Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Using 270 for Elk

How many are using a 270 to hunt elk ?

What loads are you using ?

Used it on one elk 140 gr. SST and I4350... Good lung shot, it ran about 150 yards or so... Maybe a bit farther..

not currently, but I've killed elk in the past with the 130 Hornady spire point , 140 TBBC, and 150 TSX. Can't say I saw a measurable difference among them -- or between the .270 and the .280/160gr or 30-06 180 gr loads that I've used

My loaner BPR killed two last year with 140 Interlocks. Cheap and easy like me..

I like "cheap and easy", I'm kind of the same way: I've been shooting the 150gr. partition seconds from SPS, thinking they would make good elk medicine.

.270 Win with 150 grain NPT seconds from SPS worked well on the elk I shot last year. Bringing out the heavy hitter, 30-06, this year. The .270 is the back-up rifle in camp.

I think you'll be very happy. I run the 150PTG's in the 270WSM and it'll be my son's back up this Fall.

Scotty, you know me. I'll be packing my Alaskan, but may slip the 270 in a couple days, just to see if the mojo changes.

Unless you are close enough to make head shots, 270 is not going to work on elk.

So if you are too close, you have to watch out for the ricochets too... Damned if you do and damned if you don't... .. Seriously though. The elk I've killed with my 338 and 9.3x62mm could have been kilt just as easily with a 270. I remember thinking that to myself after taking the shots.

Any decent hunting bullet, from 130 gr and up is going to work- some bullets are slightly better than others, you can avoid a whole lot of sleepless nights by loading and shooting a Nosler partition in 130 to 150 grs what ever shoots best in your rifle, H-4831 or the IMR version 58 to 60 gr will get you there, work up 10% below those numbers- 1. 5 to 2 inch groups is plenty accurate for big game shooting. This is the easy part, the hard part is finding and elk to shoot, an even harder than that is packing it out, the best part sitting down to a good elk venison meal on a cold winters night!

Excellent post gmsemel. I was worried my rifle wasn't accurate enough, but it falls in the "1.5 inch group" category. It's pretty consistent, but not as good of a shooter as my 30-06 (or any other big game rifle I own, for that matter)....



Not real proud of this group, but it should get the job done if an elk presents itself. Since the OP was asking about loads, this is the one I'll be using this year. It's not the norm H or I 4831 JOC load, but I have tons of IMR 4350 on hand and running low on H4831. It is what it is...

As a kid my cousins all carried 270s and I of course carried a "magnum". I always thought that my gun was superior. Now that I have some age and wisdom, I remember they shot just as many elk and deer as I did and their shoulder hurt alot less than mine did.

I'm loading 57.0 gr of H4831 and 150 Partitions for my dad. They pretty well duplicate the ballistics of the Federal Premium ammo line with the same bullet. ~2769 fps on avg out of his Tikka.

I'll caution you that this load is in excess of published max in the Nosler book.

Pop plans to put one through a bulls lungs ~49 days from today, and I sure as hell hope he does.

That'll work!

Bsa1917, you are kidding about your rifle not being accurate enough, right? For a ten shot group with Nosler Partitions, that ain't bad shoot'n. Besides elk are big targets, not requiring target grade accuracy.

Well, most of my rifles shoot better. I do really like this rifle though. I plan to sneak it into the mix of rifles this season. We'll find out if it has good mojo or not..

The elk I took with the .270 although well hit and not stress, did run much farther than those I took with my .300 or .340... Could just have been that elk..

Actually thinking of going the other way this year.
Due to a shoulder injury, I'm considering using a 6mm Rem. 600 this year.
It's the only rifle in the safe I can shoulder.
I have little doubt that it will work.
But a .270 will damn sure do it.

Good luck mcmurphrjk. You hunting the ruby mountains this year??

Been using a 270 for (mostly) the past 40+ years.

150gr Partition--I got a lifetime supply of 2nds.

And pay no attention to ingwe.......

Casey

10 shots into less than 1 1/2 inches says more good things about the shooter, than a tiny 3 shot group says about the rifle and load.

Without a doubt, you are good to go.....

Casey

Lots of Ingwe's have fallen to a 270.

My brother has recovered all the several bull elk he has shot with the venerable 270, often known as the unbelted magnum, with 140 gr Hornady interlocks.

It'll get it done in style.

Antelope just south of Elko, Deer, East Humboldt's / Ruby's, Elk north of the Ruby's, near Jarbidge.
Maybe by Elk season I'll be able to shoot my Model 70's again.

I've shot a truckload of elk, about 50-50 with a 270 and a 300 WSM. I haven't seen any difference in how far they've gone after the shot. None have ever gone more than 100 yds, most less than 10. I pick my shots and have passed up quite a few questionable ones.

It will work. Just put a 100-grain premium in it and go.

Bsa1917hunter, let us know how you do and good luck. My hunt starts Sept.20th, can't wait.

Thanks super T. Good luck to you as well. Sept. 20th. will be here before you know it. My hunt is second season general bull and starts in Nov.

I've killed no less than half a dozen elk with a .270 Win with 150g NP's and they all were bang flops, so to make a statement like that is not responsible. The 270 will kill an elk if you put a bullet through the boiler room, every time.

270 with 130gr barnes TTSX as a back up to my 06.

I have shot several elk with the 270 Winchester, mostly with handloads using H4831 or R22 and 130 and 150 grain Partitions and Solid Base bullets but a few with 130 gr. Remington factory ammo. Mostly one shot kills with very acceptable results but multiple shots on a couple of animals when the first shot wasn't as good as it should have been.

The 270 is a good open country caliber for pronghorn, deer and elk. People who believe the 270 is inadequate for elk lack experience with the caliber.

I use 270 win. for elk! Shot a bull in 97 with trophy bonded bear claw 140gr no longer available. this year using 150 gr nosler ablr.

I think Royce was probably just poking fun at the 270. Kind of like when I said it would bounce off (riccochet) ..I'm sure every man here knows the 270 (loaded with the proper bullets) will kill an elk pretty easily when the bullet is placed in the boiler room. Well, everyone except ingwe

I just might have killed an elk with a 270...

Harumph�.

I figured that much

Im gonna send that one in to Myth busters�it just simply can't be done��

A 243 and a 100gr PT works great on elk!

Casey

That's just no good! All but one shot missed the target.

Believe me, it's a lot bigger stretch for Two Left Footed, Can't See Outta One Eye, Blind in the Other, Deaf in Both Ears, Daydreaming Me, to kill an elk than it is to think a 270 would kill one!

I know. I was shooting all around it like horse shoes and hand grenades .. I was really reluctant to show that pic, but the op was wanting some loads. Generally the rifle shoots right around 1 moa for 5 shots. Like someone else said, elk are big critters. That's a good thing


Here are a couple groups from my '57 fwt. The groups are circled. The lower one is with 53 grains of IMR 4350 and it is 5 shots. The upper group I changed my POA to the top of the red dot. 9 of those shots went into less than 1 inch (barely) and the last shot went way high to open the 10 shot group up to 1.401"... ..:


Here is the rifle:


A little more info on that load:


My other 270 shoots this load alright as well (almost 1 moa 5 shot groups):




I also tried the H4831 in the XTR fwt, but I haven't found the right load for it yet:
[img]http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x401/chiefbsa/IMG_0864_zpseb5ebed8.jpg[/img]

Not an excellent shooter, but I think it shows some promise. These 270's have been fun to work with. I was just in the shop looking at some 150gr. grand slams that should work pretty good on elk as well so maybe next time I'll try to work on some loads with that bullet and see if the 2 rifles like them...

Killed a cow with 130 NP and a couple bulls with 150 SBs. Worked just fine, but my 284 with 160 NPs is a real thumper.
Tim

Going back to a couple of studies that were done in Europe on thousands of moose kills, there was no significant difference in how far a moose travelled after being shot with everything from a 6.5x55 to a 375 H&H. THAT is how much good it does to nit-pick cartridges.
A couple of kills with any one cartridge do not prove much. I have seen whitetails shot with a 223 drop so fast that you could see four legs in the air as the rifle recoiled, and seen other deer shot with good placement by a 300 Winchester Magnum and 200 grain bullets require a finishing shot.
Remember, all those cartridge write-ups in the loading manuals that proclaim each and every cartridge to recoil less and kill better than similar cartridges, while exhibiting unbelievable accuracy, might be stretching the truth a little, because it is impossible for dozens of cartridges to all be superior to each other.

You go with the data that is available and throw in a little common sense where needed.

I have used .270, 7 RM, 7 Ultra, 300 WM, and .338 WM on elk. They all work and I was never been dissatisfied with the results. I load my own and choose Trophy Bonded, Nosler, or Bergers. However, I notice that many Wyoming locals simply buy whatever .270 Win ammo is on sale at Walmart and kill their elk just as dead as mine.

Wyoming locals buy 30-06... .270 bounces off elk.

I remember the 1st year of elk hunting for me back in 87. I showed up in camp with my .270. Boy did all the guys give me guff. Heard every thing from "how many times do ya have to pump up that BB gun", to "rabbits better watch out, a .270 is in camp." Not too many years later, and a few dead elk, all the talk went away. Doubters were believers.
All but one elk that I shot with the .270 were with 150 NP's, and shot one cow with a 140 gr. fail safe. Worked well.
These days, I shoot'em with a stick and string. But if I ever decide to go back rifle hunting, I wouldn't have to 2nd guess using a .270.

I've not taken an elk but I have taken a very large red deer stag and bison with a 270 shooting 150 bullets. No problems taking either animal.

Given that a 270 will push a 150 faster than a 30-06 will push a 180, and given that the SD of the 150 is a skosh higher than that of the 180, it should hit harder and penetrate deeper, or at least as much. I expect it would take a forensic examiner to note the difference between the two. 30 cal bullets are prettier though. The elk even think so.

30 cal bullets look ugly next to a 7mm bullet

That's because 7mm bullets make .30 caliber bullets look fat.

Bullet Dysmorphic Disorder?

I'm kinda late to the party.

I bought a .270Win in a Montana here earlier this year and its going to be my primary rifle this fall for deer and elk. While my elk experience doesn't add up to a whole lot, I did manage to kill one last year with a .30-06 and saw no reason why a .270 wouldn't do as well.

I put a Meopta scope from Doug on it and started working with RL-22. I had a whole pile of 150NP from SPS on hand and went to work. I just couldn't get the groups to shrink with the RL22 but man did I get velocity with it. I never found the top end pressure wise and that was a bit scary to me as well.

So with the help of the Campfire search tool, I started using some 7828SSC. I found that 55gr of it behind a 150 would give me groups in the 1" range. I bumped it up to 57 and am seeing larger groups, more in the 1.5 to 1.75" range. (I am no gee whiz with a rifle. I think all of my rifles are better shooters than I am.) But I have no pressure signs and my Pro Chrono tells me that they're leaving the barrel at about 2975, give or take.

As an aside, while I was working with the Meopta, I found some old Remington Bronze Points in 130. Factory loads, at least 20 years old, probably 25. I fired one of them and experienced a pressure event like i've not seen before. I was able to get the extractor off the rim, case still stuck in the chamber, primer fell out, used cleaning rod to tap it out. Wow. A real attention getter.

If you can, try H4831. Very accurate in my 270.

Also, I'm amazed this thread just keeps chugging along.

Used a 270 for a long time.........150 NPT, or Barnes 140TSX at a chrono'ed 2900 FPS.

Works on moose as well, to say nothing of deer.

MM

I've had good luck with R-19 as well, with both 130s and 140s. If you can get a 150 to 2800, you've got a flat-shooting and powerful game-getter.

I rarely find the very top when I load, and I prefer accuracy to velocity. Top pressure puts more wear-and-tear on brass, gun, and shooter.

BKinSD, you shot some old Remington factory ammo that was over-pressure? I had some green box Rems with 130 Bronze points in the 80's. They shot the least accurately of any factory ammo I ran through that 270. It was moderate in pressure, by the way.

I was surprised at how easily the 7828 moved the 150NP to what I think is high velocity. The RL-22 loads shot extremely stiff with excessive recoil in the higher ranges before I broke off that experiment. I am not experiencing that at all with the 7828 and am really glad I tried it. The RL-22 is working great in my .264 however I did buy a pound of RL-33 to try and I have some retumbo on hand to try as well.

The Bronze Point flat scared me. That got my full attention. I pulled the rest of them and threw out bullets and powder. I got started with them back in the 80's when the local hardware store had nothing else one November. I shot them for several years, they never did me wrong. I just moved on to other offerings. I assume it was a fluke but I'm taking no more chances with them.

It is all my dad uses with the old 130 gr Core-Lokt.

I'm glad you were ok then. I'm reminded that handloading is a 100% proposition, but humans are not 100% propositions. I've caught errors before they turned into messes, but I've made errors in ignorance that bit me in the ass...

NTG: I thought the same thing about this .270 topic and it's somewhat unexpected length. Just to keep it from petering out I will throw this in to stir the fire "My .280 with a 140 gr whatever will outperform your .270 with the same bullet weight!!!" LOL

I've heard some 280 mavens say that with a straight face....and expect me to believe it...

It's always fun...

Funny stuff huh Bob. Good thread though...Glad it keeps "chugging along"...

Back when I was so poor I had only 2 big game rifles they were a 270 and a 30-06. I killed elk with both but preferred the 30-06. Trying to figure out why other than the 30-06 gave me exit holes more often.

I introduced a good friend to handloading 20-something years ago. His big game rifle was a 270.....Winchester M70 Featherewight. All he ever used were 150 Corelokt factory loads......and had been killing elk for years with it; boy that rifle liked that load too.

I am not sure a man would ever "need" more than these two cartridges for any North American game. 180's in the 30-06 and 130's in the 270. You will have a flat shooter, deep penetrator, and enough overlap between the two to always have a backup.

However, talking about need is totally inappropriate on the fire.

Bingo!!!

I didn't say a thing about need just that I was "poor". Yep I didn't need to spend all that money on other rifles but I sure wanted to. However the want part must have cost me many thousands and my two main rifles now are a 280AI and the same 30-06. The specialty rifles are where having closet space really comes in handy but there are at least 4 more rifles I just can't do without.

Most of us here are "rifle loonies", the talk of need is pure blasphemy!!! However, thanks to a few enablers and instigators here, I now have 2 270 rifles . Did I need them? Probably not..... ....Oops, I forgot to add: Don't tell my wife.

When I was poor I had only 1 gun period-12ga single shot

I'm still "poor", but when I was really poor I had 1 30-06 rifle that weighed a ton. It always worked just fine. Life may have been simpler then

I've got 3 270s. Don't care about the wife knowing, but don't tell Ingwe!

The load I hunt with is 130 Hornady over H4831. I intend to test the 140 Accubond over H4831 this year. I expect it will do the trick.

I recently divested myself from all my 270 stuff except dies, a very accurate barrel for a Mauser action, said action and stock all seperate presently. I wanted to focus on my extensive bullet collection in 7mm and my three 7mm rifles. That said your Hornady load was my go to antelope and deer load for many years.

My dad bought a pre-war Model 70 in 270 back in the early 60's while he was stationed in Ketchikan with the USCG. Cost him two months wages as an E2. He proceeded to kill a bushel of Blacktails, a couple of Griz and a mountain goat with it. I'm pretty sure that most of his Roosevelts fell to that rifle too. He ended up trading it for three brand new Model 700 classics back in the mid 80's.

The plot thickens. When I was getting velocities like these, it was in the high 80's at the range. Almost 90.

I went on Saturday. 60 degrees. First shot was 2898. Second was 2912. Third was 2925. Hmmm. While these velocities are fine, I have to admit I wasn't so hung up on velocity loss from temperature change, until then. I bought a pound of H4831, and going to try an extreme powder just to see what happens.

I am loving this chronograph. Real data, no guesstimating. Love it.

I was starting to have a lot of respect for your dad until I read the last sentence

You will like the extreme powders, especially H4831. A chronograph is also very handy, as you are finding out..

I own the last of the three rifles, a 30-06, it was my first big game rifle. It has accounted for a ton of game including my moms, wife's and my own first bucks. I also watched my dad drill a 170's class muley with it. Dad has a 1950 super grade in 22 hornet to play with still.