Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 30-06 or 270wsm for elk... splitting hairs?

30-06 good stuff...

Both rounds are very elk capable, go with the rig that floats your boat. What one can do the other can do.

Dober

Show em how you shot the elks head off with your moms 30-06 again..... I love that pic..

Short mags are a blight to the whole shooting industry. Improvement over calibers that have been here for decades is non-existent. A 30-06 is and always will be the standard by which everything else is judged. Get the 30-06, look at the advantages of a 165 grain loading and go out and kill something with it.

Just for you BSA (Mom's M70/06 via flight 165 Horn BT @ 411 yds)



Dober

Picture perfect right there..

The elk will not tell the difference, nor will you. Pick the one you shoot the best.

They're both good cartridges. I'm not much of an elk hunter, but I'd grab the .30-06 and Nosler 180's in a heartbeat.

Yes you are splitting hairs..
Either will do the job so go with the "rifle" that you feel the most comfortable with..
Then sell the other one and buy a smaller caliber or a 35 Whelen.
Good luck on your hunt!

I've got three 30-06 in the gun rack. One my father gave me for my HS Graduation present. But when I go hunting I grab my 270WSM. I've killed a bunch of elk with it. 140g TSX over 73.5grains of Magpro.

Take which ever you are most practiced with.

Save the other for next year, (after much practice).
Enjoying your hunt, and not being anxious about how you will be shooting is more important.

Having (and enjoying) both cartridges, my choice would be determined what kind of (terrain - conditions) hunt it was.

Good luck.

Welcome to the "Guppy" shooters club...

Both are great cartridges for what you have planned. Since you have not taken anything with this new 30-06 you are buying, you should use it!!

30-06 load for you: 57.4 grs of IMR4350 & 165 gr. Accubond or Partition, Winchester brass, Federal 210 primer.

Take the 270 WSM as a back-up rifle in case something horrible like a bad fall, scope giving up the ghost, or something similar happens. Good luck sir!

Hey I'm pres of that club, Guppy's my mid name...

Maybe C-ya Fri night the 9th at the Fair grounds for an impomtu meeting of Gups annonymous.

Dober

A .270 Win,is not a .270 WSM. Either way though it is tough to run a 220 gr bullet down a .270 barrel. The .06 has way more bullet weight selection than the .270.

Do you need a 220gr bullet for elk?

I never needed one. (except in a muzzleloader)

My $0.02 cents worth?

It is hard to beat a sub-minute rifle. That .270 would be my 'go-to' rifle the way you have it dialed in!

I'm not sure I follow... I was thinking more like a 168 or 180 gr. for the '06. And yeah, I realize there is a difference between my 270wsm and a 270win. I don't think it's really a matter of bullet selection as both calibers offer adequate elk bullets, right? Or do you think the 140 tsx won't cut it? I also have some 150 partitions, and I could go to 160's as well. It's just that the tsx are so accurate in my particular rifle and I've heard they're tough enough.

I think if I can get the EW shooting the way I've heard they can, then my heart is saying give the '06 the first crack next year and bring the wsm for backup.

The 140 TSX will cut it.I just don't like to use them.It's a personal thing for me that I think we are playing right into the antis in that soon they wil petition to ban all lead bullets and prices wil go up ever further. That is another discussion. Even if I were shooting the TSX,I would probably be choosing a heaver bullet than the 140 gr for elk.

Is a 220 gr required for elk? Of course not,but I like heavy for caliber bullets for elk. There is something about a heavy, slow moving bullet that kills elk.I rarely shoot an elk further than 100 yards, most of the time less. The 220 gives me about everything a 180 gr partition does and I find the lighter bullets tear up a lot more meat than I like to see.

However it is not only about 220 gr and elk hunting. The .06 flat out has more bullet selection than the .270 for chosing different bullets for differnt game. I like the .270.I even built one up for a special sheep hunt and then gave it to my niece. If I already didn't have a 6.5 Swede,I would probably have a.270.

You really can't go wrong with either and it comes down to a personal choice both with cartridge and bullet slection.I am just offering my opinion although it is probably worth little.

I must really suck and shooting, because I still can't shoot the head off a bull and get all the meat to fly into game bags in one shot. Nicely done Dober. Care to give me some hints on how that is done? Do I need the new "Zombie" ammo from Hornady? My ark is nearly empty and I need pointers. Several elk will hit the dirt this weekend and I want to know your secrets Flinch