B & R Photography

The .270 Weatherby Magnum. All sources tell me this is the first cartridge that Roy Weatherby produced and designed however it was released alongside the .300 and .257 Weatherby Magnums during the company’s introduction in 1945.

I have to admit I have never played around with any of the Weatherby Magnums over the years but it is on my list of things to do. As known by the double-radius shoulders on a belted magnum case the Weatherby Magnums started as a very fast .277 caliber cartridge. When the cartridge was standardized in 1994 it was given a max pressure limit of 62,500 psi.

The .270 Weatherby magnum beats the .270 Winchester by roughly 200 ft/s with most weights of projectiles. Making it the perfect thin skinned animal cartridge. It preforms very well at distances due to the large case and powder capacity giving the projectiles extra speed to be very flat shooting.

Even to this day with newer cartridges on the scene that are more modern then .270 Weatherby magnum still sits atop the castle. However, that does come with downsides, due to the large powder capacity the cartridge needs a long barrel and the barrel is subject to extra heat along with the shooter being subjected to extra recoil compared to other cartridges.

Now let’s talk about this trajectory. When you using factory loaded ammunition (not some crazy load a handloader created in his basement to get an extra 100 fps.) A 140gr projectile will leave the muzzle at 3,242 ft/s producing about 3,268 ft-lb of energy. To put that into perspective a 140gr load out of a .270 Winchester is doing is traveling at 2,950 ft/s and delivers 2,705 ft-lb of energy. I think Weatherby was onto something with this.

As far as trajectory goes the with the 140gr Accubond loading from Weatherby travelling at 3,320 ft/s when zeroed at 100 yards we get the following drop in inches;

200 Yards: 2.0963 inches of drop.

500 Yards: 35.3735 inches of drop.

1000 Yards: 231.4641 inches of drop.

(Please note the above trajectory information was pulled http://gundata.org/ballistic-calculator/ )

Short Notes.

Official Name: .270 Weatherby Magnum. (.270 Weatherby.)

Year Designed: 1943

Designed by: Roy Weatherby

Parent Case: .300 H&H Magnum

Rifling Twist Rate: 1 in 10”.

Maximum Point-Blank Range: 326 Yards. (https://chuckhawks.com/rifle_trajectory_table.htm )

I hope you enjoyed this brief overview of the .270 Weatherby Magnum and will return next week for our Cartridge of the Week series.

Please remember to always practice safe muzzle control when dealing with firearms and happy shooting.

B