The original question was whether a 130 grain .270 Win will kill elk. It has been done enough time to make it moot.
A couple years ago I was zeroing my rifle prior to hunting Utah mule deer. There was a well-put-up, studly dude at a bench next to me. He looked to be in his mid-30's. He was sighting in his brand new .300 Win Mag for his upcoming Montana deer hunt. I loaned him my shooting rests because it was obvious that he was having a lot of difficulty. After maybe 16 rounds, he had an approx 6" group, high left. I asked him if he was going to zero his rifle. He told me that he couldn't fire another round from his rifle. His shoulder was too sore.
Before he left, he told me that he was probably going to hunt with his uncle's .25/06 Rem, an excellent mule deer cartridge.
I'll guess that he had read gun magazines that extolled the virtues of the .300 Win Mag, and indeed, the .300 Win Mag is an excellent cartridge. But its recoil is substantial making bench shooting, which is where confidence is instilled, most difficult if not outright painful. And we can't forget that big recoil causes flinching. Flinching causes misses.
I agree with Mac 100%. A hunter who uses a suitable rifle, and we have already established that a 130 grain bullet through a bull's heart will be fatal 100% of the time, and is comfortable shooting it from benches thus building confidence, will be far better suited for elk hunting than a .300 Win Mag that he can't shoot.
I agree with Mac again. After many Rocky Mountain hunting adventures, I've learned that I'd much rather carry a lighter .270 Win than a heavy magnum.
The largest cartridge that I can shoot from a bench without recoil beating the heck out of me is my 7MM Rem Mag. I have fired big rifles. I don't like their recoil. If a hunter wants to believe that a .300 Win Mag will kill a bull deader than will a 7MM Rem Mag, or .270 Win for that matter, I'm good. After all, what another hunts with is his business, not mine. However, I'm going with dead is dead. It gets awfully deep when a hunter tries to tell me that an elk cares what reduced its blood pressure to zero. All that matters is that a bullet ends its ability to pump oxygenated blood to its brain. And everything living is dead when its brain no longer works. That is factual.
I'll bet the hunter with a .270 Win that he can shoot rather than a hunter with a .300 Win Mag he can't every time.
Bullets that stop oxygenated blood flow will result in dead animals.
More than a few years ago I bought a 1st gen syn stocked stainless steel M700 in 300 Win Mag used but barely for $360. Didn't look like it had been shot much and it had Burris rings and bases on it. I put a Leupold Vari X 3 in 2.5 x 8x on it. I didn't really need it but my other 300 Win Mag weighed 2 lbs more with scope and I was looking for weight reduction in an all-weather pkg. The M700 had not been shot much probably because the Tupperware stock and hard as a rock recoil pad was a vicious kicker,about knock you out recoil. Hard to shoot something well when you are getting the hell whopped out of you. But going down to a 270 would not give me the performance I wanted, so I just looked around at the next gunshow until I found one of those prefit Limbsaver recoil pads that really aren't just a drop in replacement. So I fitted it correctly and went back to shooting, now the recoil was more like what my ADL 270 and 150's produced. Back on track with power, accuracy, in a shootable rifle.no, I don't think new guys at shooting need a 300 mag, they need to learn how to shoot first. Reducing your felt recoil doesn't allways mandate a smaller cartridge either. Some folks like to badmouth 300 Magnums are you one of them? I have seen elk killed with 270's and fine job done at that but that is no excuse for bashing 300 magnums that are ready to be used for larger game. Magnum Man
