Latest Loads: .270 Wby. Mag.

Owing to Weatherby’s characteristic extra-long leades, when chambered in one of its namesake cartridges, the company’s rifles—especially in cases of advanced throat erosion—can be persnickety with ammunition at times. Sound familiar? Go leadless. Such proved to be the case in a well-used, Japanese-made Mark V Synthetic in .270 Wby. Mag. that I employed for this piece. By using Nosler’s 130-gr. Expansion Tip (E-Tip) gilding metal bullet, I was able to shave 0.24" off the 25-shot average of the lead-core projectile from a previous installment of this column. The benefits don’t stop at accuracy, either; since the copper-alloy projectile retains 95 percent of its pre-expansion weight during upset, it’ll penetrate deeper than comparable lead-core bullets, providing insurance on less-than-ideal shots. And, since the .270 Wby. Mag. has the most voluminous case among the factory .27-cal. cartridges, even with the 1.322"-long projectile in place, there’s ample space for propellant to push it fast and take advantage of its 0.459 G1 ballistic coefficient.