270 Winchester: Better Hunting Cartridge Than 6.5 Creedmoor and 30-06?

Could the old 270 Winchester (center) be ballistically superior to the 6.5 Creedmoor AND 30-06?

Few cartridges in the history of North American big game hunting have captured the attention of shooters quite like the 270 Winchester. Some 97 years after it was introduced, folks still consider it fast, flat, and deadly. Because it is.

Roaring Velocity in the Roaring 20s

When brought to market in 1925, the 270 Winchester was arguably the fastest, flattest shooting, long-range big game round in existence. It shot flatter than anything else approaching its level of power except the 300 H&H Magnum introduced the same year. The 270’s parent cartridge, the 30-06, just 19 years older than the 270, was typically driving 150-grain bullets 2,700 to 2,800 fps. The 270 was pushing a 130-grain spire points 3,000 to 3,100 fps. Exciting stuff. 

Hunters in 1925 thought they had the best of the best with the 30-06, but its offspring, the 270 Winchester, was about to hatch and change a lot of minds.

With that speed, however, came problems. Soft bullets at the time expanded more than some hunters liked, limiting penetration, so Winchester brought out a heavier bullet, 150-grains, at 2,650 fps. This one quickly earned almost no fans because velocity was judged too slow. Hunters had already come to appreciate the flatter trajectory of the lighter, faster 130-grain bullet.

An Odd Caliber for Better Ballistics, Flatter Trajectory

It surprises me that hunters in that era accepted what was an odd and relatively small caliber, then the only 27-caliber sporting cartridge in the world. Did Winchester intentionally neck the 30-06 to handle the weird .277” bullets as a marketing ploy? One of a kind? A stand alone stand out? They could have necked the 30-06 case to calibers already being made, especially 7mm (.284,) 6.5mm (.264,) or even .257 (which Remington belatedly did in 1969.) Why did Winchester go with the odd .277-inch bullet? We’ll probably never know. What we do know is that a budding outdoor writer, Jack O’Connor, tried the new 270 Winchester in that company’s M54 bolt-action rifle soon after it came out. He fell in love with its ballistic performance and used it to hunt everything from jackrabbits to grizzly bears. The publicity O’Connor gave the 270 Winchester over the next 45 years contributed significantly to its popularity.

Balanced Cartridge Size, Velocity, Recoil and Trajectory Hold the Throne

The 270 Winchester remained the only 27-caliber until 1943. That’s the year Roy Weatherby came out with his first hyper-velocity, double-radius-shoulder, belted magnum. He called it the 270 Weatherby Magnum. It joined the 270 Win. as the only 27s extant until 2002 when Winchester announced its short-fat 270 WSM. Two years later Remington brought out the odd, little 6.8 SPC, a short, specialty cartridge engineered for driving relatively light bullets from AR-15 rifles. It was never meant to compete against the 270 Winchester as a hunting round. The magnums were.

This Montana elk discovered the 270 Winchester was nothing to sneer at.

To this day — and despite driving bullets about 200 fps faster than the original 270 Win. — neither the 270 WSM or 270 Weatherby Magnum approaches its popularity. But there are now three newer pretenders to the throne: the 27 Nosler, 6.8 Western, and .277 Fury. Their popularity awaits development. Meanwhile, the standard 270 Winchester performs more efficiently than ever, especially in shorter, convenient, 22-inch barrels, although 24-inch barrels add about 60 fps and really help it shine. 

The 270 Win. recoils less than the magnums and still “hits hard enough” for 98 percent of what most of us hunt. Long ago O’Connor proved what could be taken with the 270 Winchester— pretty much everything. Sheep, elk, moose, caribou, even brown bears. That was the kind of hard evidence hunters needed to put their trust in what was considered a fairly small cartridge/bullet at the time, a round Elmer Keith claimed was adequate for coyotes. But if O'Connor could take elk and moose with the original 270 Winchester in the 1940s and 50s, by golly so can we in the 2020s.

Lighter Bullets, Heavier Bullets

Over the years bullets from 90-grains to 170-grains have been built for the 270. I once owned a Ruger M77 that would regularly throw five Sierra 90-gr. Hollow Points into MOA clusters. At 3,500 fps, that was and is great coyote medicine. Hornady 110-gr. Hollow Points at 3,300 fps are deadly, too, and just as accurate. Maximum Point Blank Range on an 8-inch target is about 350 yards. While I have played around with a few 150-gr. slugs for elk, bears, and moose, I've found that 130- and 140-grain premium, controlled expansion bullets are more than heavy enough for deep penetration. 

With new, high B.C. .277” bullets now weighing 160 to 175 grains, the old 270 would seem to be in need of faster rifling twists. The traditional 1:10 twist is too slow to stabilize those long projectiles. But such long bullets might not be necessary for effective terminal performance at 500 yards and less, easily the distances at which the vast majority of game is taken. 

A 150-grain AccuBond Long Range, B.C. .591, flung 2,900 fps from a 24-inch barrel and zeroed 3 inches high at 100 yards hits no higher than 3.5 inches at its maximum ordinate (150 yards) and doesn’t drop 3.5 inches below point-of-aim until 335 yards. At 400 yards it’s just 14 inches low and at 500 yards 31 inches low. Remaining energy at 500 yards is 1,559 foot-pounds, more than the 1,500 f-p often cited as benchmark terminal energy for taking elk. Deflection from a 10 mph right angle wind at 500 yards is a mere 14.5 inches. Does the 270 Winchester need heavier bullets? Not according to these calculations. At the more reasonable long range hunting distance of 300 yards that 150-grain AccuBond Long Range will be hauling 1,988 foot-pounds of energy. 

Ammunition and Bullets Aplenty

Controlled expansion bullet construction combined with today’s superb form factors elevate the old 270’s performance to new levels. As indicated by the AccuBond trajectory numbers above, high ballistic coefficient aids significantly. If we hunters even knew what B.C. was back in the mid-20th century, we certainly didn’t dote on it. Now we do, understanding how more aerodynamic efficiency not only extends range and minimizes wind deflection, but husbands energy. Combine higher striking energy with deeper penetrating bullets that expand reliably while retaining 80% or more of their mass and you make the 270 Winchester pure poison on caribou, elk, moose, bears, and all Africa plains game. And you can find such bullets in most factory ammunition brands. Look for Barnes TTSX and LRX, Swift Scirocco, Nosler AccuBond Long Range, Federal Terminal Ascent to name a few. Handloaders can seat Cutting Edge Laser Tipped Hollow Points, Lehigh Defense ELR, Hammer Hunter and the like. At 2,900 fps launch speed, a 150-grain .277 is packing 2,800 f-p of energy, and those high B.C. bullets preserve it beautifully. 

Less robust bullets designed for more dramatic upset have their place too, and sleek boat tails behind long ogives nudge B.C.s into nose bleed territory. Hornady’s ELD-X, Berger’s VLD Hunting, Sierra GameKing, etc. help the 270 shoot flatter than ever with good terminal performance on pronghorns, mule deer, whitetails, sheep, and similar game. 

Can 270 Winchester Hang with 6.5 Creedmoor?

The “long range” 6.5 Creedmoor and all the hyper magnums birthed since the original 270 debuted raise a legitimate question: can the old gal keep up? Does she still have the long reach usually attributed to her? Well, if the 270’s 150-grain trajectory didn’t impress you, try a faster 130-grain. Zero 3 inches high at 100 yards with a 130-grain ELD-X started 3,100 fps and that bullet won’t drop 3.5 inches below point-of-aim until 330 yards. The 6.5 Creedmoor can only dream of such a flat trajectory. (link to https://www.ronspomeroutdoors.com/blog/20-reasons-shoot-6-5-creedmoor here) 

Zero a 2,750 fps 143-grain ELD-X (B.C. .625) Creedmoor bullet 3 inches high at 100 yards and at 300 yards it will have dropped 3.5 inches. That’s 30 yards behind the 270’s 130-grain trajectory. At 400 yards the 6.5 is down 16 inches while carrying a respectable 1,536 f-p energy. At 500 yards the projectile will fall 36 inches and retain 1,364 f-p. 

Recoiling From Excessive Recoil

For many shooters the 270 Win. represents the upper limit of tolerable recoil. In an 8-pound rifle firing a 130-grain bullet 3,100 fps, the 270 will generate 18 foot-pounds or free recoil energy. In comparison, a 30-06 with a 150-gr. bullet at 2,900 fps kicks back with about 21 ft. lbs. A 300 Winchester Magnum with the same bullet at 3,200 fps whacks you with 28 ft. lbs. The 6.5 Creedmoor pushing a 143-gr. bullet 2,750 fps should kick up 16 f-p, just 2 f-p less than the “brutal” 270 Win. The mild bucking of the 270 makes it easy to shoot accurately without flinching, a major part of why this round has proven so effective on big game. It makes shooting accurately easy.

Speaking of Accuracy

Traditionally “accuracy” hasn’t been celebrated in the 270 Winchester, but not because of any inherent flaws in the cartridge. Perceived cartridge accuracy has as much to do with rifle and ammo manufacturing tolerances and care as cartridge shape. While the 6.5 Creedmoor was engineered from the ground up for target competition and the 30-06 has frequently been tweaked for competition shooting, the 270 Winchester has remained in the hunting fields. As a result, it’s rarely been built with match-grade chambers and barrels. Hunting accuracy has long been “good enough.” The same philosophy applies to cartridges. When was the last time you saw 270 Win. ammo featuring match bullets? Heck, have you ever seen a match .277 bullet for handloading? 

The truth is a well-built, blueprinted bolt-action in 270 Win. with tailored handloads can shoot well under MOA. Some routinely cluster 1/2 MOA. While this won’t win any benchrest competitions, it’s more than precise enough for hunting deer, even varmints. A 1/2 MOA 270 Winchester should deliver all its shots inside a one-inch circle at 200 yards, a 1.5-inch circle at 300 yards, a four-inch circle at 400 yards. No coyotes and darn few rock chucks are escaping that kind of precision. More typical game from pronghorns to moose are a slam dunk. I certainly don’t recommend a 270 Win. for bench competition, but certainly do for buck harvest. 

30-06 Springfield Better than 270 Winchester for Elk, Moose? 

Traditionally it’s been argued that the 270’s parent, the 30-06 Springfield, is a better choice for elk and by extension moose, all the bears, and much African plains game. Heavier bullets are the deciding factor. While the 270 usually tops out with 150-grain spire points, sometimes 160-grain Round Nose, the 30-06 routinely stabilizes 200-, 220- and sometimes even 230-grain spire points. The increased mass pushed by the same basic powder volume translates to significantly greater muzzle energy. Here’s how 150-gr. 270 bullet energy compares to a perceived heavier hitter from a 30-06, a 200-grain AccuBond:

While the 30-06 Springfield does, indeed, start and finish with more energy, will its 270 f-p advantage at 100 yards make a difference to an elk or even a big bear? By 500 yards its energy advantage is down to just 128 f-p, about the equivalent of the muzzle energy in a typical 22 Long Rifle. Will that spell the difference between life and death? 

Many hunter believe the increased diameter of a .308” bullet results in significantly greater wounding than a .277” bullet. Others insist that Sectional Density (link to sectional density blog here https://www.ronspomeroutdoors.com/blog/bullet-sectional-density-matters) is a more important measure of performance. Well, the 200-gr. .308 is rated SD .301. The 150-gr. .277 scores an SD rating of .279. Enough to matter? You get to be the judge, but common sense suggests a combination of higher SD, 50-grains more weight, slightly greater bullet diameter, and a bit more impact energy make the 30-06 the winner. Then again, the drop and deflection advantage of the 150-gr. .277 argue that it should be easier to place precisely on target. 

Personally, I think the differences are negligible and would trust to bullet construction to make up any energy shortfall. A tough, controlled expansion bullet atop a 270 Win. case should be more than sufficient for any deer-to-moose-sized game out to 300 yards. Were I anticipating or fearing a grizzly charge at spitting distance, sure I’d rather have a 220-gr. in a 30-06, but cautious hunting and perhaps lots of luck during more than two dozen forays into grizzly and brown bear country have left me unscathed and unchallenged thus far. Knock on wood.  

As elk medicine, there are better rounds than the 270 Win., but with today's premium bullets and a good aim, the 270 Win. can and does handily and cleanly terminate any big game animal in North America. I wouldn't hesitate a second to use it on the biggest elk. (Insert link to 270 Elk Hunt video) Or moose. For open country mule deer, pronghorns, sheep and goats it is nearly ideal. In dense cover it's more than up to the task against black bears, whitetails, elk, and moose. With 90- to 110-gr. bullets it's effective on coyotes, foxes, rock chucks and ground squirrels. Could the 270 Winchester, then, be the perfect all-round North American centerfire? A better option than the 30-06 or 6.5 Creedmoor. Maybe. Could be. And even if it isn't, those who own it love it.