Wistful Winter Wonderings on Winchesters .270

That damn Gregg and his dead piggie pictures has drawn me from my obsession with a certain whore-fingernail-red 1100 thrill missle back into the sleepy world of calibre consideration. That's OK though, 'cause it's cold outside, the wind is bendin' the trees, and I may not come out of my flannel 'jammies all day.


So let's talk about the .270, shall we? What started out as a flat shootin' barn burnin' speed demon has become.... ya' thought I was gonna say somethin' like "slowpoke", didn't ya'. Nope. It's still right on the tail of those hot-shit cartridges we all read about in the glossies. How can that be?!

For years the .270 Winchester factory load launched a 130 grain bullet at a muzzle velocity of 3140fps while the *New* *Improved* .270 WSM (Winchester Short Magnum, SB) is listed at 3275fps. Hmmm... I don't think I'm gonna buy a new rifle for a 135fps improvement. It seems factory loads have changed a bit in the last few years as the *New* .270 Winchester load is a mere 3060fps. Whether lawyers, sales of new magnum cartridges, or better engineering measurement methods are the impetus behind it I don't know, but the fact remains the books have been cooked.

I'm gonna stick with the old timers and run Sierra 130grain spitzer boattails of 60 grains of H4831. Well, not exactly, I think I'll use H4831SC since it works better in my powder feeder, but you get the picture. And if you don't take a look at these from Gregg's program Ballistic Pro: