, and just don’t care for em, but I’ll use whatever the rifle wants me to use.

Try Rem Core-Lokt. Ray Charles could have followed the blood trail on the deer my son got this year using his 270. Made me rethink why I've been using partitions.