At the risk of creating even more mirth...the 270 Winchester ain't no joke.
If your gun winds up producing performance that is somewhere between the original 270 and the WSM version, I don't see why you should be all that disappointed. You (should have) went into this venture knowing the best possible outcome would be a gun that emulates a 270 Weatherby. However, since you chose a platform that is not ideal for the pressures created by that big-jugged case, it is reasonable to expect your 270-338 will not perform to that level. Hence, 270WSM is about the best you can hope for, at this point.
One of the harsher lessons wildcatting teaches folks is that barrels of a given caliber all shoot the same bullets; the ONLY thing that changes is the velocity of said bullets. Your gun will be faster than a 270 REN, 270 Savage or 6.8SPC. It will probably be a
little faster than a standard 270 Win and hopefully pretty close to a 270WSM. It won't be as fast as the Weatherby and probably won't even reach the full potential of the 270-338, due the limitations of the Encore frame. None of that is an indictment of your particular creation or the wildcatting process as a whole. It is what it is...and a hot, belted 270 Win is not a bad thing. If it makes you feel better, call it a mildly loaded 270 Weatherby.
I live in Indiana where we have dumb laws about what cartridge you can use in a rifle to hunt deer. The bullet has to be 35 caliber and the case has to be no greater than 1.8". This creates a fertile ground for wildcat development because guys want to get the best performance they can, while staying within those parameters. When I heard about these new regulations, I started day-dreaming about what kind of cartridge would work. One of the oldest wildcats in existence is nothing more than a 30/30 case necked up to 35 caliber. I thought this would be a good candidate, if it was trimmed back to 1.800"...turns out Bob Milek and Steve Herrett beat me to it when they created the 357 Herrett (1.750") decades ago. My next thought is another cartridge that is over 100 years old; a 35 Remington, trimmed to 1.800". Well, I got to looking around on a few Indiana-specific forums and that is already being done, as well.
My point? All the GOOD ideas for wildcats have been done. Heck, most of the lousy ones, too. In the end, they all spit bullets out of a tube. If this round is not turning out to be what you wanted, the smartest thing you could possibly do is to accept it for WHAT IT IS. It's a 350-400 yard rifle for deer and goats...which is all it was ever gonna be, anyway! Chin up!
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