6.5-06
Rifle|Special Edition Fall 2019

As any thoughtful shooter knows, our sport is full of deep questions, from ethics to “hard” science. One such question is whether the performance gap between the .25-06 Remington and .270 Winchester amounts to anything.

John Barsness
6.5-06

Educated handloaders know that the .25-06 and .270 both feature the .30-06 case. The .25-06 uses spitzer bullets up to 120 grains in weight, while .270 spitzers range up to 160 grains. Thus theoretically the .25-06 is more of a varmint/deer cartridge, and the .270 more of an all-around big game cartridge for non-dangerous animals.

This is the practical consensus as well. While some hunters still claim the .270 isn’t enough for elk or gemsbok, they are mostly followers of a deceased Idaho gun writer known for wearing large hats. His name shall not be mentioned, because these days some folks are offended when any old-time gun writer’s name is invoked. Suffice to say that even though this large-hatted writer never really grasped the concept of so-called premium bullets, some hunters revere his opinion that the .270 might be an okay coyote cartridge.

Now let’s outline the experiences of a Montana gun writer who wears somewhat sweat-stained baseball caps, if he wears a hat at all. This gun writer has used the .25-06 considerably, but has also taken more big game with the .270 Winchester than any other big-game cartridge. He has never seen it “fail” on elk, or other relatively large and/or tough animals such as gemsbok, moose and bison. Mostly he’s noticed that a .270 bullet through the heart-lung cavity makes large animals lie down within a few seconds, because they are dead.

Denne historien er fra Special Edition Fall 2019-utgaven av Rifle.

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Denne historien er fra Special Edition Fall 2019-utgaven av Rifle.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.