Factory load recommendations for ProHunter .270.

[liv2hunt]

I'm going to Texas for a hunt in December. I'm looking for factory ammo for a ProHunter .270 setup. Any load found to shoot well would be appreciated but I'm leaning towards a 130gr. bullet due to the smaller size of the deer. l know what works for you might not for me but I'm looking for a starting point. I've used 130 gr. Federal Vital Shock Barnes Triple Shock and 130 gr. Nosler Partition bullets with fair results (just under 2" groups at 100 yds.).  Thanks.

liv2hunt

[yooper77]

I see you're using 130 grain Premium bullets, you don't need such expensive bullets to kill deer.

My 270 Winchester loves 150 grain bullets best, but I handload for all my ammo.

I would go and buy some basic 150 grain soft pointed bullets in factory ammo and give them a try.

Federal Power-Shok are about the cheapest and also a rebate going on now.

I would also try Winchester and Remington also, with 150 grain soft pointed bullets.

yooper77

[Graybeard]

My favorite is also one of the lower cost loads out there the Hornady Custom with 140 BTSP. It has been extremely accurate in every .270 I've tried it in and is great on deer. Give it a try and you'll fall in love.

[LONGTOM]

I have used everything from 110gr all the way up to 200gr with good results.
It's hard to go wrong with a 270.
That being said I prefer the 130s over all others for deer.
If you can find it the discontinued WIN 130gr POWER POINT PLUS ammo always did a good job for me.
Every 270 I ever shot it in would do three under an 1" at 100 with at least two guns doing under .5 for three shots.
I just recently picked up 10 boxes of it off gunbroker.com for $19.00 a box if I took it all, which I did.
There was two or three people had some.
May still be some left, I don't know.
The old WIN silvertips also did a fine job.
Win brought it back out last year and I do have some but haven't tried it yet to see if it is as good as the old ammo.
The 130s have plenty of punch out to 400 to 500yds and shoot quit flat.
At 300 with a 2.5" sight in you would not have to hold off the deer for a solid hit.
At that range the bullet should penetrate completely through the deer.

Good luck on your hunt and as the others have said any of the loads they mentioned will do a fine job for you.

LONGTOM

[liv2hunt]

I went to Cabela's today and purchased more ammo. Boy, this is getting expensive. However, I took everyones suggestions and made some choices I wish to share...with some questions.
 
Yooper77- I purchased a box of Remington Express Core-Lokt 150 gr. SP as you suggested. I will try these when I go this weekend to the range. Hopefully they group well. Do you clean in between shots? I have started to clean the bore between shots with Shooter's Choice and then a degreaser (Birchwood Degreaser) in order to remove all solvents from the barrel. I started doing this after I was finding POI fluctuations after multiple shots without cleaning. This process appears to stop this from happening. Your thoughts?

Greybeard- I purchased a box of Hornady Custom LIGHT MAG 140 gr. BTSP. There are two types of 140 gr. ammo. Cabela's does not sell the other variety. Is this the ammo you suggested? I will give this a try this weekend as well.

Longtom- They had two boxes of Winchester 130 gr. Power Point (no plus) ammo intermixed with the Silvertip ammo. Is this the ammo you talked about? I figured I'd pass on this ammo until I confirmed with you that this is indeed the ammo you suggested. In the meantime, I have other alternatives to test before making my final decision on ammo.

I'm hoping to spend a considerable amount of time at the range this weekend and next week with my .270 trying the various ammo. Hopefully, I'll find something that groups 1" at 100 yds. I'll post my results when I'm back from the range. Thanks again for all your comments....I look forward to your (and others) continued input in my decision making process. 

liv2hunt

 

[yooper77]

Sounds good.  I have found that basic factory ammo from the top manufactures are perfect accuracy for hunting.

Did you know that ammo has a rebate?

http://www.remington.com/pdfs/promo_coupon.pdf

yooper77

[Graybeard]

Greybeard- I purchased a box of Hornady Custom LIGHT MAG 140 gr. BTSP. There are two types of 140 gr. ammo. Cabela's does not sell the other variety. Is this the ammo you suggested? I will give this a try this weekend as well.

No. As much as I like their Light Mag ammo and love it over all others in the 7-08 I have found their Custom ie., non light mag to be most accurate in the .270s for me. Back when I started using it in them it was all Hornady offered and is still my favorite for it. That and the Federal Premium with 150 Nosler PT are the only two rounds I shoot in .270 Winchester.

[hogrdr]

Sounds good.  I have found that basic factory ammo from the top manufactures are perfect accuracy for hunting.

Did you know that ammo has a rebate?

http://www.remington.com/pdfs/2007-FallPromoCoupon.pdf

yooper77

That rebate expired 1/15/08 just thought you would like to know! I pulled it up and top of page (all requests must be recieved by 1/15/08)

[Ladobe]

I had a time back near when I last hunted mule deer and elk with my 270 when I just didn't have time to mess with reloading or trying out new bullets.   So I just bought some Federal 130 grain ammo for the deer and their 150's for elk.   They both shot very well in my old Ruger model 77, both killed just as well as my handloads did and were good enough even for very long one-shot kills.    Just went out and checked the ammo locker... I still have 2 boxes of the 130's left.   They called this ammo "Hi-Shok" back then, and they were bought so long ago that they set me back a whopping $6.11 per box.  

[yooper77]

hogrdr,

Ok, thank you I copied the wrong link.  I fixed it above and here it is again.

http://www.remington.com/pdfs/promo_coupon.pdf

yooper77

[liv2hunt]

Well, I've got several different boxes of ammo to test this week and will post my results when I'm finished. I'm going Saturday and an entire day during next week. Hopefully I'll find something to meet my needs in Texas. I'll let you know.

liv2hunt

[liv2hunt]

Went to the range today with several different factory loads to test. The weather conditions were temps in the 50's with winds at 5mph or less. I used a gun vise on a very stable bench and cleaned the barrel after every shot. The boxes of ammo were: 150 gr. Remington Express Core-Lokt SP, 140gr. Hornady Light Mag BTSP Interlock, 130gr. Federal Premium Nosler Partition and the 130gr. Federal Premium Barnes Triple Shock X-Bullet. I started with the Hornady and quickly found the ammo to group all 5 shot groups within 1 1/2" at 100yds. After finishing that box, I shot the Remington Core-Lokt and they did not group with any consistency. Best 5 shot group was just over 2" at 100yds. Next was the Federal Premium Nosler Partition. They produced the worst groups of all the ammo tested with no consistency; all 5 shot groupings at just under 3" at 100yds. Finally came the Federal Premium Barnes Triple Shock X-bullets. The first 5 shot group came in at 1 1/2" at 100yds. The second 5 shot group came in at 1/2"  at 100yds. (the best of the day!) and the final 5 shot groups at 1" and 1 1/2" at 100yds. respectively. I'm very satisfied with the Barnes Triple Shock X-bullet and will be taking them to Texas. Has anyone used the Barnes Triple Shock bullet on game? If so, how did it perform?