ammunition question

[Karl.Luhr]

I think you are making a smart move seperating your load requirements for Deer and Moose. Your 270 may not produce great accuracy with the 150gr loads. If you are limiting yourself to less then 150 yards a group of 1.5 inches or even 2 inches would be fine for Moose. Your target is huge, just take your time. I would also recommend that you pick a heart/lung shot initially and not ask your bullet to break the front shoulder. You may have to shoot it again in the shoulder to anchor it before it gets to water.
I have not shot a Moose but it is 2 to 4 times the size of the Elk that I shot and the bullet had to work to penetrate the Elk's shoulder.

Karl

Originally Posted by Karl.Luhr

I think you are making a smart move seperating your load requirements for Deer and Moose. Your 270 may not produce great accuracy with the 150gr loads. If you are limiting yourself to less then 150 yards a group of 1.5 inches or even 2 inches would be fine for Moose. Your target is huge, just take your time. I would also recommend that you pick a heart/lung shot initially and not ask your bullet to break the front shoulder. You may have to shoot it again in the shoulder to anchor it before it gets to water.
I have not shot a Moose but it is 2 to 4 times the size of the Elk that I shot and the bullet had to work to penetrate the Elk's shoulder.

Karl

moose are one tough animal. brucebruce is right. the 270 is really too light for a huge tough animal like a moose but it will kill it if one maximises the energy of a lighter round like the 270. meaning shorter ranges.

[Winchester]

There's a lot of helpful info here. Thanks to everyone who chimed in. I'm going to buy a few different 150gr rounds to try out in the event that I draw a moose tag. In the meantime I think I will set the gun up for whitetail. I'm going to try out the 140's. On paper they appear to have a flatter long range trajectory than the 150's. I was also reading up on the 130's and there seems to be a lot of reports of greater meat damage with them. Alot of people seem to believe that when a bullet reaches the 3000 FPS + mark it can make a mess in comparison to a lower velocity / heavier bullet. Not sure about any of this really. I can't imagine that there would be a "great" loss of meat with a properly placed shot, but then maybe that was the problem and not the bullet? Either way, I figure the 140gr is right in the middle and would be a good place to start. Oh yeah....... One more question...... Is it possible to get any higher than 150gr bullets if you reload, or is 150gr as big as it gets for the 270?
Thanks again for all the info guys!

[WisconsinDeer]

Nosler makes 160 grain Partitions, and Woodleigh makes 180 grain "Protected Point" bullets. The thing that I don't like about the Partitions, is that sometimes the front half of the bullet basically "blows up", which then limits your penetration.

Nosler Partition Bullets 270 Caliber (277 Diameter) 160 Grain Semi-Spitzer Box of 50 - MidwayUSA

Woodleigh Bullets 270 Winchester (277 Diameter) 180 Grain Protected Point Box of 50 - MidwayUSA

[Karl.Luhr]

Your 270's optimum bullet weight for accuracy is going to be either 130 or 140grains according to the books. Some 270s will still shoot decent with 150s as you go heavier then 150gr all bets are off. There is a formula that I don't have memorized but it takes into account bore dia, bullet wt, and velocity to calculate the ideal twist rate for a round. One of the guys I Elk hunted with wanted to take his 270Win and ordered special 180gr bullets for it. He was unable to get them to group with a darn in his rifle, yours may perform better. I compare it to asking my 30-06 to group with 220gr bullets, I wouldn't have very high expectations.

Karl

[guppy11]

heavier bullets are longer and won't stabilize if the barrel twist rate isn't fast enough. So it all depends on your barrel as to how accurate a heavy bullet will be. all that aside, the talk of a larger bullet for larger game is B.S. Each cartridge will launch a certain grain bullet at a certain speed and creating a certain amount of energy. This energy, measured in ft/lbs, combined with how well a bullet is constructed is what is important. A well accepted standard is 1000 ft/lbs for deer and 1500 ft/lbs elk. (I will tell you though a good lung shot placement needs a lot less ft/lbs than this standard) Pointed bullets retain energy further down range than round or flat nosed bullets. An average 140gr 270 Win. load will produce 1500ft/lbs at 300yds and 1100 at 500yds. The average 150gr load produces almost identical numbers. Why? The heavier bullet is moving slower. The difference is the 140 drops 1/2 inch less at 300yds and 5 inches less at 500 yds. BUT, a light constructed bullet like the SST of Nosler ballistic tip will NEVER penetrated the shoulder of a moose(it's not designed too) you will need a tough bullet such as a Partition, x-bullet etc to do this. Even if you don't reload, buy a reloading manual and learn about ballistics. This way when your buddy tells you his 7mag is dead on at 100yds and drops only an inch at 400 you can tell him hes a big fat liar! LOL

[rdrader2002]

"I was also reading up on the 130's and there seems to be a lot of reports of greater meat damage with them. Alot of people seem to believe that when a bullet reaches the 3000 FPS + mark it can make a mess in comparison to a lower velocity / heavier bullet. Not sure about any of this really. I can't imagine that there would be a "great" loss of meat with a properly placed shot, but then maybe that was the problem and not the bullet? "

I used a Remington Core-Lokt .300 Savage 150 grain on the first doe I shot this year. It came out of the brush no more that 40 yards in front of me as I was in the process of departing my open blind. One shot to the ribcage and the bullet went straight through taking out both lungs leaving all the meat untouched. It ran maybe 40-50 yards before dropping.

Second doe taken a couple weeks later was with Remington Core-Lokt 6mm Remington 100 grain. Again, one shot to the ribcage, but this time the bullet caught one of the ribs going in, coming out the other side sideways after tearing through the liver and a couple other vitals. This one ran 60-70 yards before finally dropping.

.300Savage leaves the barrel at ~ 2600 fps with ~ 1850 ft-lbs of energy at 100 yards while the little 6mm Remington leaves the barrel at ~ 3100 fps with ~ 1780 ft-lbs of energy at the same 100 yards. The lighter/faster bullet is far more prone to ricochet off of anything it hits (whether brush/branch/leaves/etc. in between or ribs at the end) over something a little heavier/slower. Yes, there are two different calibers in use here, not comparing the same caliber just two different weighted bullets. I used this as an example of what can happen.

Bottom line is that you just have to get out there yourself to find the results that you're looking for. Oh, there are plenty of folks in here that have far more experience in these types of things than I do. They've probably forgotten more about bullets/ballistics than I'll ever learn and this is a great spot for gleaning information like this from them. For the most part, Remington Core-Lokt (for me) have proven pretty hard to beat for the vast majority of the rifles/calibers that I have. I just know what works pretty darned well for the range and terrain conditions that I hunt in. It's not much(15 acres), but it's what I call home.

And oh, BTW, shot placement also plays a lot into losing meat or not as you suspected. Putting the round through the ribcage leaves all the meat undamaged. The deer may run, but it ain't going to run very far. Can't run if you can't breathe. Other folks may say different things about shot placement, but again, I know what works best for me.

Best of luck with your new rifle and hope that we've been a help instead of a hindrance here.

[Hunting Man]

Those that shoot through the shoulders to drop them on the spot waste 20% of the meat,when a high lung shot behind the shoulder catches both lungs, almost no meat loss and a deer that goes no where.

[WisconsinDeer]

When it comes to deer, when you aim high shoulder you can expect that deer to fall in its tracks. I think its kind of foolish not to aim high shoulder.

[spiker]

X2 with HM &WISCONSIN THATS GOOD ADVICE