Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Elk, and bullet failures, and north forks

I have said it a hundred times, the .270 AIN"T NO ELK CALIBER! Under ideal circumstance, yes it will kill elk, lions, moose and elephants, but it doesn't do it very well. Elk don't give you the perfect broud side 150 yard shot very often. Every elk I have had the mispleasure of tracking for long hours has been shot with a .270 AND partitions. Even on well placed shots, the .270 just doesn't decisively break shoulders and crumple elk. I have tracked elk that have been crunched in the shoulders, lungs, etc. The very small entrance hole and minimal amount of tissue disruption take a while to take affect on big bulls. I will catch heck for saying that, but that is my opinion based on a lot of elk experience. When a trophy bull of a lifetime stands before you at 350 yard, or even a hundred yards, do you really want a .270 in your hands????? It is a great deer caliber, but leave it home when elk hunting for serious bulls.

Had you not been there with your .350, that bull would have likely been lost, especially with a high hit and no blood trail. I still can't figure out why your buddy wasn't pouring on the lead until the bull was down. You killed a great bull and I am happy you did. It is a beautiful trophy. Flinch

I hunted elk this Oct. in S. Colorado. I was able to take the best bull in 40 years of elk hunting. I used my Ruger #1, in .280 Improved, and 140 gr. Nosler Partitions (actually, one Nosler). I had spotted him earlier in the afternoon, bedded down in a small patch of trees in a sagebrush flat below me, with several cows.
This big guy moved just before sundown, taking his time through sagebrush and toward the timber where I was waiting. He finally presented a shot, ranged at 274 yards. Thanks to a bright Leupold 6x, I was able to see him clearly, although legal shooting light was fast disappearing.
He finally went nearly broadside, slightly quartering to me. I held halfway up on his chest, and touched off the shot.
He staggered, took about 10 steps in a semicircle, and died.
I collected my gear, and worked my way down to the bull. I couldn't believe the amount of blood, mostly from the nose and mouth. It looked like Charles Manson had gotten there before me.
The Nosler didn't exit, but the internal tissue damage was enormous. No lungs left, just blood. And a very dead elk, a result just like Dogzapper predicted!
Most of the elk I have taken before this one have been with the 7mm Rem. Mag. And the results have been nearly the same. All this does is add fuel to a fire that isn't burning out anytime soon!!

WAAAHHH! I wanna see the pics! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

Flinch some of the nastiest tracking jobs on elk I've encountered have been after shots from 30+ caliber belted magnums.
Watched a 2 year old cow elk take a 270 gr slug from a 375 H&H this evening at 219 yds. Certainly wasn't any more spectacular kill than if she had been hit with a 270. The bullet entered just behing the shoulder went out the other side and she waddled off about 50 yds before she fell over.

Flinch, in defence of my buddy, in retropsect, I think the length of time between his shot and mine was in the order of 3-4 seconds. I was watching as he shot through my scope, and when I didn't like the bull's response to his shot I fired. I have no doubt my friend was racking another shell into the rifle to be ready to fire again, I didn't give him the chance to do so.



I agree that if I hadn't shot the bull would likely have been lost. But I credit this to suspect bullet placement and partially to the NP not acting like we expected it to. Not due to the fact that it was a 270. If the NP had performed, and been placed where mine was, I think the bull would have run a few yards then fell over.



Now I've got to ask...you actually mean you don't hunt elk with the 25-284 and little wee X bullets? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />





PS. Sorry about the pics not showing guys. Hunt101 seems to be down.