Re-chamber/re-barrel a .270 win
 

The first rifle I bought was a used Ruger m77 tang safety in .270 win, but the rifle has an 18"barrel and is really an unpleasant gun to shoot and now redundant. On the plus side, the rifle has a nice laminated stock and is easy to carry (read: light). I'm thinking of re-chambering the gun and since I have a .257 roberts and a 7mm weatherby mag I'm looking at something in a .30 cal, e.g 30.06. Any other recommendations? I was going to have Pac-nor re-chamber and re-barrel the gun but if anyone has any other recommendations, I'm all ears. Thanks.

Tom

Nothing wrong with a .30-06 but if you want more of a thumper it would be easy to rebarrel it in either a 35 Whelen or a 9.3 x 62. These two are nearly identical for most purposes. The 9.3 is an old cartridge that is very popular in Europe and also in some parts of Africa. U.S. shooters have noticed the 9.3 and it is becoming more popular here.

Keep it a .270 win...

If you are a handloader I would say a 338-06 would be a nice addition.

If your 18" barrel in unpleasant to shoot as a .270, it would be VERY unpleasant to shoot in .30-06 or anything larger.

By what you mean unpleasant to shoot and you're referring to recoil then anything larger than a 270 will recoil more. Ain't nothing wrong with rebarreling to a 30-06. But it is going to thump your shoulder a bit more than the .270.

Thanks for the replies! By unpleasant I mean it has a sharp recoil. Probably due to the stock design and light weight but I don't mind shooting my 3" mags or my 7 mm mag but this .270 (which shouldn't be that bad) is really not fun to shoot, like yanking nose hairs.

Another question I have is: do I have to keep the same profile barrel? I like the stock but if I have to keep the short sporter barrel, maybe I'll just sell it and build a custom rifle. Though I may be looking for wife #3 if I do that, jk, my wife is incredibly tolerant of my whims and general nonsense.

If I were to go custom, what would you build (based on me already owning a .25 and 7mm)? Wildcats allowed. I was thinking of having a .300 wsm built, light weight with a brake. Thanks again.

I'l try to post a pic of the gun so you can have a better idea of the profile.

what do you want it to do?
RR

If you think the 270 kicks then don't mess with a 300 wsm...I had a short Ruger in 300 wsm for a while, I think I shot it twice, that was enough for me lol

That's a good question.

I guess I would want it to:

1. Shoot as accurately as possible

2. Be able to cleanly kill most N. American game minus big brown bears.

3. A gun that will do most of it's duty in NE Pa but able to travel out west here or there for elk/mulies/moose etc.

A .240 Weatherby would be pretty sweet...

Considering that the M77 Tang Safety is a push feed with a button ejector and a claw extractor, I wouldn't waste the money to open the bolt face for WSM. Similarly, the M77 in .270win would be a long action, while the 300wsm is quite comfortable in the short action for which it was designed.

Stick with a standard .473" bolt face, 3.340" long action cartridge. Nothing wrong with a .270win at all.

I do love the 338 A-square though...

270 AI would be also sweet. But more hassel with brass and if you don't reload don't bother.

30.06 with 180 gr bullet will take care of all that. Get a 12 twist barrel. I like the Douglas 5A contour that will give you a medium weight barrel that you can set back several times if you start off with a 26" barrel. If you are planning on shooting a long time you might consider having a custom reamer made that way all your 30.06 fired cases should be interchangeable since they would be cut with same reamer.

If it was ME, I'd grab a .35 barrel & make it a 35 Whelen. While it's going to kick, it's pretty mild compared to a lot of the magnums. It does hit like the hammer of Thor within 300-350 yards! I really REALLY like the Nosler 225 gr Accubonds terminal performance & accuracy! You'll still need a good pad & brake if the 270 recoil bothers you.

24" 280 AI if you reload, does away with trimming cases, outperforms the 270 and 30/06.
RR