Back in 1957 I started using 130-grain Remington Bronze PT. I killed a number of deer with it, but found the pointed Core-Lokt gave better penetration. A hunting partner/logger killed a ton of deer using the factory Remington 150-grain Core-Lokt softpoint on deer. He hunted deer in heavy cover and it created a good exit hole and offered outstanding penetration. In turn I used it successfully.
For almost 30-years every round I carried hunting was a handload. But it changed when I purchased a few boxes of WW 150-grain Power Points. The initial plan was to use it as sight-in ammunition for a new scope and a source of brass. But I found it to be very accurate out of the Remington 700. I was disappointed in the velocity over the Chrony what was about a 100 fps less then advertised. BUT I found it very effective on deer; on one mule deer buck I made a frontal shot that entered the front of the chest damaging the windpipe, lungs, heart, and then ran down the rib cage cutting off five ribs, coming to a stop after busting the fifth rib. The bullet had expanded to .75 inches, and retained 74 percent of its weight after penetrating over 25-inches of deer. The described shot was at over 250-yards. I am currently holding on to my remaining three boxes for hunting only.
One of my brothers found the WW Power Pt loads to be effective on deer, when he became a serious reloader he bought a 1000 of the bullets in bulk.
The number of .270 Winchesters in the family has varied over the years but it has run from four to seven. The primary lesson learned is that the 140-grain and 150-grain bullets are more effective. Heart and lung shot deer with our “favorite” 130-grain bronze points sharpened my tracking skills. It became rather exhausting a few times to have to go back into the woods after a day of hunting to pickup the track of a buck shot by a brother using a bronze point. The bullet was effective in killing the deer but they lost little blood in those two or three hundred feet before dropping for good.
A few years back I ran Remington, Winchester, Hornady, and Federal 150-grain ammunition across my Chrony. Only Remington achieved the advertised velocity, the others were down at least 100 fps. This knowledge is important when preparing a trajectory card for my rifle. I normally figure trajectory out to 400-yards.
In those years of not using factory ammunition I did load bullets that are used in loaded factory ammunition. I see little need for premium bullets when using the correct weight when deer hunting. Typically a deer that takes a heart/lung shot runs a short distance and recovery requires a bit of tracking. Tracking is easier when there is an entrance hole and an exit hole.
