This is elk country and without a doubt the .270, .06, and 300 mag are all well represented. Use a good cartridge, shoot at a range that will take advantage of the the particular caliber and cartridge, and shoot enough that placement will assured. No matter what caliber you shoot, you need to mentally prepare yourself to pass on any marginal shots no matter how magnificent the animal is.

Don't change just because someone told you to. The .270 is all you need, and forget about playing with that B&C scope. By the time you screw with that, the elk will be gone. Get a good 4x , 2x-7x or 3x-9x Leupold and you have a rig for everything but big bears. Practice in hunting positions and find where the elk are. Stay calm and get close. Good Luck!

Bear Wallow, good advise!

Use what you can shoot well. Take only killing shots. There's no need to ask if a cartridge is adequate only that how well you have practiced with the individual rifle. A person with a standard cartridge that is a good shot is just lethal as the one with a cannon without practice. Knowing your individual rifle is the best way to have 100% one shot kills. Forget the data base and start practicing. If your a hunter of wildgame you owe that to the animal.

The Speer manual says it in just exactly my own thoughts. " Loaded with the Speer Grandslam 150 grain bullet, the 270 will readily take all North American big game with the exception of the Grizzly and Brown Bear" That statement would be just at true with the accubond, Partition and Barnes X bullet. The big bears have been taken with the 270 as well but I would opt for a little more bullet weight. Having seen the 270 perform on Moose, Elk and Caribou I would agree with their assement big time. Having seen the 25-06 take these same animals I would say the 270 is a bit more than really needed for Elk.

If you are thinking of buying a new rifle. Buy a 338 win mag. Best/most versatile cartridge for Big game.

Shato, you're my kinda guy...
Best buckle your chin strap, if you haven't already....
Folks here get real excited about that kind of talk.

Nothing wrong with the 338. I had a couple of them. I wasn't impressed with them but they were ok. My 30-06 filled the same need for me both calibers shot 200 + grain bullets with plenty of velocity to get it done. Both calibers are good for elk. Both calibers are more than needed for deer and antelope. For me the 280 is much more versitile.

Thanks Rebel

To compare the 338 to the venerable 30-06 is like comparing a pick up truck to a dump truck. Yeah, you can haul stuff in both but when you need to do some heavy work I know which I would choose.

I am not running down the 06. Its a great round. The 338 in my opinion is leaps and bounds above the 06. According to my data the 30-06 can push a 180gr. bullet at 2650 fps. (180 is as big as I have info on) where a 338 can push a 180grainer at nearly 3100 fps. At the muzzle the 06 delivers approx. 2900 ft/lbs of energy while the 338 is at 3600. At 250 yards the 338 is still delivering 2500 ft/lbs of energy while the 06 is below 2000. Now I don't have the data to support this but I am quite certain the 06 will perform even less admirably with heavier bullets, where the 338 really is just starting to shine.

My point was, if he was considering a new rifle, he should consider buying something that is significantly more powerful than his 270. With the 338 he could hunt anything on the continent including Brown bear.