A .270 vs 6.8 question. Support the old upgrade to the new

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Recently, I was watching a video by Ron Spomer about fast twist barrels coming from the factory to revitalize the .270 Winchester. With the advent of the 6.8 western, I’m curious which would be a better advantage to invest in long-term as my main hunting platform.
It’s some point I switched over to copper monolithic Barnes TTSX. I like their terminal performance on elk. I switched away from the previous favorite, which were the terminal ascent which had better grouping.
Part of the answer is gonna completely come down to personal preference. I’m curious to know what you guys objectively think and subjectively what you would do in your shoes with your money.

My gut feeling is to invest the money into a fast twist 270 barrel since all of my equipment is already set up for .270, start reloading the brass that I have, and build out a snot hot .270.
I suspect, as is true from many things, building loads results in a higher quality product than what’s available on the shelf. So I’m excited to get into reloading and see what the .270 is capable of.

I’m also curious if getting into a 6.8Western platform with it’s tight twist and short barrels that take advantage of newer technology would be a game changer call in a caliber that I’m already comfortable with.
I would love to hear your guys exhaustive or in-the-weeds thoughts about this issue.

On a lesser note , What are your thoughts about average shooters and hunters building out their own load data and keeping older cartridges alive versus just buying all new platforms and just using what’s on the shelf?
It feels like an art is being lost to the convenience of technology. Am I just chasing a dream with .270 hoping to outperform newer tech. Maybe I should switch to 6.8 before I get too invested.?

Thanks folks, I really appreciate this community and how willing you all are to mentor to one another.

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What’s the intended purpose? Is this just wanting something new and fun to play with? Absolutely nothing wrong with that by the way. Or, do you have a specific mission?. A specific bullet needs to be shot at a specific velocity in order to hit a specific Target at a specific range.

270 definitely doesn’t get the press it used to. I had to sell a couple last year because they were just wasting space in the safe since I’ve fallen in love with the 280 Ackley. It was tough moving them. For some reason people aren’t looking to buy 270s that much anymore around here at least. But they’re certainly not buying 6.8 westerns either. Or for that matter, 7prc, 300 prc, or any Arc either.

But while it may not be as popular as it used to be, you can still find ammo for the 270 around. The 6.8 Western has been on life support ever since it was launched and I certainly don’t see any signs of improvement. In fact I could make a good argument things are worse as I know a few different companies have dropped production of their rifles in that chambering.

Around here, a fast twist 270 also wouldn’t be that popular. No one around here is shooting heavy for caliber bullets in 270. In fact the standard recipe around here is using a 110 grain bullet at a good velocity which gives you less recoil and a much flatter shooting trajectory.

Also keep in mind the 6.8 Western is more of a 270 magnum. Not only is it launching heavier bullets but it’s got a lot more powder behind it to get the velocity up. Do you need that extra speed? Or, is a standard 270 going to give you more than enough?

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Hey, thanks for your thoughts.
To be frank, I have no need for the 6.8 specifically.
The goal is to hunt western elk. Here in Oregon we have Rocky Mountain as well as Roosevelt. I’ve taken elk as far as 560yd and some closer to 300yds. Generally they have been Younglings or rag horns. I haven’t run into that monster yet. More often than not, they are further out and I have to move or wait. We tend to hunt the east side for Rockies. The entire purpose of the .270 was for large game hunting that can also shoot low grain bullets for Blacktail.

This was my first hunting rifle but based on everything I’ve seen, nothing yet had convinced me to switch calibers until the 7PRC came out. Unfortunately, recent testing like the kind Jim has done has proven the 7PRC does not group reliably in lightweight rifles, so if I were to switch from the .270, which caliber would even be worth the cost?

I also like to practice seeing how far I can get my .270 to go and maintain close groupings. You know, for science.

To answer your question, it’s for western hunting at reasonable distances. The goal is to quell my concern that the .270 cant put down large bulls ethically at the kind of distances I’m seeing out here.

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I feel so frustrated with gun/ammo companies because they SUCK at marketing compared to Hornady. The 6.8 Western SHOULD be the answer here. It’s a modernized 270, but it has zero support.

It’s the same reason I think the 7 backcountry is going to die, nobody else is making ammo to support them.

I freaking love my 270 win and it’s what I grew up shooting, but I wouldn’t advise it today for a long term solution because I do think it is slowly fading.

Not trying to change your mind, but any consideration for a 6.5 PRC?

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No, I think the 6.5 PRC is wonderful.
I probably biased myself in one direction and have to walk back my thinking. I got it in my head I was going to modify the .270 to “save money.” I have thoughts of changing it into a seven PRC or a fast twist or some other fancy fangled thing and reloading my own ammo.
I suspect saving money on gun building is a myth.

I haven’t seen a lot of 65 PRC support either in rifles or on the shelf. I see a lot more of 7PRC surprisingly.

What I’d like to do is find something used that some fancy guy decided to part with. Buy that, and build it out to a short action, modern cartridge…

To your point earlier, I don’t think the 270s going anywhere they still make a lot of money off that caliber. 65 PRC is probably the nearest solution that keeps up with the times seven backcountry and 68 Western are great options will probably have to wait a few years to see if they stabilize.

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You mention the 7BC. That’s just a rebarrel from the 270. I don’t think the 7BC is going to die on the vine like the 6.8 Westen might because of the pressure deal, with an astrix - so long as Federal lets others play in the sandbox. Could be worth experimenting since that’s all it would take.

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Federal Messed that one up because they made it so that no one else can Load For it.

It will be interesting to see when the next company rolls out the newest High pressure/steel cased round, If they follow federal’s lead or chart their own course

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I’ve about lost all faith in the 6.8 western becoming popular. Fast twist 270 is cool but will only benefit hand loaders.

My next build is gonna be a 6.8 western possibly… or 7 SAUM. I’m gonna handload so I guess it won’t matter how popular they are.

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What’s the bullet selection like for 6.8W? Are there many high-BC options?

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If you are going to hand load, have you ever considered the 7 Sherman Short - 7 SS - it seems to check most of the boxes you have mentioned.

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Five bucks says you go with the SAUM😂

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Never heard of it and I’m still new to reloading. In fact I’ve never reloaded rifle calibers, only pistol.
I think I’d probably want something. That’s also available on the shelf just in case I get stuck somewhere in another state and have to buy ammo off the shelf.

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Ben,
I like the 7BC. It would be a great replacement however I don’t know if the Chica action can withstand the 80,000 psi. assuming that it can, and I can get a new barrel in 7 BC, if other companies besides federal offer brass for seven BC then this would be a great switch appeared. I imagine it’ll be an expensive endeavor.

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Good point. I wasn’t thinking about how old your 270 is. From what I’ve been reading, all modern actions “should” be able to handle the pressure from the BC due to how advanced the manufacturing is and the tolerances the actions are built to now. But an older rifle is another story.

Ultimately, I suggest doing what you’re comfortable with. Its like the thread on the 7PRC and the hate its getting these days. I am happy with the performance from my rifle, a hunting rifle, even though it has a Cure carbon fiber barrel which isn’t a fan favorite either. I know, at most, I will get off 2 or 3 shots at an elk or bear when hunting - heat will not be an issue. It is cold bore accurate and have enough goodies on it to tame the recoil.
I do like to tweak the rifle here and there, though. I think of it as chasing better, not perfection. These little tweaks are like which break I use, or trying a new ammo to see if the rifle likes it better than what I have currently.
So, if you are happy with the 270, then maybe just tweaking it with that new barrel is the way to go.

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Yea Ben, I agree.
It’s definitely a chasing better situation. There is no perfection here.
Part of tinkering and being a hobbiest in general is seeing what i can accomplish with what i have. Sometimes i get tired of that though and i want to start over.
Your 7PRC sounds stellar. And for the fun of the caliber i hope to build a 7PRC one day.

My .270 isn’t old. Thanks for clarifying the psi concern. It would be cool to one day trade out the barrel and try a new caliber.
It does worry me that one day i’ll take a shot at a bull and he’ll just turn to me, flip me off and run away bleeding into the sunset.

I actually love the .270 very much. I think it wins at most things it’s asked to do. Maybe I just hyper-fixated on long range hunting dreams. Thanks to Jim’s diligent video research however, we can see even professionals struggle at performing to the distances our new rifles are actually capable of.

Im going to spend time learning to reload my own little death capsules and have fun chasing performance that way.

Final thoughts. I think modern .270 cartridges are more than capable out to nearly 600yds even for elk (agreed by R. Spomer).
The mono copper’s expansions are especially effective, despite not grouping as well.
I have no business hunting past that.
Long distance hunting may just be for the birds.
Ill probably buy a 7BC just cuz its cooool.

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Well I have read through all of the current posts and have to somewhat shake my head at some of the comments as well as other choices. I am going to start out by saying that I do not need a reason to buy and test out new cartridges, as long as they make sense and are an improvement. I am a fan of the 270, while others were simply using it for hunting, since nobody did, nor still do make any match bullets in 277. Early on I discovered that the 270 made one heck of a fine match rifle. I was able to shoot out to my max available range of 300 yards with my out of the box Tikka T3x with a 0.6 moa using Federal 130 gr Nosler Partition ammo, and even slightly smaller groups using 140 gr ABLR which grouped at 0.45 moa resulting in groups of 0.4 moa. Unfortunately bullets come and bullets go at the whim of the manufacturer and while the 130 partitions will most likely always be available, since the 270, like the 30-06 will outlive us all. Anyway lets simply say that I have a love affair with the 270, which has resulted in many deer DRT over the years.

Since I am impressed by the 270, when Winchester announced the 6.8 Western I was immediately interested. I had already figured out that the 6.8 Western was more or less and unstated as a 270 magnum. Ammo at the beginning was a concern. Rifles are nice ,but one needs ammo, or at least components to load ammo. Cases were the issue. As we all know there are two ways to produce cases, buy factory ammo, shoot it and produce cases or buy cases in the desired caliber. There were no new cases available. ( ADG has since come out with available cases, but at an exorbitant price. You can buy two boxes of Winchester ammo, which gives you 40 cases for considerably less than you can buy 50 ADG cases) None of the big suppliers carried 6.8 ammo but lo and behold, my little local gun shop had Winchester 6.8 ammo in stock at a reasonable price.

Now committed to my 6.8 project I bought two boxes of Winchester Copper Impact ammo. With ammo in hand now was the quest for a rifle to shoot it. Yet another local gun shop was able to order me a Winchester XPR Thumbhole Varmint, heavy barrel 6.8 Western rifle at a very reasonable price. The barrel was threaded and before I shot it I put on a Target/Sniper muzzle brake, I put a Vortex 6-24x50 Diamondback Tactical scope with a 20 moa Talley rail and Vortex Pro rings on the rifle and headed for the range. Once on paper, which took all of 3 shots out of the new barrel, the next group measured 0.8 moa with the factory ammo, and with the muzzle brake a recoil around that of a .243. By the time I was done with the factory ammo I was down to 0.7 moa, Since then I have played with handloads shooting bullets from 130 gr ABLR to 160 gr Partitions. The 130 gr bullets do not group well, 2 inch at best. From 140 gr on up with hand loads we are dealing with group sizes from 0.9 to 0.4 depending upon the particular load.

If anyone bothers to really check out the 6.8 Western, I think that it will easily with the proper loading take anything on the North or South American continents including the big bears and a whole bunch of different game on the African continent.

As far as the 6.5 or 7 PRC, I personally, I don’t see them replacing any of the old standbys. Maybe simply because the old standbys are such, because they have stood the test of time and watched all challengers fade into the sunset.