Thread: 6.8mm Winchester Western

@nor-west When l was guiding & had the long Range hunting bug bad l owned a 270 WSM,7mm Mag,7mm SAUM ,300WSM & 300 Wby Mag in my LR line up,that l used around the World on most game you can think of . I got up to 38 hunting rifles & decided to do a cull & only use my favorite calibers/guns ,so all l had left was what l considered ideal hunting/scope combo's ,in the LR rifles all l have now is my Winchester Extreme Weather in 270 WSM & a custom SAKO 75 300 Wby Mag both perform perfectly for our Kiwi hunting .

The 270 WSM performs very well in the field for Kiwi hunting giving around 150-200 fps over a standard 270 with the same barrel length, meaning as we love to do in Kiwi Land once you dock your barrel for a suppressor you are still getting max 270 velocity.In the field that means you can still use shoulder holds all the way out to 400 yards, as it only drops just under 4 inches . I do not abide by the current fad of using the heaviest bullets available because it looks good on paper, in the field l want as much velocity as l payed for, not trying to turn the rifle into 303 speeds, in the field speed kills & you dont have the time to sit down with your computer & work out how many clickies or whether you reset the clickies last time & get the wind metre out & have a look etc etc WANK. As a guide l can tell you 85% of all the good trophies l have seen were extremely cagey animals on the move, thats why they grew so big, of course shooting behind high fences is different ,but then your most important bit of Kitt is not what rifle but the salt lick & food you had left out .

With my favorite all round 270WSM Hunting load is the 130gn InterBond l am running at just over 3200fps out of my 22" & it shoots into 20mm .We currently have the best designed billets ever, giving performance in the field 1-2 graduations in weight over what just a few years ago was the norm ,yet people want to handicap themselves having sheets of flame & getting booted like a mule using DG class bullets on our VERY light skinned game & wonder why their shooting has gone to shit or they do not enjoy it any more .

Even in my 300 Wby Mag for over a decade now l have settled on premium 150 -180grn for my LR hunting & have shot game around the world with it .My favorite Alpine tops load is either a 165 grain Hornady SST pushed along at 3300fps or Swift's 180-grain Scirocco II pushed along at 3,200+ fps & carry over 4,000 ft.-lbs. of energy. I happily shoot the 150-165 grn without a break or suppressor & that is how l prefer to carry it in the Alps to save weight & length & where you are lucky to shoot more than 3 shots a day.We just got back from a hunting trip where the 300Wby took Tahr & Chammy out to 414 mtrs with that 165grn load ,the ability to anchor the game to the spot ,taking away a lot of the risk of it going over a drop off & being lost has been a game saver many times over the years & not a 200 -225grn to be seen .

Old Faithful 300 Wby Mag 165grn SST Smoking a Tahr & anchoring it to the spot in the Alpine Tops