Shato,
I to have a warm spot for the 280,thats why I mentioned it.I find it heads and tails above the .308 winand 270 win..I'm not a big fan of either,but ifyou or Iwere going to be given a gun you rarely havea say in it.
My wife 2 years ago bought me a new rifle for Christmass,she could see the dispointment on my face when I looked the caliber of gun she bought me.I tried to act the part but it just something I had no need for.
She now takes me for walks through the gun department and when she see's me eyeing something she makes a mental note.

It might just be better to see what your son wan'ts,and by the way what do you shoot?(not you Shato I know that)
BBJ

Let's face it, anyone who opts for a 7mm, whether it's the 7mm-08 or the 7mm Ultra Mag, is looking for high energy retention and flat trajectories, which means a .270 or a .30 of some sort would be the only logical alternatives for consideration. There is nothing inherently superior about a bullet that measures .284. Anything a 7mm can do, a .30 caliber of comparable sectional density and ballistic coefficient can also do. The catch is, in order to send a .30-caliber slug over a trajectory as flat as that 7mm bullet, about 20 percent more recoil is going to be generated.

There's no question that whatever the terminal range--200, 300, 400 or more yards--the .30 is going to arrive with more energy. The question is how much you need. A 7mm Rem Mag, for example, pushing a 150-grain Barnes XBT at 3,100 fps, arrives at 400 yards with nearly 2,100 ft-lbs of energy; that exceeds the 2,000 ft-lbs of delivered energy they say is required to make a good elk cartridge. Pushing a .30/180 Barnes XBT, which has comparable SD and BC ratings, at the same 3,100 fps from a .300 Win Mag would have it arching a slightly less flat trajectory and arriving with about 250 ft-lbs more energy. How important is that, particularly when you consider that in an 8.75-pound rifle, the 7mm is going to belt you with 22.8 ft-lbs of recoil, compared to the 28.5 the .300 delivers? That's 20 percent more recoil for a less flat trajectory and 15 percent more energy.

Another way of looking at it is that, based on similar recoil levels, you can be shooting either a .308 Win. or a .280 Rem, a .30-06 or 7mm Rem Mag, a .300 Win. Mag or a 7mm STW. In all three cases the 7mm produces clearly superior downrange performance in terms of delivered energy and trajectory at any given recoil level. You could say you get more buck for the bang.

Didn't mean to get something started. The two calibers I was asking about we looked at, at our local gun shop. Haven't really got our heart set on nothing yet. Those was the ones they had at the time. The Elk are in Kentucky and shots will not be over 200 yards for sure. Been within 50 yards many times. Wanting to pick a caliber that will also be a good whitetail gun after this, and maybe Elk again someday.

Don't worry, its easy to get something started here. We're all itching to give advice. If you really wanted to get something started you could have asked if you should get a 270 or 30-06. Then we would see some fireworks for sure!

Anyway, either cartridge you mentioned would be more than adequate for what you described. They are both fine choices. Add to that the many recomendations such as 7mm-08, 280 rem ..... and you have plenty to choose from.

Shato,

from post #20:

I leave for theafternoon and the wheels fall off….
I’m familiar with a lot of your rifles and positions,
I know you’ve hunted and gotten elk....
We’ve been on threads before [you remember right?]

When one “counts things up”one hasto be specific as to howone counts orone gets “taken to task”.
There were three options within the quote below….

You seemed to think I placed you in the latter category.
Not so, 1 or 2, but not 3.

However, for purposes of counting them up,
You did NOT commit to answering the question posed, so....

I couldn’t count you as 270.
I couldn’t count you as 308.
I wasn't about to go listing more and endless categories, so....
“Non-commit” it was.

Personally, I would have loved toadvocate a 30-06…. didn’t; just answered the question. Didn't want to turn it into a pot luck dinner. Of course that is about what happened anyway with everyone bringing their own personal favorite dish.

Let's see, others yet to be bragged on.... 7x57, 284 Winchester, 30-40 Krag, 303 British, 30 Newton, etc.
================================================== =

FWIW --- Update:
4 - .308
1 - .270
7 - Non-Commits

I have no experience hunting elk. Both the 270 and 308 have taken elk with no problems. Myself I would rather have the 308 for a elk hunt. You can shoot a bigger bullet and I would rather have it if I had to take a longer shot. Which being your sons only 14 and his first cow elk hunt you might not want him takeing longer shots. If you can you might have him shoot both rounds and see what he's more comfortable with.

EKM,

Sorry man, I was just having a bad day or something. It seemed like I was in an argument everywhere. No offense. Everybody just take what I wrote yesterday with a grain of salt please.

Peace

My great-uncle would always hunt every thing with a .308. He'd hunt his deer with it, elk, and a bunch of varmits. He'd go to Alaska with his buddies and his .308 (Whatever he couldn't hunt with it, he'd go with something bigger). He was a .308-believing man. I guess it must have been a good gun. I don't know the brand of rifle he had though.

jparker29..wil that 3030 with the new hornady cartridge get it done??? Iz the youngun comfortable with the lever?? Get them elk in closer or get closer to em