Ballistically Challenged Newbie Looking a new purchase

[Pharmseller]

I’m curious on why you dislike the .270. I’ve never owned one, but know many people who love it.

The 7-08 is definitely a more pleasant rifle to shoot. I have a Tikka with a 1-10 twist, and it’s a tack driver with 150s. Plenty of energy out to 400 yards, and the ballistics are comparable to a 30-06 spitting 165 GR pills. The 270 will get you slightly better ballistics, but you’ll pay for it in recoil.

It’s a necked-down .30-06, so you get (almost) all the recoil without an improvement in performance.

And yes, I’ve hunted with a .270. If we’re being honest, the 270 can’t do anything the 7mm-08 can’t do, and as EH says, you’ll pay for it.

For me, the bang for the buck (ha!) just isn’t there.

And yeah, someone is gonna say something about 130 gr bullets and velocity, flatter shooting yada yada, but that doesn’t matter. If a 7mm-08 can’t kill it at 500 (heck, even 600) yards then a 270 won’t, either. And it will beat you up in the process.

And now someone else is gonna say if I can’t handle the recoil of a 270 I should take up knitting and leave the bang sticks to the manly men. I didn’t say I couldn’t handle it, but if I can get the same performance with less recoil, why would I not?




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[Woods Sleeper]

It’s a necked-down .30-06, so you get (almost) all the recoil without an improvement in performance.

And yes, I’ve hunted with a .270. If we’re being honest, the 270 can’t do anything the 7mm-08 can’t do, and as EH says, you’ll pay for it.

For me, the bang for the buck (ha!) just isn’t there.

And yeah, someone is gonna say something about 130 gr bullets and velocity, flatter shooting yada yada, but that doesn’t matter. If a 7mm-08 can’t kill it at 500 (heck, even 600) yards then a 270 won’t, either. And it will beat you up in the process.

And now someone else is gonna say if I can’t handle the recoil of a 270 I should take up knitting and leave the bang sticks to the manly men. I didn’t say I couldn’t handle it, but if I can get the same performance with less recoil, why would I not?




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Those are all fair points. I’ve been looking a lot at the 7mm-08 a lot as of late. It looks like really nice round to hunt with.

 

[SloppyJ]

I'll say it one more time for the cheap seats with a bit more detail......

Get a lee classic turret kit and a 280ai. You will thank me later. If you're going this deep down the ballistic rabbit hole then you will at some point end up reloading. Why not start now with a truly badass cartridge?

Hell get one of the savage models. The timberline was my intro a 280ai because it came in left hand. It's a hell of a shooter. A literal shit ton of prefits are available and a VG from stockys would be potential upgrades that keep you moving forward on the platform. The one downside to them is the trigger. However, mine had some work done and it's really not horrible at all. Steer clear of the Axis models though. You want a 110 or better. Maybe that will help you bridge the budget gap?

I got mine last March. It was one of the first bolt actions I loaded for and it loves 160gr Partitions with 4831sc. Every deer I shot last year with it didn't take one step.

There's a much better selection of 7mm bullets across the weight spectrum than .277s. I think the 6.8w is an interesting cartridge but there's no way in hell, in this day and age, that I'd buy a .270. There are far too many better options out there.

If no 280ai, go 6.5prc and call it a day.

 

[Pharmseller]

Those are all fair points. I’ve been looking a lot at the 7mm-08 a lot as of late. It looks like really nice round to hunt with.

Not much you’re likely to hunt that it can’t kill deader than a free election.

We’ve killed deer to 541 yards, elk to 409 yards, and antelope, too, but they die easy.

140 gr Partitions (they load Accubonds in factory ammo) and 150 ELDX (also available in factory).

Heck, I’d hunt comfortably with Federal Fusions, for that matter.






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