I'm sure several people have built a gun chambered for a 308 cartridge, necked down to 27 caliber. They soon discovered it is about 100fps slower, across the board, than a 270 Winchester and lost interest. In fact, from the time the 270Win was introduced until about 8 years ago, there was exactly ONE other commercial cartridge in that caliber; the 270 Weatherby. That speaks volumes about the efficacy of the 270, if you ask me.

Take a rifle chambered in 270 Winchester and load it with middling powder charges...PRESTO! A 270-308. The only possible advantage is having a short-action rifle, but if that's what you're looking for, the 7mm-08 shoots bullets that are exactly .007" larger in diameter, from the 308 parent case. Any way ya look at it, there just isn't much to be gained, here.

 

At best, such a wildcat would be so close to the 7-08 as to be completely redundant, offering absolutely no advantage I can think of.

 

I use to own a rifle chambered for the .25 SOUPER which is the .308 necked down to .257" which can also be done by necking up the .243 Win. Good cartridge but not much better than a .257 Roberts.

 

What do you mean not much better than a .257 Roberts? I don't understand how you could even make such a ridiculous statement. The .257 holds more powder and is superior to anything on a 308 case. Take the 7x57 and compare it with the 7mm08. The 7x57 is always held back because it was originally chambered in older designed Mausers that weren't up to par with the 98 or large ring. But put it in a strong 98 or a modern action and load it up, you will be surprised how it will outperform a 7mm08. It's the same thing with a 25 souper and a .257 Roberts. The .257 is just a necked down 7x57. Same case and holds more powder than a 308 case.

 

The 270-08 has been done. I think if you look through P.O.Ackley's books Handbook For Shooters and Reloaders, you'll find the 270-08 listed as a wildcat. If I remember right, those books were published in the early 60's.
As has been stated, there's not a lot to be gained from a 270-08 that can't be had from a commercial cartridge.
A more general comment: when a parent case like the 308 and the 30-06 before it, comes out, you can bet it will be necked up and down to most every bullet diameter, very quickly.

 

The only advantage that I could see is if you had a lot of brass to neck down or up. That would maybe make it feasible.

 

Look up 270 Redding. It's basically the 270-08. Blown out a bit I suppose.

And yes, I want one as well.

 

Better bullet selection both above and below it, too (7mm and 6.5mm), I'd imagine.

 

7mm/308 is now called the: 7mm-08
6.5/308 is now called the: .260 Remington

Both cartridges are nothing new having been wildcat loads way back in the '50's & '60's.

 

It has been done and is certainly inferior to the 7-08 due to the 7mm version having a much better selection of bullets.

 

Would that mean you're calling the 270 winchester, one of the best cartridges ever devised, inferior as well?

I never perceived the 270 bullet selection as being inferior to any other.

 

As compared to 30 caliber, there is a relatively limited number of 27 caliber bullets. Thing is, they all pretty much do what you'd expect from them, so who cares how many dozens of extra options there are? The thing about 27 caliber rifles is, excluding the 270 Ren, there are none that benefit from a round nose or lower velocity, since both the Win and the Weatherby have been built on nothing but strong actions with high velocity the goal. If there is less of a variety of bullets for the 270Win/Wea/WSM, it's because there just isn't a need for such.

 

I'm not looking to build one. ( I have a .270, three .270 WSM's, and a 7mm-08 already.) Just curious as I'd never heard of one. Surprised it wasn't done before the 7mm-08 or 260 Rem though. Don't necessarily buy the argument about why would you do it when the .270Win is available and faster. Certainly the same could be said for the .308, 7mm-08, etc.

 

Actually...not so. Keep in mind the circumstances of the release of the 308 and 7mm-08. The former is popular due to its designation as a US and NATO military round. Well, that, and it's a very efficient and effective little bugger! The 7mm-08 was standardized in 1980, when the luster of the 7x57 had worn down a lot and some shooters had grown weary of the 7RM. There weren't many (newer) cartridges for it to compete against and even so, it didn't exactly burst unto the scene. Why, you ask? (OK, maybe you don't, but nonetheless...) It's because the 270 Winchester was still stifling competition in the sub-30 caliber rifle market. If you stop and think about it, for 50 years or more, the 270, and its proud papa, dominated rifle sales. Lots of guys bought other calibers and cartridges along the way, but here we are, 85 years after its introduction and it's still among the best-selling rifle chamberings around...and deservedly so!

The 308 has global military backing, so it succeeded. The 7mm-08 has gradually become pretty successful, but heck it took more than 25 years for it to be standardized, so it's never been a barn-burner. The reason nobody bothered to neck down a 308 (or other cartridges, save for the 300 Savage) is that if you wanted a 27 caliber, the absolute best option conceivable was already out there. Even if you wanted something faster than the 270 Winchester, Roy Weatherby was smart enough to make his very first magnum in this caliber...and even it made virtually no inroads on the success of the 270 Win! Riflemen the world over owe Jack a debt of gratitude for singing its praises from mountaintops (and the pages of many magazines), helping make the 270 Winchester the most popular and effective, non-military, big-game cartridge this country will ever know.

 

Put in simple words the 270Win is so good as is it is hard to find something most people want to shoot. Too many of the mags are overkill and hard on the shooter. A 300 Win mag or 7mm Rerm are powerful flinch makers for most shooters. The 270 is a nice shove and will kill just about anything you can find to shoot at.

 

It's been done, as was the 270x300 Savage. Efficient little rounds, but not much to be gained. HD1

 

In addition to the 270 Savage (300, necked down) Elgin Gates created an entire line of IHMSA cartridges on the 300 Savage case, with the shoulder pushed back a bit to give a longer neck. The most notable of these was the 270 IHMSA and while it doesn't give as much velocity as 270-308 would, it's close enough that the difference would be negligible.

 

So, if the 270-08 is pointless because of the 7mm-08, then why is not the .270 winchester pointless due to the .280 remington (or is it?), its no reason for a .270-08 to exist when the .270 winchester and the .280 remington both exist, and for some reason the .270 is far more popular...

 

It's a matter of chronology, BarkBuster. The 280Rem is not overly popular because it was released well after the 270Win. (Plus, it went through the same silly name-changing game as the 244/6mm Remington.) If Jack had championed an '06 case necked down to 28 caliber, instead of 27, because the 280 Remington had been standardized first, we might not have a 270 Winchester, just like we don't have a 270-08. Where cartridges are concerned, being first to market frequently means taking a dominant position in a given caliber.

If the 270-308 had been standardized first, maybe the 7mm-08 wouldn't have been made, or might be less popular. Having rifles that shoot .277" and .284" bullets, from the same case, at the same pressure, is predictably redundant. I mean, how much difference can their possibly be, when the bullets are but .007" apart? Notice how the 270WSM and 7mmWSM are both available, but neither is selling like hotcakes. That's like GM making lots of different cars that compete with one another, resulting in poor sales for each one.

Point being, the market is saturated with lots of different cartridges and only a few of them have strong sales, on an annual basis. The 270 Winchester is so good that anything similar to it tends to get ignored, for the most part.

 

Doing a wildcat project is almost never about "need" or even making sense. They just make for fun projects and give gun nuts things to think about and a chance to be different and unique. I for one would never try to talk someone out of their project if it is feasible, something that interests them and will get them out shooting. I do my own chambering and I almost exclusively do wildcats. Just buying standard brass, dies and chamber reamers seems to make the project too easy! I have to make it drag out so I don't have to buy as many barrels! I have two wildcat projects I plan on doing next. One will be on a mini mauser and the other a cast bullet bench rest rifle on a Tikka action. Both projects could be done using standard cartridges. Will I ask on the internet if my project makes sense? No, because most people will tell me that cartridge X and Y are better etc and I don't care. If a guy wants a .270-08 go for it - it will work great, there are tons of .270 hunting bullets that would work and you'll have the only one in camp.

 

I love wildcats too, SMK, but BB20 was saying he thinks someone will standardize the 270-308. I don't see anything wrong with this particular wildcat, I just don't see anybody going through the hassle and expense of making it a factory cartridge. It would make about as much sense as the 30 TC did.

 

It would be nice and popular the same reason the 7mm-08 is, some people ( A LOT ) are in love with the .277 cal, and many would start off younger shooters with a .270-08 versus a .270, or a 7mm-08. For a person who enjoys .30 cal, it is very common for them to have a 30-06 and a .308, many who have a 7mm RM have a 7mm-08 too, i see a large market for it, they will doubtfully make a cartridge with more powder capacity in the .277 cal than the WBY, the WSM is already there, the only spot unfilled is a perfect fit for the .270-08.

The reason i believe the .308 win will be used as the parent case is because of its proven track record, and its great popularity in all of its offspring aside from the less popular calibers (.35, .260).

 

I wish more people would think of the 6.8 SPC as more than an AR round as well.

 

I wish more people would think of this cartridge as more than an AR round as well.

I assume you're talking about the 6.8SPC. Personally, I prefer the 6.5Grendel and if it gained popularity, I'd be almost guaranteed to get a rifle (non-AR, or at least a barrel for my Encore) chambering it.

 

All of the reasons for the .270-08 to not exist are lame. If those reasons would hold weight, we would not have A LOT of different POPULAR cartridges. I can gaurentee the .270 fans would buy those .270-08's up like hotcakes, without giving the 7mm-08, or the .260 remingtons existence a thought.

25-06 6.5-06 .270 win, .280 rem, are not these very close in diameter? Im sorry but the argument that it would be redundent holds no weight whatsoever. I myself am not a big .277 cal fan, but it has only 3 popular cartridges in the caliber, the smallest being the .270 win.

In .260 cal, you have the .264 WM, 6.5 creedmore, 6.5x55, .260 rem, and im probly missing something.

.277 caliber consists of .270 WBY, .270 WSM, .270 WIN

In .284 cal you have the 7mm STW, the WBY the RM the .280, .284, 7mm-08.

Anyone who thinks the .270-08 wont appear in factory chambered rifles in the next ten years is probably kidding themselves. It is likely the most LOGICAL next step for somone like remington or winchester to take, .270 cal is the most logical caliber to use for the new cartridge, and the .308 case is the most logical case to use.

 

You've got 90% of the letters, but you still can't guess the phrase. You're absolutely right about us having lots of redundant cartridges, although you neglect to include the 6.8SPC, which is basically a mild 270 Winchester, so it would be the smallest. A 270-08 would be right in-between a 6.8SPC and a 270Win, which would make it a very good and useful cartridge, in fact it WOULD be logical! The thing is, gun companies don't create new cartridges based on logic, the reasons they do so are very difficult to understand, at times. Look at all of the 26 caliber cartridges you listed...none of them are selling well on today's market and they are ALL excellent for hunting CXP2 game!

You list a .280 and a .284, but the latter is largely obsolescent, with only its off-spring, the 6.5x284 selling very well. Still, your point is clear: We have dozens and dozens of cartridges so similar in purpose and performance that it seems odd to argue against a company standardizing a 270-08. However, the part of the big picture that you are just refusing to see is there is no demand from anyone, least of all wildcat lovers, for such a round. Keep in mind the 308 case is 50+ years old and has been necked up and down to just about every caliber, and standardized in no less than 5! Why hasn't it been standardized in 25 or 27 caliber? Because there is simply too much competition from better cartridges, hence no demand for a 270-08...and gun companies are smart enough to see that.

 

The 308 (introduced to the world as the 7.62x51) had NO competition, after it was adopted by the US military and NATO! By the time the 7-08 was standardized, it had been a very popular wildcat for over 20 years and the only other cartridge in the 7mm space that was selling much at all was the 7mmRM, something it will never be in direct competition with. We can go over every cartridge out there, on a one-by-one basis, and with some, there will be no explanation of why they were created or why they are popular, or why others FAILED to be popular. There is no reason why the 30/30 is still selling so well and the 325WSM should be the best-selling over-30 cartridge out there, but it's not. Another cartridge that should have done very well is the 225 Winchester, which is based on the 30/30, but it failed miserably Gun companies standardize the weirdest cartridges and the gun-buying public is incredibly fickle and illogical, at times. To be honest, more guns are sold on hyperbole and nostalgia than all the performance numbers, combined!

On the surface, the 270-08 seems like a good idea, but when you consider the 270 Win has been in the top-5 of cartridge sales for that 50 years, and it offers a nearly ideal blend of mild recoil and excellent performance on game, it's pretty easy to understand why gun companies haven't pursued many alternatives. All they'd really be doing is trying to convince gun buyers that they'd improved on perfection, which would take a lot of advertising dollars to achieve. If the 270-08 ever becomes popular, even as a wildcat, I'll be surprised...if that was going to happen, it would have already.

 

I understand what you are saying, but i disagree. In every POPULAR caliber that the .308 parent case has been used in has been very popular. The .277 caliber has enough followers to make sales. I never really heard much about the .260 rem as a wildcat before it was standardized. Why did the .338 Federal work?

I understand the .270-08 may not be your cup of tea, but if standardized you would see good sales. There are just too many .270 lovers, and im guessing with 130 grain bullets the .270-08 would be much more efficient. As far as there not being a .25-08, maybe that is because the 25 calibers have not enjoyed a whole lot of popularity.

As far as the 6.8 goes, no one (very few) will ever buy there youngster one of these for deer (or for a mountain rifle)

All your reasons would not stop the .270-08 from flying off the shelves, just because no one is wildcatting it does not mean it will not appear in a factory chambering. How many wildcat .300 WSM's did you see before the WSM line was out? It especially doesnt mean it would not sell well, Most people already have a .270 win, it would make more sense to buy a .270-08 than it would a .270 WSM, or wby.

 

In searching for the "Ultimate" cartridge, we wildcatters often create problems where they don't exist. THANK GOODNESS !!!! Wouldn't life stink if all we had to shoot were the 06's, 08's and WSM's !!! A wildcat can be pretty much anything you want it to be.....that's the beauty of it. Here's to the next beautifully unnecessary wildcat round !!! HD1

 

I think what everyone is trying to say is not that you have a bad idea. It's that the .260 and 7mm-08 just already have a pretty good head start.

Similar argument can be made that between the .270 and .30-06, the .280 just had tough competition that was around a lot longer.

Sometimes there is just no explaining cartridge popularity, either. Well good luck if you make one up. Heck I'd hunt with a .270-08, no problem......

 

Second of all, the .338 federal has the same competition the .270-08 would have, in the .338-06, .338 ME, .338 WM, .338 lapua, .338 RUM-edge, wby, etc. etc.

Actually, other than the .35 Remington (yes, there are others, but they aren't very common it seems), other than combination handgun/longgun rounds like the .357Mag and .44Mag, there aren't many 'milder' recoil medium bore cartridges that are popular. .358Win and some others have fans but they aren't that common. The .338Fed fits in pretty nice. Less recoil than the .338/06 and a lot less than the .338 Win Mag.

 

That is a most salient point, Shane. Thanks for clarifying that there is only one other cartridge in the same general class and caliber as the 338 Federal; that being the 338ME.

 

OK, I'll just throw one more thing out there...

7mm-08 vs. .270-08. 7mm-08 has taken, what, 30 years to get to the popularity that it is now.

We could have the same debate over the .270 vs the .280. The .280 is arguably better due to the vast number of 7mm bullets available, yet has failed in the market. Also failed was the .284 Winchester, and it had the advantage of 7mm bullets and a short action. You just never know why some people like what they like. Not that any animal could tell the difference between the three.

The .270-08 would suffer a worse fate than the .280, IMO.