Weatherby 270 WBY Mag 134gr Hammer Custom – Superb 20 Round Box

Description

Weatherby 270 WBY Mag 134gr Hammer Custom pairs one of Roy Weatherby original magnums with a modern machined copper bullet. The 134 grain Hammer Custom leaves the muzzle at 3300 fps with a G1 ballistic coefficient of 0.425, which works out to roughly 3241 ft-lbs. Twenty rounds to the box, part of the Weatherby Select Plus line.

• An Old Magnum with a Modern Bullet
• Weatherby 270 WBY Mag 134gr Hammer Specifications
• Honest Notes on the 270 Weatherby

An Old Magnum with a Modern Bullet

The 270 Weatherby Magnum arrived in 1943, a decade before the belted magnum craze properly began, and it has been quietly outperforming the 270 Winchester ever since. Roughly 300 fps of extra velocity does not sound dramatic until you look at what it does to trajectory and retained energy at 400 yards. It remains one of the flattest shooting standard bore cartridges available.

Hammer bullets are machined from solid copper rather than swaged from lead, with a long ogive and deep nose flutes. On impact the nose petals shear off and radiate outward while the shank drives straight through, so you get multiple wound paths plus deep penetration. Being solid copper it is lead free, which matters in non lead hunting zones.

A 134 grain bullet is light for a 270 magnum and that is the point. Hammer designs are lighter than lead core bullets of equivalent performance because copper is less dense, so this 270 Weatherby Magnum ammo trades a little sectional density for a great deal of velocity. At 3300 fps it shoots flatter than the traditional 150 grain loads while penetrating comparably.

Weatherby 270 WBY Mag 134gr Hammer Specifications

Weatherby loads Select Plus ammunition on Norma made brass. Published velocity comes from a 26 inch test barrel, which is what most Mark V rifles in this chambering carry.

• Line: Weatherby Select Plus
• Caliber: 270 Weatherby Magnum
• Bullet weight: 134 grains
• Bullet type: Hammer Custom, solid copper monolithic
• Muzzle velocity: 3300 fps
• Approximate muzzle energy: 3241 ft-lbs
• Ballistic coefficient G1: 0.425
• Case: belted brass
• Lead free: yes
• Quantity: 20 rounds per box
• UPC: 747115452668

Honest Notes on the 270 Weatherby

Solid copper needs impact velocity to open. That is the standing caveat with any monolithic bullet, and at 3300 fps Weatherby 270 WBY Mag 134gr Hammer Custom has plenty of it inside 400 yards. Push much beyond that and the bullet slows into territory where petal separation becomes less certain. Know your velocity at the range you actually shoot rather than assuming.

Copper fouls differently. It accumulates in the throat and ahead of the chamber rather than streaking the bore, and it needs a dedicated copper solvent to remove. If groups open up after thirty or forty rounds, that is usually the cause and not the ammunition.

Barrel life is the honest cost of a belted magnum running 3300 fps. Throat erosion arrives sooner than it would in a 270 Winchester, and hot barrels accelerate it. Let it cool between strings, keep a round count and expect to rebarrel earlier than a standard cartridge would need.

Recoil deserves a mention too. The 270 Weatherby is not brutal, but it is a genuine magnum and in a light mountain rifle it will move you. If you flinch, a muzzle brake or a heavier rifle will do more for your shooting than any change of load, and a brake makes it loud enough that everyone nearby needs proper hearing protection.

For the flattest trajectory Weatherby also loads a 224 Weatherby Magnum varmint load in the same Select Plus line. Full published ballistics for every 270 WBY MAG load are on the Weatherby ballistics charts.

Weatherby 270 WBY Mag 134gr Hammer Custom suits mule deer, elk and open country hunters running a Mark V or Vanguard in 270 Weatherby Magnum, and anyone required to shoot lead free. MAG5 Firearms is a family owned FFL in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Boxes ship where state and local law allows.