.270 good enough?

Snipper 77, I once thought the .270 could take anything in North America! Well, I was young back then and reading a few books on hunting, brought wants and dreams or doing the things that Mr. Jack O'Conner did with his fine .270 caliber rifle. I honestly doubt that there are very few hunters, who did what Jack did in the way of harvesting big game animals with a .270 Winchester.

However, I found out on my very first elk hunt decades ago, that there is much more to elk hunting, than aiming your rifle and firing at the intended animal. It is very important to select the proper bullet for the game animal one is trying to harvest. I used a 130 grain bullet at that time, poor choice really but I was told it would do the job hands down. I came to find out, NOT so in my case.

Today there are many very fine bullets to choose from and bullet weights of 160 grain can be found in the Nosler Partition bullets. This does wonders for penetration on big game like elk. However, it dose not turn the .270 Whinny into a .300 Win mag understand!

If you keep your yardage down to under 250 yards, you will be far more apt to succeed in harvesting your elk. Also do NOT shoot an elk, especially a mature bull on the shoulder with a .270 Winchester, as it will more than likely not penetrate as needed and you will end up losing the animal. I have been told by several guides in the past couple of decades, that more elk are lost to shoulder shots with smaller caliber rifles (cheap bullets too) than any other reason, other than just poor shooting.
 
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Poor shot placement aside, a 140 accubond started at 3050 fps will kill elk at several times 250 yards!
 
Well, how 'bout this:

rolandsbuck.jpg




Pick the right bullet and put it where it counts!
I could just about put my fist through the exit hole and the shoulder was jell-o!



Oh yeah...(applause applause) the gg comes thru again. The 270 is what the shooter makes it and the fact that match bullets are generally not around for it means its a 'hunting' calibre. Even out to 700 yrds. Wow. Cool. Thanks.
 
Use the Nosler 160gr PT & ...If you keep your yardage down to under 250 yards, you will be far more apt to succeed in harvesting your elk. Also do NOT shoot an elk, especially a mature bull on the shoulder with a .270 Winchester, as it will more than likely not penetrate as needed and you will end up losing the animal. I have been told by several guides in the past couple of decades, that more elk are lost to shoulder shots with smaller caliber rifles (cheap bullets too) than any other reason, other than just poor shooting.

I have to agree, I limit the use of my 270 Win for Elk hunting to dark timber hunting where my 27.5" bbl'd 300 Wby is getting hung up on the brush and braches. I have successfully harvested one nice bull with my 270 using the 160 Nosler SSPT bullet @ 2700 fps. It smashed thru the shoulder plates, severing the spinal cord and exiting with hole about the size of a silver dollar. Because of the spinal cord hit, it dropped like a sack of potatoes. The distance was 125 yds or so.
 
Well, GG it looks like you have managed to get my picture on LRH while my computer was down !!!

The old 270 Win. still does the job at fairly long range!! Four days before I shot that little buck in the picture, my son used the same gun to take a buck at 712 yds !! He used the old high shoulder shot . The landing gear hit his belly and he dropped like he was struck by lightning. The 140 AB went through both shoulders and spine, with the off side hole about the size of a tennis ball !! I think an Elk would be in big trouble even at fairly long range with good placement !!! --- 7mmRHB
 
i have used the 270win to take 320 bull elk at 450 yards with one shoot.last year Using 130 grain hornady ib my bro and a frined using my rifle took two bucks at just over 300 yards and i took won at a 1000 yards all with one shoot and dropped like a rock. I shoot 135 smk at 3100 fps out of a 26 inch douglas with 59gr of h4831 for rock chocks at 700 yards
 
I just wish the factories would offer some 26" tubes for their flat shooting rifle calibres instead of trying sell for a few dollars less and put 20-22-24 inch tubes on them. Every inch helps when going for the long shot.
 
270wsm

I have a custom bult 270WSM that I took several animals with this year. It is launching a 140AB at about 3300fps. Which is about 250fps faster than the standard 270. This gun took several deer with one shot kills at 584, 631, 687, and 720 yards this year. That being said I shot my cow elk this year at 685 yards. She was totally broadside and the first shot hit her in the back of the lung area, she ran about 20 yards and I shot her again hitting her just behind the ribs at about the liver area. She laid down and died a few minutes later. At this range the 140 grain bullet did not do as much damage as I would have hoped. Neither one of the bullets made it to the off-side of the elk. One of them hit a rib and one did not. Neither exited the elk. I know that I personally will never shoot an elk with this rifle any farther than 450 or so yards. I just don't feel the kenetic energy and bullet weight are enough for elk sized critters at longer than normal ranges. It is a great deer/antelope gun out to the 700-800 yard mark. So when thinking about the standard 270win, I would almost subtract about 100 yards from the wsm ranges to make up for the difference in speed. This year I will be doing my elk hunting with a new 7mmSTW with bullet weights from 160-180 grains. This is just my opinion and suggestions.

Joel
 
I can gaurentee that Elk can be taken ethically and cleanly at ranges 700-878yds. I have done it multiple times. As well as shots at deer at ranges close to those. I get a chuckle when people always jump on the little 270 and say things like that there are "no good bullets", "BC's just arent high enough for long range" If you do your research you can find what you need. I reload rounds with plenty of BC and well over 160grns. I am in no way saying that anyone can pick one up and do this. But with practice, research, good equipment and practice it can be done and it can be done ethically. I love my .270 and my .270wsm. I cant wait to get my first custom rifle built.. Also this is in no way trying to offend anyone, it is my opinion. I respect everyone on this forum and value all the information I get from it. Thanks to everyone.
 
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