The 270 Winchester Short Magnum or 270 WSM is a short 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 A ...
), 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 Rim (firearms), rebated bottlenecked centerfire short magnum Cartridge (firearms), cartridges developed in the early 2000s by the U.S. Repeating Arms Company, the maker of Winchester rifles an ...
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
Winchester Short Magnum
Winchester Short Magnum, or WSM, refers to a family of Rim (firearms), rebated bottlenecked centerfire short magnum Cartridge (firearms), cartridges developed in the early 2000s by the U.S. Repeating Arms Company, the maker of Winchester rifles an ...
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
The .270 Winchester is a rifle cartridge developed by Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1923, and it was unveiled in 1925 as a chambering for their bolt-action Model 54The Complete Reloading Manual for the .270 Winchester, Loadbooks USA, Inc ...
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 is 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:
Instances
* Instantiation (disambiguation), a realization of a concept, theme, or design ...
has not become commonplace.
The .270 WSM comes quite close in performance to 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.
See also
*
List of rifle cartridges
List of rifle cartridges, by primer type, Caliber, calibre and name.
File:Cartridge Sample 2.jpg, 350px, From left to right: 1 .17 Hornady Mach 2, 2 .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire, 3 .22 Long Rifle, 4 .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire, 5 .17/23 SMc, 6 5mm ...
*
Table of handgun and rifle cartridges
This is a table of selected pistol/submachine gun and rifle/machine gun cartridges by common name. Data values are the highest found for the cartridge, and might not occur in the same load (e.g. the highest muzzle energy might not be in the same ...
*
7 mm caliber
This is a list of firearm cartridges which have bullets in the caliber
In guns, particularly firearms, but not #As a measurement of length, artillery, where a different definition may apply, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated a ...
*
6.8 Western
*
Delta L problem
Delta commonly refers to:
* Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet
* D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet
* River delta, at a river mouth
* Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier
...
References
External links
The 270 WSMby Chuck Hawks
270 WSM Accuracy in Browning X-Bolt
Pistol and rifle cartridges
Winchester Short Magnum rifle cartridges
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