.270 & ELK
 

What's your feeling on a .270 & taking Elk?
What would be the maxium effect range?
I have a .243 for deer so the gun would be used on larger game.I don't want a gun w/ alot of recoil.
I'm open to suggestions.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

I would prefer a larger caliber myself,but the 270win will kill elk.Even a 243win will kill elk under ideal conditions,but I don't consider either cartridge idea for elk hunting.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

A 270 will take elk no problem look at 150 gr bullets or if you reload look at the 160 gr. partitions. If this is strickly a bigger then deer rifle you are looking for go with a 30-06 the recoild isn't much more plus recoil has more to do with the rifle then the caliber.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

Bullet construction is far more important than bullet weight.If I had to hunt elk with a 270win,I would be using the 130gr TTSX,since it will penetrate every bit as well as the 150gr or 160gr partition.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

The Winchester 150gr XP3 ammo has worked well on elk for quite a couple of my friends....personally, I use a 30-06.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

The 30-06 would be a better choice IMO. Greater choice of bullets from 125, 150, 165, 180 gr. I would limit my shots on elk with a 270 to 300 yards, 400 with the '06.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

So a .270 doesn't seem to be to popular of choice for Elk.I had a Rem.700 in .06 that I sold quite a few years ago,looks like I'll have to get another.
Just curious,what do you guys consider an ideal Elk cartridge?

RE: .270 & ELK
 

If you do not want a lot of recoil I would ask if your old 06 was too much recoil. If it was not too much then I would pick the 06 or something bigger. I would feel comfortable using a 270 certainly to 300 yards especially at the higher altitudes many elk are taken. You will be surprised at the difference in downrage energy between 1,000 feet and 9,000 feet altitude.

I really feel however you have a greatflat shootingdeer rifle already in your 243. I would go with a rifle that gives you a dedicated "big game rifle" to hit big game harder. A 30-06 with the Light Magnum loads isreliable 400 yard elk rifle, beyond that you are into heavier recoiling magnums.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

We shoot Moose and Grizzlyup here with 270 Win and good 140 and150gr Bullets.

In Factory loads the Federal 130/140gr TSX Barnes or Trophy Bonded and the 150gr Nosler Part.

Winchester XP3 in 150gr if your riflewill shoot them.

I like the 140 Nosler Accubond with 58.0 of Reloader 22 in a Handload.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

A .270 with good quality bullet and good shot placement will work fine, but if I were you I would go with the '06 with a light bullet (150gr). I do not think the recoil will be a problem. Have you tried the '06 before?

RE: .270 & ELK
 

Thanks guys! Scott & Savage,yes I used to own a 30 .06 and in all honesty the recoil was managable.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

And put a SIMS recoil pad on it and you won't notice the recoil of even the heavier bullets.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

If I had a .270, I'd find a load it liked, & then I'd go shoot some elk, and I wouldn't think twice about it. If I was buying a new rifle for an elk hunt, I'd go bigger. In fact, I did - I got mea .30-'06. There are folks who will argue that I didn't go bigger, and the .270 will have more energy with such-and-such a load, and blah blah blah... The fact is that folks take elk every year with .25-06's, and .260's, and 6.5x55's, and 7mm-08's, and 7x57's, and everything else out there. If you put a non-varmint bullet into an elk's lung's, it's going to die. Heck, I've even heard-tell that one can kill them with arrows!

As we tell our students in Tae Kwon Do, "It's better to hit someone with a BB, than to miss them with a cannon."

IMO, recoil has to do more with how a rifle fits the shooter, than the cartridgefor which it's chambered. I've heard people say they had .300WM's that were easier to shoot than some .270's they owned, because of the stocks of their particular rifles. Find a rifle that fits you like a dream, with a good pad (Sims, Decelerator, Etc.), then practice with it - a lot!

FC

RE: .270 & ELK
 

Ok,let me through another one @ you guys,what do you about a .308 win for elk?

RE: .270 & ELK
 

Jerry I had a thought for a low recoil hard hitting round. Check out the performance of the 338 Federal.

http://www.federalpremium.com/products/rifle.aspx

The 338 Federal only has around a 45 Grain powder charge just like a 308. The lower powder charge will reduce recoil and the 338 bullet out of the 308 caseactually slightly outperforms standard factory 06 muzzle energy.
I would think the Triple Shock mentioned earlier by Stubblejumperin 338 caliber would give you a larger wound pathand lots of penetration that would be combination that is hard to beat for the amount of recoil generated. It would have a 275 yard point blank range which still decent.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

The triple shock expands best at higher velocities,so it may not be the optimum bullet for the 338 federal as far as creating a large wound channel is concerned.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

Expansion was more of a problem with the Barnes X than the Triple shock. See the comparison below with the Triple shock vs comp at only 2000 fps which is 300 yards with the 338 Federal.

http://www.barnesbullets.com/information/bullet-talk/x-citing-facts/

Scroll down and see the comparison titled: How Quickly Does Your Bullet Expand?

I am trying to keep meat damage down lately and this season I took a whitetail doe with the the 200 grain TSX in 30 caliber at approx 200 yards and the exit wounds looked normal. About the size of agolf ball.The doe only went approx 30 yards. The muzzle velocity was under 2600 FPS in this case and chest was still pretty tore up inside. If the TSX shoots accurately its terminal performanceis very hard to beat.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

My on game experience has been with the tsx and the mrx,not the original x.The tsx works great at high velocity,but does not expand as rapidly as impact velocities drop near 2000fps.I personally would not use the tsx at impact velocities below 2200fps or so if I wanted a large diameter wound channel.As for the comparison below,it was done on aluminum plate,not on animal tissue or any material resembling animal tissue.Since the game animals that I hunt aren't covered with aluminum plate,I am more inclined to trust my own experiences with real animals.
Below is a 180gr-.308" tsx that I recovered from an elk.It expanded to a maximum diameter of .800" with an impact velocity exceeding 2900fps.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

I think a .270 with a good quality bullet would be fine for elk. I take one as a back up to my .338WM. I handload the Nosler 140 grain Accubonds for the .270 and the shoot very well! It also make a difference on where you place the bullet.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

The comparison was of one inch of ballistic gelatin that is actually very similar to animal tissue and the aluminum wasjust .050 inches thick and was used only to record the bullet diameters for visual reference. As far as your experience with real animals it would seem to be limited to higher velocity impacts. My experience last fall was with a lower impact velocity of around 2100 fps on a thinner skinned whitetail than the elk the original poster intended to hunt. I would consider my experience much closer to the scenario at hand than yours.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

Scott & Stubblejumper,you guys lost me,what the heck are you talking about?

RE: .270 & ELK
 

We are disagreeing on whether the Barnes TSX bullet will expand properly at lower velocity impacts. The 338 Federal is a relatively low velocity round. I and apparently Federal Cartridge feel the bullet will perform well at these velocities. Stubble feels it may not expand which will reduce its terminal effect by "penciling" thru game. The result would be lots of penetration with too narrow a wound path.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

Ok thanks Scott.I pulled up Hawks recoil tables & was comparing the .270 to the .06,not much a difference in recoil energy w/ the same wieght rifle.I'm thinking the .06 might be the wiser choice.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

Jerry I use the 06 for elk and it has performed very well. On our last outing our group took 3 elk with the 165 Grain Light Magnum loadsusing the Interbond bullet. We had 5 hits with 3 pass thrus. The two recovered bullets were shoulder shots that were held in by the far side hide and weighted 137 and 156 grains. I have chronyd these loads from my 22" barreled Savage and they clocked 2950 FPS which works out to around 3250 FT/LBS of kinetic energy.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

Hey thanks for help Scott.Now I'm even more sorry I sold my .06!!!:(

RE: .270 & ELK
 

I was a guide for many years and the 270 has been used on a lot of elk that I have called in. It is not the bullet or the gun it is where the hunter puts the lead. I have seen bulls get hit with a 300 win mag. and run for miles even hit good. Many people think a bigger caliber is better but its not always true some people are afraid of the recoil of the gun they are shooting the most important thing is to get familiar with your rifle and ranges you can shoot. I personally shot a 270 and I have killed bulls out past 400 yrds. but I was able to practice those shots on prairie dogs all summer long. Once agian get familiar with the gun and shoot various types of lead to see what shoots the best out of your particualar gun.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

That is so true Chickenrun! I remember reading an article years ago in one of my hunting mags,it was written by a guide.The article was about a client that used to hunt in his camp ever year.Appartrently this guy was a lousy shot!!!He first showed up w/ a.243,wounded a deer,next year w/ a 30 .06 wounded another deer,next year a.338 put the deer down but had to take a second shot to finish it off.The hunter then said to the guide "I finally found a good deer caliber"
The outfitter asked him not to return to camp!

RE: .270 & ELK
 

I have had experience with both higher and lower velocity impacts with the tsx,and while the tsx did okay at lower velocities,it expanded much more at higher velocities.As for the example,I have never shot an animal that had one inch of flesh encased by sheet aluminum,so I am not very quick to accept how realistic that test would be compared to actually shooting real animals.


Not quite.I am not saying that the tsx will not expand adequately to provide clean kills at lower velocity.What I am saying is that at lower velocities,there are far better choices if you want a larger wound channel.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

thanks jerry d too many people will sit and argue but when it comes to shooting; its the hunter not the gun. I guess its hard for some people to realize they suck at shooting, A: they don't shoot enough B: they are scared of there gun C: they are not capable of shooting the distance they want or are shooting. most of the time when I had clients I would watch them shoot at our range to see how they held there gun and if they pulled more people pulled with bigger guns than the guys who shot the little ones. More times or not when it came down to it the BIG guns missed or wounded the elk intiling there guide to track the wounded animal for a long time or not even findding the animal.. so what ever you pick make sure you shoot it and learn how to shoot it well
chickenrunn

RE: .270 & ELK
 

The 270 win is a mighty fine elk cartridge, it has plenty of punch to kill any elk walking on the face of the planet. No caliber will make up fora bad shot nor will bullet size or weight. Preferences all boil down to what you want to do with the gun and at what range. The 270win has a place in elk country with a man who knows his rifle. I vote yes. lol

RE: .270 & ELK
 

I had a 30.06,no doubt about it great cartridge! I was able to shoot it well w/ 180 grain factory loads. I just want to try something a little different.
270 & 308 came to mind.What bullet do you guy recommend in the 270?

RE: .270 & ELK
 

I've shot three cows and one bull now with my .270 and have not experienced any problems...


Here is my bull back in 06

RE: .270 & ELK
 

Thats a nice elk.What wieght bullet & type bullet did you use?

RE: .270 & ELK
 

Jerry, First off thank you! Um.... here in AZ because we've in recent year have conducted projects "reviving" the California Condor population, AZ Game and Fish has asked all hunter in the northern and central portions of the state to use copper only bullets ( which they provide for free, to all hunters who aquired a tag, the reson being is because these birds will eat gut piles from the animals and then later die from lead poisoning. ).... so I recieved two boxes of Copper only ammunition from Fedral Premium.....

185 grain.... it hammerd him:D

RE: .270 & ELK
 

Wow 185gr. I wasn't aware they madea bullet in that wieght for a .270. Yeah it sure looks like it hammered him!!

RE: .270 & ELK
 

The Federal web site lists 150gr as the heaviest bullets that they load for the 270win.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

My bad... must be a 150gr... I apologize if I was wrong....

Were you looking at the copper only ammunition?

RE: .270 & ELK
 

I was looking at all available loads for the 270win.Look for yourself.

http://www.federalpremium.com/products/rifle.aspx

In fact the heaviest all copper load is the 130gr barnes load.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

No, that's not right... I'm absolutely positive that it was more than 130gr. I'd never use a load that small on #1,000 bull elk......

There could be something on azgfd.com, I'll take a look.

RE: .270 & ELK
 

from my experience as a PA deer hunter, the .270 is ideal for deer but elk is kind of stretching it
the .270 knocked my first deer down, but it got up and ran 20 yards
sure a .270 is the minimum in PA, but my cousin's cousin shot an elk 3 times with a 7mm-08 behind the shoulder through the vitals just to drop it
if your going to to use a .270 bring lots of ammo and shoot till it's head goes down