Just getting started

by AaronB, Wednesday, December 11, 2024, 08:22 (19 days ago) @ Otony

Hi Otony.

I'm just getting started with the .270. I was in a local shop and picked up an OLD box of 130-grain Sierra Game Kings off the consignment shelf for a low-low price... and that's how I have 130-grain Game Kings on hand. At the moment that's the entirety of .270 component bullets I own.

My longest-ever shot on game was 125 yards on a Colorado bull elk, and all my shots on whitetails here in New England are going to be under 100. Therefore, to me the difference between boat-tail and flat-base is purely academic. I wouldn't mind loading cup-and-core RNs for deer if some became available.

All of which is to say that for me, no, there is no reason for me to prefer boat-tail over flat-base. Your mileage may vary.

If in the fullness of time I develop an interest in shooting for itty-bitty groups at 200-yards-plus with this rifle (a distinct possibility), I will likely choose a boat-tail design for ballistic coefficient. But for hunting? I can't see that it matters.

About the .22-250 for deer... yes, do it, with the right bullets. My father had the habit of sometimes carrying a .225 Winchester for deer, so I handloaded him some 60-grain Nosler Partitions. That .225 Winchester is all but twin to your .22-250 (the .22-250 is just a hair faster), but with the Partition it does a yeoman job on whitetails. My son shot a yearling in the chest with one and the deer apparently didn't know it wasn't a .30-06. The deer didn't go far, and we recovered the back-end of the bullet out of the hindquarter.

-AaronB