# 270 vs 7mm mag



## remington270 (Oct 28, 2008)

the deer season before last i dhot an 11 point at like 370 yards with my remington 700 270 and i did get him but had to empty my gun. the first shot i aimed at the center of his neck blew off a leg the second shot was a miss the 3rd hit him in the front rib and 4th in the neck well he was down for the count so to say but i wasnt impressed with the nockdown of the 270 at that distance cause ive shot deer in the ribs b4 and they died on the spot so thats why i wasnt happy. well this year i bought a remington 700 7mm rem. magnum for hunting in that spot but my dad said i wasnt gaining nothing but weight. well i looked at the reloading manual and im only gaining like 200fps more give or take a few. so my question is am i gaining much or not..... i was shooting 140gr hornady softpoints from the 270 on that 11 point and am shooting 150gr remington corloks out of the 7mm....... ive put 2 mounter bucks on the wall with the 270 and a bunch of smaller bucks and does in the freezer should i stick with the 270 or go 7mm all the way??? :withstupid:


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## southdakbearfan (Oct 11, 2004)

Trying not to be critical here, but it really sounds like you need to practice at the range you intend to shoot. 270 should perform fine out to that range.

A 7mm will carry more energy but it really doesn't make a difference if you can't put it where it counts, or if you are using bullets that don't perform at that range.

Also hard to tell, what bullets were you using?


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## varmit b gone (Jan 31, 2008)

I shot my deer this year at 350 with a 270, it knocked that scker all the way over. Not trying to be a smart ***, but it sounds like you need to practice putting it where it needs to go at that distance before you try to make that shot. :-?


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## Wyomingpredator (Oct 16, 2007)

a far as trajectory they are compareable, as far as knockdown and energy the 7mm is superior, over the 270 heavier bullet gin a little faster equals more ftlbs all the time, although I am prejudice towards the 7mm.


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## varmit b gone (Jan 31, 2008)

But my thought is that for deer, the 270 will be better anyway. It is an easier caliber to handle (even though you give me crap Wyo. :wink: ) plus it won't make such a gaping hole. You don't need a cannon like a 7mm for deer, just my 0.02


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## KurtR (May 3, 2008)

it just sounds like you need more practice at that range. And get rid of the crappy bullets. Why shoot at the neck?


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## Ron Gilmore (Jan 7, 2003)

KurtR said:


> it just sounds like you need more practice at that range. And get rid of the crappy bullets. Why shoot at the neck?


Why not? Isn't that the mark of a great sportsman? Clean kill,drop them in there tracks and be able to crow about ones shooting skills!!!!!!!



Young man spend some time at the range and understand your limitations and chose shots within those limitations. It is really the only ethical thing to do.

I have said many times that just because one owns a rifle in a caliber capable of killing at 4-600 yards or more does not mean that the shooter has those skills. I use to practice shooting at extended ranges learning bullet drop, wind deflection angle of the shot and how that angle affected my point of impact. I had confidence and knowledge to make shots well out to 500 yards.

Today I still have the same equipment, but have not spent the time practicing shooting at those ranges and now limit my shots to distances I have practiced at and can provide consistent hits in the vital zone that will allow a clean kill.


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## catfisherman2 (Apr 17, 2008)

Sounds to me like I would agree with the about statements about more practice and knowing your scope and gun. Obviously your first shot was lucky and the shots following were luckier. I have seen a lot of people miss a stationary target at 300 yds, let alone 400+ from a bench in a sled. Now you include a running deer at 400+ yds, bouncing up and down, very lucky to get him down...especially any hit on your 3rd shot. It would be like taking a pie plate bouncing up and down moving forward at 350-400yds, similar to shooting the clay rabbits, with practice, gets easier. Sounds like the caliber did the trick, just poor shooting. The 7MM and 270 will shoot equally as far, within the abilities of the shooter, as they are both flat shooting, 7mm has more energy, a bit faster with the .284 diameter as opposed to .270. Just need more practice buddy and both calibers will perform well on whitetails out to 500yds with proper shot placement.


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## crosshunt (Feb 10, 2009)

along with practice, get to know your gun and scope really well. you need to know how much your bullet is going to be dropping at that distance and how to tell that from your scope. but a 270 will do just fine. i love my 270 though it is a WSM so it gives it a little more umph. i kinda agree with KurtR about shooting at the neck, im not saying there something wrong with it but ive always just aim for the heart/lungs and plus at that distance it is better to aim for the biggest target which would be the heart/lung area


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## duckslyr (Nov 27, 2008)

I am going to go ahead and say it since nobody else did. What you really need to do is go take all your guns to the pawn shop( or PM me and ill give you my address) and never go hunting again. If you cant keep yourself from lobbing rounds at animals you dont belong in the field. I cant stand going out and seeing deer running around with a leg flopping around because some ****** thought they were some kind of spec ops sniper. :2cents:


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## hunt4P&amp;Y (Sep 23, 2004)

Heck a 22 mag would kill a deer. It is all about shot placement dude! Practice practice practice!


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## NDTerminator (Aug 20, 2003)

Seems obvious you were shooting beyond you capabilities...

I've killed a pile of game up to/including moose with the 270 out to 424 yards and only twice fired a second round. Both those instances were beyond 400 yards and upon recovery I found neither second shot was really needed. One of those critters was a moose that weighed 700lbs dressed out...


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## driggy (Apr 26, 2005)

It's not the gun, it's the first hit. You had that deer pumping so much adrenilin that the 3rd shot barely phased it. It would have died, but not until it gotten way out of there. If the first would have been in the chest, were it belongs, it would have fell over or went at most a few hundred yards at most. I've seen more deer than I care to see runnig with bloody necks after someone shot them a mile or so away. A neck shot is all or nothing. Chest shots give more room for error and have more vitals to knock out.


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## imajeep (Jan 21, 2007)

i hate jumping on the bandwagon... but they are close to right...
that 270 still has plenty of umph at that distance....
dont get me wrong, the 7mm is a little better....

personally, i think if you took a shot at 370 and you are only familiar with shooting at 100 or 200, then you were out of your league, and it was a miracle that you were lucky enough to get the job done at all...

most of my sporting rifles will shoot around 1" groups at 100 yds.
that means with me shooting them thats about 6" at 400yards.... which is by the way, my maximum distance that i will shoot.
if you havent practiced it before you should try... i know people that trust the 270 out to those distances and more.


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## remington270 (Oct 28, 2008)

lets get the record straight im experienced at shooting that distance it was windy... ive killed 4 deer that are mounted one at 300, one at 325 one at 275 and that one the others didnt go out of there tracks...... the ones at 300 and 325 were with a 308 the one at 275 was with the 270....... im a good shot.... ive never had nobody tell me to go sell all my guns isnt everybody intitled to a bad shooting day??? well thanks yall i guess ill practice more :dead:


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## remington270 (Oct 28, 2008)

the bullets i was shooting were 140gr hornady customs spp


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## Ron Gilmore (Jan 7, 2003)

remington270 said:


> lets get the record straight im experienced at shooting that distance it was windy... ive killed 4 deer that are mounted one at 300, one at 325 one at 275 and that one the others didnt go out of there tracks...... the ones at 300 and 325 were with a 308 the one at 275 was with the 270....... im a good shot.... ive never had nobody tell me to go sell all my guns isnt everybody intitled to a bad shooting day??? well thanks yall i guess ill practice more :dead:


First thing is lose the ego! Your first post and this post show that your ego is affecting your judgment in what is or is not an acceptable shot based on conditions and experience of shooting. Myself I have taken animals at over 500 yards. I have passed on animals with the same equipment at 300 yards because of conditions.

I will grant you that we can all have bad days, but most of us will admit that it was not the equipment that failed but the person behind the gun. We would admit we misguided the distance if we did not have a range finder, or the wind speed or both etc... You came on here and started blaming the caliber.

That is why you where told sarcastically to get rid of your guns and others said practice more. Which is still sound and accurate advice. Because the more you practice, the less likely if you check your ego, you are to have those *bad days*!!!!!!!

Way back when I first started deer hunting one of our neighbors drove up as we where watching a small buck 400 yards away moving across a field. He sees the deer jumps out of his truck and lobbed a round towards the deer and hits it killing it dead.

He was shooting a lever action 30-30 with flat nosed bullets of 150 grain and open sights and was shooting standing up with no rest.
Pure dumb luck that he hit the deer. Yet that single incident of luck resulted in his ego to overtake judgment and as a result he thought he could hit anything at any range standing still or on a dead run.
He had no idea as to bullet drop or wind deflection which brings me to a simple question for you.

At the range you where shooting what is your bullet drop and wind defection based on the wind speed the day you took that shot?

My guess is that to answer that you most likely will have to go to a ballistics table to figure it out.

Some of the guys here telling you to practice more either would know it off the top of their head, or would be looking in a shooting log they created and carry as a reference in the field to make sure they are doing exactly what is needed to put a shot on target at that range and conditions!

So think about this thread a bit in regards to the good advice given!!!!!


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## KurtR (May 3, 2008)

remington270 said:


> lets get the record straight im experienced at shooting that distance it was windy... ive killed 4 deer that are mounted one at 300, one at 325 one at 275 and that one the others didnt go out of there tracks...... the ones at 300 and 325 were with a 308 the one at 275 was with the 270....... im a good shot.... ive never had nobody tell me to go sell all my guns isnt everybody intitled to a bad shooting day??? well thanks yall i guess ill practice more :dead:


If you are experienced why ask about the .270 and 7mm most people i know who shoot all know that question. What do you zero the .270 what is the velocity of the bullet you shoot. What is the BC of the bullet all these things are stuff you should know. How far does the bullet drift with a 13 mph cross wind at 318 yards? And if the .308 worked so well why did you quit shooting that. Can we see the pics of the deer that are on the wall? You are the one that said you blew the deers leg off. From the jist of the post you make it sound like you want some thing that you can just hit the deer and it will go down. A bad shot is a bad shot unless you are shooting a .50bmg. Practice getting closer then you dont have to worry about having another bad day and a animal running around with one leg blown off


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## striped1 (Aug 17, 2005)

You give real hunters / sportsmen a bad name.


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## remington270 (Oct 28, 2008)

i admit i didnt have the 270 sighted the way i should i had changed scopes and did a quick 100 yard zero. im not sure the speed of the bullets and the reason i switched from the 308 was that a few years ago my dad went hunting in texas and the onle high powerd rifles he had was a trapdoor springfield, 303 brit. jungle carbine, and a 3030 marlin so i traded him the 308 to take. ive killed 25 or 30 deer mostly in one shot had to shoot 2 deer more than once but i try to be a good sportsman sory i dont stand up to yall :withstupid:


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## GrizzlyGabe (May 3, 2006)

I personally would go with the 7mm. I shoot a 7mm Weatherby magnum right now and before i got that gun about 4 years ago i shot a 7mm remington magnum. My old man has shot a 270 for a very long time and has had nothing but good luck with it. i believe that a lot of it has to do with what you feel comfortable with and what type of situations hunting throws at you, if its long shots both the 270 and the 7mm are very good but the 7mm will have a little more steam when you reach out a long way, of course i am quite bias toward the 7mm. from shooting at closer ranges to shooting out in western north dakota at longer ranges the 7mm mag flat out performs at any level. shoot both of them do some research into ballistics of the cartridges you want to shoot and see which of the two would fit your hunting situation more and go with that one.


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## catfisherman2 (Apr 17, 2008)

The 7MM is a great caliber also...more recoil and a longer barrel compared to the .270. You will definately shoot it different because it will fit you differently. Guess it sounds like this instance was bad choice of shot given the elements...7MM would have been the same.

remington270, what kind of scope do you have on top anyways?


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## NDTerminator (Aug 20, 2003)

I'm a Sniper School grad/certified LE Sniper and don't even think about taking a 300+ yard shot unless I have a rock solid rest and *EVERY *factor in my favor, the biggest of which is the wind. Trajectory is mathematics but doping the wind is an art which can only be learned by putting thousands of practice rounds downrange under all conditions.

With all due respect Rem, I stand by my assessment you were shooting beyond your capabilities and need more practice. A 7MM Mag won't magically make you a better shot at longer ranges...


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## remington270 (Oct 28, 2008)

it had a 3x9x40 redfield tracker on it... it wasnt the best scope but still wasnt a cheap one


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## szm69 (Apr 28, 2006)

Let me get this strait - the original poster is asking if a 7mm Rem mag will knock a deer over if you shoot it in the front leg?? Is that the new standard for deer hunting power? :eyeroll:

Man I am waaayy under gunned - I shoot a 25-06 I would probably have to shoot 3 legs to be able to get a deer down with that wimpy gun...
:lol:


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## remington270 (Oct 28, 2008)

:beer: good one man..... i didnt mean to hit its leg it happend thatway


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## Ron Gilmore (Jan 7, 2003)

remington270 said:


> :beer: good one man..... i didnt mean to hit its leg it happend thatway


This statement alone tells me you need to spend a lot more time at the range learning to shoot your rifle. You made the statement that you where aiming for the neck and hit the leg. By what you have said it is easy to deduct that you had the cross hairs on the neck, made no allowance for drop or wind deflection and quite honestly have no idea where you should have been holding the reticle.

I would suggest you take the advice of practicing and learning to shoot and let this thread just go away and learn from it. Every time you attempt to post anything, you dig a deeper hole. Most of us have been in the same spot where luck has caused us all to think our skill level is greater than it is. It is part of the learning process, but now it is time to head to the range and learn the skills you thought you had!


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## digdugcrew (Dec 1, 2008)

Since there has been a fair amount of advice, regarding your 'shooting' skills I'll ask this:

How about stalking your way to inside of 300 yards from "deer hunting rather than deer shooting"

I shoot a rifle because I can place the bullet where I want and kill cleanly. Not because it gives me a chance to sit on my duff and lob shots.


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## bearhunter (Jan 30, 2009)

back to the topic :roll: both are perfect for deer.keep what ya got and practice.


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## varmit b gone (Jan 31, 2008)

digdugcrew said:


> Since there has been a fair amount of advice, regarding your 'shooting' skills I'll ask this:
> 
> How about stalking your way to inside of 300 yards from "deer hunting rather than deer shooting"
> 
> I shoot a rifle because I can place the bullet where I want and kill cleanly. Not because it gives me a chance to sit on my duff and lob shots.


I don't know where you are hunting, but out here 300 is an average shot. It's all flatland and alot of times 300 is as close as you can get. If you hit the hills though it's a different story.


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## digdugcrew (Dec 1, 2008)

I have hunted big game mostly in MN and WI.

But it seems to me that when I'm out on the prarie shooting P-dogs, I see plenty of Deer/Antelope I believe I could put a stalk on...

If your proficent at 300-1000 fine if not get closer, is all I'm saying.

All things being equal I'd try to get closer if the oportunity presented itself anyway.(1/2 the challenge in my book).


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## varmit b gone (Jan 31, 2008)

digdugcrew said:


> If your proficent at 300-1000 fine if not get closer, is all I'm saying.
> 
> All things being equal I'd try to get closer if the oportunity presented itself anyway.(1/2 the challenge in my book).


I agree 100%, I try and get as close as possible before I get the shot.


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## chasenelson (Apr 20, 2009)

Dude... If you ask me its not the gun. Your shot must not be very good. Like everyone eles is saying you need to practice. A shot at 350 yards is not very far at all. You just need more experience


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## William lammers (May 6, 2009)

I agree with NDT, having spent my lifetime, since I was 17 and 1/2, in the Military (trained, and expert), then the past 33 years applying what I know, HUNTING...That said, I have met only a handful of HUNTERS, that when shooting a real world targets, at 300 yards or more, repeatedly place five rounds within an eight inch circular target, using field positions. Folks, three-hundred yards is farther than you think...good luck and good hunting...oh yea, my shots? I do everything I can to get within my POSITIVE ZONE, around 200 yards, and yes, I have shot and killed deer at greater distances with one shot.


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## oldtimer59 (Aug 17, 2009)

remington270-I will be blunt and tell you if you were hunting with me on my land and you pulled a stunt like that you would be asked to leave and you would not be invited back.....ever. Very few individuals can make those kinds of shots, even under ideal conditions. Your attempt to make excuses, by first saying it was windy and then saying you had sighted in your rifle poorly, and then going on to blame it on a poor scope, only tends to reinforce my idea you were trying to shoot out of your league. That and the fact that you think you needed a bigger rifle with more power. That won't make you a better shot, and that is the crux of the problem.


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## William lammers (May 6, 2009)

oldtimer59, thanks. Sometimes the blunt truths are the best to pass along to the next generation of hunters...and shooters. Egos checked, and applied to stalking close as possible is the rush I look for...it takes more skill than lining up, and pulling the "macho trigger". HUNT...and then shoot, they go hand and hand. Both require SKILL. Good HUNTING, Good ETHICS, Good luck


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