.270 enough... ?
 

after predator hunting with my 22-250 i would like to move up to large game. i wanted a caliber that could take hogs to elk and wanted to know if the .270 was enough to fill this void. i spend alot of time at the range and handload so wanted a caliber that was fun and accurate at distance to shoot with a pretty flat trajectory if possible. would a .308 be better for the game i'd like to take? any other suggestions? people also mention 30-06? thanks.

yes it is enough...

the .270 is enough but try a 30/06 because it can handle the heavier pill better than the .308 so i would go the .30/06

30-06. Lots of variety in sizes of bullets you can use and it is just a better elk gun. Sure, thousands of hunters take elk with a 270 every year, but if you have a 270 and a 30-06 both in your gun cabinet and you are going elk hunting, you will pick up the 06 every time. If so, why not get one to start.

I get the Reduced recoil 125 gr bullets for my 06 for young kids to shoot. Kicks like a 243. The 06 just has a wider range of things it can do.

Or just do like me and get both! There is not a finer deer gun on the planet bar none than the 270.

"accurate at distance "

If you are accurate at the distance you want to shoot then the .270 is more then enough. People take large game with smaller calibers every year. There are also people out there who loose smaller game (hogs, deer, etc...) with large calibers. So again, as you stated, accuracy is the key.

You mentioned you wanted a flat trajectory. Ever think of the Weatherby Mag. line? There are some excellent rifles there with renowned flat trajectories. The 7mm mag and .300 mag come to mind.

it's enough, though I think I'd go bigger if you're talking elk...

.270 Win will do just fine.



if you want to go bigger, then look at 7MM rem.mag.

i was actually thinking of the 7mm as my first choice. but i live in Southern Nevada Desert and when i'm at the outdoor range with my 22-250 it only takes 3 shots to where my barrel is so hot i have to wait a good 10 minutes for it to cool down. sometimes longer depending how high above 100 degrees it is that day. that just bugs me. i assumed the 7mm mag would do the same.

to bee sure just go the 06 or .300winny mag

.270 is more than enough. put one ino the kill zone and it is a done deal.

Agreed!:party0005:

Here we go again! LMAO!

A .270 is enough for sure but there are better choices for elk. I would highly consider a 30.06. I have been shooting a 300 RUM for elk for several years and a .270 for mulies. I have a 30.06 that shoots better than any gun I own and I'm considering going back it for all of my big game. (deer size and larger) There are a ton of variables but one thing always stands out in these type of threads....the 30.06 is the one rifle that is the best do it all rifle and is recommened by most as the best. When I was a kid all you ever heard about for elk and deer hunting was a 30.06 and a 30/30. You can buy factory loads for a 30.06 from 100 grain all the way up to a 220 grain. It's just a great round and the ammo availibility is unsurpassed by any other round on the market.

270 is fine for elk, shot placement is key on everything. I notice you handload. Therefore the 30-06 would offer more ability to gain a handloading edge.

my dad has an 06 and anything he hits with the 165gn sierra game kings just drop on the spot and the bullet holds up good.maybe even try 180 or 200 gn pills.

Sure the 270win will kill elk and moose,so will the 243win.I just prefer to use something larger to hunt elk and moose.

I would get the 270 win. Learn how to shoot it and shoot it well in all conditions and never look back. It's about shot placement and that's the bottom line. There are plenty of calibers to pick from out there but a 270 is one you won't have a problem with nor any of the others listed before.

The .270 will definitely kill an elk with a properly placed shot. I prefer a little more bang, however. IMHO the .300 WBY mag is the best all-around caliber on the market. Accurate, great at long distances and BEASTLY knock-down power. I absolutely love my Vanguard, and even though it is a bottom line Weatherby rifle, it shoots extremely accurately...especially at the range! (Somehow those critters being out there make it a little more difficult)

I know a bloke who owns a .338winny mag and he hit a fallow deer and dropped it plus the spray effect on the tree about 5 metres behind it was covered in blood and fur.

this picture is of my dads first deer using nosler ballistic tips which were **** then he found the game kings and never looked back.

I use a .280 Ackley Improved. The .280Rem, 270, and 30-06 are all based on the same cartridge. All three will kill any game in the lower 48 states. The advantage the 280 has over the 270 would be wider bullet selection but either one will work well.

your 270 is perfectly adequate providing you place your shot(s) properly and use the right bullet.

The late Jack O'Conner made a very good living shooting and writing about his beloved .270. Accuracy is the most inportant "caliber".

I've succesfully used the 308, 7mmRemMag, 30-06, 280, & 7mm-08. Dead deer, elk, etc. could not tell the difference.

If ya want get an idea of what the .270 is capable of read some of Jack O'connorrs writings. IMO it's an excellent round for all North American game. Yeah if ya jump a grizzly you'll want more gun but if ya got time to place the the shot it'll kill them also. Being you have the hand loading capabilities you'll love that caliber.

30-06 is the best there is, bar none.

since you don't own a "bigger" rifle now, and elk are going to be on your list of annual hunts, i suggest you just start with a 30-06. the great 270 win will certainly kill elk, but the 06' has a little more powder, shoot a little heavier bullet, and offers a little more insurance. good luck.

While the 270 Winchester is good for deer. I would prouble say the 270 WSM or the 300 Wsm would bring down a elk, or caribou. Know, I'm no expert, but the 270 wsm with a 130 grain bullet will do just fine on most big game, but you will need some thing larger for animals like moose or grizzly bear. I would say you would need a 338 win mag for a moose or grizzly bear.

Haven't read any of the responses, but if you want one rifle to do it all, do yourself a favor and get the 30-06. It is unarguable the better choice for bigger game, and has ammo to download for smaller game.

I would go with the .270 WSM since you handload. I shoot 140gr Accubonds over H4831 out of mine and have taken several elk all being 1 shot kills. I get extremely good accuracy with the accubonds out of my Mod 70.

This typed in some time ago but hits it on the head ever time when we get a is this big enough thread !


quote:

by RedRiver:
IMHO....I would recommend a sharp stick! Here is my logic.....
More game has been killed with it than any other.
It doesn't weigh very much.
It is readily available.
Very little recoil. (Provided you throw it. If you stab him with it you could get a little reverb)
As long as you limit yourself to the range you are comfortable with(i.e. don't try to stab him from a range longer than your stick)and use proper point placement, you will be satisfied with the results!!!
Just remember to get comfortable with your stick and practice sufficiently to acquire the proper confidence.

As an added bonus, when you realize that you have spent all this money, time and effort on what could have been an outstanding hunt, perhaps even the hunt of a lifetime, but yet had to pass up your shot due to the fact that you un-necessarily handicapped yourself by trying to use the least amount of force possible............
you can use your stick to actually do a field study as to whether that realization at that particular point in time is any more painful than a sharp stick in the eye!!!

When I pull out my elk rifle every year I don't think about short range and slow and heavy. I think about what if that bull is standing 500 yds from me above timberline and there's not a bush big enough to hide a rabbit behind between him and me. That's what crosses my mind. So I prefer speed and trajectory and accuracy over heavy bullets. I guess that's what makes me different. I won't explain in detail just pull some numbers off remington's charts for example's. Then I'll list my hand load at the bottom.

270 win vs. 30-06 at 300yds and beyond.

130gr 270 Factory Ammo
Velocity 300-2425 400-2232 500-2048
Energy 300-1697 400-1438 500-1211
Trajectory 300-6.5 400-18.8 500-38.2

150gr 30-06 Factory Ammo
Velocity 300-2298 400-2111 500-1934
Energy 300-1758 400-1485 500-1246
Trajectory 300-7.3 400-21.1 500-42.3

180gr 30-06 Factory Ammo
Velocity 300-2186 400-2028 500-1878
Energy 300-1910 400-1644 500-1409
Trajectory 300-8.3 400-23.9 500-47.9

130gr 270 win My Hand Loads
Velocity 300-2604 400-2411 500-2227
Energy 300-1957 400-1678 500-1432
Trajectory 300-5.6 400-16.3 500-33.1

The 270's 130gr factory loads compete really well against the 30-06's factory loads in two heavier grain bullets. Of course this is 300yds and beyond. The 270win is a lot flatter and would be a lot easier to judge hold over or adjust clicks on a target scope. I put my data in the mix to show you at those ranges my hand loads are flying faster, hitting harder, and have a lot less room for error than of a standard factory load in a 30-06. I love the 30-06 round it's a great one. But it don't have what i'm looking for in my long range shooting and ballistic coefficient in down range shooting. If I were to only shoot 200yds and under sure why not load the ole 30-06 with 200gr bullets and get after it.

So to say I'll choose the 30-06 over the 270 win in my gun cabinet I'd have to say that ole model 70 30-06 has been collecting dust for a lot of years now.

Sorry for the charts the site wouldn't let me copy and paste the originals. I posted this to put a lot of myths to bed. They are both from the same case but different in bore size. Both can hold the same amount of powder but one can push a bullet a tad faster is all and the other can be loaded with a heavier bullet. That's about the size of it.

Take a look at the 338 Federal. Its my new pet round. Mild recoil, decent range to reach out there and touch something. But if are gonna handload I'd go with the 338 Win Mag. Its plenty enough medicine for any North American game. I am biased towards them. But to answer your question yes a 270 will work, but I would recommend a larger caliber if your going to buy a new gun.

Shot placement most important thing. And if you go after elk, premium bullets perform so much better than a standard bullet. Barnes TSX would be my choice, but Nosler Partition, the Winchester Fail safe's are some others I'd suggest if they shoot better in your new rifle.

There will always be the argument between the smaller/faster crowd and the bigger/slower crowd. And you do make some pretty convincing arguments.

However, I wouldn't shoot an elk at 500 yards with either the 270 or the '06.

And ft/lbs is nothing more than a mathmatical formula that SQUARES the speed of the bullet ALWAYS giving a leg up to faster bullets. Taking this formula to an extreme, you could get a 50 gr bullet going fast enough to look as good as the 270 ON PAPER, but don't see anyone purporting this caliber for elk.

Bottom line is that there has to be a line below which the ft/lbs starts to give you bogus data. In my opinion, the 270 is close to that line. How close will continue to be debated long after I am gone.

However, if someday I had to make the choice between 1500 ft/lbs from a 130 gr bullet or 1500 ft/lbs from a 165 or 180 gr bullet, I am going to chose the bigger bullet for an elk.

There is more than one way to skin a cat, and there is more than one mathmatical formula to compare "knockdown power". Here is another one that I like to use:

http://www.loadammo.com/Topics/July02.htm

Stick your data in this formula and see how the two calibers fare. And out to reasonable distances, bullet drop between the two calibers is not that significant.

removed by RD

.270 on Elk
 

a .270 in m opinion will get the job done, My first elk kill was with a .270 - 150 grain Nosler Partition at close to 200 yards away.

.270
 

...More on the story

Txhunter58,

Your pretty much right when you say a bigger bullet especially in bore size has a different kind knock down power. The big bores have that U shaped factor on impact and wound channel. Where the lighter fast calibers have the V shaped factor on impact and the wound channel is spread out into the animal at a slower rate. Bullet design can also change this a bit. But the 30-06, 308, 300rum, 7mm mag, are all pretty much in the same V class of impacts and kinetic energy displacement as it travels through and animal. Any bullet weight that is heavier and slower is better at causing the U shaped impact and hence creating more of a traumatizing hit taking the air right out of an animal. Knock down power. A shotgun slug, a muzzle loader, and all your african sized calibers will for sure just put the hurt on an animal in a hurry. But rifle's pushing bullets around that 3000 fps mark or faster are going to react very similar to each other in performance on impacts and wound channels. The simplicity of knock down power is lost unless your hitting major bone. But the end result is still the same a dead animal it just might take a step or two and realize opps I think i'm screwed.

But when people compare apples to apples it just makes me shake my head and wonder. How much research and practical use knowledge is used before making statements like, a 270 is not worthy of it's place in the elk hunting world. And it has nothing to do with the 270 class of rifle itself just that mentality that energy and bullet size replaces accuracy on game animals. I've seen elk hit with almost every caliber out there and a bad hit is a bad hit no matter the bullet size or the caliber.

I like big bore rifles and muzzle loaders. I love putting the smack down on animals. I also love reaching out and taking the pumper right out of their chest at longer ranges.

In all defense of the lil mighty 270win my favorite elk rifle that comes out of my closet is my 300 win mag. So you see even though i've killed plenty of elk with a 270 win I choose my 300 win mag over my 270win for one reason. My particular 300win mag rifle is one accurate sob with the loads I have for it. Not because of power. I even take it to the bench rest competitions. Having faith in a particular rifle is so much more rewarding than data and ballistic charts. Beware of the man with one rifle for which he knows it well. hehe

But if i was to start all over without any experience in today's modern world of rifle makers and calibers to choose from I would be lost myself in trying to make a decision on which one would suit me best. There is so many options.

If you're looking for a good all around big game rifle, I would go with the .30-06 or .300 Win Mag.