m 70 in 270wsm

[Tunaman]

I was in a local shop the other day and they were putting some new guns on the shelf. One was a Shadow elite that i couldn't pass up. She is chambered in 270wsm. I had a spare Ziess 3x9x40 hanging around, so that is what she is wearing. Does anyone have one and if so, what does yours shoot well. I would like to shoot 130 gr. bullets, but I am open to suggestions. She will be a used for southern Whitetail with an average range under 250 yards, but most shots will be around 100 yards. I have plenty of other rifles, so I am not looking for a one rifle do all load, just a good factory deer load.

Thanks,
Tuna

[The Gamemaster]

I used the 130 gr bullets in my gun this year, ( Browning A Bolt )  and shot a doe at a range of about 50 yards and it shot high and I hit the back bone and blew a hole in the doe big enough to throw a cat through.

Unless you plan on taking shots of over 100 yards, I would not recommend using the .270 Winchester Short Magnum on Deer.  It's just too much gun!

The ammo I used was the  Federals with the Speer 130 gr spire point bullets .

[Tunaman]

Thanks for the info. I have a few questions, though. When you say that "it " shot high, do you mean the bullet, Gun, or what? Did the bullet fly erratically? Have you tried any other rounds?

[The Gamemaster]

I had the gun sighted dead on at 200 yards, which I never checked the zero at 50 yards.

I figure that it was 1 - 1/2 high at 100 yards.  Other than that, I figure that it was probably 3 inches low at 300 yards.  Which makes it a pretty good tack driver.

My easiest explanation would be that when you sight in a gun on a level shooting range and then try to shoot it at an up hill or down hill target, the point of aim changes some - just like wind drift.

The same as sighting in on a padded bag and then shooting off a fence rail out in a farmers field.

My situation was that the deer was on the side of a hill, aprox. 50 yards or so above me and I was standing on a road - shooting up hill.  The doe was looking at me at the time and I aimed between a couple of pine trees where I saw an opening.  There was aprox. 5 or so deer in the area and I only wanted to shoot one.  The only shot I had was in the neck area or along side of the deer - a quartering shot.

I think that I aimed just below it's chin and I hit it in the backbone.  High - but dead center.

Did it move it's head or did it start to run when I shot or did I hit a different deer than the one that I was aiming at?  I can't say for sure because it all happened so fast.  I was waiting for my brother to shoot first and then I was going to take my shot.  But he said that his scope was fogged up - Leupold, and couldn't shoot.

I shot and a doe went down.

But that was the first time in my life I ever shot a deer and never hit the vitals and killed it instantly.

It never hit the backbone, but blew all the meat off the top of the backbone, just in one area about the size of a softball.

A 30/06 probably wouldn't have killed it with the same effect as the .270 WSM did.

In my opinion, it just isn't suitable for shots under 100 yards because of all the power that the bullet has with that gun.  The nearest thing that I could compare it to would be my 300 Weatherby Magnum - which sounds like the Rifleman when you shoot it.  Not a bang!  But a Wheew.

[Tunaman]

Thanks for the info. I am not sure that I would consider any 270 over the top for deer but it does sound like that shot did some damage. If i plan on shooting does, which I do frequently, this will not be the gun that I bring along but when hunting during the rut, It sounds perfect. Drop them and drop them quick. I fully agree with you about the difficulty of judging distance when shooting uphill and down hill and will take that into consideration. Most of my hunting, however, is done on flat ground.

[poncaguy]

I have the "cheap" 270WSM Super Shadow......130 BST's shoot 1/2"-3/4" groups. Great rifle and a great round............

[Tunaman]

Thank you.

[Tunaman]

Well, I decided to do some shooting yesterday and lo and behold, the 130 bst shot well, just under an inch. The 140 accubond were a close second at just over an inch. a buddies hand loads with 130 partitions were disappointing at 1.75.  I don't think that i will hunt this gun this year but I certainly will next year. Thanks for all of the info.

[mudstud]

Tunaman,
How's about posting some pics of your Shadow Elite?

[Pinkerton]

I have a super shadow 270wsm, one of the cheap walmart $388 with simmons scope, replace that with burris rings and sightron scope and have used it now more than any other. It's deadly accurate with the 130gr CT ballistic silver tips.

I'd give vital parts of my anatomy to find one in 325wsm now.