Welcome Guest!
Question about 270 wsm
- Thread starter Louie270WSM
- Start date
MAC DADDY FREAK NASTY
Senior Member
ditto
What he said..
Louie I had the same problem. I figured with all that power, my 270 WSM ballistic tip would do the trick. I hit 2 deer at close range multiple times before I figured out the velocity and super fast bullet expansion were not allowing cavity penetration. So, I switched to Winchester 150 gr Power Points. Problem solved.
What he said..
It was amazing to see how so much power behind a projectile could expand so fast. One of the two deer I tried the ballistic tips on lost all the hair on his hind quarter as the shock wave left from there. What looked like smoke was actually hair. I had never seen that before.
And, like you said shot placement is key. I hit one mature buck quartering at me. I'll never forget that one, but that was my fault not waiting for a better shot.
deadend
Senior Member
After compiling data from this thread it has become evident that a .270wsm cannot reliably kill a deer.
I guess you hit another dead end.
ReelAffair
Senior Member
Say what, i've killed 6 deer with my new 270WSM, not one, I repeat, not one took a step after my shot. Two of the bucks were over 230lbs mid-western bucks. Hit them in the high shoulder and they fall down right there!
Last edited:
brownhounds
Banned
Gotta be 150 grain. I love my 270, but you have to use 150 grain. Ever since i switched to 150 grain, I have never lost one.
deadend
Senior Member
I never saw much difference in killing power whether a 110ttsx or 165vld. It is interesting that others have such widely varying opinions of the same bullets.
Evidently some of us have shared the same experience and made the same change to get the same result. I'm glad for you that what you're doing is working.
lonewolf247
Senior Member
People tend to use what works for them, and gives them confidence, and I think that part is a good thing. Although I've been hunting many years, over 30 of them have been with a 30-06, so I really don't have a whole lot of experience with other calibers.
For years I thought that my 30-06, was really giving me a big advantage over the other calibers, as I've seen other members cussing their .243, .270, and even 7mm rem mags, and the bullets they shot from them.
It wasn't until about 10 years ago, that I become interested in trying other calibers, so I started buying different ones, for myself, and my son, as a youth hunter.
I've been hesitant, and a little cautious, but so for, from what I've seen, and always heard, and preached, that shot placement, trumps caliber, and bullet construction, any day of the week.
So far, when I try a new caliber, I've started them with soft points, until I see something in the performance that I don't like, then I've gone a little better constructed. The .308 has been the only caliber that I switched from soft points up till now.
In 30-06, I'm convinced that soft points are the best option, Bar None! Anything better constructed will actually probably kill deer slower.(but, don't get me wrong, this is a trivial thing, as I'm also convinced that you can't pick a wrong bullet for 30-06 as long as it's a hunting bullet between 150-180 grain. If you don't get the deer it's not the ammo)
In my .257 Weatherby Magnum, it really concerned me, because I'm used to 165 grain bullets, so a 100 grain soft point launched at 3600fps sorta worried me. So far 3 shots, 3 deer, all dead on the spot, with no tracking. Still testing, but I will have to personally see this bullet let me down, before I'd switch it.
I'm not sure why, but I've even let the .270 worry me a little. I Picked up a really accurate, older Smith &Wesson M1500/howa, which my son really wanted so I let him have it. He started with Hornady Interlocks because the guy I bought the gun from gave me a couple of boxes with the gun. So I thought, why not use them. He killed a couple of deer with them, then I switched scopes around on that rifle, so we had to re-sight the rifle in using more bullets, plus the ones used on the original sight in. I switched it recently to Federal "deer thugs" which basically a Walmart labeling of the Fusion bullet, from what I've read. He shot a 140# buck with it yesterday with those bullets, and it fell in its tracks.
Working my way downward, my next caliber I'm gonna work with is the .243. I need to buy ammo, and sight it in though. On this one, I'm thinking I may go with a bullet, a little better contructed than soft points, from the start.
I see a lot of threads posted saying this caliber is not good for deer, that bullet failed, this bullets too soft, or too hard, and won't expand, etc. While, I do believe that some calibers are better than others, some bullets perform better than others, and just because this bullet works good with this caliber, doesn't mean it's the best for that caliber, I get all that.
However, just from my little bit of experimenting with different rifles and calibers, and what I believe to be true, is, if you loose a deer with a decent bullet, fired from basically .243 on up, it's you, (or me) and not the rifle, caliber, or the ammo.
And....to stay on topic of the original post, I believe the .270wsm to be no exception. It should be a fine fast flat shooting deer caliber!
For years I thought that my 30-06, was really giving me a big advantage over the other calibers, as I've seen other members cussing their .243, .270, and even 7mm rem mags, and the bullets they shot from them.
It wasn't until about 10 years ago, that I become interested in trying other calibers, so I started buying different ones, for myself, and my son, as a youth hunter.
I've been hesitant, and a little cautious, but so for, from what I've seen, and always heard, and preached, that shot placement, trumps caliber, and bullet construction, any day of the week.
So far, when I try a new caliber, I've started them with soft points, until I see something in the performance that I don't like, then I've gone a little better constructed. The .308 has been the only caliber that I switched from soft points up till now.
In 30-06, I'm convinced that soft points are the best option, Bar None! Anything better constructed will actually probably kill deer slower.(but, don't get me wrong, this is a trivial thing, as I'm also convinced that you can't pick a wrong bullet for 30-06 as long as it's a hunting bullet between 150-180 grain. If you don't get the deer it's not the ammo)
In my .257 Weatherby Magnum, it really concerned me, because I'm used to 165 grain bullets, so a 100 grain soft point launched at 3600fps sorta worried me. So far 3 shots, 3 deer, all dead on the spot, with no tracking. Still testing, but I will have to personally see this bullet let me down, before I'd switch it.
I'm not sure why, but I've even let the .270 worry me a little. I Picked up a really accurate, older Smith &Wesson M1500/howa, which my son really wanted so I let him have it. He started with Hornady Interlocks because the guy I bought the gun from gave me a couple of boxes with the gun. So I thought, why not use them. He killed a couple of deer with them, then I switched scopes around on that rifle, so we had to re-sight the rifle in using more bullets, plus the ones used on the original sight in. I switched it recently to Federal "deer thugs" which basically a Walmart labeling of the Fusion bullet, from what I've read. He shot a 140# buck with it yesterday with those bullets, and it fell in its tracks.
Working my way downward, my next caliber I'm gonna work with is the .243. I need to buy ammo, and sight it in though. On this one, I'm thinking I may go with a bullet, a little better contructed than soft points, from the start.
I see a lot of threads posted saying this caliber is not good for deer, that bullet failed, this bullets too soft, or too hard, and won't expand, etc. While, I do believe that some calibers are better than others, some bullets perform better than others, and just because this bullet works good with this caliber, doesn't mean it's the best for that caliber, I get all that.
However, just from my little bit of experimenting with different rifles and calibers, and what I believe to be true, is, if you loose a deer with a decent bullet, fired from basically .243 on up, it's you, (or me) and not the rifle, caliber, or the ammo.
And....to stay on topic of the original post, I believe the .270wsm to be no exception. It should be a fine fast flat shooting deer caliber!
The penetration problem comes at short range.
Shot placement is no good if the bullet expands so fast that it cannot penetrate. I put 5 shots in the 1st deer with my new 270WSM. The problem was close range <40 yds. I couldn't believe my eyes when he got up after what was a perfect 1st shot. I didn't think much of it until I gutted him and found shallow bruising and only one shot in the same area making its way into the heart/lungs. I like quick clean kills and something wasn't right. Shortly after, the same thing happened with a bigger deer at short range. Again, no significant sized shrapnel deep into the cavity.
Puzzled at this, I decided to do some research and found out some interesting facts on the physics of inertia, and projectile configurations. Long story short, slower expansion with a larger mass at a slower velocity will gain more penetration. After changing from 130 to 150, I'm getting pass through shots on all broadsides now. One shot is all it takes. I know I am not alone with the sad experience and am sharing because it does matter. I don't want it to take people several lost deer to figure this one out. BTW, longer range shots with the other bullets do perform better.
Last edited:
Magnums have been about shooting heavier bullets at the "good" speeds that non-magnums shoot lighter bullets... not necessarily shooting lighter bullets even faster although they can do that, too.
The impact velocity is key considering bullet design. That's why the fast bullets tend to have failures at close ranges (like mtr3333 describes) but work just fine at longer distances... the bullet has slowed down over further distance.
I'm my experience, with .30-06, for example, we had better performance out of heavier bullets at any range we decided to shoot. We actually had a couple bullet failures in 150gr at close range. Switching to 180gr, no bullet failures ever, no matter the range we shot at. IMO, that's because of impact velocity when using the bullets we were using.
Picking a cartridge/bullet combo that will give you impact velocities within the bullet design performance envelope at all ranges you intend to shoot and you should be left with just shooter error or bullet manufacturing problems.
For standard cup-n-core bullets (Core-Lokts, for example), their literature says impact velocities should be between something like 1800fps and 2800fps for best performance. The 150s out of a .30-06 at close enough range will be higher than that. The 180s, however, should always be lower than the high mark and by the time the bullet is down to 1800fps, that's a long ways out there.
Article about penetration using the same bullet at different speeds: http://www.garrettcartridges.com/penetration.html
The impact velocity is key considering bullet design. That's why the fast bullets tend to have failures at close ranges (like mtr3333 describes) but work just fine at longer distances... the bullet has slowed down over further distance.
I'm my experience, with .30-06, for example, we had better performance out of heavier bullets at any range we decided to shoot. We actually had a couple bullet failures in 150gr at close range. Switching to 180gr, no bullet failures ever, no matter the range we shot at. IMO, that's because of impact velocity when using the bullets we were using.
Picking a cartridge/bullet combo that will give you impact velocities within the bullet design performance envelope at all ranges you intend to shoot and you should be left with just shooter error or bullet manufacturing problems.
For standard cup-n-core bullets (Core-Lokts, for example), their literature says impact velocities should be between something like 1800fps and 2800fps for best performance. The 150s out of a .30-06 at close enough range will be higher than that. The 180s, however, should always be lower than the high mark and by the time the bullet is down to 1800fps, that's a long ways out there.
Article about penetration using the same bullet at different speeds: http://www.garrettcartridges.com/penetration.html
deadend
Senior Member
A 110vmax at 3450 into the lungs will knock the wet off a deer. Placement.
I knocked the hair off that 1st deer. Poof. There was a circle of deer hair snow all around.
lonewolf247
Senior Member
I take your word for it. The thing is, I don't shoot any ballistic tipped, plastic tipped, fancy tipped, or whatever tipped bullets, so I honestly can't comment on the results.
I like soft points, for the most part. Even the calibers that I don't use regular soft points in, I use bonded soft points, like the fusion bullet, for example.
I see you went to power points, and I think they are a good soft point bullet too. I use core lokts in my main 30-06 rifle.
Like I mentioned before, my experience is limited with other calibers, but I will say this. I honestly have no hesitation, that I could take any 30-06 factory loaded hunting bullet, between 150-180 grain, and go kill deer, from close range, out to 300 yards as long as the accuracy was there.
Ballistic tip or any tip, my 30-06 would ruin a deer's day, really fast.
Louie270WSM
Member
I do not disagree with this. I will say that I haven't lost any deer with the soft points or bonded bullets so far in the last 10 years since I made the switch to this caliber.
I was like lone wolf and hunted with a 30-06 for 16 years straight before I decided to try something different. My biggest issue with the bonded bullets(in the wsm) is the deer, that is hit properly, will be a dead deer at some point in time and I know dead is dead. I also know that there is a difference in how fast something dies and therein lies the issue. I hunt in very thick planted pines and swamp bottoms so a deer hit perfectly that doesn't leave a blood trail can turn into an all night ordeal trying to find it.
The soft points worked great in the 06 because the velocities are much slower than the short mag where the soft points tend to blowup and not exit which also is an issue for the blood trail. Also, the soft points work better on perfectly broadside deer that are shot behind the shoulder with the wsm. So it's not only that some bullets work better in different calibers, it also matters where you shoot them with different calibers. The deer that I shot in the shoulder with soft points I was very lucky to find due to the lack of penetration.
I am looking for a bullet that expands properly, exits the deer and leaves a good blood trail. I will be trying the 150 power points.
Thanks to all for the great input.
