I suppose I'm not quite old enough to truly appreciate or understand the influence Jack O'Connor had on the popularity of the .270 Winchester cartridge. He died in 1978--I was 10, still two years away from receiving my first hunting license. And I was far too young to even consider a career in outdoor publishing, writing and editing gun and hunting stories, which would lead me down some of the same hallways through which O'Connor once strolled.

The author used his High-Tech Customs .270 with handloaded 150-grain Swift A-Frames to take this South African impala.

But I am thankful that O'Connor's words helped drive widespread interest in the .270. It is unquestionably one of America's favorite big-game cartridges, and I count myself as a serious fan. Over the years, I've shot many and owned several rifles chambered in the cartridge. Some of them shot very well, but I never hung on to them very long, believing that none of those rifles had everything I wanted. But that all changed three years ago during an NRA convention as I chatted with riflesmith Rich Reiley.

Reiley operates High-Tech Custom Rifles (Dept. RS, 3109 North Cascade, Suite 102, Colorado Springs, CO 80907; 719/667-1090; www.htcustoms.com) in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and had just finished building me a .243 predator rifle, which he had in his display at the convention. When I had fondled the rifle long enough and set it back in his display rack, a trim little stainless sporter caught my eye.

"What's this?" I asked, reaching for the black synthetic stock.

"You didn't see that? That's a little .270, and I think I've got it sold," Reiley told me.

"That's too bad," I said, having noticed its 24-inch barrel, narrow fore-end and grip. "This is exactly the kind of .270 I've been looking for. Lean and handsome. Does it shoot?"

"You know better than that," Reiley replied.

I shouldered the rifle, cycled the bolt to check the chamber and dropped the three-pound trigger. Clean and crisp. I knew I had asked a foolish question and put the rifle back in the rack.

"I'll see ya, Rich. I gotta get back to work," I said. "Talk to ya later."

The following week I got a phone call. "Hoots." It was Reiley. "Aren't you going to Africa in a few months?" he asked. "What are you takin'?"

"A .338," I replied.

"You know that .270 you were ogling at NRA? I want you to take it with you," he said.

"I thought you sold that gun,"

I said.

While on safari in South Africa, the author's High-Tech .270 came in handy on smaller plains game. However, loaded with 150-grain A-Frames, it's potent enough for large animals such as gemsbok.

"I did. I sold it to you. You'll get it via FedEx next week. I want you to put it to good use in Africa," Reiley told me.

I tried to ask him how much he was asking, but he cut me off midsentence. "We'll work that out later," I was told. "And I'm sending you some handloads."

"But…"

Then he hung up on me.

The handloads arrived first, the same day I got a phone message from Reiley: "Hoots. Did you get the handloads? Bill Hober said you should be happy with the bullet performance. I've seen a lot of guys use them on elk with excellent penetration."

Bill Hober owns Swift Bullet Company, and the handloads were fitted with 150-grain Swift A-Frames. A few years ago, when Reiley became disenchanted with running a machine shop, he began spending more and more time working on old rifles for clients and building new ones when there was time. He also began guiding for elk outfitters in Colorado and eventually for brown bear outfitters in Alaska. Naturally, he shoots quite a bit and spends several weeks a year putting clients to within range of some of this country's largest game animals. He's developed quite an attachment to the A-Frame (actually, he prefers a 140 for general use in the .270), and I shouldn't have expected the handloads to contain any other bullet.

The rifle came two days later, every bit of it "all business," just as I remembered. Like many custom rifles offered today, this one is built on a stainless Remington Model 700 action with all the care and detail that any fine rifle should receive.