The 270 Winchester Short Magnum or 270 WSM is a short, unbelted, magnum cartridge created by necking down the .300 Winchester Short Magnum and fitting it with a .277 caliber bullet. The correct name for the cartridge, as listed by the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute (

SAAMI The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute (SAAMI, pronounced "Sammy") is an association of American manufacturers of firearms, ammunition, and components. SAAMI is an accredited standards developer that publishes several Ameri ...

), is 270 WSM, without a decimal point. It is a member of the

Winchester Short Magnum Winchester Short Magnum, or WSM, refers to a family of rebated rim bottlenecked centerfire short magnum cartridges developed in the early 2000s by the U.S. Repeating Arms Company, the maker of Winchester rifles and one of the oldest firearms man ...

family of cartridges.

Overview

When it was introduced, the 300 WSM sported a new case that showed a lot of promise for uses in other calibers. In 2002 Winchester introduced new cartridges in its

family, including the 7 mm WSM and 270 WSM. This new .270 cartridge was the third commercial .270 ever produced, and the first one in 60 years. The 270 WSM is an improvement over the older 270 Winchester providing higher velocity with bullets of the same weight, and thus a flatter trajectory and more energy. Velocities tend to be about faster, in a cartridge that is shorter and can therefore be used in a shorter action resulting in a more compact rifle if desired.

Performance

The .270 WSM is the only cartridge of the WSM family that produces notable ballistic gains over other existing cartridges. It the best performing short action on the market. The .300 WSM closely mimics the long-popular .300 Winchester Magnum, while the 7mm WSM matches performance of the

7mm Remington Magnum The 7mm Remington Magnum rifle cartridge was introduced as a commercially available round in 1962, along with the new Remington Model 700 bolt-action rifle. It is a member of the belted magnum family that is directly derived from the venerable ...

in similar barrel lengths. The .325 WSM is in a league of its own in North America as the

8 mm caliber This is a list of firearm cartridges which have bullets in the caliber range. *''Length'' refers to the empty cartridge case Case or CASE may refer to: Containers * Case (goods), a package of related merchandise * Cartridge case or casing ...

has not become commonplace. The .270 WSM comes quite close in performance to that of the legendary .270 Weatherby Magnum, with notable differences being that the .270 WSM is chambered in a short action and normally utilizes a 24" barrel whereas the older Weatherby cartridge utilizes a long action and is most commonly paired with a 26" barrel. The .270 Weatherby has a belt and the .270 WSM does not.

References

External links

The 270 WSM
by Chuck Hawks
270 WSM Accuracy in Browning X-Bolt
Pistol and rifle cartridges Winchester Short Magnum rifle cartridges {{ammo-stub

Overview

Performance

See also

References

External links