I am probably overthinking this but this will be my only rifle for a while so I want to make sure I don’t have any regrets. I’m planning this to be my ‘do everything’ (mostly deer and the occasional elk and really anything I can) rifle until I can get more. I decided on the Ruger American Gen 2 which comes in the 20” and 22” barrel (and 16” I believe but I’m looking at the longer two). I have been doing some research and I’m still not sure if the barrel length affects the 6.5 PRC or the .270 WIN more, or which one of those would perform better in either barrel. I’m leaning towards the .270 because it’s a bit cheaper to shoot and from what I can tell, its performance is almost identical to the 6.5 PRC (and I’m probably not a good enough shooter to notice a difference anyway 
). I think I remember something that Jim said about shorter, fatter cartridges doing better in shorter barrels. So if the 6.5 is noticeably better, it would be worth it to me but if there isn’t really a difference I’d probably get the .270. Thanks in advance for all your help! I love reading all the posts and learning from you guys!
Well, the 6.5 should weigh less as a “short action”.
Well, if you are going to be focused on whitetail, then I would go with the .270. Looking at ammo out there, if the gun like the hornady superformance, the caliber gets pretty close to the 6.5 prc, especially out to 600, past that the bc on the 6.5s start to run away from the .270 bullets. Going to elk Federal offers a great 150 grain load which probably (never shot an elk) would do the job 500 and in pretty well. Personally, I think the 6.5 PRC is the gem of the newer cartridges, but I would use a .270 all day long.
Good luck
An interesting aspect of the 6.5 PRC vs 270 Win debate that nobody talks about is that while they are “ballistics twins”, the 270 is doing it with a 2” shorter barrel.
I owe credit to someone on Twitter for pointing this out a couple of weeks ago, but can’t remember who it was, sorry.
Looking at load data from Barnes, they use 24 inch barrels for both.
For a 140gn bullet, the 270 is faster, but only 40-50 fps
Hmmm have I been deceived?? Now I’m going to have to verify with more loads.
Eh that does sound about right when I stopped to think about it. If you cut that 270 by 2”, that would be 25-30 fps per inch which lines up to what you’re saying.
Man, I honestly don’t even know how to choose between the two. Advantage 270 if you’re hunting elk with the slight improvement in caliber size. Advantage 6.5 PRC if you are doing a lot of range time for the tiny improvement in the BC of the bullets.
Just to be more precise, for a 140gn at maximum charge weight, the 6.5 PRC goes from 2913-3012 depending upon the powder, and the 270 Winchester goes from 2985 to 3082. So there is some overlap. Both were 24 inch barrels
That’s probably one of the best ways to look at it that I’ve seen articulated.
Nice guys, now my wife isn’t going to let me buy a new 6,5 PRC because I already have a 270. 