I went on a guided wilderness horse packing elk trip last week. I had wanted to since I was a boy, and am glad I did. It was great adventure. Bears in camp, my partner shot a wolf, all of us killed 6pt bulls. It was great, just a really great trip.

I do have to share that my twenty something guide seemed to think that a Kimber Montana in .270 Win, shooting 150NP at 3025 and wearing a Zeiss scope without turrets was absolutely incapable of cleanly taking an elk at any distance. He also seemed to think that a Christensen 7Mag shooting 160AB's at 2820(!) with a NightForce/Turrets/Illuminated reticle could neither miss, nor fail to instantly drop anything at which it was aimed. And that a .300 Ultra would do it faster and better. I went so far as to use my iPhone to generate and discuss ballistics and energy tables, but to no apparent effect on his thinking. At the end of the day, both rifles worked as expected and intended and we got some really nice animals.

I wonder what he would have thought of my bone stock pre-64 .264WM.

He heard what you said and will probably tell the next person he guides what he learned!

There you go! That's the way to look at it.

Sometimes it takes a while for that new-old wisdom to sink in.........

I've heard lots of dumb rifle advice from boomers and Gen Xers....

I was just gonna say, I heard the same stuff before "millennials" was even a thing.

Just stand around any Sportsman's Warehouse or the like and listen. You will not believe people this dumb exist....

All good points. As he spoke, I sat there slack jawed and with a raised eye. It dawned on me that perhaps he would respect numbers and data, but no luck. I think he'll have to rely on the eye test.

Either way he was a great kid, and he played it smart when the time came. I tipped him well.

Sounds like he did a good job on the elk even though he dissed your 270...

Yep. Once I was at the gun counter asking for powder, they kept it in the back. I laid a couple boxes of .270 130 grain partitions on the counter and the guy told me they were "no good for deer." Told me I should get the new TTSX bullet instead, due to the plastic tip and "high BC." I think he was genuinely offended when I ignored that sage advice.

He probably just needs to see a few more elk killed and then he'll start thinking...


How about a hunt report and pics?

He shoulda come out and just said what he was thinking. Gay cartridges just want to antique shop after Sunday brunch. They aren't man enough to hunt elk.

+1 Sounds like the same guys that think a .243 through .260 Swedemoor is too small for whitetail that average 100 pounds on the hoof.

Ah, when I think back to what I "knew" at 25... and at 50... Hell, give me another 25 over my 69, and maybe I'll know it all!

I'm on the same trajectory but given where I started I doubt I'll get there.

Exactly! Was back east this summer and stopped at a Cabelas. Some jack-wad working the gun department was pontificating to a bunch of folks about the quasi sniper rifle wanna be on display, think it was a 338 Lapua. He went on and on about how this is exactly the rifle you want for out west. That POS probably weighs 14 puonds, could just imagine some guy tryin to hump it up a few hills. Moral of the story is morons come in all shapes, sizes and ages.

Don't forget the co-worker who has a 308 that shoots flat out to 800 yards. Friggin' laaazzzzer

That would be nice.

I've found that most hunting guides (note that I said "most" not all) don't know much about rifles, cartridges, or ballistics. However, they do know what they've seen their clients use and how it worked for them. If they see some guy with a .338 Lapua and he misses or wounds an animal, they'll tell everyone that that cartridge sucks and all it does is wound animals. Sometimes these guys will want to learn a bit about cartridges, bullets, ballistics, etc., but not often. I bet your guide will be telling folks now how deadly those 270 Win. are on elk!

Yeah no joke. For some reason the older forum members are hell bent on drawing generational distinctions and blaming everything on millenials.

But I’ve heard some awful dumb schidd come from the mouths of the over-40 crowd.

Yep your right over 40 and under 60!! After 60 you can take everything as Gospel!!! Really!!!

At public ranges, once nice thing about electronic muffs is that you can turn down the volume so that you don't hear the inane conversations going on around you. It's too bad that it'd look funny wearing muffs in gun shops, though.

I mean.... a .300RUM will do everything faster and better than a .270......... But I'll still take my .270 *almost* any day.....

-Jake

I was a 20 something elkguide a long time ago. We also killed a lot of Bull elk and have some opinions about hunter clients and their rifles.
Eg: to this day I dislike any Weatherby rifle and their chamberings, my little .270 win was used by these hunters many times instead of the Weatherby super rifle that I heard of incessantly in camp and the .270 is still my favorite.Cheers

I was a 20 something elkguide a long time ago. We also killed a lot of Bull elk and have some opinions about hunter clients and their rifles.
Eg: to this day I dislike any Weatherby rifle and their chamberings, my little .270 win was used by these hunters many times instead of the Weatherby super rifle that I heard of incessantly in camp and the .270 is still my favorite.Cheers

I'm suspicious of hunters that show up with a long range set up or if one of the first things they say is how well their rifle groups.

Anytime I get an earful about how one cartridge, bullet, etc. Works so much better than every other, I stop listening to the noise. There's a time and place for most everything. I'd need some real proof of competence before I could be onboard with a truly long range attempt at anything. I like seeing a guy with a well worn rifle.

The "better" part is highly debatable.

I've bought a number of rifles in the last few years. A .300RUM was always available but never even considered because it does, IMHO, nothing I need that other cartridges I already use can't do. So I ended up purchasing multiple .30-06 rifles, a couple .308's, a .280 and a .243.

But a .300 RUM does do some things 'better'. Using factory ammo it will empty my pocketbook faster. If reloading it will burn my powder stash faster. And the higher recoil will beat me up faster.

Nothing better than a 300 RUM for stopping an antelope charge.

Many long years ago, I thought the 30-06 was the be all, end all of hunting cartridges. I atill hold it in very high regard. Anyway along about 1073 a friend needed money in a hurry and had a commercial FN Mauser in .270 he was asking $75 for. Stock was in my eye so ugly it would abort a lady crocodile. (Thanks to Jack O'Connor for that line. )
Now I really never had much use for a .270 and in fact still don't except if I get a tag for antelope but damned if that rifle didn't shoot. I ran 130 and 150 gr. bullets through it and even took a few deer with it so I decided to keep it. Still have it BTW. I always figure I's restock it and maybe even rebarrel it but as Murphy's second law sez, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." and frankly, as ugly as it is in that stock, it just ain't broke. I decided I like the way 150 gr. bullets work in it so that's what I use, in fact that what I use in four rifles in .270. Three FN's and one M70 XTR. All for rifles are dead nuts accurate. Took the M70 as a back up gun on and elk hunt three years ago but it wasn't used. It also did a "goat" hunt in 2009 and took a nice one. I just might take one as a main rifle on my late December elk hunt and use the .35 Whelen as the back up. Whatever the mood strikes me just before the hunt.
Paul B.

What currency did you use back then?

Your friend is a TRUE millennial!😁

Wisdom comes with age. Hopefully some it rubbed off on him. You get alot of that around these forums too though.

Now, that's funny!

Several shiny flat rocks plus two blind fingers that can't type worth chit.
Paul B.

Could have heard that argument from anyone. The more you learn the less you know I guess.

What I knew at 16 was that a .30-06 would do everything that needed doing in North America, and I haven't seen anything to change that bit of info.