Question for the rifle owners..

not enough knock down power, limited range. the .308 if preferable, it has plenty of knock down power and great range. Its only problem is potential over penetration is a hostage situation, but this problem is easily solved by going with a slower .308 round.

 

check www.thehighroad.org

 

Speaking of .308... I sure do miss cracking off a few rounds on the M14. Don't think there are all that many ex military my age or younger who qualified on (and whose command's firearms locker was stocked with) that particular piece Never did get the chance to play with an M16.

 

The .270 does have an extremely flat trajectory out to about 200 yards, after that it bleeds off energy and drops dramatically. It can be used on a variety of game, in the USA. The .308 round does not start to drop until about 600 yards. It does travel quite a bit slower however this is not necessarily a bad thing. If a .270 hits an animal (North American) or person traveling 3000fps it is going to blow clean through it and not expend nearly as much energy into the body as a bigger slower bullet would. I was hunting in south Texas a few years ago, I shoot a 7mm mag for N. American game and another person there was using a .270. Whenever he shot something (on the occasion he would hit it, he was a horrible shot) the round would blow clean through the animal and it would run away, he would then have to spend on average up too 45min chasing the animal he just shot (mostly deer). My 7 mag on the other hand which was shooting a much bigger slower round would knock everything dead instantly first shot, every time (I on the other hand am a very good shot, I very rarely miss).
My advice is go for the .308 if you are thinking about buying a gun for hunting or law enforcement. Its hard to go wrong with it. Anything bigger for anything in N. America is a waste. Going to Africa though, that is a totally different story.

 

The skinny of it: the .270 was developed as a hunting round and the .30-06/.308 as a military round.

The .270 is my favorite rifle caliber. I've got 5 .270s and am having another built as we speak. It is one of the best (I think the best) deer-sized game cartridges. The sporterized .30-06 is more versatile up to elk species because it can be loaded in heavier bullets.

Historically, the .308 caliber has been the US mlitary round in the .30-03 (obsolete now) then the .30-06 and then the .308 (7.62 Nato). The latter two essentially replaced by the .223 (5.56 Nato).Many military types regret ever dropping the .30-06. Currently the military is *****ing about the .223 as lacking stopping power and they're developing the 6.5 Grendel ( a .277 bullet in a .223 case).

Good sites:

accuratereloading.com
24hourcampfire.com

 

The 6.5 Grendel is an excellent caliber, fantastic ballistics. It is being developed by Alexander Arms in Georgia.

 

I've read something similar as well. Seems SS109's overpenetrate enemy combatants whereas a FMJBT would disintegrate, giving enemy combatants the full knockdown power of the 5.56. But a FMJBT is useless shooting through middle eastern walls, thus, why the troops carry SS109's. Which, even then, is not a reliable round for shooting through walls. All roads lead to .308

 

For taking out soft targets out to 600- 700 yards the .308 is hard to beat. It rounds are extremely easy to find and there is an extremely wide variety of ammunition for this gun. If you are going out further than 700 yards on a soft target the .338 Lapua is the the next step up. Superb accuracy at long distance, plenty of knockdown power. However its rounds are harder to find and in the hands of anything other than a very experienced hunter/ sniper it will be completely useless in the field.
After the .338 the .50 is the next stop. This gun is only used for targets hard and soft at 1000+ yards. It is extremely heavy and is dangerous to the shooter if they don't know what they are doing. An extremely high skill level is required for this weapon, but if you put in the time and get good, man can you have fun with a .50. It will kill anything on the planet and can penetrate most armored vehicles.

 

I hope you are not trading from a .270 to a .308 based on what you read here. There are many good gun websites out there for this kind of information. Many variables to consider, bullet and cartridge designs for example. They are both great cartridges, but .308 has had more development due to the military heritage. Good luck.