Light Weight Rifle

[RioGrandeShooter]

I am looking for a new rifle. My needs are for the rifle to be light weight 270 magnum caliber. The main hunting usage will be sheep/goat and mule deer. I have narrowed my choices down to three.

They are the: Nosler 48 270 WSM
Kimber 8400 Montana 270 WSM
Weatherby Mark V ultra lightweight 270 Weatherby Mag.

I hand load my ammo so cost and availablity of ammo should not be an issue. The Kimber is a cheaper rifle but cost is not the most important issue to me. My main 2 concerns are: Accuracy and barrel life.

Will y'all share your thought on these rifles. Do you have any other sugestions?

Thanks

tikka t3 in 270 wsm seems to have a great rep. after this one i have coming, its my next. i checked on a remington modle 7 in that cal but no luck. onehorse should be all kinds of help with that cal and insight on the tikka.

[Hunting Man]

I have 3- 270 WM in MK-5's. I still don't like the recoil. In a light weight stock the recoil would be stout. No question the 270 WM is accurate as anything out there. I would look at the Rem 280 cal . One horse has nothing but good praise for this caliber for west hunting.

[RioGrandeShooter]

What about barrel life? How many rounds should I get from these guns?

[onehorse]

This is a tough question for me. My .280 is my "honey", my oldest rifle, a 700 Mountain Rifle, light, slim accurate, and because I've had it for 20+, I've killed just about everything our here in Montana with it. My newest rifle is the Tikka T3 Lite. Just as light as the Mountain Rifle, but in 270WSM, it shoots flatter, and is just about as accurate as you'd ever want, expect or need! It's guaranteed to shoot a 3 shot group and almost always does - unless it's my fault. This gun is NOT fussy about what you put through it. Comes with scope rings and, in my opinion, is really the best gun for the money out there right now. As for barrel life, I haven't had mine long enough to answer that one, but I sort of "baby" my rifles. Thing is, the magnums are always going to show the results of all that burning powder a lot more than the "standard" calibers. It's just their nature. By the way, I think the Kimber Montana would be an excellent choice - wish I could afford one, but I honestly don't think the difference in price buys any more gun than that Tikka. As for loads, I've worked up a 110grain Barnes TTSX with Hunter powder that exits at 3500 fps!