The .270 Winchester is a rifle cartridge developed by Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1923, and it was unveiled in 1925 as a chambering for their bolt-action Model 54 to become arguably the flattest shooting cartridge of its day, only competing with the .300 Holland & Holland Magnum, also introduced in the same year.

The .270 Winchester case is a necked down .30-03 Springfield, retaining the slightly longer neck of that original parent cartridge. (Note the actual SAAMI and CIP length specifications of the .270 Winchester vs. the .30-06 Springfield and that of their parent cartridge the .30-03 Springfield, with a C.I.P. length of 64.52mm, and a SAAMI of 2.540 inches. Winchester had chambered the Model 1895 Lever Action Rifle in .30-03 Springfield in 1905, then the slightly shorter .30-06 Springfield in 1908.) The .270 Winchester uses a .270 inch (6.86 mm) bore diameter and a .277 inch (7.04 mm) bullet diameter. The bore diameter was likely inspired by 7mm Mauser. The physics of lead projectiles determines that .277in. bullets of a similar material and weight to the .308in. bullet (commonly used in the .30-06 Springfield) will obviously have to be longer than that similar weight .308in. lead projectile. As an example compare bullets of the same weight but different calibers. The 150gr. .277 caliber bullet is longer and has a higher sectional density vs. the ballistically significant shorter length and lower sectional density of a 150gr. .308 caliber bullet. The use of the longer cartridge case neck was a design element to complement those longer bullets with better sectional density.

History

Introduced in 1925 along with the Winchester Model 54 bolt action rifle under the name "270 WCF" (270 Winchester Centerfire), the .270 Winchester was not an immediate success due to the popularity of the relatively recently introduced .30-06 Springfield, chambered for the M1903 Springfield bolt action rifle, which was commonly "sporterized" for hunting purposes.

The earliest iteration of the .270 Winchester cartridge was introduced with the Winchester Model 51 Imperial rifle probably in or about 1919. Only 24 Winchester Model 51's were produced, and only a handful of those were chambered in and marked ".27 Cal". Winchester's .27 Caliber was renamed 270 Winchester with the Model 54, the replacement for the Model 51 Winchester rifle. Winchester Model 51 serial number 1 is marked .27 Cal as is serial number 3 which is in the collection of the Cody Firearms Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming.

However, the .270 Winchester attained great popularity among hunters and sporting rifle enthusiasts in the succeeding decades and especially in the post-World War II period, ranking it among the most popular and widely used big game hunting cartridges worldwide, especially with the widespread popularity of rifle scopes. Shooters started noticing that the .277" caliber cartridge was capable of shooting flatter than the popular 30–06.

The .270 Winchester, conceived solely as a big game hunting cartridge, became very popular, in part, due to the widespread praises of gun writer Jack O'Connor who used the cartridge for 40 years and touted its merits in the pages of Outdoor Life as well as other renowned gun writers of the time such as Col. Townsend Whelen.

The cartridge was initially commercially loaded to drive a 130 grain (8.4 gram) bullet at approximately , later reduced to , demonstrating a high performance at the time of its introduction while being marketed as a suitable cartridge for big game shooting in the range. Two additional bullet weights were soon introduced: a 100-grain (6.5 gram) hollow-point bullet for varmint shooting, and a 150 grain (9.7 gram) bullet, offering a higher sectional density, which made it suitable for achieving better penetration for large sized deer, such as wapiti, and moose.

Sporting use

The .270 Winchester is a suitable cartridge for hunting deer-sized game at open ranges making it suitable for plains game and mountain hunting. It may be chambered in standard length actions and though the optimum barrel size is considered to be 24 inches, it doesn't lose much muzzle velocity with 22 inch barrels, making it a suitable cartridge for developing a light mountain rifle.

The .270 Winchester cartridge is equipped with a 130-grain bullet traveling at approximately 3,060 feet per second (fps). When sighted in to intersect 3 inches above the line of sight at 100 yards (about 90 meters), it maintains a trajectory that rises no more than 3.5 inches and aligns with the line of sight around 270 yards. This setup allows for a maximum point blank range of roughly 325 yards, ideal for effectively targeting game the size of deer within a 7-inch diameter target area. Hunters can shoot confidently within this range without needing to adjust for bullet drop. Additionally, the cartridge, loaded with the 130-grain bullet, retains around 1,500 foot-pounds of energy up to 400 yards, meeting the minimum recommended for hunting elk.

Performance

thumb|right|250px|Left to right - hollow point, FMJBT, soft point, lead round nose

Cartridges are commonly available from sizes with loads being by far the most popular. Though handloaders have a wider range of options with the availability of bullets in a number of weights from 90 to 180 grains (5.8 to 11.7 grams), rifles are barrelled with 1:10 inch twist rifling, which may stabilize bullets up to 150 gr in order to provide the required accuracy expected. Common bullet weight recommendations for shooting different game are as follows:

  • bullets: varmint and small deer
  • bullets: deer size game including mule deer, white tail, sheep, mountain goats, antelope
  • bullets: deer, red stag, elk, moose, caribou, and similar larger animals.

See also

  • List of rifle cartridges
  • Table of handgun and rifle cartridges
  • 7 mm caliber
  • .270 Winchester Short Magnum
  • 6.8 Western
  • 6.8mm Remington SPC
  • .277 Wolverine
  • sectional density

References

  • C.I.P. TDCC 270 Win.