Antelope and the .270 Win.

[h20hunter]

So....just looking for some input.....

A few in the family are talking about hunting lopes in 2014. As much as I'd love to get a new rifle with a caliber that begins with 2 it simply will not be in the budget. I have a .270 and see that there are a few options for bullets in the 110 gr range. Does anyone have any experience handloading the ligher offerings for this caliber?

[Mike450r]

To answer your question no,  I don't have experience loading that light for the .270 but to offer an opinion I wouldn't go that light if it was me.  Stick with a good 130 grain bullet and you will get all the velocity you need and better performance at distance than a lighter bullet.

The .270 is a very good Antelope caliber.

[BULLBLASTER]

I would just shoot what you already shoot with that gun. Will.work great!

[arrowflinger]

  x2

[JLS]

To follow up on what's already been said:

Antelope are fairly small critters with light bone structure.  You don't have a lot of meat to start with.  The last thing you want is a light bullet that is going to fragment and ruin more meat.

Any decent hunter can get with 300 yards of an antelope, and you'll likely have breezy conditions during your hunt.  Go with the 130 grain bullet.  The 270 is an outstanding antelope gun.

Have fun, they are a blast to hunt.

[h20hunter]

Thanks for the input.....very good points on the frag aspect of some of the lighter bullets...thanks.

[headshot5]

Yeah H20, 130's should serve you well.  Definitely flat enough shooting to get you way out there in the 270.     Anything smaller, and they start dropping off fast (low BC), and energy levels drop off quick too.  Plus you get a lot of bloodshot meat.  Pick yourself a decent 130gr bullet, and you can use it for deer too.     

Don't overlook 140's either. 

[h20hunter]

Excellent....lets open up the converstation to this. So if I'm loading for antelope what bullets do you suggest. I've had good accuracy and down range "on game" performance with Barnes, Honday Interlock, and the Combined Technologies rounds.

[jackmaster]

dont know what everyone elses thoughts are but jack o'connor killed everything known to man with a .270 my pops has been using a .270 since he was 17. i think you can get a 100 grain bullet for them, even a 150 would be fine for a speed goat and the .270 is a flat shootn gun. i aint no ballistic expert but i am sure you can git-r-done with the .270  good luck to ya

[GUscottie]

I would encourage you to use what ever works best in your gun. Having shot 4 antelope with my 270, I suggest accuracy over anything. I predominately use Nosler Accubond and Ballistic Tip Hunting bullets (130 grain). The average of shots taken by myself and friends last year on antelope was about 175 yards... Think of them as small white tailed or black tailed deer. Whatever your choice, good luck.

[headshot5]

All of those will work for antelope.  The question is do you want to use those same bullets for bigger game as well.  If you might hunt bigger deer, bear, or elk I would go with premium bullets (barnes TTSX, Nosler Partitions or Accubonds), and would probably pick 140's.  If this is antelope only whatever shoots best in your gun will work fine.  Don't overlook Sierra game-kings/prohunter bullets either they tend to shoot pretty well in Ruger's.     

[h20hunter]

Thanks....so far I've used the gun on whitetail and two bears. With 130's I've got a ton of selection of bullets that will get it done on deer, bear, and lopes.

[BOWHUNTER45]

Now I may go to the 130 gr SST 

[JLS]

My personal opinion would be a 130 grain Barnes TTSX.  One load for all.

Edit:  My antelope load is a Barnes 85 grain TSX in my .243 Winchester.

[bearpaw]

Antelope go down pretty easy, but they are a small target. More important to possess good shooting skills than a new rifle! Hit em good with any centerfire and you are golden. 

[BOWHUNTER45]

Yeah I totally agree ...if I was hunting Antelope I would be taking a .243 or a 25-06 ...A friend of mine has killed some whopper antelope and he told me you always hear of guys shooting antelope at 500 and 600 yrds but he said most of the ones he shot were less than 100 ...guess it all comes down to the sneakiness of the hunter ...if I went I think I would be more into the long pokes 

[JLS]

Yeah I totally agree ...if I was hunting Antelope I would be taking a .243 or a 25-06 ...A friend of mine has killed some whopper antelope and he told me you always hear of guys shooting antelope at 500 and 600 yrds but he said most of the ones he shot were less than 100 ...guess it all comes down to the sneakiness of the hunter ...if I went I think I would be more into the long pokes 

The only reason you'd need to take a 600 yard shot on an antelope is because you couldn't pry your butt out of the pickup.

An old friend of mine has killed a pile of antelope with a .220 Swift.

[bobcat]

My 270 worked well on antelope in eastern Montana with 150 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips. I would not go lighter than 130 grain.

[Bob33]

A light monolithic bullet likes a Barnes TSX will work just fine on antelope. A fragmenting bullet like the Ballistic Tip would be better served being a bit heavier. I would not hesitate to use a 110 grain Barnes bullet.

Accuracy is king for antelope. They are easy to kill but small targets at longer range. Four hundred yards is a very long shot.

[muzbuster]

To answer your question no,  I don't have experience loading that light for the .270 but to offer an opinion I wouldn't go that light if it was me.  Stick with a good 130 grain bullet and you will get all the velocity you need and better performance at distance than a lighter bullet.

The .270 is a very good Antelope caliber.

[h20hunter]

Get outta the truck? I thought all antelope were shot from the windows of pick ups! I feel confident out to 200 any day and with a little more range time focusing on basics and load work up I expect to be good in hunting conditions to 300. Time to begin the load planning as well hunt planning already in progress.

[C-Money]

If and when I go after speed goats, I would not change my hunting load. I use a recipe right out of the Nosler book using RL-19 and a 140 Nosler Accubond. Its accurate, and works. I would not mess around developing another load for lopes and then need to re dial in the rifle with my deer/elk load. My suggestion, 140 Accubond. Have fun!!

[Feanix]

After buying a new rifle i started loading 110gr bullets for my .270 (mostly for effect while filming varmint hunts, which is impressive). They shoot flat and you can push them very fast for a .270, but i dont think i would use them on anything i was going to eat or use the hide from. Good for red mist shots on rock chucks, but after looking at the devastation they cause, you would probably lose halfish of a front quarter with a good shot and and probably all if you hit bone.

As was stated, do your research on 130gr-140gr  bullets and you'll be very happy.

[carpsniperg2]

Nosler 140g accubond. The 270 win will do just fine for you. I have killed 7 lopes with that bullet but in the 270wsm. They do blood shot some but the killing power is amazing.

[Bwana Bob]

H20hunter
I've shot 10 buck antelope and at least 6 does, mostly with my 257 Roberts and a 120 gr Horned HP and the 6.5x55 with the Horned 129gr bullet. Both worked great. Shot the last two bucks with the 100gr Barnes TS bullet and they worked great also. A 270 is more than enough gun for them.
Do your self a favor and learn to shoot off a pair of shooting sticks. they really help when you can't go prone. Shooting off your day pack is valuable also.
Out of 16 or so antelope kills none were over 300yd and most were in the 100-200yd range. My furthest shot was 286yd on last years buck. There fun to hunt and great eating. You had some of my antelope kbobs at the BBQ.

[Archery King]

Well I have a feeling many who read this will think I'm an idiot but ill say it anyway.  Before I had money to have multiple rifles I coyote hunted with my 270.  I shot 100 gr Speer hot cores.  (This is the part some get all up in arms about)  to load them I dumped a bunch of H4831 in a bowl dipped the case into it couple times till was full and stuck a bullet on top .   You no what it's one of the most accurate loads I have ever shot out of that model 70 per 64 270.  Flat shooting blazing fast and deadly on coyote and deer.

      Learned this load out of a book some guy named Jack O'conner wrote

[h20hunter]

He was a bit of a .270 fan I suppose.....

[MHWASH]

I've used the Sierra 110gr Pro Hunter on a couple mature white tails. It's a tough bullet designed for big game. I would have no problems using it on antelope or bear for that matter.

[WonkyWapiti]

I'm also breaking out the trusty .270 for my Wyoming antelope hunt this year.  I just picked up some 130 gr Nosler Accubonds and some 130 grain Barnes Vor-TX bullets to try out at the range.  If the Nosler's shoot well I'll probably stick with them based on recommendations from my friends. 

[C-Money]

I'm also breaking out the trusty .270 for my Wyoming antelope hunt this year.  I just picked up some 130 gr Nosler Accubonds and some 130 grain Barnes Vor-TX bullets to try out at the range.  If the Nosler's shoot well I'll probably stick with them based on recommendations from my friends.

I just cant say enough positive words about the Accubond. it is a superb bullet!!

[bobcat]

If the 270 Winchester can't do it, it can't be done.   

[bowhunterforever]

If the 270 Winchester can't do it, it can't be done.   

my fav all around caliber

[724wd]

58 gr. H4831 under a 140 gr. Hornady boat-tail  SP with a CCI 250 mag rifle primer in a win/rem case.     aim for the middle, watch them drop.   

[Labs07]

I have shot 6 Antelope with a 6.5 x 55 loaded with 140gr bullets.  It knocks the crap ot of them!

[Mr.T]

My .270 Savage model 110 loves 130 Sierra Game King boat tail bullets. I'm extremely comfortable with it out to 300 yards. Tried loading 110s for yotes but couldn't get the accuracy I get from 130s.

I'd say stick with what your gun likes. Good luck!

[BOWHUNTER45]

JEEZ ..NEVER KNEW WE HAD SO MANY .270 SHOOTERS ON HERE  That's why I always seem to be ignored ..Heck I may be liked if I changed bullets ...Maybe some accu bonds    NOT !!!!

[muledhunter]

I just loaded up 110gr Barnes ttsx for long range coyotes. I shot sub moa. Really impressed. I will be taking it out to the range to chrono it and dial in my turrets to be sent of to get burnt. But from everything I've read my load should put me at around 3400 fps. Ill let you know though. I believe I did 60gr of imr 4350. Ill have to check my records when I get back in town.

[BOWHUNTER45]

I would like to see how those 110 gr perform ... never had much luck loading that light for a .270 ...like your powder choice ...I like IMR 4831 just a touch better for a .270 ..but love IMR 4350 out of my .243 !!! 

[WAcoueshunter]

My .270 and I have three lope tags to fill starting in 16 days (yes, I'm counting the days).  Last time it all worked just fine, shooting factory 130 grain loads.  We'll see if we can repeat.

[Widgeondeke]

When I hunted lopes I used my .243 with Core Lock in 100 gr. In camp we had a .270, 30-06(also used Core Lock), .308 and my .243 They ALL killed animals. The only thing I recall was that the solid brass rounds my buddy shot in his .270 went completely thru and didn't do as much damage. His buck required a finishing shot.
I would not use solid brass. 
Range finder and good glass are the most important items.

[washingtonmuley]

I have shot several antelope using my .270 with 140 grain bullets. I have shot them as far as 400 yards and have happy with the performance . I will try again next week.

[WAcoueshunter]

Was thinking about goats and came across this thread.  Only got to shoot three rounds in WY this year with the old .270. 



Nothing longer than about 215 though.

[Bob33]

Antelope are small, thin skinned animals. I have killed 64 with various calibers and 15 different bullets at last count.

They are not hard to kill. They can be hard to hit. Accuracy is king. Ballistics come next. A distant third is "on game" bullet performance.

Any caliber and bullet from .243 (22 centerfire in most antelope states) up to 375 will work fine. Pick the most accurate gun/load you have, do some target shooting at 300 to 400 yards if possible, and go hunting.

[PlateauNDN]

My .270 Savage model 110 loves 130 Sierra Game King boat tail bullets. I'm extremely comfortable with it out to 300 yards. Tried loading 110s for yotes but couldn't get the accuracy I get from 130s.

I'd say stick with what your gun likes. Good luck!

Had the same rifle in lefty and it definitely has the knock down power from deer, ram to elk. I liked the winchester rounds myself. its dead on for accuracy 100yds and less no problem

[D-Rock425]

Bigger is better