Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 270 cal 150 grain OK for elk?

I have never in my life owned a .270. I have never hunted with one, either, not a single living thing. But this load of crap that suddenly the .270 isn't adequate for elk is annoying. People have been killing elk with the .270 since it was introduced in 19-freakin-25. That's a long, long time. Countless elk have fallen to it. Countless! Why do you think the .270, along with the .30-06, has endured so long as a versatile do-anything caliber? The newer cartridges are great inventions, and they work great, but their mere creation has not debilitated the .270, not rendered a 130 or 150 gr. bullet from one any less effective. If anything, the .270 is more effective than it ever was due to great strides in bullet construction and design. The same people that think a .270 can't kill an elk also think a .30-30 can't kill an elk. I guess all these folks killiing elk with bows and arrows aren't really killing them, either. Sheeesh!!! This ain't rocket science or nuclear physics.

amen brother!-keith

"496 to be prezact, one 130 TSX on the front right, it went back and exited the opposite hams and said volunteer pitched over on his nose.

Not quite a electrocution but darn close!

Dober"

Ah come on Dober, we all know you gotta have 2000 foot pounds of energy to dimple an elks hide. You ran low on that figure at about 210 yards! Maybe the resulting ricochet broke an insulator and dropped a power line on that bull. He really was electrocuted!

Darn it, I bet that was it, should of been more observant.....<g>

Dober

Then again there was the one we shot right @ 650 with a 130 Sierra BT that went 3 steps and did an Olga Korbit down the mtn....must of been by the power line on that one to?

I agree with that statement whole heartedly, granted I don't have nearly the elk (5 cows) some of the other guys out here have. All my elk have fallen to the .270 Win and the 150 grain Partition except one and that was to an old .30-06 and Win 180 grain ammunition. Farthest shot on elk to date is 250 yards.

I miss ole Need One on threads like this


Mike

I've taken two elk (one bull, one cow) and a large muley buck with the 130gr. tsx in the last year. All three were in the 170 to 180 yard range. All three dead. The deer was a quartering towards shot, and it knocked him on his azz, complete penetration. The cow was broadside, broke the near side upper leg bone, through rib #4, top of the heart, lungs, out rib #3 and the far side shoulder area, bullet exited and not recovered. She went 60 yards on 3 legs and a lot of will to live, but she was dead on her feet. A couple of real impressive performances with that bullet.

I'd say the 130 tsx's do just fine. I wouldn't hesitate with it out to 500 yards, which is as far as I care to take a poke at a critter.

I have not hunted elk with a 270, but I would feel very comfortable using a 150gr Swift Aframe if I had to.

If I knew then what I know now I would have never rebarrelled a .270 to .35 Whelen for an elk hunt. I love my Whelen and will always reach for it for game over 400 pounds but its more emotional then practical. Im gonna bet the 130TSX will out penetrate a typical cup and core from a .35, shoot a whole lot flatter and be much easier on the shoulder in the process.

Well I'm going on my first elk hunt this year and I was sure my Savage in 270 was just marginal over 200 yards. So a quartering shot @ 300yards with a premium bullet is going to get the job done?

I made the important part bold there.

Personally, I think the premium bullet is more important at SHORT ranges, though.

But either way, use the best dang bullet money can buy, whatever THAT is, for hunting elk.

-jeff

Fully concurr.....I have a .30-06 that I'd use first but if I only had a .270 Winchester, I'd go elk hunting and never think twice about a different gun and the A-Frames are a good kick along for that old cartridge!

Oh well, I've been the main entree at a barby before so here goes. First, we all need to realize that even semi-cannons aren't effective on big bulls if the shot is missplaced. Second, even pipsqueak cartridges, in the hands of a calm and well versed hunter can be plumb lethal on big bulls, and I have been there to actually see both events.

So, as a sort of guideline to start the argument, use only premium, well proven bullets for the big bulls. Then with your ballistics tables in hand, find the maximum range at which your load delivers 1400 to 1500 ft-pounds of energy and confine your shooting at God's favorite creatures to within that distance.

Now, before you fire up your flamethrower, read paragraph one again.

Wayne

I don't care what bullet you use in your 270, for thick timber a bigger bullet is better and thats why I also rebarrelled my 270 to 35 Whelen. I also don't believe any premium bullet makes the 270 a good quartering away elk rifle.

Can you explain to me why a "bigger" bullet is better in thick timber. I have seen a lot of studies, and none have shown that a bigger bullet bucks brush any better than a smaller one. In fact I have seen studies that show the opposite effect. A bigger bullet is more likely to hit a branch due to it's larger diameter. and once a branch is hit, they all deflect.
Is there a dynamic here that I'm not aware of?

The absolute wrong concept is that a timber rifle is designed to "buck brush". A good timber rifle is short and easily penetrates the animal from bad angles, breaking bone, making wide wound channels and exiting. The trick to timber hunting is being able to shoot quickly, accurately and avoiding as much intervening shrubbery as possible. However if your main pursuit is shooting brush a 12 gauge loaded with buckshot will tear up as much brush as anything out there.

There is some controversy, here on the 'Fire, as to whether a "Timber Elk Rifle" is even a valid concept. Plenty of guys think that your regular rifle is your timber rifle.

I am in rikt300's camp... a short, easy handling rifle with plenty of oomph is a good thing in the woods. If it is a fast repeater, so much the better. This is not a necessity, just a nicety.

-jeff

I hunted with some guys several years ago that used the 270 and 280 with 140 partitions and they had no problems getting their bulls.

I would however use a better bullet, I've seen a couple bulls soak up lead and the 150 HDYs are rather soft. I load that bullet for a few 270s for deer and they often fail to exit on small whitetails. Usually mushroomed on the off side. I would be learly of shooting a bull with them unless it was a perfect rib/lung/rib presentation, but those just don't always happen. I can see the HDy failing on a shoulder impact very easily. Go with a Aframe, Partition, NAB, or Scir and be done with the worry.

Good Luck

Reloader

The 270 and a good 150 gr. bullet will work if you do your part and take broadside shots at reashonalbe ranges up to 300 yards. I used it for years when elk came out on the open slopes in Colorado in the evening and it worked with both 130 and 150 gr. bullets equally well.

Where I hunt elk today in the black timber swamp holes of Idaho I have seen a lot of elk wounded with the lighter rifles as all shots are going away from the hunter in very thick growth, so I went to the .338 and 300 gr. bullets or the .375 and 350 gr. Woodlieghs and that puts the elks nose in the dirt with a going South shot..Another benifit to this is my elk don't go to the bottom of the drainage where getting them out is pure hell....

I never reallized the 270 had so many fans. This is good to see. I have been using a 270 for nearly 15 years and have killed tons of deer with it. I wondered about it for elk because I do plan on a trip in the next 2-3 years. I have developed 2 awesome loads for it just for that reason using the 130 and 150 grain np's that group extremely well!