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130 grain vs. 150?

63K views 32 replies 17 participants last post by  Hunting Man 
#1 ·
I've had a beautiful Remington Model 700 .270 handed down to me from a family member, so I'm looking for ammo. I've seen that 130 grain bullets generally have a little more velocity and power than the 150's. Is there any big difference between the two? I've only ever used 150s in my old 30-30. I usually don't shoot more than 100 yards, but if the opportunity arises, will a 130 take a buck down cleanly at 100-150 yards?

I've got four in mind right now:
Fiocchi 270HSB (150)
Hornady 140gr SST
Winchester Supreme Elite XP3 (in 150 or 130)
Federal Premium VitalShok (w/ 140gr Trophy Bonded Bear Claw)

Any advice or opinions would be greatly appreciated.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Man, a .270 with a 130 grainer will kill any deer just as well as ANY bullet of any caliber or any weight at any reasonable shooting distance. Read some of the late Jack O'connor's exploits with that caliber and bullet for proof of its effectiveness.
Also, there has been a "new" trend to lighter faster, more sturdily constructed bullets. It seems that bullets like the Barnes TSX will not only completely penetrate anything, but will deliver just about all of their energy into the animal while doing it.
The March issue of "Rifle" magazine has two super articles about this. In one, a gunmaker, took a 7mm STW (Shooting Times Westerner) and necked down to .25 caliber. He calls this cartridge a ".257 Hot Tamale". He loaded 100 grain Barnes TTSX bullets into this wildcat which had a muzzle velocity of 4110 feet per sec. - you read that right - 4110 FPS! He took this on a bison hunt in South Dakota and killed a 2500 pound bull with it. But here's the thing, this "Little" 100 grain bullet went right through both shoulders of the bull and dropped it in its tracks! The solid copper bullet goes right through while expanding and NOT breaking up.
I'm loading up some of these bullets for my .270 WSM and .300 WSM for next season. I'm not sure if these Barnes bullets are loaded commercially for the .270 yet, but there are several bullets out there that are available of great quality with similar performance. Hornady makes a "light Magnum" .270 Win. with a 130 grainer that has a muzzle velocity over 3200 FPS. As Jack O'Connor and Roy Weatherby would have said in their day, "Speed Kills!" and at 3,215 FPS, the 130 grain bullet in the .270 has speed to spare.
 
#9 ·
i like hornady too cept the price.but ya get what ya pay for with them
 
G
#10 · (Edited)
advantages??less pol

advantages??less pollutionless tfifrac if anyless noisesmaller communityless likely to get a party busted by the cops?disadvantages?too far from things you might consider fun in the city..idk..concerts? a variety of restaurants, movie theaters, more diverse people, better schools, easy transportation such as buses,trains..pretty much depends on where you move compare to where you're moving from.overall i think there's more advantages and more things to do in the city.-you might wanna do a little more research to where you're moving, do a pro and cons list and show it to your mom maybe you can change her mind.-find a relative who's willing to take you in, or a friendif not, and you're under 18 or still in school, im afraid you can't do much but having to go with her.
 
#11 · (Edited)
I've had a beautiful Remington Model 700 .270 handed down to me from a family member, so I'm looking for ammo... I usually don't shoot more than 100 yards, but if the opportunity arises, will a 130 take a buck down cleanly at 100-150 yards? .
AngryDad,

The 270 Win 130 grain is an OUTSTANDING deer cartridge. It'll kill deer at the 100-150 yard range like a bolt of lightning. You have a 300+ yard rifle cartridge combo for deer. Any of the standard bullet cartridges such as Federal Power-SHOK, Remington Core-Lok, Winchester Power-Point, etc... will do just fine. My best friend and I have been shooting 270 Winchester rifles, his a Rem Model 700 and mine a Ruger M77, since 1973 using 130 grain cartridges and have accounted for over 100+ whitetail deer - would be a lot more if I had not taken a 15+ year break from deer hunting. His has collected mule deer, pronghorn, and elk. Never lost a single one.

My advice is pickup a box of each of the standard bullet 130 grain cartridges from Federal, Remingtion, Winchester, Hornady, etc.. Clean the rifle bore really good with a good copper removing solvent. Then off a benchrest shoot 3 shot groups at 100 yards. Let the rifle tell you which brand it likes best by shooting the tightest groups. I'd also suggest you sight it at 1.5" high at 100 yards which with the 130 grain will be zero at 200 yards and approx 6.5-7" low at 300 yard. That'll give you the "Just put the crosshairs on it" out to 300 yards.

Also many times you'll won't get pass through shots depending on the shot angle but will recover a nicely shaped mushroom bullet on the off side. Don't let that worry you. The 130 grain did exactly what it's supposed to do - Deliver all its energy into the animal. Pass through shots waste the bullet's energy on the brush, trees, and ground behind the animal.

The Rem Model 700 you have is a really nice rifle and is chambered in a great cartridge. Have fun.
 
#16 ·
I agree HM. I use a .270 and the bullet I wanted to use wouldn't exit most of the time. It would break up inside. I went to 150 gr and it exits well ...works for me. Either one 130 or 150 works well. If I can get set up again to reload, I'll prolly go back to the 130's.
 
#17 ·
I agree an exit hole might give a better blood trail. However I've never had to track one I shot with my .270 Win 130 grains. They either were laying where they were standing or less than 10 yards away. Guess I've been lucky with that. I used both handloads and factory. I used Hornady and Sierra bullets and never had a break up. Always near perfect mushrooms.

However the deciding factor for me is which one shoots the best from my rifle. I want the best accuracy with a bullet designed for the task be it 130 gr or 150 gr. My rifle loves 130 grains and will shoot sub .5 MOA at 100 yards if I do my part.

If you want an exit hole and 130 grain, probably the Nosler Partition would be a good choice as well as the Barnes TSX.
 
#18 ·
I haven't used any Barnes bullets, but its hard to beat Nosler bullets and I have some Swift-A-frames in 140 gr for the 270. I haven't tried some of the newer bullets out, but I'm sure there are some very good ones. Not to overdue the subject, I simply would be upset if I didn't get a complete pass through using any of the normal deer calibers. Any double lung or heart shot should be a pass through even if the opposite shoulder is hit. I wish I could say all dropped in their tracks too, but that wouldn't be true. I've had heart shot deer run 100 yds with different calibers and you wonder how in the hell they can do it. With swamp hunting I want the most blood on the ground I can get and this usually requires an exit wound. One of my buddy's famous comments is "even King Kong can't run with collasped lungs". While a double lung hit may not drop them in their tracks they certainly won't be too far. The very best drop in their tracks shot I had was with a 22-250 centered heart shot that exploded the liver and still exited. That was a 70 gr speer bullet loaded hot.
:coffee:
 
#19 ·
it is amazing just how far they can go with a fatal wound
 
#22 · (Edited)
130 Grain Works

As a new hunter in 2008 I settled on a .270 Ruger (.270 my choice, Ruger the brand my wife surprised me with for Christmas. Nice clean weapon). I shoot 130 Grain Remington Core Lokt. I've heard that you need to try different brands and types to see which one your weapon likes. I need to try some others. Though I can't afford Hornady I like the Ballistics on it. I am having trouble sighting in my weapon, sighting in my M-16 was easy, I can't figure why my clover leafs are all over the paper. I can tell you that a 130 Grain will knock down a doe at 440 yards and go clean through the neck. I will probably never take that shot again for fear of wounding a deer, but I'm convinced it will do all that I need it to do.
 
#23 ·
As people have already posted, different rounds will shoot differently out of different weapons. You really should test fire different rounds at the ranges you normally hunt. I looked up the ballistic tables on the different rounds you mentioned. They read as follows:

Winchester .270 150 Gr. Super Elite XP3:
Velocity (fps)/Energy (ft-lbs)
100 yards- 2763/2898
200- 2583/2223
300- 2411/1936
400- 2245/1679
500- 2086/1449

Trajectory (inches) with a 100 yard zero:
100 yards- 0
200- 3.1 in low
300- 11.3 in low
400- Not Available
500- Not Available

Federal 130 Gr. Trophy Bonded:
Velocity (fps)/Energy (ft-lbs):
100 yards- 2841/2330
200- 2633/2001
300- 2434/1711
400- 2244/1454
500- 2063/1228

Trajectory (inches) with a 200 yard zero:
100 yards- 1.4 in high
200- 0
300- 6.4 in low
400- 18.7 in low
500- 38 in low

Federal 150 Gr. Trophy Bonded:
Velocity (fps)/ Energy (ft-lbs)
100 yards- 2635/2313
200- 2449/1997
300- 2270/1716
400- 2099/1467
500- 1935/1246

Trajectory (inches) with a 200 yard zero:
100 yards- 1.7 in high
200- 0
300- 7.6 in low
400- 22 in low
500- 44 in low

Hornady 140 Gr. SST
Velocity (fps)/ Energy (ft-lbs):
100 yards- 2750/2351
200- 2569/2051
300- 2394/1781
400- 2226/1540
500- 2065/1325

Trajectory (inches) with a 200 yard zero:
100 yards- 1.6 in high
200- 0
300- 6.8 in low
400- 19.7 in low
500- 39.7 in low


I couldn't find a ballistics table for the Fiocchi round, sorry. As you can see by these numbers, 130 Gr. round travels faster and flatter. If you hunt long range a lighter bullet is typically better for accuracy purposes. If you can shoot well and place the round where you want it, the deer's heart won't be able to tell the difference, 130 Gr. or 150 Gr. Try out the rounds, or if you don't have that kind of money laying around, use these charts as PART of your decision. A box of 20 rounds will cost anywhere from $30-$60, and you get what you pay for. Hope this info helps a little.
 
#25 ·
No problem. By the way Timberghost, I am glad to hear someone else in the hunting community uses a 710. That's what I shoot as well, and have been ripped by so many people telling me what a horrible weapon it is. I've never had a problem with it though, and it shoots straight for me. Not sure why others hate them so much.
 
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