Hunting Washington Forum
Equipment & Gear => Guns and Ammo => Topic started by: pope on July 30, 2014, 09:50:59 PM
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I became interested in hunting later than many, and I didn't grow up learning about guns.....so I'm asking for advice. Last season, a helpful attendant at the rifle range told me my scope needed replacing. I took his advice and put on a Nikon Buck Master. A few weeks later while attempting to dial it in, a factory load blew the primer out of the back of the bolt and I was injured. More disturbingly, my rifle's extractor was damaged. Very bad news since extractors cannot be found for this old model 721 Remington 270. I contacted Remington, and they completely overhauled my rifle, paid the shipping, and I had my gun back....within two weeks! Then I replaced the old "peep-through" sites with new steel bases and rings.
OK, that's the history. My question is specific to hunting blacktails, in the woods, in the thick, wet, nasty stuff, mostly from tree stands. Is it worth paying $40/box instead of $20 for premium ammo? Also, is there an advantage to the higher velocity offered by 130 grain? I've been purchasing 150 grain ammo. Thanks in advance for your thoughts and advice.
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Usually the heavier the bullet, the better, in the thick stuff. But, just find what shoots best in your gun, in case you see a shooter 200 yards across in a clearcut on the way out. 130gr or 150gr probably won't matter much in the timber.
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I think as long as you're not doing really long range or trying to shoot through the eye or somthing, the 150 gr run of the mill soft point is plenty for blacktail.
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I like 150 grain in my 270 for long range, and short range. The 130 doesn't have much advantage, if any, other than less recoil. So if that's important to you, go with the 130. The most important thing is to find a load that shoots the best in your rifle. I've had great luck with both 130 and 150 grain Winchester Power Points in my 270, although I generally only hunt with hand loads. The Power Points are right at $20 a box. I used to get them at Wal Mart for $12 but that was ten years ago. The buck in my avatar was killed with a 150 grain Power Point.
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I like 150 grain in my 270 for long range, and short range. The 130 doesn't have much advantage, if any, other than less recoil. So if that's important to you, go with the 130. The most important thing is to find a load that shoots the best in your rifle. I've had great luck with both 130 and 150 grain Winchester Power Points in my 270, although I generally only hunt with hand loads. The Power Points are right at $20 a box. I used to get them at Wal Mart for $12 but that was ten years ago. The buck in my avatar was killed with a 150 grain Power Point.
:yeah:
sent from my typewriter
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The .270 crowd will laugh but my buddy shoots nothing but remington core lokts in 130 grain,his dead body count is 50+ deer and 7 elk with them.I got a .270 from another member here on the classifieds,cleaned the bejeezus out of it when he told me it would shoot a 3 inch group at 100 with handloads.I went with what I knew and bought some remmy core lokts in 130 grain and proceded to shoot a 5/8 group with it.Bullet placement has more to do with it than bullet weight IMO.
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I won't laught at you for a second, wildweeds. I know lots of people including myself who have rifles that shoot core-lokts extremely well.
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rem core locks, many are copied from this bullet. All I shoot.150gr. 20 or more deer and 8 elk,bullet placement is the key as with any round--bullet
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For factory ammo my .270 prefers Federal Premium 130gr. I have killed many deer, bear and a couple elk with that combo.
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I prefer a 140 gr .. just over the years it has performed flawlessly ...on deer elk and bear ...also shot 130 gr when I was a kid but then we discovered how well the 140 gr held together and continued to hammer animals without much wastage we never looked back ...I never was much on the 150 gr ..you should just get a 30-06 :dunno: :chuckle:
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Shoot whatever your gun likes. My main rifle happens to only like expensive copper ammo, but start cheap, work up, and see she shoots well. Core-lokts are not a bad place to start.
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I'm with James, start cheap and work up. Most regular cup and core (cheaper) bullets will work for deer with no issues. I like to shoot the heavier ammo for the caliber so 150's or so in a 270. Just a personal preference on my part.
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:) for your use the bullet weight does not matter, 130, 140 or 150 are all good for your use, as said make sure it shoots well.
I like the cheap blue box Federal ammo. 15-20 a box, again for your use it is fine. Accuracy is the key. go have fun!!
Carl
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I'm sure someone will tell me that I'm wrong, but it has been my experience that blacktails die pretty easily, finding them is the hard part. I've seen them shot with 12 gauge slugs, buckshot, arrows, .243, and everything on up. Back when rifles were allowed on the islands we used .30-30's a lot, .30-06 and .270 as well. Cheap soft point ammo always worked great. Heck, I even hit one in the butt once with the open sight .30-30 and we were able to catch up with it and take it down pretty easily. I've heard of poachers busted shooting them with .22 mag and .17HMR.
Point being, like most are saying, most anything works just find them and hit them. The biggest problem we've had is that our guns made TOO BIG of a hole in too small of a deer and would render at least one shoulder almost useless. Thats a big loss on an already small animal.
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Thanks, everybody, for the advice and opinions. Sounds like most agree that for hunting blacktails with a 270, less expensive ammo is fine. I shot 50 grain Core-Lokt for several years and did OK at the rifle range. Since I just had my scope remounted, I'm wondering about trying something new when I dial in the scope this weekend. I like the idea that 40 grain or even 30 grain would allow me to take a shot at a buck far out in a clearcut, on the rare instance that I see one.
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I look at things a little different.
The one place I do not scrimp on is "hunting" ammo.
I would hunt with the best quality expanding round with great weight retention, that my rifle likes to shoot.
I buy a nice rifle, very good scope, can't see saving a couple dollars on a box of 20, for sub par ammo.
If you are planning on shooting 100s and 100s of rounds at the range through it often, I would then look to a less expensive round my rifle likes.
