.270 for elk?

[v0lcom13sn0w]

When my grandpa passed away he left me a sporterized US remington 1903-a3. it was the first 'large caliber' rifle i ever shot. i was 10 when he died, 12 when my dad felt comfortable letting me shoot it. at 18 i hunted with it for 2 years and decided its worth way too much to me to get banged around in the sticks and so i retired it and bought a .308 and 300 Win mag. in my opinion a .308 or .270 is perfect for your grand kids. especially with a muzzle brake on it. honestly, im sure they'd be happy with whatever. if my grandpa were still alive i wouldnt care what gun he gave to me to hunt with as long as he was around. my other grandpa retired from hunting long before i could go with him and always tells me the stories and shows me pictures of all the elk hes taken. wish i could have been there. i know a guy who cleanly takes elk with a 270, another guy with a .243 and another guy with a 308. a buddy of mine hunts them with a 338 win mag. me, a bow and arrow or in some instances a 300 win mag. its 6 1/2 to 1 and a half dozen the other. He(mr .338) argues that anything under a 30-06 just doesnt have the knock down power. i laugh and show him ballistic charts of a 308 and a 30-06 and explain that bullet technology has come a long long way and that a good handloader (me. not that im a "good" handloader... just sayin. ) could make a 308 load out perform a 30-06 factory round(atleast i think so. a few beers may have been involved in that conversation). long story short. i now help him handload his .338. needless to say, good luck. enjoy every moment with the grandkids.

 

[orygun]

I think the 270 is a fine round and will get the job done well if the shooter does their part. (also assuming a good bullet is used). I am not recoil sensitive, but find the 270 light recoiling in a decent rifle. I've owned a couple, but I guess I'm just an '06 guy to the core...
Also, put me in for a 7mm-08 vote. It's what I bought for my wife and the elk she shot with it didn't know she wasn't kicked into the next county when she pulled the trigger.

 

[Oregonhunter5]

I used a .270 for 26 years. It's a great gun. Under powered for a elk and a youth shooting it, because of placement.
Newer guns have better butt pads. My new browning .300 short mag kicks much less, and hits hard on the animal.
Brand is important.
Get a .270 short mag, or .300 short.

 

[Oregonhunter5]

By the way, muzzle breaks work. Just make sure your wearing ear plugs. I don't hunt with ear plugs,

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

^^i dont remember how loud my gun was due to buck fever.

 

[Joe13]

.308 fan myself.
7mm is an interest of mine if I ever buy another hunting rifle.

300mag seems like too much for anything on the west side of the mountains with such short shots.


I would head out to a range right about now and ask to check out some of the guns that the hunters are sighting in - Ive never met a gun guy that didn't enjoy showing and talking about his hunting rifle.

 

[Velzey]

Hunting rifle with muzzle break = a left ruptured ear drum! I learned the hard way

Mb's are nice but should be gorilla taped over during hunting unless you wear ear plugs.. Just my own two cents!

I also wouldn't get any kind of lightweight rifle. Let the rifle take up some of the recoil.

 

[Joe13]

This was just posted, I would go hang out there for the day and offer to pay for any ammo if someone lets you shoot thier rifle.

The Cascade Sportsmen's Club is holding a free hunting rifle sight in day Saturday, Sept. 26th at the Blue Lake Range in Stevenson WA. The gate will be unlocked at 9:00AM, Range Safety Officers will be present until 4:00PM. Bring your hunting rifle and ammo, we'll help you get dialed in.

 

[Deavis]

The

By the way, muzzle breaks work. Just make sure your wearing ear plugs. I don't hunt with ear plugs,

My rifle sounds about like a roofing air nailer. 180 grains at 3000 fps. Oh, and hardly any recoil comparatively.

 

[Oregonhunter5]

The

My rifle sounds about like a roofing air nailer. 180 grains at 3000 fps. Oh, and hardly any recoil comparatively.

What caliber and who made the break?
If there isn't, and if it's possible, it would be a great invention. I break that's quieter than a standard barrel.

 

[Joe13]

The

My rifle sounds about like a roofing air nailer. 180 grains at 3000 fps. Oh, and hardly any recoil comparatively.

Silencers are not muzzel brakes or flash suppressors - So I'm not sure it counts.

If I paid my $200 and waited a year for a tax stamp and then shelled out $600 for the silecer, I'm guessing my .308 would sound like a pea shooter also

 

[Joe13]

What caliber and who made the break?
If there isn't, and if it's possible, it would be a great invention. I break that's quieter than a standard barrel.

It's made by Silencerco and is Called a Harvester. You can find it under "Silencers" on thier web page.

 

[Oregonhunter5]

I Googles it. Well that should work.
It made me blush when I saw it.
LOng duck dong

 

[Oathkeeper1775]

All good info; leaning towards the .270, looking into the .25-06.

 

[MountainBear]

Frankly, I hunted elk last year with a .30-30 Marlin 336 loaded with 160 grain leverevolution bullets. At no time did I feel undergunned. I had my .300 Wby with me, but frankly, it was so hot that the only elk I was going to see was the one I would have had to step on. I was certainly giving away range and likely would not have taken a shot over 200 yards with that gun, but it was certainly adequate for elk under the circumstances.

Everyone has their pet round. For me it's .30-06. For others, the bigger magnums, for others the .308 win. At the end of the day, if you teach your young ones that shot placement is key, any round bigger than a .243 will likely be sufficient.

 

[kenr74]

Every elk I have taken(I would guess 10-12 at this point) has been with a 270. My son started hunting so I let him use it and I currently have a 7mm. Will be going back to a 270 as soon as the right one comes along.

 

[Oregonhunter5]

The Datsun b210 got people to work as well. But the Tundra gets there quicker, and with a few more luxuries.

 

[Oathkeeper1775]

Every elk I have taken(I would guess 10-12 at this point)

Jealous emoticon

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

Jealous emoticon

X2

 

[U8395279]

Until the recent vogue of wonder magnums the .270 was and still is an effective elk cartridge. My longest distance was around 350 yards up hill and one round took him down right there on the spot.

While most folks have no clue who Jack O'Connor was, he really elevated its status in his writings as the Shooting Editor for Outdoor Life for around 30 years. He was a huge advocate of this cartridge and killed a lot of game. My father in law was a maniac when it came to hunting elk. He was a very successful hunter. He only used the .270.

The Nosler Partician bullet worked extremely well in this cartridge. I'm confident the newer bullets work equally well or even better. It is a light recoil flat shooting rifle and an awesome legacy to hand down to the next generation.

Yep, long before any of our magnums existed, Jack O'Connor was easily killing Elk with his .270 handloads:




If you look at the ballistics of Hornady's SuperPerformance .270 Winchester loads, they are pretty darn close to giving magnum like performance. They still hit at long range with a lot of velocity and energy.

If you look at their 140 gr SuperPerformance load, with a 200 yard zero, it is only 6 inches low at 300, and still traveling at 2,526 fps with 1,983 ft/lbs of energy at that range.

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