The venerable 270 Winchester has been a mainstay on gun store racks, ammo displays and in reloader’s cabinets for decades.
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Along with the 30-06 Springfield and 30-30 Winchester, these cartridges have anchored more deer than any others.
But times change. Performance improves. Design evolves. And as with many of our other traditional tools, the 270 Winchester was nudged aside in the past five years by the hot new 6.5 Creedmoor.
Nosler, a company rooted in tradition but also with an eye to cutting-edge performance, has now turned its attention to the 277 caliber and brought the loading possibilities into the modern era with the introduction of the 27 Nosler.
The 27 Nosler, like its counterparts across the family of Nosler cartridges, has raised the performance bar when it comes to the 277.
For starters, it burns more powder. Lots more powder.
The 27 Nosler has 32 percent more case capacity than the 270 Winchester, 22 percent more than the 270 Winchester Short Magnum and 14 percent more than the 270 Weatherby. That increased capacity, coupled with modern powders, allows the 27 Nosler to drive 150 grain bullets faster and flatter than ever before.
This also opens the door to loading longer and heavier bullets that one might usually find in the 277 offerings.
In addition to the caliber, Nosler also introduced new 165 grain AccuBond Long Range bullets in 277. More weight equals more energy to transfer to the target. That means less tracking of wounded game, which is all math that’s sure to please any hunter.
To stabilize these heavier bullets, Nosler recommends a faster twist rate and offers its M48 rifles with a 1:8.5 twist, instead of the more common 1:10 twist.
What does this mean for the hunter in the field? How about outstanding accuracy, flat trajectories, long legs and a 165 grain wallop at the end of that ballistic journey?
How flat is flat, exactly? Well, in test loads with the 150 grain AccuBond, rifles were zeroed 1.5 inches high at 100 yards, which equated to a 240 yard zero. At 300 yards, the drop was less than 3.5 inches. 350- and 400-yard drops came in at 7.5 and 13 inches, respectively.
The 27 certainly looks worthy of inclusion in the Nosler family of cartridges. Power, performance and precision are what we’ve come to expect from these calibers and the 27 Nosler does not disappoint.
