.270 upgrade

[darmento]

I have a 10 year old Remington 700 in .270 and it is time to upgrade. The inside of the barrel on this old gun is worn out, and showing some wear and tear on the bore scope.

I will use the gun for elk and mule deer. So it has to have good stopping power and range (300-600 yards) without blowing my old shoulder off. I have tried the various .300 magnums and they just kick too much for me. I am thinking about a .308 or 30.06 or some other non-magnum options like a .284. Does anyone have recommendations for a good all-around Western hunting caliber? Won’t be using it for anything really big like a moose… any advice is appreciated. Thx!!!

 

[stan5677]

I have a 10 year old Remington 700 in .270 and it is time to upgrade. The inside of the barrel on this old gun is worn out, and showing some wear and tear on the bore scope.

I will use the gun for elk and mule deer. So it has to have good stopping power and range (300-600 yards) without blowing my old shoulder off. I have tried the various .300 magnums and they just kick too much for me. I am thinking about a .308 or 30.06 or some other non-magnum options like a .284. Does anyone have recommendations for a good all-around Western hunting caliber? Won’t be using it for anything really big like a moose… any advice is appreciated. Thx!!!

270wsm?

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[Sprunk]

I enjoy shooting my .308, easy to reload and find ammo for, plenty of bullet options. I don't hunt anything larger than whitetails though so I have no experience on elk or similar game.

 

[black dawg]

I would get another 270 win....or rebarrel that one.

I should follow my own advice
How many rounds through it in 10 years?

 

[RealMuddyboots]

I "assembled" a 700LA .270 Win last year with Preferred Barrel 27" SS Light Palma, 1:8Tw, 5R, throated with extra 0.290 freebore to allow max use of magazine at 3.63 COAL, Triggertech trigger, plain jane Magpul 700 stock, Holland heavy recoil lug, 700LA action was trued by Penrod Precision.

This will allow you to shoot heavier, higher BC bullets out of the .270 Win and actually add a lot more horsepower to it. I have 3 loads that I use right now, 156gr Hammer Hunter@3200fps, 170EOL@3075fps and 175TGK@ 2925fps. The 156HH is crazy accurate sub 1/2 MOA at 300 and holds pretty good at 500. You also have the 150ABLR, 150AB, 170BT (new but ladder out to 3000fps), 140BD2 which is crazy BC plus more out there to choose from.

RL26 is the magic pixie dust for the .270 and heavies as well. This will cover 300-600 easily and much further if you choose to do so. The heavier and higher BC will surprise you in energy downrange.

Here is a pic of the dummy rounds I sent to Preferred Barrel to set the throat to give you idea on max COAL you can get to with the 700LA. I was also fortunate to kill my biggest buck with it at 240 yards, not along shot but was nice to see how the 156HH performed and it did so wonderfully. Lungs bloody syrup goop.

PM if interested in more info.

 

[B23]

Are you looking to rebarrel it or buy a whole new gun? Do you reload or do you only shoot factory ammo?

Since it's a Rem 700 you have a lot of options and can easily have the bolt face opened up and a new extractor installed if you wanted to go with anything that would require a magnum bolt face like something off of the WSM case or the new 6.8 Western or 6.5 PRC. You don't necessarily need to go that route but it's any option for.

If shooting factory ammo is a requirement the 6.8 Western may be a good choice because it's fairly new and not hugely popular so getting ammo for that particular cartridge would be pretty easy. I always see lots of 6.8 Western ammo on the shelves.

Rebarreling it right back to a 270 Win is fine but I'd probably look at going 280 Rem or 280AI.

 

[wildwilderness]

Are you talking a rebarrel or a new rifle?

The impression from your post is a new barrel. In that case a 280 AI would be great.

 

[Centralcoastca]

I really like my .280 it’s a good all around caliber. .280ai would be even better for the extra bit of speed, but mostly because it’s getting popular again and a lot of companies are making the rifles and ammo.

 

[darmento]

THANK YOU everyone for your response. Here is some more info.. the .270 I have is a walnut stock Remington with a blued 24” barrel. I called a good gunsmithh in OK and he told me rebarrelling would be about $1700 all in, after the Carrakote, pillaring, trueing, etc. So I am thinking I should just get a new gun. I thought I should go a notch up in caliber so I could use bigger bullets (150-170). So maybe my question is: what is the best all around western caliber that you can hunt all the way out to 400-600 yards? Thx again for all your input.

 

[B23]

And are you a reloader or will this be a factory ammo gun?

 

[h2so4]

Throw a suppressor on there, too!

 

[Elkhntr08]

Rebarrel it in 338-06, drop it in a McMillan stock and go hunt elk.

 

[darmento]

And are you a reloader or will this be a factory ammo gun?

Factory ammo. I live in a townhouse now, so don’t have the room to set up a reloading bench. Thx

 

[35WhelenAI]

Without waxing poetic on what I do own and despite not having one in my safe (and probably won't with all the other tools I have in that shed), the 6.8 Western would be a good new gun acquisition. It ticks all the boxes based on what you have been shooting and not wanting to go up to 300 Win Mag level recoil.

Elkhntr08, I like the love for the 338-06. I am a Whelen guy, so can appreciate the efficiency and effectiveness of the medium bores.

 

[HandgunHTR]

$1700 for a rebarrel? That gunsmith might be good, but that is ridiculous. If it shoots now, you don't need to do a full truing up of the action. Heck you can send the barreled action to LRI in South Dakota. Here is what you would have all in if you sent it to them:
$175 - Tier 2 action "blueprinting"
$375 - Chambering and fitting barrel
$365 - New barrel

If you went with Bugholes (Southern Precision) you would be looking at:
$350 - Chambering and fitting barrel
$250 - Single point action truing (not actually necessary)
$375 - Brux barrel

If you look around, you can pick up a barrel blank for cheaper and send that along. I just got a 30 cal Douglas SS sporter barrel for $225.

Now, you could just sell that .270 and use that money towards another factory rifle. You will end up spending less money, but you may not get one that will shoot with a rebarrel with a good barrel.
Either way, I would recommend a 280AI, 30-06, 6.5 PRC, or 7-08. All will do what you are looking to get out of them.

 

[bdan68]

7mm Remington Magnum or 7mm WSM, if it's possible to even get one of those anymore. Or, 280 Remington would also be a great choice.

 

[BAKPAKR]

Rebarrel it in 338-06, drop it in a McMillan stock and go hunt elk.

If it is a shot out 270, OP could send his rifle to JES Rifle Reboring and have it come back as a 338-06 for a pretty decent price. Then, he could get a McMillan Hunters Edge stock at a discount off the McMillan Gunsmith’s Special page and be set up pretty nice.

 

[Centralcoastca]

Rebarrel it in 338-06, drop it in a McMillan stock and go hunt elk.

I had to look that one up, pretty neat cartridge. Makes me think of a mini .375 h&h sort of. Not a bad option especially since it sounds easy enough to resize .30-06 brass for it and not having to hunt down something exotic.

 

[35WhelenAI]

I sure like 338-06 idea if he was a handloader. However I don't know where he's going to find 338-06 ammo anytime soon, IMO.

Start picking up ammo for a 6.8 Western right now, then you have it and spend the time looking for the rifle.

 

[Elkhntr08]

A 1-10 twist and load 210 TSX bullets. Hunt anything in North America.
I’ve got a 700 in .270 so I’ve given this some thought.