Posted by Eric Drake on 2023 Jul 4th
Impact Shooting - 270 Winchester vs. 6.5 Creedmoor - MDT Mention
Invented one hundred years ago, the .270 Winchester cartridge was created by Winchester Repeating Arms Company. The .270 Winchester was originally a niche cartridge inspired by the 7mm Mauser round. However, when the .270 Winchester was introduced, it was overshadowed by the .30-06, which was used for recreational, hunting, and military applications. After World War II, the .270 Winchester gained a reputation as a flat-shooting big-game hunting round, and shooters started buying rifles chambered in .270 Winchester as rifle optics became more prevalent in the hunting world.
More: Analysis: 6.5 Creedmoor
The Youtube channel “Impact Shooting” posted a neat video on the .270 Winchester round and gave a twelve-minute breakdown of the positives and negatives of the round while answering the question, “Should you buy a .270 Winchester?” The host, Pieter, describes the weights and loadings of an average .270 Winchester round. This round is described as “pretty similar” to the 6.5 Creedmoor.
A normal 140-grain 6.5mm projectile compared to a .277 caliber projectile of the same weight has a lower sectional density. This means a 6.5mm projectile with the same diameter as a .277 caliber projectile will have a better ballistic coefficient than the .277 caliber projectile. The 6.5mm projectile will be less affected by the elements and wind and provide more energy than its .277 caliber counterpart because of its higher density, which is a good thing, especially for hunting.
The host then compares two Federal-branded loads for each round to compare and contrast their performance. At 500 Meters, the .270 Winchester cartridge has 1,349 Foot-pounds of energy with a time of flight of .66 seconds, a muzzle velocity of 2950 Feet-per-second, an elevation drop of 2.9 MRAD, and wind deflection of -0.9 MRAD. At 500 Meters, the Federal 6.5 Creedmoor load has 1,372 Foot-pounds of energy, a time of flight of .66 seconds, a muzzle velocity of 2950 FPS, and an elevation drop of -3.0 MRAD, and wind deflection of -0.8 MRAD.
At 1000 meters, the cartridges compare the same way with the 6.5 Creedmoor Federal loading beating out the .277 caliber .270 Winchester round in all categories and having 672 Foot-pounds of energy compared to the .277 caliber projectile’s energy of 585 Foot-pounds of energy.
Pieter then jumps into a discussion regarding store-bought ammunition comparisons between the two calibers. He states that the 6.5 Creedmoor will beat the .270 Winchester in most shooting situations due to its modern design and technology. The long-action rifle system required by the .270 Winchester round also means that rifles chambered in the caliber recoil significantly more than a 6.5 Creedmoor.
More: 270 Winchester and Colorado Elk
270 Winchester and 6.5 Creedmoor are both excellent choices for hunting.
Wrapping the video, the host states the importance of shot placement while hunting, regardless of your caliber of choice. To modernize an older .270 Winchester long-action rifle by dropping it into a modern chassis such as an MDT ORYX, the .270 Winchester may be an option that makes sense to some shooters, but 6.5 Creedmoor is generally a better choice for its low recoil, better ballistics.
CALIBER RESOURCES FROM MDT
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