Ballistics

[David Page]

I know someone that has both a .264 Win Mag and a .270 Win. He said he that takes the .264 deer hunting because its more powerful. My Sierra reloading manual the says the .264 pushes the 140 gr. bullet at 3,000 ft. per second for 2,798 energy ft. lbs. It says the .270 pushes a (.013 bigger) .277 dia. bullet of the same 140 grains at 3,000 ft. per sec. for 2,797 energy ft. lbs. So technically which one is better for a deer. I don't know if the .264 flies straighter or not. I don't think a deer would know the difference. Your thoughts.

 

[Workerbee]

The better one for me would be the one I had more confidence in as far as accuracy. If equal it’d be a hard choice. Theyre both excellent for deer.

 

[Nicfin36]

I don't know anything about the .264 Win Mag. But, if I just wanted a deer rifle, I'd stick with the .270. Do you reload? If not, the .270 will be more common/easier to find and most likely much cheaper.

 

[bcp]

Ignore muzzle energy, unless that is where the game is when you shoot.

Compare energy and trajectory at various distances.

Both having the same weight, velocity, and shape, the 264 bullet, being longer, will be somewhat faster and flatter at long range. But this may not be a significant difference at the ranges being hunted here.

Bruce

 

[skeets]

Around here at least, finding .270 ammo vs .264 ammo is a no brainer. The 264 will give a little flatter trajectory and really the down range energy is not much different between the two. And unless you reload enough to justify a .264 MHO is to stick with a .270.

 

[Poohbear]

Around here at least, finding .270 ammo vs .264 ammo is a no brainer. The 264 will give a little flatter trajectory and really the down range energy is not much different between the two. And unless you reload enough to justify a .264 MHO is to stick with a .270.

My 1st thought also about getting ammo. I don't reload either caliber . The flattest shooter I ever had is the .257 Roberts followed up by a .308 . I never even fired the 308 since I bought it last summer and do have a die. When I did hunt my .300 Savage or my old 7.65 Mauser has been the assiassins choice. But whoa as me, they all went down in that same boat accident
No matter the caliber, it's where you put it that counts.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Dang boating accidents are very common. Had the same fate here....

I stick with a 308 which is my go to hunting rifle, was sad to see it get submerged...

I like the 308, easy to reload and I can build the loads to do whatever I want them to do plus, 308's are available anywhere factory ammo is sold in many flavors so if I happen to loose my bollets somewhere, a trip to any place ammo is sold puts me back in business.

I almost 100% load Berger pills and jump them according to Walt Berger and Brian Litz's regimen. Only other pills I use are Hornady .452 FBHP's in my 460 because Berger don't swage a handgun pill.

 

[lugbolt]

it ain't the size of the round that matters, at least not around here in the jungle. It's shot placement. Way too many people buy a 7mm or 30-06 or 270 or whatever to shoot deer at under 100 yards, then ruin a ton of meat with it.

 

[skeets]

Head shots or upper neck shots you dont ruin much of anything and one through the boiler room ruins nothing

 

[NoJacketRequired]

it ain't the size of the round that matters, at least not around here in the jungle. It's shot placement. Way too many people buy a 7mm or 30-06 or 270 or whatever to shoot deer at under 100 yards, then ruin a ton of meat with it.

For exactly that reason I stepped down from .308Win to 7mm-08... Not much of a difference, but the 7mm-08 is chambered in a supremely-shootable Sako rifle. I shoot it very well off-hand and have high confidence in making a successful shot. The lower recoil of the 7mm-08 plus the excellent stock design of the Sako make it a very pleasant shooting experience, adding to my ability to confidently place the bullet where I want it down range.

Power alone is useless. Accuracy makes the kill.

 

[lugbolt]

Ain't proud to admit. Killed a couple does with a WMR Marlin that I borrowed from my best friend who helped me as much as he could. One turkey and that was thanksgiving, and it was a domesticated (farmed) turkey not wild. The deer were on his ranch and I had permission and encouragement to kill them. As said, in the head, they done, they don't run they don't kick much, just fall over and no meat is wasted unless you like eating brains. In our part of the world, with the trees so thick, you're not shooting more than 100 yd most of the time; and within about 50, a 22 will do the job (but is illegal; at least here). That was way back when I was a late teenager with no place to live other than an old slide-in camper (and not in a truck) on my friend's property. I don't want to live that life ever again but if it ever hit the fan, I'm plenty prepared to live off the land. Just don't want to if I can help it. Don't think it didn't cross my mind when Rona showed up here and everyone went into panic mode.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Smallest legal caliber here is a center fire 223 which is a .22 caliber pill. I've taken a few with a 223 but I still prefer my 308 which is my go to hunting gun anyway. Only animals I have not taken with the 308 is an Elk or Antelope. 300 WM for Elk, 338 Lapua for the Antelope because of the extreme distance..

The poaching gun of choice here in Michigan is a 10-22 Ruger carbine and a spotlight.

Last fall, I took a Nebraska 8 point mule deer with the 308 at 175 yards with a 168 grain Berger jumped 0.038 off the lands in Lapua brass. One shot drop.