.270 British

.270 British
Type	Rifle
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Production history
Designed	post-WWII
Specifications
Case type	Rimless, bottleneck
Bullet diameter	7.04 mm (0.277 in)
Rim diameter	11.3 mm (0.44 in)
Case length	46 mm (1.8 in)
Overall length	62.3 mm (2.45 in)
Ballistic performance
Bullet mass/type Velocity Energy 6.48 g (100 gr) 840 m/s (2,800 ft/s) 2,286 J (1,686 ft⋅lbf)

The .270 British (or .270 Enfield) is an experimental intermediate rifle cartridge that was developed by the British at the same time as the .280 British as a potential successor to the .303 British cartridge. The rimless cartridge has a base diameter of 11.3 mm (like the Russian 7.62×39mm) and a case length of 46 mm. The bullet is a standard .270/.277 caliber bullet with a light 100 gr weight with a muzzle velocity of 840 m/s (2,800 ft/s), similar in performance to the later 6.8mm Remington SPC. It was not good at long range, but its slender case had the potential to fire a heavier bullet at a relatively high velocity. It was optimized for shorter ranges, while the .280 favored long-range performance to try to meet U.S. requirements.

The cartridge was not adopted, the British initially focused development on the .270, then ultimately chose the NATO-standard 7.62×51mm cartridge.

References

• Popenker, Maxim; Williams, Anthony G. (2005). Assault Rifle. Crowood. ISBN 978-1861267009.