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

I just purchased my first .270W on the recommendation of a friend. He has hunted elk with them for years. He told me that he never had any problems with this caliber and loved the accruacy that it has. He only shoots 130gr for elk with many success stories!

Will you share your 150 gr NP load?

Thanks
dt

I see no reason to ever go above a 130 grain bullet, unless you rifle won't shoot them, which is highly unlikely.

For elk, just use premium bullets.

Well I hate to say it because they are both over Nosler max. So if you try these be sure to start LOWER. I kept adding more powder and the groups kept getting better until I got to these points. Nothing real exotic...Id say a lot of folks have used these exact loads and gotten great accuracy out of them. The 130 gr NP load was Fed brass...WLR primers...59.7 gr of H4831sc. The 150 NP load used the same components and 57.5 gr of the same H4831SC. Id say that half the handloaders out there use these same loads as 4831 shoots like it was made for a 270.

I havent chronied these so I dunno the velocity but I would think its below the book speeds quite a bit as this particular gun seems to have a slightly loose chamber. Both loads will go slightly less than an inch. Running around .7-.9 depending on how the loose nut behind the trigger performs..lol.

It's pretty hard to get enough H4831 into a .270 Win case to get in trouble with 130 or 150 gr.
YMMV, but I doubt it.

Thanks!! I am still a newbie for the most part to reloading and thats kind of what i was thinking cause that case is getting pretty full when you get close to 60 grains. That RL-19 with the 7-08 is sort of the same way...you cant seem to get enough in the case to hurt anything...lol. I dont have any pressure signs with either one of those loads and the next step up the groups started to open slightly so I called it good.

I've killed 25+ elk with a 270. Frontwards, backwards, sideways, longerange, and up close and personal.

I would recommend a stouter bullet than the Hornady--although I've killed a fair number with conventional bullets, a Partition, TSX or other premium bullets makes a difference in a cartridge like the 270........


Casey

The 270 has always been a good elk caliber. With todays bullets its better than ever. Any good stoutly constructed bullet from 130 grain on up will git er done.

Like O'Connor said, you dont need a cannon to kill elk, you need hunting skill and shooting ability. Just like with every other rifle.

That is "PERFECT" for elk, I have mostly used the my .270 with 150gr partitions, it has about 20 notches on it for elk.

The .270 has put more Elk in our families freezer than any other caliber.I and we used the 130 grain Nosler and the longest shot was 425 yards on a large Bull trotting and he dropped and rolled and rolled down the mountain to the hit.

We chose the 130 over the 150 because we hunt everythig at once and the 150 seemed not to drop Deer nearly as quick as the 130,but that it what we saw and chose.The only bad experience on Elk with the .270 was with the new(at the time)140 grain Fail Safe.It just penciled through causing little damage and after a nice buck,like in the rodeo,he took off for a long and miserable,packout.The next day a nice 4X4 Mulie did the same thing.Hair flew and he ran to the bottom of the canyon and who said Deer are an easy packout?

In answer to your question..Yes for Elk but for all species on one hunt,the 130 grain is better,in my opinion only.

Jayco

82dodge: I have killed two Bull Elk with the 270 Winchester caliber.
I have not had the time to read the other 7 pages of this posting and I am sure it probably has been emphasized by other 270 users, but bullet placement is critical with this (and any other caliber for that matter!) when Hunting Elk.
A Bull Elk shot in the heart/lungs area (avoiding the shoulders) IS a dead Elk!
I have three friends (who are long time and excellent Elk Hunters) who use the 25/06 Remington to kill Bull Elk with!
Again a shot to the heart/lungs (avoiding shoulder bones!) and said Elk is in the bag!
On occasion these Hunters (those who use the 270 Winchester or the 25/06 Remington) will have to pass on a shot or be patient for the proper shot to be offered - this is part of smart Hunting though.
I killed a fine 6x6 Bull Elk, year before last, with my 270 Winchester (Remington 700 Sendero) using Nosler 130 gr. Ballistic Tips. I was mainly Hunting Mule Deer at the time (on public lands) and the situation came about where I harvested the Bull with my go to Mulie rig.
I now have two Rifles to choose from when I am Hunting Elk exclusively - the first is a Remington 700 Classic in 7mm Remington Magnum and my newest Rifle is a Tikka T-3 Lite in caliber 338 Federal!
Elk can rumble off carrying a lot of "lead" - I have seen this happen to other Hunters on several occasions, unfortunately.
With careful bullet placement the 270 Winchester with 130 gr., 140 gr. or 150 gr. bullets will bring home an Elk for you - no if's, and's or but's about it!
I personally would limit my 270 Winchester use on Bull Elk to under 400 yards and the closer one could stalk to said Bull Elk the better!
Best of luck with your new Rifle!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

If thats the case than I guess its safe to say: If you have to close the distance to 300 yds. your not much of a rifleman.

Now that I likey!

Dober

Big difference between hunting and shooting. Many people get the two mixed up.
Some do one or the other, some do both, some do neither!
(fire suit on!)

I'm trying to get within the standard deviation around the 300 yard mark so that I can be both....

I'm quite certain its safe to say:
If you dont close the distance to as close as possible before shooting, thereby making as sure a shot as possible, you need to rethink your hunter ethics.

Mmmm... maybe not so safe to say. :-)

I mean, think about it. Did you get "as close as possible" for each of your shots on deer? What if it's 75 yards away, but you could MAYBE close it to 70 yards? Etc. There's a point at which it's a gimmee; take the shot, kill the deer, no need to get closer. Point being- the "gimmee" point will be different for different people.

If the shot is within the capabilities of the shooter, and the caliber will carry the necessary... "stuff" to kill cleanly at the range at which the shot is taken... then it's an ethical shot.

Let's remember, we are using a HUGE crutch, in a high-powered, scoped rifle, to kill animals here! There's nothing "fair" about it. It must seem like some sort of evil black magic to the critters, to have humans be able to kill them from hundreds of yards away and all.

Anyway, lodgepole, i'm not picking on you, just pointing out that it is VERY possible to take a perfectly ethical shot without closing the distance to as close as possible.

-jeff

Fair enough Jeff.

Its just that for me a big part of the experience is getting as close as I can before the critter gets the bad news. My grandpa drilled it in to me that it was wrong to shoot from far when you could get close and that lesson stuck with me.

I'd much rather have the satisfaction of knowing I was good enough to get close than the satisfaction of making a long shot with a scoped rifle.

To each his own I guess.

So Pat, tell us about your kind of hunting what parts of the world do you hunt and whay types of critters?

Thx
Dober

FWIW moose, black bear, deer (3 species) in BC (hunted close to all 4 corners of it). That enough to have an opinion?