270 win vs elk

[fps plus]

Well my oldest son worked extremely hard and was rewarded with a 5 point bull.
Can one imagine that it was taken with a 270 Winchester and 130 nosler ballistic tip . Bullet passed thru at 250 yards . I guess the elk didn’t get the memo to wear his steel vest . One would be lead to believe it can’t be done with all the hype on “modern”bullets

[Dick284]

OMG, how does your son live with himself using such frangible bullets on a critter like an elk?






Kudos to your boy. BTW!

I was witness to the immediate after effects of a 5x5 getting dumped by a 7-08 with 139 SST’s just the other day.
Whodathunkit?
Missed the near side shoulder but got through that sides shoulder meat, busted a rib, and lodged in the far side shoulder(the butcher will find it).
Died where it stood too.

[cornuteo]

The .270 has taken 7 Elk for me... 130 grain partitian for my first and then TTSX 130 g Barnes for the rest. Being confident with your firearm is key. Practice so that when the opportunity presents itself you are 100% confident in your abilities.
Congrats and enjoy you well deserved reward.

[JBE]

I have taken 6 elk with my 270 husky using 130 gr over the years. I never knew it wasn't he right caliber or bullet weight to use until I read it on the internet

[270person]

I'm having a hard time believing you. Everyone knows the 270 is an antiquated cartridge incapable of taking game larger than whitetail deer.

If your son had been a real sportsman he'd have used a 6.5 Bleedsmore and waited for that elk to get to 600yds for the same results.

In all seriousness, 4 Yukon grizzlies taken to date by a guide/friend of mine, all with 270. Maybe Mr O'Connor wasn't off his nut afterall.

[Redneck Tommy]

Shot my elk at a 528 yards this year. 7mm-08 140 Sierra pro-hunt through the lungs passed through and I was expecting it to bounce off

[fps plus]

I think the 270 win is a pretty reasonable choice as cartridge for a flat shooting , decent energy , relatively light recoil. Seems pretty vanilla these days , but tough to beat .

[JCart]

Originally Posted by fps plus

I think the 270 win is a pretty reasonable choice as cartridge for a flat shooting , decent energy , relatively light recoil. Seems pretty vanilla these days , but tough to beat .

Congrats on the Elk!

Yup when you compare ballistics at reasonable distances, felt recoil, knock down power, tough to beat the venerable 270.
j

[Howard Hutchinson]

Big congrats to your Son! Love hearing these stories...Think he'd let the old man post a pic or 2 of his prize?

[Jims83cj5]

Couldn’t you just be happy for him

[58thecat]

Pics or It didn't happen.....wayyyy undercartridged for such a beast....

[fps plus]

If I could post pictures i would . A Special rifle for him as my dad won it at a Rocky Mountain elk foundation banquet and gave it to my son when he turned 14 .

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by fps plus

I think the 270 win is a pretty reasonable choice as cartridge for a flat shooting , decent energy , relatively light recoil. Seems pretty vanilla these days , but tough to beat .

IMO it strikes a balance between those three variables that is very hard to equal, let alone beat.

I've never taken an elk with one, but have killed a half dozen moose without issue, many were one shot kills and none of them went more than 40 yards. I just use 150 grain corelocts and get good results.

[Cory]

Used a .270 for years with great success on moose way back before the draw system. Sold it and went for a .30-06 after being told it was better. Any animal shot with either died all the same. Don’t get lost in hype. Them old cartridges always have performed, and critters didn’t get any tougher!
Now shooting a .280 Rem or one of my two .308’s if I’m not using my traditional sidelock muzzleguns.
Cory

[Coiloil37]

I’ve probably helped eat forty + elk that were shot with a .270 and killed at least eight with it myself. IMO it doesn’t do anything the ‘06 doesn’t do better which is to be expected with the smaller bore/ corresponding expansion ratio but it’s certainly a good cartridge and more then enough for elk/moose.


A few pics wouldn’t hurt the thread.

[270person]

Originally Posted by Coiloil37

IMO it doesn’t do anything the ‘06 doesn’t do better.

I'd be interested in what you think those are because I don't see much at all. I'd even give the 06 the benefit of shooting 165's vs 150's.

I use 06 brass with 277 (150gr), and 358 (225gr) bullets out front and can't figure out why people bother with the conventional 06 chamberings, especially vs the 358, but to each his own. Versatile brass though.

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by fps plus

If I could post pictures i would . A Special rifle for him as my dad won it at a Rocky Mountain elk foundation banquet and gave it to my son when he turned 14 .

Now that is a keeper....congrats.....Jack would be proud too....

[350 mag]

My wife sure likes her .270....I always thought of it as a "lady's gun"????

[35 whelen]

MY last 3 elk 270 win

[Flight01]

Originally Posted by Redneck Tommy

Shot my elk at a 528 yards this year. 7mm-08 140 Sierra pro-hunt through the lungs passed through and I was expecting it to bounce off

“That's why I say hey man, nice shot
What a good shot man”

Love the 7-08, so underrated .

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by 270person

I'd be interested in what you think those are because I don't see much at all. I'd even give the 06 the benefit of shooting 165's vs 150's.

I use 06 brass with 277 (150gr), and 358 (225gr) bullets out front and can't figure out why people bother with the conventional 06 chamberings, especially vs the 358, but to each his own. Versatile brass though.

From what I've seen, the 06's advantages mostly just exist on paper... same could be said of the .270 though too. IMO, once you get past the theoretical hairsplitting BS, I think one has to get fairly imaginative to say that either cartridge does anything significantly better than the other.

To answer your last question however, a pretty good reason to shoot an 06 is that its the second best round in the world

[HVA7mm]

What's a 270? LOL

[Redneck 7]

Originally Posted by HVA7mm

What's a 270? LOL

Hahaha. Just read this whole thread and then got to this post and had a good chuckle.

Personally I’ve never hunted with a .270, but it does get the job done. I didn’t know what the hype of the 06 was when I got my .308, then I bought a 30-06 and now I know what the hype is all about. I’m sure once I hunt with a .270 I’d have the same feeling of realizing what the hype is about. At the end of the day the freezer is full and memories are made.

[Stinky Coyote]

The .270 win was a legit contender in the days of much more simple bullet tech. With modern bullets it’s a super star. A true 600 yard cartridge with 2000 fps impact at that distance. Solid bc & sd with plenty of speed. It’s my favorite of all the last gen cartridges, it’s math is also the most modern if you care. If not, it’s definitely a can’t go wrong cartridge that doesn’t get as much love as it deserves imo.

[HVA7mm]

Originally Posted by HVA7mm

What's a 270? LOL

Originally Posted by Redneck 7

Hahaha. Just read this whole thread and then got to this post and had a good chuckle.

Personally I’ve never hunted with a .270, but it does get the job done. I didn’t know what the hype of the 06 was when I got my .308, then I bought a 30-06 and now I know what the hype is all about. I’m sure once I hunt with a .270 I’d have the same feeling of realizing what the hype is about. At the end of the day the freezer is full and memories are made.

It was all in jest. I have a 270, a 30-06 and a 7MM RM. I like them all and they all work just fine. If only I had a .280, .284, 7mm-08, .308 etc.

[teledogs]

Congratulations to your son! Nice to see his hard work rewarded!

I have a BSA CF2 in 270 that I have never hunted with. It was willed to me. I should get it out and shoot the dust off of it.

[270person]

Originally Posted by Bushleague

To answer your last question however, a pretty good reason to shoot an 06 is that its the second best round in the world

First or third world?

[kujoseto]

Fake news. Everyone knows a 270 cannot kill elk.

Congrats

[Coiloil37]

Originally Posted by 270person

I'd be interested in what you think those are because I don't see much at all. I'd even give the 06 the benefit of shooting 165's vs 150's.

I use 06 brass with 277 (150gr), and 358 (225gr) bullets out front and can't figure out why people bother with the conventional 06 chamberings, especially vs the 358, but to each his own. Versatile brass though.

I don’t want to derail the OP’s thread so if you want to go back and forth with this let’s start a new thread.

I say that because for pretty much exactly the same amount powder, shot from rifles I’ve owned with 24” barrels the numbers look like this.

130’s
.270 ~ 3100 FPS
‘06 ~ 3400 FPS

.270 with 140 ~ 3000 FPS
‘06 with 165 ~ 3000 FPS

.270 with 150 ~ 2900 FPS
‘06 with 180 ~ 2860 FPS

Those are the numbers my rifles produced. I would rather shoot a 165 from my ‘06 then a 140 from my .270 if I’m burning 52-55 grains of powder and getting 3k FPS muzzle velocity. If we go bullet weight for bullet weight the ‘06 has more velocity across the board.
The numbers got a lot worse for the .270 when I shot a 22” barrel. I could only get 2800 from a 150 grain and 3000 from a 130.
Overall the rifles are the same weight, recoil is close enough I couldn’t tell the difference, bolt throw is the same, reloading costs a wash, bullet diameters are close enough and I don’t think they truely matter but in the context of killing stuff a bigger hole is always better... This is to say nothing of the fact the .270 has three common/good bullet weight options being 130/140/150 grains. The ‘06 has a much wider range of options. When I evaluated the two, my hypothetical list went on a bit further but the end result was the .270 got sold.

My old 25-06 lost the same argument to my .270. It was a nice rifle but didn’t do anything the .270 didn’t do better. I stopped at the ‘06 cause I was to lazy to have something built bigger but the 338-06, 35 whelen and 375/06 get even more from the same case. The thing the bigger bores lose to the ‘06 is they need heavier bullets and your asking a lot from that sized case when your shooting 225-300 grain bullets. The BC is low on the 160-200 grain options, bullets built to expand within that velocity window start to become more of a challenge to find and the overall versatility of the cartridge pales in comparison to the .308 options.
It’s tough to argue with the math when the radius is squared. A smaller bore always comes at a price.

[fps plus]

Scratch a line in the dirt and let’s line up and start ****ing .

Jack O”Connor wrote about the 270 and wrote a lot of hunting stories young guys dreamed of.