270 Winchester better than 7mm mag?

[Tra3]

I grew up hunting in Montana with a .270 and took elk, deer and antelope with it. After 20+ years with a .270, I started planning My first trip to Africa. I’m bought a 7 mag the hunting season before my africa trip. I found it accurate and certainly sufficient up through elk sized game. It performed great in africa.
Then you bought an R8… .300 WM, I shot two elk with that barrel. In that narrow experience I didn’t find the .300 WM any better on elk. I had a .270 win barrel as well, which I opted for with deer and antelope (perfect for that game size and western USA distances). Next season I got a 7 mag barrel, which is my preferred caliber for elk and deer out West.
I watched the .270 in my kids’ hands take 10 head of PG last summer, up to giraffe and eland. With 130 gr barnes, the .270 really works.

The .270 was my dad’s choice for me to learn to hunt with. I started my kids with a 6.5 CM and then jumped to a .270 (so I could use it too).

Today, I’m all in with a 180 gr bullet in the 7 mag. Especially for western USA hunting and elk. I concur with @gillettehunter

Note: neither the .270 nor the 7 mag are ideal for short distance tree stand hunting. They tear big violent holes in game and waste too much meat. A heavy bullet 6.5 is much better for close range deer that you want to eat.

 

[scoober78]

If your shots never exceed 350 yards or so, NBD. Higher BCs available with 7mm starts to pull away eventually. Make mine a 7mag.
PS, the ballistics you quote are a little misleading. I routinely get 3050 out of 160ABs so you are talking almost 200 FPS with 10 grains more bullet or nearly 300 with equal weights. That starts to matter.

 

[steve white]

Other, better 7 mags matter even more...

 

[Newboomer]

If your shots never exceed 350 yards or so, NBD. Higher BCs available with 7mm starts to pull away eventually. Make mine a 7mag.
PS, the ballistics you quote are a little misleading. I routinely get 3050 out of 160ABs so you are talking almost 200 FPS with 10 grains more bullet or nearly 300 with equal weights. That starts to matter.

This may be hijacking the thread but I took my MRC 30-06 to Texas last fall for red stag and fallow deer. After seeing what it did with Barnes 180gr TSX I am a convert. I hadn't hunted with an 06 since the 1970s(?). I've done a lot of target shooting with one over the years with all kinds of ammo from WWII vintage to Korea to new stuff. I even tried some steel case Russian crap and got one stuck in the chamber. The lacquer melted and welded the case to the chamber. I pulled the head off the case trying to extract it (good CRF Win). Took that rifle out of commission for awhile.

Now my 7RM is a safe queen. For the same size and weight, the 06 is light years ahead of the 7 and the ammo variety is incomparable. Accuracy is good with everything from 110gr to 220 gr.

My new two gun battery: MRC 30-06 and WIn 70 Safari Express 375HH. Confident to hunt anything that walks the earth.

 

[Ragman]

Although I’m a diehard .308 fan and it’s my personal favourite, the first rifle that I bought for myself at the age of 20 was a 7mm RM. I’ve had one now for nearly 33 years and have shot many many animals with it from coyotes up to moose. It went on my Namibia trip with me and performed very well there. I will always have one.
I did own a .270 for a number of years and shot a couple of deer with it but it became a safe queen so it moved on. I do still have a great deal of respect for the .270 but I’ll pick the 7 RM over it just because of my history with it.

 

[CraigV]

.280 Rem

As mentioned earlier, fantastic in-between caliber.

I've had/used one since the mid 80's as my primary rifle. Taken moose, elk, deer. Choose the right weight bullet and you've got a true multi-purpose caliber here. Ohh, used it in stands at ranges as short as 50m, and open ground to 300m. No problems at all.

My next use is for mountain goat.

 

[scoober78]

This may be hijacking the thread but I took my MRC 30-06 to Texas last fall for red stag and fallow deer. After seeing what it did with Barnes 180gr TSX I am a convert. I hadn't hunted with an 06 since the 1970s(?). I've done a lot of target shooting with one over the years with all kinds of ammo from WWII vintage to Korea to new stuff. I even tried some steel case Russian crap and got one stuck in the chamber. The lacquer melted and welded the case to the chamber. I pulled the head off the case trying to extract it (good CRF Win). Took that rifle out of commission for awhile.

Now my 7RM is a safe queen. For the same size and weight, the 06 is light years ahead of the 7 and the ammo variety is incomparable. Accuracy is good with everything from 110gr to 220 gr.

My new two gun battery: MRC 30-06 and WIn 70 Safari Express 375HH. Confident to hunt anything that walks the earth.

Boomer, always great posts. There's a damn good reason (or 20) that one's been around since 1906...well, 1903 actually. I'd never say a bad thing about it.

 

[Odinsraven]

Have used all three 7x64 is my preferred

 

[Bonk]

I owned a Ruger #1 in 270 but sold it because every time I reached for a rifle the 270 got beat out by something else. If I had a specific task in mind, no matter which one, I always found something in my safe that was a better caliber choice. I never killed any game with that #1 because it never got chosen to go hunting. My 25-05 was used on whitetail and smaller game and my .30 caliber rifles were used on whitetail and bigger game. The only 7mm I own these days is a 7x64 but IMO it's in a different class than 270 and can be used anytime a .30 caliber is called for. Calibers like 7x57 and 7x64 really come into their own with bigger bullets and that's something the 270 isn't nearly as good at. I have no experience with 7mm mag so I won't comment.

I also owned a Kimber 270 but I sold it for an entirely different reason. It was unsafe. When I first bought it the hammer would release if you moved the safety from safe to fire. Fortunately I discovered it before I ever put a round in the gun. Kimber replaced the entire bolt assembly but I could never trust the rifle after that. I sold it at a substantial loss with full disclosure to the new owner. I never fired a round through the rifle. I know it was only one example but it soured me on Kimber rifles. The fact it was a 270 is purely coincidentally and not an indictment on the caliber.

 

[AZDAVE]

I have never liked the 270. Owned a nice #1 but traded it for a 45/70. I spent time in Germany as a young man and came to appreciate the metric 6.5, 7, 8, and 9.3`s. The270 to me was always a deer in between round. I am a big fan of the 7`s. (7x57, 7x65r, 7RM) saying that the 270 fits the bill for a number of folks so get what works for you and shoot it alot.

 

[Bonk]

I have never liked the 270. Owned a nice #1 but traded it for a 45/70. I spent time in Germany as a young man and came to appreciate the metric 6.5, 7, 8, and 9.3`s. The270 to me was always a deer in between round. I am a big fan of the 7`s. (7x57, 7x65r, 7RM) saying that the 270 fits the bill for a number of folks so get what works for you and shoot it alot.

The highlighted text is the key point. The 270 is an in between caliber. It's good at a lot of stuff but not great at anything in particular.

 

[hawkeyesatx]

I know this may ruffle some feathers, and I apologize in advance….

When I was in my mid-twenties, I was reading a lot of those gun scribes accounts about having to have a 7mm Rem Mag, or a .300 Win Mag. I’m ashamed I bought into that hype, and I got a 7mm Rem Mag and started hunting with it. My buddy, who has been a professional guide in Wyoming, has always stated he hasn’t liked the 7mm Rem Mag, because a .30-06 can equal what a 7mm Rem Mag can do, within practical hunting distances. Now, I have to say, when I was younger, that ruffled my feathers. Not until several years later did I really look unbiased at both cartridges, and realized, dammit, he was right. A .30-06 hand loaded, will equal the 7mm Rem Mag, within a few grains of bullet weight. And that’s even if you keep within the 60k psi parameters of the ‘06 cartridge. With the ‘06, you still get that “beller”, and horsepower everyone talks about with the 7mm Rem Mag. Not to mention, if you use the same barrel length on your ‘06, it ups the velocities just a hair, and if you use the new progressive powders, like RL-26, or StaBall 6.5, in your ol’ ‘06, it ups the velocities even that much more, and you can almost turn your ‘06 into an old .300 H&H Mag.
Lately, if everyone keeps up with the writings of Craig Boddington, he was a magnum proclaimer in his younger years, and never gave the “regular” cartridges a try, or chance. Now that he is semi-retired, he has stated that he doesn’t like the kick, or boom of the Magnum rifles he once preferred, but uses regular cartridges more now. And 2 that he does use more, the lowly .270, and the .30-06!
He has come to realize that the 7mm Rem Mag has only a slight advantage over the .270, and the Mag only increases practical hunting distances 25 - 35 yds.
Now with that being said, I saw the error of my youth, and exuberance, and have gone to using the .30-06, which is housed in a Weatherby Vanguard, 24 inch barrel. And you know what?!? My buddy was right!! There’s no discernible difference in the field between those 2.
Lately, I’ve been on a .270 Win kick, and just acquired a Winchester M70. Black Shadow, 24 inch barreled .270! I’m going to use the new progressive powders on it as well, and I’m betting the advantage the 7mm Rem Mag is going to become even smaller.
So, for sakes of this post, I choose the .270, and that’s coming from an ashamed magnum addict.


Hawk

 

[Bonk]

I got sidetracked but of the two choices presented I'd definitely choose the 270. Like a lot of others I was sucked into the 7mm Mag craze when I was a kid but the biggest difference between the 270 and 7mm mag is noise, recoil and ammo cost. If you're a one rifle hunter and never plan to shoot anything bigger than an elk the 270 is a fine choice.

 

[BRICKBURN]

This kind of question.....

 

[BeeMaa]

This kind of question.....
View attachment 454078

In that case…I’ll have one of each.

 

[sgt_zim]

and

I've scratched my head about these two and the 280 AI for another rifle. But for my purposes there's not a whole lot of difference between them. And my 30-06 does just about the same thing.

Honestly if I really wanted a 7 mag I'd go with a 7mm Weatherby Mag. As someone I read once put it it's everything the 7mm Remington Mag wanted to be.

and the 28 Nosler is everything the 7mm Weatherby Mag wanted to be.

 

[Nevada Mike]

I've been hunting with my 7mm RM for a number of decades. In this comparison, the 7mm wins:

Larger bullets (diameter and weight)
Overall performance/velocity
Choices of bullets available is much greater
Recoil - I find even my favorite load (160 gr. bullet with 80 gr. H870 @ 3000+ fps) pleasant to shoot.

Nuthin' against the .270 (or '06). A 280 AI is more comparable to the 7mm RM, as well.

 

[Hillbilly Marine]

I have been a big .270 fan for many years. From watching reactions to hits from many different rounds, to include the 7mm RM, there is no appreciable difference between the two. On paper, yes, but in actual performance no. You get bragging rights with the 7mmRM being louder, and more abusive in the recoil department. If you have to go bigger than the .270 you need to go at least to the .338.

Of course my opinion is like everyone else, mine only.

 

[Rocco490]

No question the 7mm remington mag outperforms the 270 ballistically. However that performance improvement isn't a massive one. A .277" 150 grain bullets sectional density is .279, very close to the 160 grain .284" bullets sectional density of .283" and with bullets of equal construction penetration should be similar. With that in mind comparing a 7mm rem mag with 160 grain bullets to the 270 win with 150 grain bullets the rem mag enjoys around a 100fps velocity advantage which does flatten trajectories and increase energy yields.(also add in the 7mm bullets typically have a slightly higher ballistic coefficient vs the .277" bullets) These are the main advantages I see the rem mag having over the 270. As for the bullets the weight difference is only 10 grains and the the bullet diameter is just .007" larger. The trajectories between these two with that 100-120fps difference in velocity is not drastic we are talking a 2.2" difference in drop at 400 yards with a 200 yard zero and a 1" difference in drift at 400 yards (data comparing federal 7mm rem mag 160 partition load to federal 270 win 150 partition load). Most game under most conditions that the 7mm rem mag would be considered ideal for the 270 win would also be ideal for. If performance alone is your goal get the 7mm rem mag. I chose the 270. It does not equal the great 7mm rem mag in performance but it is not far off it and has the advantages of being more economical to shoot with less recoil and blast and no belted case.

 

[Rocco490]

If thinking about 1 rifle only versatility I wouldn't want either just give me a 30-06 or for africa a 375hh.