should i sell my .270?

[h0pper]

a year or four ago, i bought a weatherby vanguard in .270. I wasn't a gun owner at the time but missed target shooting the 22lr's at summer camp when i was a kid and thought "its been a while since ive had a nice lean venison steak too". so i snapped up this pawn shop special and thought i would kill two birds with one stone. a few days or so, and one obama later i drop into a walmart to pickup some ammo and find out that .270 is more than a dollar a round with tax. :shock: i figure i wont be plinking much in this caliber unless i sell a kidney.

a few years, some internet reading, an m91/30, m44, and converted saiga in 7.62 later and im seeing a pattern. ive never fired my .270 nope, not once. i just cant bring myself to hunt with an AK47 or spend 1+ per round to get comfortably proficient with the vanguard. im a do it yourself-er when it comes to just about everything except auto-biographical brain surgery. reloading, casting my own boolits and getting the cost down as low as possible for all three calibers i need torments me daily.

my question is... would it be worth my time trying to cast my own boolits for the .270 or would the high pressures/speeds involved with the round make it more trouble and danger than its worth? should i just sell the .270 and focus on the mosin nagants? or maybe even get a 308? thanks for any help you can give. h0pp

[dromia]

Welcome to Cast Boolits. :drinks:

The .270 is a complete waste of time and you should just send that Weatherby to me. [smilie=l:

Seriously though the .270" can shoot cast boolits as well as any other calibre.

If you are looking to replicate jacketed velocities then that will take a bit more care and knowledge than shooting at around 1600fps.

Suggest that you do search for the .270" here and see what you come up with, there will be lots of view and opinions on this thats for certain.:D

[Recluse]

Howdy and welcome to town,

ANY centerfire caliber you pick up will be expensive to shoot from this Obama forward. Expensive, that is, if you choose to continue buying and shooting factory ammo only.

First step: Reloading.

Second step: Casting

If you do not wish to shoot but maybe thirty to fifty rounds per year, reloading will never pay off for you. But, if you'd like to shoot more. . . it can quickly pay off.

Once you've accumulated your brass, picked up a brick of large rifle primers (which will also work in any large rifle caliber) and got a pound or two of powder, about the only steady item to replenish will be the jacketed bullets. You can reuse and reload the brass a number of times--and that's the most expensive component in reloading.

Invest in some basic casting equipment, and you can lower the cost even more significantly.

I load and shoot 30-06 rounds for about .35¢ a round. Now, in all honesty, when it is finally time for me to replenish large rifle primer stock and powder, that cost may go up some.

It might go all the way up to .40¢ a round. But $8 for a box of 20 rounds that I KNOW how they shoot beats $20 for factory rounds that I have no idea how they'll shoot.

Just food for thought.

:coffee:

[EMC45]

Welcome! I can see the madness is starting to take hold...........................

[Houndog]

Welcome to the forum!
you didn't say if your 270 is the Winchester or the Weatherby chambering, but if it's the 270 Winchester it's one of the top 3 all around chamberings going! It's one of those that may not be the absolute best round for a particular situation, but it'll get the job done most anywhere. If it's the Weatherby version, I'd trade it ASAP! The Weatherby is just too expensive to shoot for MY tastes!

I agree with the other posters thst learning to "roll your own" ammo IS the best first step to lowering your shooting costs. You will learn FAR more about your rifle and shooting than you ever will just firing factory ammo and just might get hooked on reloading like everybody else on this forum! Going from there to casting or swaging you own bullets is just another tiny step. Only you can decide to keep or sell the rifle, but I'm sure everyone here will agree there's no such thing as owning too many firearms!

[Crash_Corrigan]

I agree 100% with what houng said. However if you really want to "go Rogue" look into paper patatching that round. I have just started to mess with my 6.5x55 Sweede of .264 calibre and early results are 'promising. Doccone31 and a few other are really going with with .303's, 30-06's and a few others. I have had good success with both those calibres in pp modes with a lot of fun and the velocities are starting to really get into jacketed numbers with good accuracy and using an 8 cent lead boolit.

With all the primer shortage garbage for the last year I have cut back on my trigger time by about 90% and even though there have been reports that is is loosening up some I really do not like being put in a position where I have not any access to a firearm because of lack of ammo. Let's be realistic, we all cannot jut get busy like ants.

Without primers we a defenseless. NOT GOOD. WE had a Metro Cop {off duty} drive into his garage Thursday night by himself. Inside his house were he wife, two kids and mom in law. He was jumped by two BG's inside his garage and a gunfight ensued. He died, one mutt is was hit pretty good and hospitalized and the other is in jail.

From what I can get from the Media he drove into the garage nose first and while the doors from the garage were coming down the two slipped inside and confronted. Did he lose his situational awareness and not expect visitors because he failed to notice them following him?

I do not drive nose first into my garrage. I have a tennis ball hanging from the rafters on a string which abuts the rear window of my car when I am perfectly parked ass end into the garage. Maybe if he had done that he could have seen his assailiants and would have been able to just put the car into gear and run them over or not but at least get out of the situation without injury. If his interior door into the house was properly locked from the garage with a good lock {double dead bolt} he would not have to worry about the BG's looting his house after he escaped as they could not get into the house and of course he would use his cell phone to call for help while he drove to safety.


We have been having these home invasions frequently in good neighboorhoods in all of the city but the victims have not been properly trained to prevent this type of assault and an officer who I am sure has responded to these calls should have figured it out by this time.

I suppose this change in cop culture will take a long time to change along with non wearing of seat belt in duty cruisers. We have lost two young fine officers in the last 6 months in high speed operations where no one wore belt. I always wore the seat belt and also wore a 2nd back up .38 on my left ankle when on duty and it carried 6 hi velocity rounds, not the issue wuss rounds issued to me.


The cartridge case was issue, the bullet was issue, the prmer was issue but it was loaded with 6 gr of Unique......and I always carried 6 empty casings in a plastic bag just in case I had to use that gun.

Recently I have gotten away from shooting and decided to get into R/C Sailboating. I bought a model and I am busy sanding, gluing, screwing, painting, rigging and asseblying RC controls to get this thing up and running.
there is a nice lake here in the NW part of VEGAS with an area which is used by a local Model Yacht Club.

I have hooked up with them and as they are all geezers like me we enjoy the companionship and such during this activity. Sitting in a chair in the shade, alongside a cooler of adult beverages and snaks while controlling your sailboat is a relaxing and comfortable to spend a couple of hours.

As there is a walkway right in front of use in constant use by a nubile and young set of females in various sembelences of athletic clothing jogging, walking and perambulating with their kids in strollers etc it does impove the scenery somewhat.

I could have spent the 600 bucks on a .44 Special Lipsey BlackHawk with the old small R3 frame but without primers how much can I shoot it? No shortage of batteries yet.

[archmaker]

I won one of those a couple of years ago and I could not be happier!

Great gun, and the accuracy of the gun was great!

Now as to what to do with the gun, you can sell it, and get yourself something else, but are you selling something that you already have paid for, for something less? You are still going to pay a hefty premium for store bought rounds no matter what caliber. I reload J-bullets for mine, only because it took a while to get the 270 mold that I wanted. Now I have to get the time to cast and take this out and shoot it.

I am sure I will be pleased with the cast boolits, and it will give me a fun gun to take to the range and have fun with and I can hunt with boolits or bullets, the option is mine.

If you are a do it yourselfer and you don't plan on shooting much then you can get a simple Lee loader to start with, I reloaded a TON of 30-30 Slihoutte loads with mine before I bought a reloading press, and even then I still used it to only neck resizing.

Start with J-bullets and see if you like reloading, lurk on this board, read up and then decide to get into casting and start down this path. You can think all of us for this great hobby once you hit $1,000 in goodies! :)

[pdawg_shooter]

Try paper patched cast bullets. You can get jacketed velocity and accuracy that way. Just have to match the BHN of your alloy to the velocity you are shooting.

[GrizzLeeBear]

Off on a bit of a tangent today Crash? LOL Nice boats though, looks like fun!

+1 to what Recluse said.

Hopper, I'm guessing from your post you don't reload? Thats the first thing you need to start doing if you plan on doing a lot of shooting. To make use of cast boolits, you have to be a reloader first, but start out with some jacketed bullets and stay with medium loads straight out of any standard reloading manual.
If the Vanguard is indeed a .270 Win. keep it. I don't have a .270, but it is very useful and versatile round. Given the fact of you having some mil-surps to play with, I would NOT mess with cast boolits in the .270. Work up some accurate jacketed loads for it and use it for hunting. The mil-surps, however, are great for playing with cast boolits. For the most part, I imagine you will just be plinking, target shooting with them. Cast boolits allow you to do a lot more shooting with less recoil and a lot cheaper because you don't need high velocity to kill paper.

[Bucks Owin]

As a religious follower of the writings of the late Jack O'Connor, as well as a follower in the footsteps of my also late father, I can say I've seen the .270 WCF in action for over 50 years. It's a legendary caliber, has killed very dead everything that walks the planet and I would never want to be without one! I only own two of them now, a 1935 M-54 Win that I've dolled up as my "nostalgia rifle" with an old Weaver 440 7/8" scope and dad's 1945 M-70 which was originally ordered from Winchester by the late Col Townsend Whelen. I have no clue how many 130 gr Noslers have sizzled down the bore of the M-70 but it's many thousands, the rifling is pretty worn in it's shiney, slick bore. It'll still shoot close to MOA though I rarely fire it any more, I want my son to be able to hunt with it in a few years. The M-54 will get a workout with cast bullets once I get set up to cast/reload again. (I currently live in a 30' trailer with little room!) Sell a .270? Sure, to me! lol Just rambling, Dennis

[Bucks Owin]

As a religious follower of the writings of the late Jack O'Connor, as well as a follower in the footsteps of my also late father, I can say I've seen the .270 WCF in action for over 50 years. It's a legendary caliber, has killed very dead everything that walks the planet and I would never want to be without one! I only own two of them now, a 1935 M-54 Win that I've dolled up as my "nostalgia rifle" with an old Weaver 440 7/8" scope and dad's 1945 M-70 which was originally ordered from Winchester by the late Col Townsend Whelen. I have no clue how many rounds have sizzled down the bore of the M-70 but it's many thousands, the rifling is pretty worn in it's shiney, slick bore. It'll still shoot close to MOA though I rarely fire it any more, I want my son to be able to hunt with it in a few years. The M-54 will get a workout with cast bullets once I get set up to cast/reload again. (I currently live in a 30' trailer with little room!) Sell a .270? Sure, to me! lol Just rambling, Dennis

[jlchucker]

You've got lots of favorable 270 opinions this morning, from some pretty knowledgeable guys. I don't own a 270, but I'd listen to these guys, and wouldn't hesitate to buy myself a good bullet mold for one if I had one. I do know a lot of people that have hunted with this caliber for years. Before anybody even heard of an AK47, too. Remember-you're hunting--not waging war on animals. And from all accounts, the 270 is a classic hunting round even though the gunrag writers don't mention it as much as in days gone by. Lower your ammo costs by casting and handloading like most of the other guys on this website, and keep your rifle. It's a lot better than the other weapons you mentioned in your query.

[MT Gianni]

In my area you can buy 1 lb of powder,100 primers and 100 bullets for the cost of 2 boxes of factory ammunition. The cost of a loader and dies or even a Lee loader complete that and a powder measure you are good to go.

[h0pper]

wow thanks for the warm welcome, and great advice.
it is the .270 Win by the way.
crash wins the "off topic" award hands down. but im glad he did as i am also getting into sailing (nice work btw) and plan on getting my feet wet building a wooden dinghy next year. i may not shoot enough to save a ton of money casting or even reloading my own, but im just none to excited about being forced to rely on others for my security or ability to hunt. if i could make my own primers id probably want to do that as well. i do my own plumbing, electrical, welding, masonry, etc. when given the choice converting the saiga and spending 20 bucks buying a crappy plastic pistol grip or making my own i came up with this. http://i30.tinypic.com/2d6nypw.png

im very glad youve all talked me into keeping it, i enjoy doing things myself. and look forward to the new hobby. (its easy to be optimistic when surrounded by ppl who greet you with smiles and freely distribute hard earned knowledge.) thanx again h0pp.

[TAWILDCATT]

I dont have a 270 but whats the diff.it loads the same .
At the price of guns and ammo I dont see why you want to scimp on tools.
A lee cast turret press is an excelent press.and will last a lifetime as long as you dont bucher it.and the lee dies come with shell holder.a lee 20lb pot is cheap,and their molds are as good as any.I do the little things that make them better.as amachinist [retired] I am not stubbling along and I started long before there were the modern tools.having started with the most primative I dont have any trouble
using the new.EXCEPT THE COMPUTER [smilie=b:

[Phat Man Mike]

Welcome to the group![smilie=s: and just start loading some J word's first and take small steps.:bigsmyl2:

[405]

Oh my, don't sell it. If it's in good condition, good bore, headspace right, etc.... the caliber with something like 130 gr Partition bullets may be the most efficient, clean killer of deer-sized game.... period. Of course it is a Jbullet, high velocity specialist. As a do-it-yourselfer and if you are a serious shooter by all means reload. Jumping into shooting cast in such a cartridge may lead to some humility. As has been posted... start with some tried and proven type Jbullet loading. O'Connor's advice on the 270 is timeless and his loads are proven. Powders like 4064, 4350 with basic 130 gr cup-core bullets offered by the major makers is relatively inexpensive, very straight forward and almost always yield good results. Avoid the veloci-mania stuff you see with all the testoterone based magnumitis around. The 130 gr bullet at 2900 fps has proven near optimal in my experience. Then if you want to hunt deer-sized game those same loads with the 130 gr Nosler Partition is nearly impossible to beat. good luck!

[9.3X62AL]

I don't run a 270, but I surely would if one was to come my way. I MOST ASSUREDLY would not sell it off.

[StarMetal]

You don't sell your guns, you buy more. The 270 is a classic if even you don't shoot cast from it.

Joe