I think the common thread in all the answers is, your .270 will harvest elk just fine. You just have to know and understand your limitations, but that will be true regardless of the caliber. The .300 is probably the most popular caliber for elk and it has it's limitations too. You'll find threads on here with folks argueing that a .243 will kill elk and then there are those who want to carry a 416. You won't regret buying the .300. Now the question is....which one?

get the 300! It is MUCH better for elk. the 270 will kill elk....blah,blah ,blah... the 300 will perform better period.

This fall as in many many other falls, elk season will roll around and a lot of hunters who will chuckle over this age old debate, will buy there tags and take their 270's out and take their elk as so many have before. Next year the debate will rage again and the same thing will happen. Nobody will tell hunters who have used the 270 for years that their rifle is to small for elk or that when that so called elk of a lifetime steps out, that they will be out of luck. I venture to say many trophy elk have fallen to the 270, 300 Savage, 7x57 Mauser, 264 win mag, 30-40 krag, 30-30 Win, 35 Rem and the list goes on. If these guys choose one of these other guns, more power to them. They may know what they are doing.

Naw james, they're just a bunch of CRRAAAAZZZY north dakotans, its not their fault,they just dont know any better

Could be

Frankly NVMike... I think that James is WAY OVER-GUNNED...

People have been killing game with stickbows and wood arrows for over 2 millenium... He uses smokeless firearms. Believe you me, many an elk have been killed with a wood arrow and flint broadhead.

Why the need?

I hunt with black powder as well. I however have never tried a stick or even an arrow. I did however dabble with the spear a bit. I once killed a hog with a spear. Trouble is it was one of my dads. I felt more pain over that one than the hog did.[:'(]

james, I once read about a guy who hunted elk w/ a slingshot. but I would guess that the stone was at least 3-400grains so that may be a magnum in your book?. I dont know how many elk he took w/ it ,but there was one confirmed wounding of the man who tried to shoot it.

Treeguy,
You were looking for a 300 WSM in a remington,they are making on this year in a TRX,check it out at www.remington.com

In all honesty james. If the animal is hit directly in the heart it'll drop quick even if its hit w/ a 22-250. the 270 can take elk in the right hands, VERY skilled hands, but...... very few of the hunters out there are very skilled, even though they ALL claim to be able to blow the ba??s off a bull flea at 1645 long paces w/ a 40 MPH crosswind, in a blizzard, after running miles UP the mountain at 8000+ ft elevation. Now my experience has been that a couple out of a thousand are truely VERY skilled marksmen. More importantly w/ the preasure of a once in a lifetime hunt VERY few guys will pass on the iffy shots. Knowing this its just not wise to advise the use of the 270 on elk. I feel that the 7mag is about the starting point for elk rifles. You 've said that the 06 was your most used for elk and that the 280-almost identicle to the 7mag-is your favorite now, both are bigger than the 270 . people need put their pride in their pocket and face facts, if you talk to people who've hunted alot of elk, VERY few will PREFERR(1in 10,000maybe) the 270, roughly half will approve or disapprove of it , but a good share-10 to 20 percent- will ABSOLUTELY not accept it as an elk rifle. the performance of the 270 is subjective and a matter of opinion, The ONLY FACT is that there IS controversy. such controversy tells you one thing, you have to move up the power scale a notch or two for true elk caliber. No one argues the 7mags. Now you obviously have had great success w/ smaller calibers, thats fine for better than average people like yourself, but that wont be the case w/ the average guy, he may take some, but eventually he'll lose animals. I do know a guy from Wyo who year after year takes elk w/ his 243 and the cheapest shells he can find, I know another guy from MT who uses a 22-250 he does hand load , they never wounds em either. That does not mean that either of these are elk calibers, because NIETHER of these are, exceptional guys can get away w/ it.