I am going to have to agree with irresponsible on this one. We hunters have a bad enough name already, this is the kind of thing that makes the damn environmentalists sqwuak. I am a little bit of a " bigger is better" type, so I am not a big fan of seeing what kind of bullet you can get away with, rather opting to put the animal down in its tracks (without it getting up). Therefore, I think a .270 is light for elk. Get something like a .300 mag, 338/378 Weatherby Mag better yet, and put the thing down quick.