Yes I'm new to this board. I have been hunting going on 30 years.I have few firearms. ranging from .22, .270 (which you guessed), several 30,06's, several .50 ML's in-line and percussion, a .54 flint (on order), 30-30, .303 brit, .300 win mag, compound bows, crossbows and of course the 12 ga's n 16 ga. I have shot several different weapons during my military career as well. Of them the only one (not counting army )that hasn't collected game is the .54 as it hasn't arrived yet. Game here consists of bear deer, moose, birds etc. The only elk we have are not in huntable populations yet.

My point is nothing other than a .270 will do the job quite well. All of my centerfire and ML's have killed deer.The 270,303, 300 have done moose. We all know how well archery equipment can work. My rifle of choice for moose hunting is the .270. Will the other's work? Yes, in spades. More moose have probably fallen to the lowly .303 Brit than any other caliber.
Long before magnumitus struck the firearm industry (with some mighty fine marketing I might add), the 270's, 30.06's, .303's and the 30.30's ruled the roost. The .303 British are in Canada, what the 30.06 is in the US. Post WWII surplus. Lot's of rifles available and lot's of ammo to go with them.

I took issue with your comment:
" Go set up your elk camps like you do every year, use what you've found to work, grab your "thumper guns" and then just go SMACK THE CRAP OUT OF SOME ELK, just like you usally do---any angle, any bone, any time...."This sounds to me that shot placement isn't a high priority to you (although you clarify that in your later post that it is). You say I'm gonna burn on the archery/ML comment. But when I read your post , to me it sounds like it is magnum city or stay home.??? ML's and archery and especially .270 user's need not apply.

I don't claim that the .270 is the end all be all of centerfire rifles. But I will say that instead of taking that "any angle, any bone, any time" approach, it is more than capable of getting the job done.