Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 270 for Elk

Hey, I've shot two elk, so I'm an expert right? Ya, only two elk. Sheesh... 7mm Rem mag for one and a .30-06 for the other. Two hits, two elk.

Didn't use a .270 on either of them, 'cause I heard the .27's just bounce off elk...


Honestly, there is some great info on this thread. Thanks, and I'm seriously impressed with the experience level here.

Regards, Guy

That's it. I'm getting some spray tan...

What about the cankles?

Is your face tattooed on or are you like a cartoon character? Nice bull though...

That's spray-on camo... if you're shooting a 270 you need every advantage you can get.

Great bull, and AWSUM face camo!
Is that Mossy Oak's new Urban Face pattern?

Good eye!

Boy, the elk cartridge argument just never dies. It has a life of its own. I remember similar debates in gun magazines back in the 70's and 80's. Prior to that hunters used mostly what they owned. Of course there weren't so many options back 40+ years ago.

Still waiting.

For as many medium caliber rifle hunts I've had I could honestly say I would have been fine using a 30-06 or 270 on any of them. To me the 30-06 and the 270 are the epitome of ideal cartridges that would MAKE the ideal elk rifle a reality. Much of this has to do with the terrain I hunt in and the style of hunting I do but also the cartridges themselves are both very capable on Elk and larger size game. Not in an ordinal ranking but the 270 still has quite a wallop on game.

Time to split hairs about the 150NP from a 270 and a 150NP from a 280...

They are both good.... Who needs to split hairs on that one?... Damn, I'm still creeped out about Brad's face. I always though he had no neck, come to find out, he has no face...

Got one Bull using 140gr Accubonds behind superformance
powder. 1 Cow and one Bull using 150gr Nosler Partitions,
using Norma MRP. Going to use 140gr Accubonds next year,
with MRP or RL26.

I looked kinda like that one time when I took a shot at a bad angle and got clobbered by the scope.

He Camo'd his face so the game warden wouldn't recognize him

I might suggest you seem to be confusing data point with data source. When MD references his data set or the experiences of Boddington or Brad's experience they are data sources with multiple data points - not a single data point.

What you are hearing/reading, and the point of this particular post, is that there are data points and there are data sources. When JB speaks, especially of his 50 year record/data log, he references multiple data points acquired by a guy with a science background under multiple scenarios. He literally has numerous lifetimes of game animal records. To put it in terms you used related to your MIT professor - JB is the dean of the hunter nerd University of Big Game. I say that with all due respect - cause I are one as well. Brad, and a few others on here are your PhD elk hunters. I'll extrapolate from known data points - Brad will post a pic of a mature 6pt bull the first week of November 2017. Shot 3-5 miles from the nearest road with a non-magnum while reading a book and sipping a latte. The latte is made up, the book not so much 😎

I'll interpolate between my experiences, JBs notes, Brad's experiences and several others on the Fire with similar elk resumes and arrive at the thesis that a magnum is not required to kill an elk. I proved it to myself last year - twice.

My main point is not directed to those that have killed elk but to the guys like me 10-15 years ago thinking I needed a baby howitzer to dispatch an elk. In hindsight, I wish I would have resolved that piece of elk hunting sooner - and used a Kimber-esque rifle in a non-magnum cartridge. And frankly spent my time learning about lighter gear and backpacking. I would have a few more bulls under my belt had I done that.

You guys are a hoot!!!!!

Maybe the question should have been, "Who would not go elk hunting if you only had a .270"?

Answer, no-one.

I knew Montana was big country, but I never knew it could take you all day to go 20 yards.

Must be like Texas??

I was gonna call BS on that myself. I've killed elk in black timber and have shot them at less than 20 yards several times. If you can't see 20 yards, you have more issues than cartridge/bullet. In fact I tracked one last year I shot at 30 feet with only snow patches about 100 yards.