Its always interesting to note that the further away from moose country you get, the bigger a gun it takes to kill them. Where I live, people actually get to hunt moose on a regular basis and there are more guys carrying non magnums than there are people packing magnums. We cant hunt grizzly in Alberta but there are plenty around, so the protection aspect is more than just hypothetical. I've killed a half dozen moose and couple elk with the .270 win. I've tried most of the more popular "all around cartridges" and prefer the .270, never seen any need for a magnum. Bears just don't do it for me but if I ever need to shoot a grizzly with the .270 I'm sure it will do the trick about as well as anything else. I want to try a 338-06 some day, and maybe that will unseat the .270 as "king of the all arounders" in my books.

Personally I feel if you cannot kill it cleanly with a 30-06 with an accurate good load using a proper bullet for that use, you shouldn't be shooting at it in the 1st place! If for elk only, the .33 to .35 cartridges are hard to beat, with my favorite 35 Whelen I built years ago doing a great job, but for all round the 30-06 is the clear winner. There's no critter on the north american continent I'd feel undergunned on with a 30-06 with accurate load worked up using the Nosler 180 gr Accubond. I recently semi-retired most of my big game rifles to make my Browning A-Bolt in 30-06 my 1 go to rifle for everything. A 150 gr Ballistic Tip for deer and under and the 180 gr Accubond for everything bigger.