270 wsm

john.d.m

Well-Known Member
Any one got any opinions on them ?from experience if possible.
Amate of mine is looking at a rifle for his missus, Have to admit i suggested a 308, she can use my 30-06 no problems but I think the 270wsm maybe a bit sharper.
Alocal gun dealer is trying hard to push the 270wsm into them.
 
Any one got any opinions on them ?from experience if possible.
Amate of mine is looking at a rifle for his missus, Have to admit i suggested a 308, she can use my 30-06 no problems but I think the 270wsm maybe a bit sharper.
Alocal gun dealer is trying hard to push the 270wsm into them.

WSM's are a dying cartridge. They were a last ditch effort from Winchester to boost gun sales and the cartridges, despite their performance, are fading away. The WSM's not as fast as the WSSM's, but they are going. I'd advise your friend to look to a 30-06 or 308 if his wife can handle it.

That dealer knows that they are a dead issue in the States. Supplies of brass will surely dwindle in the UK and he will be stuck with the gun. (Some Dealers have sold off the WSM rifles at less than cost to get rid of them, here.) ~Muir
 
Alocal gun dealer is trying hard to push the 270wsm into them.

Hmmmm I wonder why :-|.. Could never really see the point of them and the only one I might have had any interest at all in would have been the .325WSM but then I happen to like 8mm's........................ As Muir says carefully check the availability of ammo and brass etc..
 
This interests me! Every time I see a wildcat article in shooting press (mainly Bruce Pott's I admit) or read about ballistic efficiency in bench rest calibres, people are always saying that short fat cases produce a cleaner burn and are more efficient. And yet they are on the way out, why?

Are they pigs to feed? What's wrong with them?

Simon
 
Personally Simon, I`m a bit old fashioned (or behind the times) I`m not into new rounds, like my 30-06 too much I suppose.
And it`s worked, mate isn`t gonna buy the 270WSM, he listened to me :eek:
 
WSM's are a dying cartridge. They were a last ditch effort from Winchester to boost gun sales and the cartridges, despite their performance, are fading away. The WSM's not as fast as the WSSM's, but they are going. I'd advise your friend to look to a 30-06 or 308 if his wife can handle it.

That dealer knows that they are a dead issue in the States. Supplies of brass will surely dwindle in the UK and he will be stuck with the gun. (Some Dealers have sold off the WSM rifles at less than cost to get rid of them, here.) ~Muir

Amazed to hear this. I've sold several over the years and all have been very well received and used. I use a 7mmWSM myself - and have a wide choice!!. My only problem with WSM is availability!. Have a look on Guntrader, see how many are for sale. I KNOW some have been sold!!. As has been said before though, 'each to their own'.
 
Hmmm you might be easily amazed then. Take a look at who actually offers new rifles in such chamberings now........................................ Not many I'll wager. Just because you sold a few does not mean they were well accepted in the main. Now as it's quite common knowledge here I like some unusual chamberings and efficiency is not the sole reason. The last one for me the 280AI is not particularly efficient but it filled a purpose in my case which was to duplicate the performance of the old .280 Ross.

The reason places like Guntrader don't have any is because they are dead in the water, the WSM's that is, you don't find many .280 Ross's on their either for the same reason it's a dead cartridge now.
 
Personally Simon, I`m a bit old fashioned (or behind the times) I`m not into new rounds, like my 30-06 too much I suppose.
And it`s worked, mate isn`t gonna buy the 270WSM, he listened to me :eek:
Jiohn, I know what you mean, i like the older "time served" calibres myself too. I cannot imagine anyone having a problem with recoil from a moderated .308, however light framed they were.

It's this wildcat and ballistic effficiency versus popularity that I don't understand. Not that I am in any hurry to own one you understand! It's just I do not comprehend why, if the cartridge is so efficient, are they really unpopular?

Simon
 
Amazed to hear this. I've sold several over the years and all have been very well received and used. I use a 7mmWSM myself - and have a wide choice!!. My only problem with WSM is availability!. Have a look on Guntrader, see how many are for sale. I KNOW some have been sold!!. As has been said before though, 'each to their own'.

If you had to choose a current production WSM to buy which would it be then?~Muir

(gunbroker.com has 127, 270 WSM rifles, most NIB)
 
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Firstly Muir and Brit are perhaps a bit on the errr may I say old side,:old::stir:

Personally I don’t really see what the problem is with the WSM, if you are looking for a Magnum then you can make a good argument for them, OK the 270 WSM is a bit over bored, fine if you are using it for 150gn plus bullets IMO. The 7mm makes more sense again if you launching 160gn bullets, perhaps a better balanced cartridge than a 7mm Rem’ mag’, the 300 WSM is even better, when I was hunting in NZ two of the lads with us were carrying them.

In comparison with the 7mmRM or the 300WM the WSM has a few plus points, none belted case, and the rifle can be built in two action lengths shorter.

The principle behind the short fat case is that a theatrical perfect shape for a cartridge is a sphere with the primer in the middle, a cartridge of this shape would be difficult to build a rifle for, and then you would have to get it to feed from a magazine. The nearest we have is the family of short fat cases.

The 7mm WSM is king of the F class at the minute, in competition they only keep the winners. Brass is available from Norma, Winchester and Remington. If I was in the market for a magnum and a WSM rifle that suited me and was the right price came my way I would buy it no worries, although, like Brit I think I would err towards an 8mm magnum.

ATB

Tahr
 
Firstly Muir and Brit are perhaps a bit on the errr may I say old side,:old::stir:

Personally I don’t really see what the problem is with the WSM, if you are looking for a Magnum then you can make a good argument for them, OK the 270 WSM is a bit over bored, fine if you are using it for 150gn plus bullets IMO. The 7mm makes more sense again if you launching 160gn bullets, perhaps a better balanced cartridge than a 7mm Rem’ mag’, the 300 WSM is even better, when I was hunting in NZ two of the lads with us were carrying them.

In comparison with the 7mmRM or the 300WM the WSM has a few plus points, none belted case, and the rifle can be built in two action lengths shorter.

The principle behind the short fat case is that a theatrical perfect shape for a cartridge is a sphere with the primer in the middle, a cartridge of this shape would be difficult to build a rifle for, and then you would have to get it to feed from a magazine. The nearest we have is the family of short fat cases.

The 7mm WSM is king of the F class at the minute, in competition they only keep the winners. Brass is available from Norma, Winchester and Remington. If I was in the market for a magnum and a WSM rifle that suited me and was the right price came my way I would buy it no worries, although, like Brit I think I would err towards an 8mm magnum.

ATB

Tahr

Tahr, Many thanks :tiphat:

Simon
 
Firstly Muir and Brit are perhaps a bit on the errr may I say old side,:old::stir:

Personally I don’t really see what the problem is with the WSM, if you are looking for a Magnum then you can make a good argument for them, OK the 270 WSM is a bit over bored, fine if you are using it for 150gn plus bullets IMO. The 7mm makes more sense again if you launching 160gn bullets, perhaps a better balanced cartridge than a 7mm Rem’ mag’, the 300 WSM is even better, when I was hunting in NZ two of the lads with us were carrying them.

In comparison with the 7mmRM or the 300WM the WSM has a few plus points, none belted case, and the rifle can be built in two action lengths shorter.

The principle behind the short fat case is that a theatrical perfect shape for a cartridge is a sphere with the primer in the middle, a cartridge of this shape would be difficult to build a rifle for, and then you would have to get it to feed from a magazine. The nearest we have is the family of short fat cases.

The 7mm WSM is king of the F class at the minute, in competition they only keep the winners. Brass is available from Norma, Winchester and Remington. If I was in the market for a magnum and a WSM rifle that suited me and was the right price came my way I would buy it no worries, although, like Brit I think I would err towards an 8mm magnum.

ATB

Tahr

Tahr,

Thanks :D I have nowt to do with target shooting nowadays as such, lost interest with no support from our governing body the NRA and to be frank a lot of the serious target crowd that used to get to Bisley were how shall we put it............................................... not those I would like to be shooting with. I recall a certain one who had Callum Fergerson build him a 6mm BR or PPc which he also wanted deer legal. His loads to be so were so hot they expanded the primer pockets so he just super glued the primers in :eek:.. I made it my mission to stay as far away from him as possible. The one running the show thought it was OK and he was great.

Then of course they stopped us shooting the 22-250 as it exceeded the range certificate so I had to sell mine. Down loading it to below 3275 fps was not allowed even.

As for old .............................. well it's a fact we all get old at some point. Not all in the modern world is an improvement I'm afraid.
 
Hi Kev

I have a spare bolt head for one of my rifles because I quite fancied the idea of a 6BR, but as you point out you would struggle to make it big deer legal with a sensible stalking length barrel, it was just about possible if you necked it up to 6.5 and blew out the shoulder. But then it wasn’t a 6mm anymore.

I know what you are saying that all that is new is better, but I don’t see any real flaws in the bigger WSMs you almost get the velocities of a proper magnum with the theatrical potential for better accuracy, not that anything better than 1 MOA is needed to knock over deer. The idea in my mind with a Magnum is not to throw light bullets real fast, but the throw heavier bullets at the same speed that the "standard" rifle throws lighter ones.

ATB

Tahr
 
Never said it was a bad cartridge series. I said it was a dead issue.~Muir

Thar: Again, I never said it was a bad round but generally, when they stop making guns for it, the components are sure to follow. I say "generally" because there are some cartridges that hang on only to be rejuvenated decades later, like the 284 Winchester -but then it's mostly due to the wildcat derivatives. Mayhap the WSM's will make a return. I know brass is available from several makers and it won't be a problem for a while, but I see little sense in investing in an obsolete chambering when other cartridges will do the trick. JMHO, of course.~Muir
 
Tahr,

Your idea about magnums I cannot argue with the .280AI is really a magnum in all but name. As I said my idea was to have a modernised .280 Ross as I could not find a nice Ross that was affordable to me. Of course the .280 Ross was a magnum before they applied that label to such cartridges.

The idea to throw light bullets fast was the Express cartridges.

The .280 AI with the right powder according the Hodgdons data will propel a 175 grain bullet to a little under 2900 fps. Once I get a chronograph and this hassle sorted I intend to see how mine will perform and I have a few hundred 175 grn Remington semi spitzers in 7mm..

Of the new cartridges the .325WSM was the one which peaked my interest the others well they were just re-hashes of older cartridges to my mind. The old .270 Winchester is enough for all species in the UK and as I already have that?. The .243 and 6mm Rem are no slouch either so cannot see the point the the WSM version but the .325 so called as 8mm's don't sell well in the US :rolleyes: as Remington found out with their 8mm Rem mag which is one hell of a cartridge I understand but needs a magnum length action the .325WSM can fit in a normal length action which are easier to obtain ;) so fits a niche for me anyway.. I still feel brass may very well become an issue in the not too distant future so....................................
 
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