Cartridge ballistics

.270 Winchester ballistics chart

The .270 Winchester trajectory with a 130-grain hunting bullet: drop, wind drift and retained velocity from a 200-yard zero to 700 yards.

Overview

The .270 Winchester has been a benchmark open-country big-game cartridge for a century. A 130-grain bullet at just over 3,000 fps shoots flat enough that a 200-yard zero keeps a hunter inside a few inches of point of aim to beyond 300 yards with no holdover.

Older factory twists of 1:10 stabilise conventional hunting bullets well but not the longest low-drag match projectiles, so the .270 is best thought of as a flat-shooting field cartridge rather than a modern ELR chambering.

Typical uses: Deer, sheep, pronghorn and elk hunting in open country to moderate ranges.

Sample load

The trajectory below is calculated for this representative factory load in a standard ICAO atmosphere. Your rifle will differ — enter your own chronographed velocity and verified BC in the calculator for numbers you can dial.

Bullet
130 gr spitzer boat-tail
Muzzle velocity
3,060 fps
Ballistic coefficient
0.46 (G1)
Zero
200 yd

Open this load in the calculator

.270 Winchester trajectory table

Zeroed at 200 yd. Drop is bullet path relative to line of sight; elevation is the come-up to dial. Wind column is a 10 mph full-value crosswind. Italic rows are subsonic.
Range (yd) Velocity (fps) Energy (ft⋅lb) Drop (in) Elevation (MIL) Elevation (MOA) Wind 10 mph (MIL)
1002,8472,3411.4-0.4-1.30.2
2002,6442,0190.00.00.00.4
3002,4511,734-6.40.62.00.6
4002,2651,481-18.61.34.40.8
5002,0871,258-37.52.17.21.1
6001,9181,062-64.53.010.31.3
7001,758892-100.94.113.81.6

Learn more

New to reading a table like this? These guides explain the numbers:

Related cartridges