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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.

Yeah it is great in a heavier rifle but in the youth size rifles it tends to make the new hunter (kids) gunshy and can instill bad habits that take a while to get them over.
I have a 77 Mountain Rifle and it blackens my shoulder off the bench. Granted it has little effect when shooting at "game" but when sighting in and playing it is a Mule. My little Ruger #3 45-70 with 500 Grain Heavy Handloads approaching 458 mag levels does not even have the sharp recoil of the light 270 Win.
And I have fired nearly every cal invented at one time or another. The worst actually being the 460 Weatherby. That one makes the 50 BMG seem like a rimfire :) I just thing something like that 7mm0* or the 308 or 7x57 or something similar is a better starting cl for a youngster.:) You have to teach them to make a clean accurte kill shot first, and recoil extremes get in the way of that.
 
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The .308 came from the 7.62x51 which was developed from the 300 Savage.

What many people totally forget is that the M1 Garand was originally designed to be a .270 caliber rifle. It was designed to shoot the .276 Pedersen, in 10 round clips.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.276_Pedersen

Despite the M1 Garand in .276 Pedersen totally dominating the competition in the US Army's new rifle trials of 1931. the then US Army Chief of Staff, General Douglas MacArthur, totally nixed the new rifle caliber. He insisted that the rifle needed to be in .30-06, for battlefield consistence with then US machine guns, the BAR, and the Springfield.

If it has not been for MacArthur's stubbornness, our troops would have all gone into battle in WWII with .270's. And they would have probably liked the .276 Pedersen and its 10 round clips a lot more.


pedclip1.jpg
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You won't go wrong with the 25-06 .270, 308, or 30-06, all can use lighter or heavier projectiles in each as the application requires.
It's all about shot placement and a young hunter that has developed a flinch will spend a lot of time overcoming it, some never do.

Although it was mentioned here, I'd steer clear of the short mags, the super shorts etc.
There's only one in my opinion that offers any real gain over its parent cartridge, and that's the .270 short magnum. Most are expensive, hard to find in a pinch and fill no real void that wasn't already covered by cartridges being used for generations.
Most are flash in the pans that were developed to catch the eye of the "gotta have a bigger better" crowd, in fact many are already going the way of the dodo.
If it were me, I believe I'd go with a 30-06 as the rifle/bullet selections and weights available across the board are about as wide as any cartridge available and will fit any application needed in the lower 48.

Good luck in which ever direction you choose, and congratulations on bringing your future hunting partners into the sport,, we need them.
 
Don't forget, for those who don't handload, Remington makes reduced recoil ammo that is still powerful enough for hunting. Remington calls it Managed Recoil. I believe that Federal and possibly Hornady make a similar product. 30-06, 270 and 7mm-08 are a few that are available. If the youngsters were big enough to handle a full sized gun, this would be an excellent way to give them a rifle that won't need to be upgraded later on.
 
Jealous emoticon:rolleyes:

We used to have a spot that pretty much filled all tags each year. Private land we were allowed to hunt on. Then some company bought the land. Now they are happy to let you hunt there for $2500 last time I checked. We moved on and haven't been so lucky lately. My freezer is empty.:(

I grew up thinking that an elk every year was normal.:D
 
I like the 6.5x55 and the 140gr CorLok or H-Mantel/partition bullet from RWS. Easy on the shoulder, very accurate and pretty flat shooting at across the clearing in the woods-style shooting that we get in Scandinavia. Used since 1896 in a variety of Swedish Mausers, and still in use by some old stick-in-the-muds like me. I took an elg at short range 3/4 across the heart at about 80m back in 1990 that dropped as though it had been switched off. Open sights on an old m/38 carbine too.

It weighed in at just over 1300 pounds, but in mitigation, it was starving and was likely to starve to death over the next month or so. That weekend the team of Norwegian cullers took out about forty of them.

Many folks in North America are finding that the 6.5x55 Swedish, with the 150/160gr bullets, is an astonishingly effective dropper of large ungulates. A good range of rifles or carbines, left and right-hand actions, economic of costy, light on the shoulder and with easy-find ammuntion - what's not to like?

tac
 
With 5 years to prepare before the oldest can hunt; I will have them ready as they start shooting @ 7 if they are acting responsibly etc.

One other factor in choosing a rifle will be the special circumstances; the oldest (8), is right-handed and left-eyed....I'm working with him as he shoots his Savage Rascal.

He would need a left-handed bolt action if his left eye prevails..
 
He can overcome that through practice, some use patches, some close their left eye.
Have the young man raise his right hand and point at an object with both eyes open then have him close his left and ask him if he is still pointing directly at the object? He may not be as left eye dominate as it appears.
Through practice it can be tamed.

It usually is the young that do this at first, they need not shoot a rifle to gain right eye dominance, just point!
Another good way is with a slingshot, it's both fun and easy cheap training.
 
So if I wanted to throw this on my AR's would I need a permit?

You DON'T need a permit for a muzzle-BRAKE, but you DO for a moderator. The usual effect of fitting ANY kind of a moderator is a noticeable reduction in felt recoil anyhow. Why the big deal about this one?

tac, in yUK, where almost everybody has at least one moderator for game shooting.
 
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With 5 years to prepare before the oldest can hunt; I will have them ready as they start shooting @ 7 if they are acting responsibly etc.

One other factor in choosing a rifle will be the special circumstances; the oldest (8), is right-handed and left-eyed....I'm working with him as he shoots his Savage Rascal.

He would need a left-handed bolt action if his left eye prevails..

I've met plenty of people that are left eyed or handed and the ones that learned to shoot a RH bolt action from the start seem to be the happiest.
 
I am right handed. First time I picked up my dad's .22, I put it to my left shoulder. When he asked why I had the gun to the wrong shoulder, I told him I couldn't make my eyes work the other way. So the next time out he handed me an eyepatch. Told me that he was doing me a favor, and that neither of us could afford to buy me left handed guns.
It worked. I can now shoot rifles from either side, but if both eyes need to stay open, I still favor the left. My only exception is when shooting a shotgun. For some reason, I cannot hit flying targets from the right side, I have to shoot left-handed...
 
What many people totally forget is that the M1 Garand was originally designed to be a .270 caliber rifle. It was designed to shoot the .276 Pedersen, in 10 round clips.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.276_Pedersen

Despite the M1 Garand in .276 Pedersen totally dominating the competition in the US Army's new rifle trials of 1931. the then US Army Chief of Staff, General Douglas MacArthur, totally nixed the new rifle caliber. He insisted that the rifle needed to be in .30-06, for battlefield consistence with then US machine guns, the BAR, and the Springfield.

If it has not been for MacArthur's stubbornness, our troops would have all gone into battle in WWII with .270's. And they would have probably liked the .276 Pedersen and its 10 round clips a lot more.


View attachment 257421
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The logistics of changing to the .276 Petersen lubricated round once it was determined that it was feasible to chamber a similarly sized rifle in the .30-06 is what doomed the Petersen rifle. Between the lubricated cases and the logistics of changing all infantry rifles to a new caliber and the need to supply multiple calibers to troops, the change just wasn't worth it. In this case, Mac's stubbornness was probably correct.

Sorry for veering off-topic. ;)
 
I've met plenty of people that are left eyed or handed and the ones that learned to shoot a RH bolt action from the start seem to be the happiest.
Not me.
I do everything right handed, but shooting.
Finding left boots are harder, and more expensive. But OH well.
My dad tried to defunk me telling him left feels better when I was about 13, but he lost.
On a side note. I'd be a horrible cop. Every time I shoot around others they say oh you shot left? Yea. And I do it with pride.
No one wants my guns either!
 
He can overcome that through practice, some use patches, some close their left eye.
Have the young man raise his right hand and point at an object with both eyes open then have him close his left and ask him if he is still pointing directly at the object? He may not be as left eye dominate as it appears.
Through practice it can be tamed.

It usually is the young that do this at first, they need not shoot a rifle to gain right eye dominance, just point!
Another good way is with a slingshot, it's both fun and easy cheap training.
My grandson (5 years) is learning to shoot. He likes to shoot the BB gun left handed, but tries to use his right eye. Still, he pretty much hits what he aims at. We've very recently been shooting a lever action 22, which can be shot both ways. He wants to grab it and shoot left handed and right "eyed", but a small amount of suggestin has him shooting right handed and right "eyed". He's doing very well. I think he's going to be right handed in life, but I don't care. What I do care about is him trying to use the opposite eye when holding the gun.
My grandfather was left handed, but wrote right handed because the teachers way back when forced him to. I think if we work with them young, we can figure out what fits them and then work with them a little to make sure they are comfortable and proficient. Once they figure it out, we can buy guns that work for them.
 
So I have a related question, I do currently hunt with a 270 and I am interested in your opinions on bullet selection for elk.
I currently load barnes tripple shocks, but I know the benifit/downside is that they do not fragment at all. Benifit= total penetration and %100 weight retention but I am concerned that if I do not get the perfect heart shot will this bullet provide enough damage to the lungs to put the animal down?
What do you think:
question possed to all
 
You want the bullet to mushroom, not fragment. Maintaing the weight holds more kinetic energy. I am a Nosler fan, and have had excellent results with Accubonds, but I wouldn't shy away from Partitions. Nothing against Barnes, I've never used them and like to buy from a local (Oregon) company.
 

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