Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting .270 Win or 7mm RM

Nothing wrong with a .270 Win for elk, although if using factory loads I'd probably opt for a 150g bullet.

Here is a comparison of the .270 Win/150g LRAB load I developed for Daughter #1's .270 Win (22" bbl) and a 7mm RM/ 68g LRAB using Nosler data for a 24" barrel. Calculations at 7000 feet altitude, MPBR zero for a 6" target (maximum 3" rise from LOS),

At 600 yards:

.270 Win/150 LRAB @ 2910fps,
254 yds = zero point
300 yds = MPBR
52.6" = drop
2234fps - velocity
1662fpe = energy
15.5" = drift
17.7 ft-lbs recoil

7mm RM/168 LRAB @ 3047fps,
266 yds = zero point
314 yds = MPBR
45.6" = drop
2377fps - velocity
1882fpe = energy (corrected from original 2108fpe, thank you Starman for pointing out the error]
13.7" = drift
27.9 ft-lbs recoil


In other words, the .270 Win load reaches 600 yards with more velocity and energy than a .30-30 /170g load at 50 yards - which is to say way more than is needed to take an elk cleanly.

Compared to the 7mm RM load (which is WAY better tahn the ones I used for 20+ years), the .270 load has only 1.8:" more drift, Drop for the .270 is about 7" more, but that is easily corrected for.

Most importantly for Daughter #1, the .270 load does it with only 2 ft-lbs more than her .308 Win/130g TTSX/3045fps load and 10.2 ft-lbs (40.5%) less recoil than the 7mm RM.


Compared to the .270/150LRAB, the 7mm RM/160g Grand Slam load I used for 20+ years and has killed more elk for me than all my other rifles combined, is pathetic.


7mm RM/160 Grand Slam @ 2900fps,
247 yds = zero point
291 yds = MPBR
62.4" = drop
1909fps - velocity
1295fpe = energy
25.4" = drift
21.8 ft-lbs recoil


Have given some thought to switching the 7mm to a high B.C. bullet like the 150g LRAB (.546 G1) or ELD-X (.574 G1), but I have enough 140g and 160g hunting loads on the shelf to last my lifetime. The .270 Win/150LRAB outperforms them in terms of calculated ballistics but they work just fine.

If I was a non-handloader with a .270, I'd give the Hornady 145g ELD-X ammo a try and, if it was accurate,in my rifle, worry about finding elk rather than the adequacy of the load.