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

By gum, this thread DOES have legs after all........



Casey

I 'd like to give this one a shot from a serious point of view.

As far as experience with both cartridges,I have used these two to take scores of deer and dozens of hogs as well as the occcasional elk,bear,and antelope.

There are some subtle differences in the field IMHO.

The 30-06 tends to make bigger wound channels,exits more often,and tends to leave a bigger blood trail.

If you are hunting in thick,wet cover where blood trails are hard to follow,I think the 30-06 is a better choice.

If you are hunting in places where the size of the blood trail is not critical,take a 270,it tends to shoot flater and is a bit more pleasant to shoot.

This thread reminds me of the great pictorial in Playboy a few years ago featuring the blond set of triplets cavorting in the shower-room, and trying to choose which one you'ld like to be stuck in the cabin with. You can still get great enjoyment out of trying to choose the best one, even if you can't go wrong with either one of them.

This is enough to make me want both..... Good synopsis by Britt.

I like the analogy to the blondes as well....who says this thread has no substance!

Here's a few pics of the legs this thread has...

I have two sharp broadheads left for my bow, will not buy more until I shoot these! I get a kick out of people who think they are going into a war zone and carry 20 rounds of ammunition on or about their person when deer hunting that is unless they are hunting with a .223 ( )

ruraldoc,

Excellent post, with some good information.

On the other hand, I'd like to quote an old elk hunter I know here in Montana, who killed a pile of elk with a .270. I told him once that some people claim the .270 doesn't leave much of a blood trail.

He snorted and said, "Son, with a .270 you don't NEED a blood trail."

Ok, let's put this to rest if the gentle readers here will allow. For now.. If possible. [/b]All things being equal[b] the .270 is a "little gentler"; a " little flatter" on the asset side; the '06 is is just a "little bigger" on the asset side. We will focus on assets for brevity and clarity. Well, guess that's it. Remember all other things, aspects, foci are equal.

Application: would all agree the .270 can be [/i] fittingly [i] well used from varmint to bull elk or their equivalence assuming intelligent choice of bullets? Ok. I realize "fittingly" is the pregnant-with-meaning word here. Would all agree that the '06 is [/i] fittingly [i] appropriately used from, say, pronghorn to AK moose with of course this same diligent attention to bullets? Ok. Remember, all other things are equal.

So, on final argument, there is tremendous overlap in appropriate use with some slight but noticeable differences which may give an advantage to one or other at the edges of there application.

Well, I'm convinced.

Since I'm pretty sure the statute has run,let's just say that I know 'a guy' who used one 150 grain partition from a 270 to make two blood trails in the snow that led a short distance to two very dead bull elk,not an intentional event but things do happen.

Hunting is like a box of chocolates.......

I'm telling..

Oddly enough (or not...grin) but I've seen more 30 cal bullets inside dead elk than .270 bullets inside. Fact is over the last 30 some years I can recall finding exactly two .270 bullets and both of those were in bruins. Of all the deceased elk I've been around taken with the .270 (and there's been a lot of them) I/we've never had a .270 slug no exit and make another hole.

Can't say that for the 30's, fact is friend Brad consistently finds 30 cal bullets in his dead elk. And yeah I get the fact that it's been dead elky's.

Point being, by my way of thinking and by my experience I'd not concur that I've observed better blood trails with the 06 over the .270. But, that's just been my experience and we know that may well vary from people to people.

Of all the elk I've taken and seen taken with the big 7's I can recall only finding one slug and that was from my bull from last year. (150 TSX that lost it's petals). Take that back, my bud and I found a slug in a small bull he'd taken with his STW, the bullet hit the bull (from top angle) thru the spine, then thru a front and just under the off skin, the bullet was a 175 Horn.

Take it for what it's worth and toss another log on the Fire please.

Dober

Said volunteer that I found the 150 TSX in

Dober

Dober, interesting about the exits.

Your WolfBull was a big one!

That's a mighty nice volunteer you found there to test that TSX! I'm thinking I would keep a semblance of him on the wall to remember the occasion.

Yea, tis but even with the same cartridge, load, powder bullet, rifle etc., there is variation even in animals of the same species in penetration, presence of exits, blood trails, running dead distance, etc. again, because we can't eliminate all the variables.

So we've probably come full circle to a guy probably has to kill a 100 critters with each, minimum, to begin to see the subtle differences between the two and of course with the same bullet type and SD.

The rest-these perceived differences and experiences-is pretty well anecdotal and really statistically meaningless.

Thx Sam, did you get your deer/elk/lope apps in yet?

Dober

Yep, got 'em in a week or two ago.

Even got my Rez apps signed and in the mail.....(grin)

No doubt it would take a lot of critters to truly confirm how this or that round works, but I've found over the years as the amount of game I observe taken with certain combo's that I get a better idea as to the trends. And when I made my comments about finding bullets that is what I was going off of.

And like I've always said, use a bullet long enough and sooner or later it'll give one reason to go hmm...?

Dober

Really?..Hummm..Not knocking you sir buttttt.When the old Silver Tips/Bronze Points etc etc worked for years...

Why is it different now coming from a dedicated Nosler user?Sheeet...

Hunting is getting to hard for me to understand, these days.No slam intended,Mark.

Jayco