For small game hunting, the .270 is a much better option. The first is that the .308 Win rounds, at least the majority of them, leave the muzzle with a around an average of 6lb/ft.s more momentum than the .270 Win rounds. Get a nice hunting rifle chambered in the cartridge that you think fits your needs the best, learn to shoot it well, use quality bullets, and you’ll be well prepared for most common hunting situations. My shots rarely exceeded 125 yards or so in the foothill country that I hunted in central Wyoming. While the .30-06 performed very well during both world wars, the US Military again recognized the need for a new rifle and cartridge after World War II. The 308 winchester is pretty much a 30-06 minus 10%. Eventually, I wanted to go after elk but wanted to remain with a lever action so in 1972 I bought a Savage 99 in .308 shooting 180 grain core-lokt ammo. And again, we realize the possible errors and the biases that come with using a small sample size. At a MV of around 2600 fps, nearly all bullets will perform reasonably well, both ballistically and, more importantly, terminally out to 200 or 250 yards. For most medium size game, 1,000ft.lbs of energy is the recommended amount, and this increases the larger the animal gets. There are several components to stopping power of a particular cartridge. Both cartridges will work, but the .308 Winchester is probably the better choice in this case since it uses larger diameter and heavier bullets that are well suited for very large or tough animals. Using smokeless powder and a 150gr pointed bullet fired at a 2,700fps, the .30-06 Springfield was a gigantic improvement over other popular American cartridges used during that era like the .30-30 Winchester and the .45-70 Government. We’ll start with the .308 Winchester. While the .270 had a very high muzzle velocity compared to other popular cartridges of the day, it was not an instant commercial success. More like the .308 Win rounds are losing ground. It will also give us some more piece of mind when we do look at the trends found in the graphs. This data is for Federal factory ammo using a 200 yard zero. For the muzzle velocity, we used the data provided by the manufacturer so take that with a grain of salt as well. If we take the average of the given rounds, we see that the .270 has a slight advantage with only a hundredth of a difference. This round has nearly 2,000ft.s velocity at 500 yards which is more than enough to get the correct terminal ballistics. For target shooting, knock yourself out and take both to the range and have a ball. Yet, the .308 has more recoil due to a heavier bullet, especially the 180 grains projectile, which also has higher muzzle velocity. This is just due to the availability of lighter grain bullets. While less than an inch difference at 200 yards, nearly four inches at 300 yards, and a little more than five inches at 400 yards, might not seem like much, it can easily be the difference between success and failure. Higher velocity certainly means higher KE and flatter shooting, but it doesn’t guarantee penetration. After all, the recoil of the .308 is very similar to the .270. Another important concept to take away from this graph is that all of these rounds remain supersonic all the way out to 500 yards and if we were to extend this range we would see this trend continue for several hundred more yards. With good shot placement and when using quality bullets, the .270 Winchester and .308 Winchester are ideally suited for hunting medium to large sized game. This round was originally brought to be in the form of the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge, but Winchester commercially produced and sold it as the .308 Winchester. 4. penetration. Overall, the heavier bullet weights of the .308 rounds are what give the .308 cartridge a slightly higher average when it comes to the sectional density. This rifle accounted for several bulls and many cow elk; my longest shot was about 225 yards. Both are very common in bolt-action rifles. On the other hand, the majority of .270 Winchester factory loads shoot bullets in the 120-150 grain range. The BC is simply a rating that is derived from an equation that uses multiple cartridge/bullet variables. Using a .277-inch diameter bullet and the case length of the .30-03, the .270 Winchester gave high velocities and a flat trajectory. In the end, the best cartridge all depends on the type of situation they will be used. The .270 Win was developed from the .30-03 casing which many popular cartridges have been derived from. For recoil, it’s a wash between these two cartridges. My solution to this dilemma was to have one of each, (I actually have 2 .308s) in addition to the .30-06. Let’s move on and look at a second metric for this category. While we might give the edge to some of the .270 rounds for velocity, especially muzzle velocity, we will see that this similarity doesn’t always translate to other ballistic characteristics and we will look at those stats and discuss the reasoning in the next several sections. Of course, with different types of rounds for these two cartridges, there will be certain rounds that might be more significantly different. However, the .308 performs better with heavier bullets than the .270 and is available in a wider range of bullet weights and models. With the flatter trajectory and stopping power that is nearly identical to the larger .308 bullets at long range, a lot of people feel more confident in taking shots at game at a distance with the .270 over the .308. Best Concealed Carry Insurance [Comparison Chart]. Though the 7.62x51mm NATO had a very short lived career as the primary rifle cartridge for the US military, it’s still widely used by the military in machineguns and sniper/designated marksman rifles. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. And if we do find some discrepancies, it will give us some more interesting talking points. From our research, the general trend of .270 rounds having higher ballistic coefficients on average holds up. With two decades of chasing all manner of upland game, hooved mammals, strutting gobblers, and any small game that can fit in his Dutch oven, he hopes to offer new ideas and viewpoints on hunting and firearm concepts and traditions. By necking down the .30-06 case to shoot smaller diameter bullets, the designers of the .270 Winchester built a cartridge with a higher velocity, flatter trajectory, and less recoil than the .30-06 Springfield. With a leap in bullet technology, the .270 is much better suited for taking larger game such as elk. It is going to give us an idea of the potential each round had has for penetration. Felt recoil will vary from shooter to shooter and rifle to rifle, but free recoil energy is still a useful way to compare cartridges.Interestingly enough, all four loads have almost identical recoil. This is only a preference, not a requirement for me. When looking at the .270 vs .308, it’s difficult to draw a firm conclusion on which is the better cartridge. We do know that there is a lot of variance between the individual rounds, but the top performing rounds in this category are .270 Win factory loads. And there is a reason that sectional density is not used as the sole metric to determine potential penetration. 1. price Accuracy has more to do with the quality of the firearm and the user more so than the cartridge. All cartridges/rifles are a balancing act between It’s unclear exactly why Winchester opted for .277″ instead of the much more popular .284″ bullets. Regardless of their reasons though, the design team at Winchester went with that bullet diameter and the rest is history. You will find the bullet weights of .308 cartridges to fall between 125 and 170 grain with a few outliers in both directions. Buy some great .308 Winchester hunting ammo here. For large game, both cartridges have the stopping power to take large game at under 300 yards and even further when in the right hands. The cartridge is the same length as the .280 Remington, both of which are longer than the .30-06 Springfield.The .270, .280, and .30-06 were all derived from the .30-03 parent case. So, let’s take a look at the ballistic coefficients of the ten rounds we are comparing (Graph 4). From looking at that information, we saw that while the .270 had a slightly higher average BC than the .308, the .308 had rounds with similar and even higher BCs than the .270. BONUS OFFER: Get your 500 Page Ammo Comparison Handbook (worth $43) for FREE right into your inbox. Let’s take a look at the recoil numbers with more rounds added to the group and see if the same results present themselves. You don’t have to be relegated to only one cartridge and feel it deserves all of your loyalty. Though its military career was short-lived, the .308 has become an extremely popular round in civilian use from its conception to modern day. The long range trajectory for this round is not as flat as other .270 rounds but it is still manageable at 400 yards and to be honest, any range after that we are not concerned with when it comes to hunting. While they have some similar characteristics, there are differences that make them better in certain situations. Le calibre 270 winchester, apparu en 1925, est un calibre qui offre beaucoup de polyvalence avec sa trajectoire tendue et sa puissance d'un bon niveau. Not surprisingly, pretty much every ammunition manufacturer of note like Barnes, Black Hills, Browning, Federal Premium, Fiocchi, Hornady, Magtech, Nosler, PMC, PPU, Remington, Swift, and Winchester (just to name a few) produce a wide variety of ammo for both cartridges. If you can, it will drop game, but for all but the best marksman, you are more than likely only going to wound the animal and never find it. Best 9mm Ammo 2019 [Self-Defense & Target], 6.5 Creedmoor vs .243 Win – Cartridge Comparison, Best .40 S&W Ammo: Self Defense & Target Practice. How we will compare penetration of these two rounds is to look at the sectional densities (SD) of the bullets as it allows us to look at the two cartridges rather than the differences between bullet styles. This round is a bit more expensive compared to the other .270 factory loads that we have looked at, but it gives you the best long-range performance. The .308 commonly has a 150 to 180 grain range. Are you just itching to take a rifle chambered in one of these cartridges on a hunt? Several of the .270 rounds have quite a bit higher velocity, especially the 130gr rounds, and that makes sense given the casing capacity. As you can see, there is a significant difference in the bullet trajectories between the two cartridges. C'est même un des pire. Though only a few cartridges use .277″ bullets, the .270 is extremely popular and there’s a plethora of quality bullets to choose from. Both have rounds with high enough BCs for some long-range action. If you begin picking out individual rounds, you can find some huge differences between .270 and .308 rounds where the .308 round shows between fifteen and twenty more inches of bullet drop. From this graph, it does seem that the .270 rounds show a flatter trajectory at short range than the .308. The theories and physics behind the ballistic coefficient can get a little out there, so we are going to simplify it in this article. C'est même un des pire. The 130-grain bullet—at 3140 fps—generates all sorts of hydraulic shock, and that load became an instant hit with deer, antelope and sheep hunters. There are definitely more .308 Win rounds above that mark and there are definitely more .270 Win rounds below that mark, as the averages imply. Regardless of the cartridge you choose, finding a good deer rifle shouldn’t be an issue. The .270 Winchester was introduced in 1925 where it would stay in relative obscurity for a time. Again, there can be a lot of variance on the BC from one round to the next of the same cartridge depending on bullet design. These two numbers are pretty dang similar. The 308 is essentially a shortened version of the 30-06 Springfield cartridge used by the U.S. Military from 1906 through the late 1950s. With so much overlap, we don’t think there is any significant difference between these two cartridges when it comes to recoil. By looking at this information, we hope to better tease apart which cartridge is better suited for specific hunting situations. And when we are talking about extended ranges we mean 400+ yards. But even before then, we do see some rounds that deviate a little from the rest of the rounds of their respective cartridge. This information will allow us to begin teasing apart which situations will be better suited for a particular cartridge. We have gathered the bullet drop data from the various manufacturers where the zero variable was set at 100 yards. The .270 is fitted with a .277″ diameter bullet. le 308 sera plus doux le 30/06 un chouilla plus rapide le 270 pourquoi pas mais bon avec une 130 gr il fera la même chose avec un .30 tout cela se tient dan un mouchoir de poche au final il ne fera pas la différence le recul réduit du 308 peu etre interessant pour passer sur des armes ultra light de … Additionally, the Browning X-Bolt, Kimber Hunter, Mossberg Patriot, Nosler Liberty, Ruger American, Ruger Hawkeye, Savage Axis, Thompson Center Compass, Tikka T3, and Weatherby Vanguard are available in both calibers. Even if we look at the two rounds with the largest difference in bullet drop between the .270 and .308, that difference is only 2.7 inches. Providing approximately 90% of the power of the .30-06 in a smaller package, the cartridge soon became very popular and is now one of the most widely used big game hunting rounds in North America. As most of you know, the laws of physics work on a flying bullet and rather than fly in a perfectly straight line, the flight path takes on a parabola shape. By the time the rounds reach the 300 yard mark, there is only 4lb/ft.s of momentum difference between the rounds of the different cartridges. Regardless, there is no harm in knowing as much about your cartridge of choice as possible. There is quite a lot to talk about after looking at the graph. A lot of marksmen want to know this metric because when a bullet falls below supersonic speeds, their flight becomes more unstable and the difficulty of being accurate increases substantially. The .270 Winchester came along in 1925, released in the Winchester Model 54 rifle. Im not suggesting blasting off a perfectly beautiful bluing job in exchange for cerakote but if its got some worn bluing and is not a collectible that may be an option. The US Army began the search for a new rifle and cartridge after receiving a deadly demonstration of the capabilities of the revolutionary new Mauser rifle and 7mm Mauser cartridge in the hands of Spanish troops in Cuba during 1898. The .270 can be thought of as a necked down version of the .30-06. And even though the .270 is skinnier, its .5 inch increase in the casing length allows it to hold more powder and can withstand 3,000 more units of pressure than the .308. THE BEST GUN DEALS AND HANDPICKED GEAR RECOMMENDATIONS, Subscribe to our Newsletter and we send you the best deals right into your inbox. I compared a 150-grain in the 308 Winchester against the 140-grain Core-Lokts in the 7mm-08 and 260 for two reasons. Jack O’Connor was really onto something with his affinity for the .270 as a sheep hunting cartridge. We see the .308 Win rounds carrying on average more momentum than the .270 but as they move downrange, we see the the .270 Win rounds gaining ground. The ballistic coefficient is not everything when it comes to having a true flying bullet. Jul 21, 2017 #1 A. ATX762 Senior Member. Hitting small game with a heavy grain .308 is not going to leave anything behind and is just overkill and a waste of money. The military developed it as a small-caliber, high-velocity round for NATO forces. Therefore, I rule out using the .308 for moose because I think a 165 grain bullet is too light for an animal that size unless you have the velocity created by the .270 Win. Le .270 Winchester est un calibre dédié aux grands gibiers de petite et moyenne taille, à savoir le chevreuil, le chamois ou encore le mouflon et le cerf. .308 Winchester vs. 7.62×51mm NATO. Dans ces deux derniers cas, je préfère de loin une 223 Rem. The .308 Win has anywhere between 30 to 50 more ft.lbs of energy from the muzzle out to 300 yards. The 7.62x51mm NATO had virtually the same ballistics as the original .30-06 Springfield load (150 grain bullet at 2,700 feet per second) and also fired a .308″ bullet. The Lyman 50th Edition (197-198, p241-245), and Hornady 10th Edition (p251-355, p474-488) reloading manuals were also used as references for the history of the cartridges and provided data to compare their size and recoil. As illustrated in the chart,.270 Winchester rounds - on average - achieve a velocity of about 3060 feet per second (fps) while.30-30 Winchester rounds travel at a velocity of 2370 fps. The higher the SD of a bullet, the deeper penetration it will show. In my opinion the 180 grainer bullet is too heavy for the smaller powder capacity for the shorter cartridge. For this reason, the .270 Winchester is used in standard/long action rifles, while the .308 Winchester is the poster child for short action rifles. 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