TZ, You’d be good to go with a 270 as long as your wearing flaming orange from head to boot. Might I suggest dropping a little more horsepower in the engine by ramping up to a 270 WSM. You’ll find some decent BC bullets from Nosler LRAB’s. May give you some extra MPH. 😎
I’ll probably use an 06 or a .308. I just got a kick out of the fact I “needed” a 7mag.
Some guys think there's a huge difference, but really there isn't. With todays bullets and optics that reliable track at any sane hunting distance, you can take an elk with both cartridges equally as well. One doesn't really "out perfom" the other, when in the end you have a dead elk laying on the ground. This isn't the longrange hunting forum either, so essentially we are comparing two peas in a pod for most average elk hunting scenerios. To be honest, all of my elk could have been killed with a 6.5 creedmoor and that's what I plan on using this year...
Just because this forum isn’t exclusively about long-range hunting, that doesn’t mean that LR scenarios are not included in general modern hunting. Even at moderate distances, the 7Mag has a noticeable advantage in steering the bullet to vitals (necessary before you can have a dead elk on the ground). Wind can play havoc on bullets, even at 300 meters. With a 7Mag pushing a 180 ELD at 2960 fps, a 15 MPH full value wind pushes the bullet about 4.5” at 300 meters, using atmospherics common to my AO. So even if the wind is gusty between 0-15 MPH, switchy, and inconsistent, the bullet will still land within a 9” circle with a center hold, which is wrecked vitals. The .270 pushing the 150 ELD-X at 2900 fps drifts about 8” under the same conditions. Even the 6.5 Creedmoor with 147 ELD at 2700 fps drifts a meager 6.6”. With an equally fickle wind, your .270 bullet will land within a 16” circle, which could be a poor hit and a bit of a rodeo.
The contrast between the two bullets only gets more pronounced when you go beyond 300 meters.
Both the .270 and the 7Mag can be made to work fine, and the advantages of the 7Mag may only be apparent in certain scenarios, but to say that there is no advantage is incorrect. This isn’t purely academic- I’ve got extensive experience observing the external ballistics of all three bullets/cartridges, and there is a material and observable difference in how each is affected by the wind, even at modest ranges.
