Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 270 vs 30-06

Gotta toughen up a little....

Never explain yourself. Your friends don't need it and your enemies won't believe it.

Mule Dear,

In your experience does the 30/06 with a 180 grain bullet have any field game killing advantage over a 270 using a 150 grain bullet? Using the same type bullet at standard factory velocities out of the same length barrels.

idahoguy101

Mule Deer, not Mule Dear

My question is would a 200 grain 30 calibre bullet, at say 2700 fps, be needed to outperform someone shooting a 150 grain 270 Winchester factory standard load?

Bullhockey, everyone knows that.....nevermind (grin).

idahoguy,

In theory the .30-06 should do better with 180's than the .270's 150's, but I have never been able to see a real difference on game.

The 200 might get us into that "big bear" territory, but not many of us hunt really big bears with a .270 anyway. On non-dangerous game a 150-grain .270 bullet works pretty darn well, at least in my experience.

In fact a really deep-penetrating 130-grain .270 bullet, such as the Barnes TSX or Nosler E-Tip, works very well on pretty big game. I have seen the 130 TSX used on 1000-pound animals and it worked very well indeed.

As alluded to in an earlier post, for 99% of hunting the .270/.30-06 question was pretty well put to rest by the invention of the Nosler Partition over 60 years ago. Some of today's bullets make the question even less debatable. A 150 TSX or E-Tip in the .30-06 is plenty for just about any non-dangerous big game, whether elk or similar-sized African plains game (or at least that's been my experience). A 130 in the .270 does very similar things.

I think you could spend a lifetime using both in the field and not see any real difference....but there would not be any better way to spend a lifetime in my opinion.

I can say that I've never tromped around brown bear country with a 270, I have with a 30/06 loaded with 220gr Partitions.

Not a bad choice at all.

I have hunted grizzly country in Montana with a .270 in my hands (or a .280, which is indeed the same thing) and haven't felt particularly nervous. 180 Woodleighs in the .270 or .280 would be an option, but I have generally had 150 Partitions in the rifle.

While maybe not ideal as big bear stopper I certainly wouldn't throw the 270 down and run

I'm with Steelie on this one..220 NPTs in a good '06 and I would feel as good as I would with a .375...especially after reading some of Phil Shoemakers stuff on the '06 and big bears...

Ingwe

I agree but the 270 would better than a rock or hoping the bear would slipping on the brown stuff coming out of your pants while running away. Of course you may take a step back no matter the rifle in your hands and slip on same brown stuff

Yeah, Phil's a believer in that combo.

Before Nosler made a 220 Partition, Phil used to carry a .30-06 with 200 Partitions for back-up on brown bears. Of course, that was before he got his famous .458--and one "interesting" experience with the '06 and a wounded bear helped him make the decision to buy a .458. But he obviously survived....

Never seen a grizzly in Montana but I've seen salmon eating bears in Alaska and they tend to be on the large size! Fact is damn near anything shy of a rocket launcher still don't warm my heart when pushing bush.

Brad-
With all due respect, I couldn't disagree more. MMV, but I can't think of another writer that's as pragmatic and lends as much common sense to his prose than JB.

You have a point there...buttt...

On my first trip to Alaska ( fishing) I did what any good tourist would do, and strapped on my .44..
We ran into one of your bears...very gratefully he was completely cool...but my first thought on seeing him up close is......" this is gonna really suck..."

Ingwe

Steelhead,

Yes, brown bears do average bigger, and I have seen some VERY big ones, both on Kodiak and the Peninsula.

But we have a few bigger bears in Montana than a lot of people tend to believe. A few years ago some biologist caught a big boar that bottomed out a portable 800-pound scale--and as I recall that was in the spring. And a couple years ago another 800+ pound bear was hit and killed on a highway less than 100 miles from here.

The really big ones, however, are pretty shy. You're far more likely to run into a younger male--or a female with cubs.

The closest run-in I've had down here was in the Bob Marshall. I came around a corner in a trail one spring while hunting black bears, and found a 400-500 pound bear maybe 20 yards away, eating grass. I had a rifle in my hands (a 7mm Rem. Magnum) but he went the other way.

The only time I've been charged, though, was on Kodiak--twice on the same day by different females with cubs. Luckily they were bluffing, but it still got the blood flowing.

He disparages the originator of this thread, repeatedly, and gets a clean slate. Bullchit.

It's his MO... he thinks he's bringing down tablets from God but he's writing the same ballistic gack he's putting the fellow down for from Idaho. I'm calling Bullchit. Barsness never asks questions as he's apparently past learning. The only thing suspect, to borrow his sig line, is something other than his own opinion... I know a little man when I see one.

Looks like I need to make a beer run for this one!

Don't forget popcorn!

ingwe

If you want to hunt bears with Phil Shoemaker, he says a 30/06 is good to go. I don't know how he feels about .270 performance on bruins but Phil is as informed about Alaskan wildlife as anyone and he endorses using a 30/06.

Besides, having one rifle is boring.