James B

Barnes makes a 180 grain bullet for the 270. I think Nosler makes a 160 grain. The 130 and 140 grain bullets in 270 have a much better sectional density than those same weights in 30-06 giving them better penetration in the smaller weights. To get the same sectional density of the 130 grain bullet in 270, you have to go to the 165 grain in the 30-06. Sectional density plays a big part in a bullets effectivness to perform on game. It also has a lot to do with how much wanted and unwanted damage the bullet will do. A bullet with a sectioal density of 210 or more will do good on deer size game where it may take a bullet of 260 or more to perform the same job on an Elk and mayby 300 to break big bones and penetrat heavy hide and muscle on large heavy game like big moose and bears or the larger antelope in Africa.
This is another good reason to reload. You can taylor a load to do just what you need it to do. I like to shoot the 120 grain bullets in my 280. The sectional density of that bullet is about 211. With the 280 I can drive that bullet to over 3200 fps. Great for varmits if you don't mind turning them inside out, but to fast for good performance on deer it may blow up badly or expand so fast that it won't penetrate. Or if it hits a rib it may deflect or blow a football size hole through my fall meat supply. However as I said I like that bullet for lack of recoil and the speed range I get from it. Therefore for deer I load it to 2800-2850 fps. At that velocity it performs very well on mule deer. Without the ability to control the velocity I would ues the 140 grain for deer in the 280 every time. Many people when they reload are concerned mostly with getting top velocities but overlook the advantages of loading to lower speeds. Sometimes enough really is enough. If a 223 will kill a deer and it will, then do I need 3200 ft lbs of energy to kill a deer. I don't think so.