By the way....before someone jumps on me.....I believe the Federal Hi-Shoks are completely adequate in that load to 300 yards on whitetails! (And 1" at a 100 yds. might well be hard to beat!) Good luck either way!

Thanks for all comments!! I' m thinking of picking up a box of SST' s and heading to the range to give them a try. If they' re just as accurate, I may hunt with them. They do have slightly better ballistics: -4.5 @ 300 yds versus -6.8 @ 300 yds. Of course, I could just take the 130 Hi-Shok, sight it in 2.5 inches high @ 100 and get similar ballistics.

On the other hand, I' m quite confident as ' akbound' said that the Hi-Shok will work just fine and at a great price. I really do think there is a huge ' Premium' craze out there, and alot of hunters are getting duped into purchasing them when it' s not really necessary. But the Hornady' s are fairly reasonably priced compared to most others, so I' ll pick up a box and we' ll see what happens!!!

I went out this last Saturday. First day with my new gun. I ended up shooting both the Federal Premium Sierra 130' s. And Hornady interlock 140' s out of my new .270 Tikka. To my surprise out of the box the hornady' s shot about .80" . I thought that was quite good for the first day with the gun. My gun however only shot about 1.25 to 1.5" groups with the federals. comparing to the hornady' s not that impressed. I am going to try the Federal Hi shoks next and then possibly the core lokts from Rem. What do you guys shoot out of these and what do you think?. Is there much of a difference between the 3? Which would I be happiest with on Deer At around 100 to 150 yeards max range? Are the interlocks better than the Hi shocks, and core locks or about the same? Thanks

DRH,
Unless you just want to spend more money and try more loads you could be done.
Shoot the Hornadys they will work fine for your needs.
.80 is excellent accuracy but certainly not a requirement for your application.

The interlock is as good or better a deer bullet than the other bullets in your group you have mentioned.

I' ve always had good success with the 130gr Nosler BT.

I would just like to remind anyone that plans on shooting at 300yds to go to a range a practice alot. Practice shooting at 300yds not 100. Regardless of what load you shoot, relying on published bullet trajectories not a good idea. Shooting deer at long range is not as simple as some believe. A 1" group at 100yds does not automatically translate into a 3" group at 300yds.

Excellent advise from Popeye and I agree 100%.

drh, I can understand you wanting to try different bullets and the new gun!!! However I agree under 1" groups with factory mo is very good and the interlock will work good for whitetails up close and longer range (I would certainly consider it over the others, especially how well it shot for you). I will say it once more if you are looking for an accurate bullet in all my rifles the SST or Ballistic tips out preform all others, however only marginally in some cases. It is up to you, what ever you feel best about is generally the best choice.

Good luck and I can see your well on your way to having a barrel of fun with the new 270.

Thanks all,

I kinda figured the interlocks were great bullets. I picked up 2 more boxes to try, I guess mostly cause it is a new gun I have wanted to try for sometime. I will be done soon. I am going broke with the 5 boxes I have bought so far. I am going to try the power shock from Federal, and then a box of power points from Win just for s... and giggles. I was very impressed with the hornady however. And this was my first day of shooting with this gun let alone all year. I am sure I wasn' t the steadiest yet either. I had a few groups that had 2 of the holes in eachother. I am very impressed with hornady so far and will probably end with those. Thanks again. Shooting the new .270 has been fun so far! Such a great caliber. only wish I would have dumped that 30-06 sooner

Popeye,

Your right about practice. To shoot the longer ranges you need to practice them to see how you' re weapon and ammo choice does at those ranges.

On the other hand, I have shot many deer in the 200-300 yard range sucessfully, and I practice very little at those ranges. The key for me is a steady rest and an awareness of the conditions (i.e. I don' t want heavy crosswinds). I do believe that ballistics are sufficient in estimating the accuracy at longer ranges, provided these conditions are met. And I have proven that is the case in actual practice, although there' s a human error that magnifies itself at longer ranges. Still, if I shoot 1" groups at 100 yards, my groups at 300 yards will be 4" -5" in actual practice and online with the ballistics(5" -7" drop), more than adequate for shooting whitetail.

I see a lot of positive comments on the ballistic tip from Nosler...and yes at one time I too was a big fan of this bullet. It' s one accurate and devastating projectile.

However I had an experience that totally changed my mind about this style of bullet. I shot a deer and it run about 50 yards and piled up. I took a very long time to find the deer because there was no trail to follow....there was no exit hole and this is by design per a letter I received from Nosler. The bullet is designed to shed 80% of it' s weight in the trauma channel and I' ve never had one shoot thru a deer.

Today I want an exit hole. I' ve moved up to a 150 grain bullet with the hopes of achieving this. I have shot no deer yet with the 150s so I can' t say if I' ve been successful yet.

Practice and find what it shoots best and stick with them. I think you can get better than 1" groups though. I shoot 1/2" at 100yds. with my Savage .270 using Sierra Gamekings BTSP 130gr., the 150gr. shot 1" groups. The Gameking lays them over on the spot, holds together well and is very devastating, not a meat ruiner but devastating nonetheless.