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

A buddy and I were having a few cold ones after work today. We got to talkin about hunting elk in a few years as he has a contact in CO and asked if I’d be interested. Neither on of us had ever shot an elk. I was telling him about the new M700 I was looking at and said I was thinking about a .270 since it’s been so long since I’ve had one. He said I “need” a mag if we head west.

Now I know damn well I don’t need a mag and was showing him some ballistics that pretty much meant nothing since he has a 7mag for deer that’s what he’d use for elk too.

I have plenty of others I could use, but not a .270 or 7mag.

For those of you that have used them on elk, which one?

I used a 7mm RM with 175 grn Partitions for my first elk and have since taken elk with a .280, .270 and .308 in that order. I saw no difference in performance. Conversely, I much prefer to shoot, and hence practice more with the non-magnums.

I know it’s good clean fun for guys here to bash the 270 round, but when I’m out west hunting elk (Every place I’ve hunted!) they bash the 7mm Mag like no other round. I thought that was odd. Lots of places out there even give the 270 a pass.....definitely not so with the 7 mag. It seems to be limited only to elk hunts...it stood out enough to me that it was indeed noticeable.

I personally don’t see either round as a limiting factor providing it’s used as intended...ie, no 800 yard raking shots, etc. If you bust that oil pump, it’s going down.

T, the 270 will be just fine....

The hardest part of elk hunting is, finding an elk to shoot......

I’ve killed elk with the .338 mag, .358 win, .270, .260 and now the 6.5 CM.....oh, and pointed sticks.
Whether your strafing bulls across a canyon or popping a cow in a low land meadow, your going to shoot better and more confidently with a firearm your comfortable with.

I’d personally prefer to buy a .270 that I would find more useful for the other hunting I do.
The 7 mag is going to be longer, heavier, louder, more expensive to feed and recoil more than a .270 in the same model.....

There’s plenty of good factory ammo options available for hunting elk, at reasonable prices and some amazing bullets for the hand loader.

Elk hunting: Go now. It won’t get cheaper and you won’t get younger......

Godawgs, I never heard anyone “bash” the 7mm Magnum as an elk rifle “out here”. Anyone who does probably is in the sauce around the fire. Might get a sideways glance or two if the .270 is touted too much! LOL! Not arguing the potential effectiveness of either other than to say that I’ve seen a dump truck load of elk cleanly killed by various 7mm magnums. Nobody I know hunts elk with a .270 Winchester, but that is statistically irrelevant I know.

Most of the western states limit deer and elk to one or two tags a year so it’s not like the magnums are going to break the ammo bank anyway. Happy Trails

The 7mm mag will out perform the .270.

I own a .270 (my wife's) and not a 7mm mag.

Either will work just fine

-Jake

My math must be all fu cked up. That doesn't add up. 1 "outperforms" the other when they both produce dead elk? How many times do we need to say this. It's all about the bullet, not the headstamp...

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. 😎

What doesn't add up? What I stated is not debateable. The 7mm mag will outperform the .270 across the board. That's just fact.

I've shot elk with a .45-70, but that doesn't mean it's in the same class as, or does the same things as, a .270 or 7mm mag. But it still resulted in a dead elk.

The question wasn't "which of these will kill an elk?" It was to compare the two. "Either will work just fine." Was my answer, and they will. And the 7mm mag will still have higher performing numbers than the .270. although I've never met an elk that would be able to tell the difference.

When comparing two options it should go without saying that we compare similar loads for each. Nobody is going to compare a 90 grain Speer TNT hollow point.270 with a 7mm mag loaded with 175gr eld-x's .

It's not only about the bullet. Or only about the headstamp. Everything plays a factor when the question is between multiple options.

Back to my original point.... Between the two.... It doesn't matter. Pick whichever makes you smile.

-Jake

I'd go with the .270, and use a premium bullet just like I would with any cartridge on elk.
Factory ammo between the two with similar bullet weights is surprisingly close in performance.

Either one will be fine. I like the 270 because of the light weight options that can be had with a shorter barrel. When hunting elk in the mountains, saving a little weight can be a good thing. Have seen literally tons of elk killed with the 270 win.

the 270 works been working since 1925

I have shot quite a few elk with my 7 mag and 160 Partitions loaded to 3000 fps. The .270 will work, too, but if you are buying a new rifle, it is hard to beat the 7 mag. Bullets from 140, up to 175 gives you much better selection, than with the .270.

I've had a 7 mag the first year they came out. Never had a thought about a 270 as it has done everything I have asked of it.

I’ll probably use an 06 or a .308. I just got a kick out of the fact I “needed” a 7mag.

Pretty much what I was trying to tell him.

Tzone, As you said either round is plenty for elk. If you plan on doing a lot of elk hunting and can dedicate a rifle to it, then I might go with the 7RM. It is a great elk killer. Living and hunting where you are now, I can't see a need for 7RM. The .270 would be, in my opinion, more useful. Moreover, if you are a reloader you can get near 7RM power out of the .270. I'm thinking R26 and 150gr Nosler Partition at 3000fps out of the .270 is your huckleberry.

tzone -

Elk are tough. You don't need a magnum, you need a small cannon.

Yesterday I loaded up 150g Nosler Long Range AccuBond for Daughter #1. Cartridge is .270 Win and chrono velocity using a COL of 3.460" is 2910fps.



The downrange ballistics for these are better than the 7mm RM load I used exclusively for 20+ years and again in 2015 when I took my elk at a lasered 411 yards, 4 steps and down. Recoil is calculated at about 18 foot-pounds in daughters Remington M700 BDL.

My only advice for elk hunting is "Don't wait". DYI hunts are reasonably inexpensive. And lots of fun.

Bullet construction and bullet placement are way more important than bullet diameter.

I now have rifles in both .270 Win and 7 mm RM. I've killed elk with my 7 mm RM and I've killed elk and seen elk killed with both smaller and larger caliber rifles.

I started hunting elk in the late '60s when I moved to northwestern Colorado. At that time I didn't own a centerfire rifle, so I asked the local natives that I worked with what rifle to buy. They said either a .270 Win or a .30-06. I chose a .30-06 and killed a pile of elk with it.

I had wanted a 7 mm RM for many years, but I couldn't justify buying one, because there isn't a whole lot of actual difference between it and a .30-06. I didn't finally buy a 7 mm RM until 2001, and the one that I have now is my second. Its stainless in a plastic stock and is my foul weather elk rifle and is one rifle that I've taken on 4 international hunts.

I've always liked .30 caliber rifles for elk, and my favorite elk rifle now is my .300 Weatherby.