Barbie has a couple Winchesters in .270 and so does her GF and we were all wondering how this caliber is on NM Elk? She loaded up some 140gr TSX Barnes and was wonder if these would work on Elk also.
I have zero experience with this caliber.
Myself I'll be using something a little bigger.

I've killed a bunch of Colorado elk with my 270. It does the job just fine.

quote:

It does the job just fine

While I don't use a 270 my wife takes her elk with a 7x57 140gr. Never had an issue. The 270 should be fine.

With elk it's all about "where" you hit them, make that first shot count and don't stand around admiring your shooting, shoot'em again.

quote:

make that first shot count and don't stand around admiring your shooting, shoot'em again

. . . and again.

An old 270 is all my dad uses for elk. With the same old boring 130 grain Remington Core-Lokts.

quote:

Originally posted by ramrod340:

quote:

make that first shot count and don't stand around admiring your shooting, shoot'em again

Sure thing. Her and her GF shot a 4 inch hole out one of my silhouette targets with her AR-10T's @ 300 yards. We gave the carcass to Blake Stephenson as a gift and he welded it up for his own use.

The 270 Win and 150 Partition seemed to work on this years bull...

The elk in my avatar came from NM. In camp, I was talking with out guide about rifles at some point and he said that they all the guides in camp laughed at the hunters from back east that showed up with these big magnums. He said most folks he knew used a 270.

My friend shot a 2,500 lb (yes, 2,500 lb) Eland with one in RSA a few years ago. Went 40 yards, rolled out. Shot placement.

quote:

Originally posted by Brad:
The 270 Win and 150 Partition seemed to work on this years bull...

Brad, I'm planning on using that combo this fall too for elk (150 gr. part out of my standard .270).

Mind saying what recipe you used for the cart?

Thanks!

p.s. I'm getting great accuracy with the bullet, but it seems to be on the slow side w/ RL-17 (admittedly, I haven't cronied it yet).

I have used RL 22, which gives me good accuracy (a little bigger than moa) w/ 150 gr. A-frames & plenty of speed.

A few years back on an elk hunt in western Colorado, I watched a guy kill a 5x5 at about 500 yards with one shot from his .270 and a 150 grain bullet. At the hit the animal stumbled about 20 yards more or less, went down and never got back up.

Surprisingly and slightly off topic, the outfitter I use claims that he has seen more elk shot and lost by people using 7mm Rem Mags
than with any other caliber.

quote:

Originally posted by Austin Hunter:
My friend shot a 2,500 lb (yes, 2,500 lb) Eland with one in RSA a few years ago. Went 40 yards, rolled out. Shot placement.

Twenty-five hundred pounds is a pretty stiff trophy fee, alright, but how much did the eland weigh?

The 270 and a 140gr Barnes will work great.

I use the 130gr Barnes TSX and now TTSX out of my 270 and have not recovered any from game.

I did recover one Barnes, a 140gr X, from a bull. It was a finishing shot at about 5ft, shot was up through the chest from his sternum, went through his spine and was recovered under the hide in his back. Still weighed 140grs and had textbook expansion.

Thanks for the replies guys. We both read these and very much appreciate the info.

Here's one of her rifles in a Featherweight. She likes this one for carry around but for prefer's the full size one for her horse packing rig.

Winchester .270 made at the FN plant.
Leupold 3X9 VariX II Duplex 1 inch
Talley Rings

Nice score on the Elk Brad.

I've killed enough elk in my mispent youth with a 25-35, 30-30 and 250-3000 to agree a .270 is very capable with properly placed shots at reasonable distances, but bad judgements crops up in all hunters from time to time and I have also had some hard tracking jobs over the years in our elk camp, mostly with smaller calibers and carelesness, and bad blood trails.

Today I use a .338, 9.3x62, or even a .375 for my elk hunting and if one can handle the extra recoil then sooner or later it will probably pay off, and sure can't hurt anything. The big bores don't kill any better, but they sure do leave a lot more blood to follow and they don't generally ruin as much meat either.

This bull was taken with a 270 and a 130 TSX at right around 560 yds and went nowhere.

Back in 1995 I drew an Arizona Trophy Bull tag in unit 27, (Alpine). I had built a 35 Whelen for this hunt, but I had an old 270, that was my 1st rifle, and I wanted to hunt with it once more, as I was going to build another cartridge on it. After the 1st day I was switching to the Whelen. As it worked out, that evening I had a shot on a great 6X6, at about 80yds. I was using Winchester 130 Grain Bulk Bullets and IMR4831 behind. At the shot, which hit between the ribs about 4 back from the shoulder, down he went and never even twitched! 270 on Elk, in the hands of a proper markswoman, no problem.

Have a Great hunt. BTW, the cow in my avatar was taken on a muzzel loader hunt.

Jerry

Nice animals! I'm surprised that we "270'rs" haven't been killed by bullets bouncing off of all the elk we shouldn't be able to kill...

I dont know about New Mexico elk- but a
270 sure does a good job on Montana elk.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
I've killed enough elk in my mispent youth with a 25-35, 30-30 and 250-3000 to agree a .270 is very capable with properly placed shots at reasonable distances, but bad judgements crops up in all hunters from time to time and I have also had some hard tracking jobs over the years in our elk camp, mostly with smaller calibers and carelesness, and bad blood trails.

Today I use a .338, 9.3x62, or even a .375 for my elk hunting and if one can handle the extra recoil then sooner or later it will probably pay off, and sure can't hurt anything. The big bores don't kill any better, but they sure do leave a lot more blood to follow and they don't generally ruin as much meat either.

Geez, the comments by you guys above have just about changed my mind. My B.I.L., a number of his cronies & myself are all putting in for an Oregon elk draw. Most of the other guys are Oregon residents so..
Anyway, I was thinking that if/when we get drawn, I'd use my .270 WSM & leave my .270 Win. at home. Since it's a pre-64, guess I should re-think my option & take the pre-64. I'm sure ol' Jack would smile upon me. Experience has shown me that it works just fine here in Ak., so....
Bear in Fairbanks

quote:

Originally posted by Bear in Fairbanks:
Geez, the comments by you guys above have just about changed my mind. My B.I.L., a number of his cronies & myself are all putting in for an Oregon elk draw. Most of the other guys are Oregon residents so..
Anyway, I was thinking that if/when we get drawn, I'd use my .270 WSM & leave my .270 Win. at home. Since it's a pre-64, guess I should re-think my option & take the pre-64. I'm sure ol' Jack would smile upon me. Experience has shown me that it works just fine here in Ak., so....
Bear in Fairbanks

If you already have a 270 WSM, it would be better than the "270Winnie", if you have a good strong bullet to handle the extra velocity with guaranteed penetration, whether up close or out long.

Barnes new 129 grain LRX in .277" should work fine, though if you wanted more weight, then the 140 grain would also work. The 150 TSX starts to get marginal with stability, so stay with the 129 or 140 grain. But as quoted a few posts earlier, if you had a 338WM, I would choose it over a 270/7mm.

The .270cal is a great caliber...especially if the Sir name is Weatherby

Winchester owns the legend....Weatherby has the performance.

Jack O'Connor endorsed!

It always amazes me how much credence one can put on a single kill! in which case I could be convienced that my 25-35 was the best elk rifle in the world since I shot half a dozen elk with it with one shot each..but its a poor elk rifle unless you use it at 50 to perhaps 100 yards and only heart, spine or brain shots count.

IMO that same throry applies to the .270 it should be used at 300 yards max and under is better..You just run out of gas with all calibers at some point and its up to you to know where the tank goes dry..I also believe at extended range the weight of a bullet means more than anything else because your velocity is down to zilch at 400 yards and beyond, and mass and cross section of bullet comes into play but only within reason..just common since. Blazing away at a big bull elk at 400 yards with a less than magnum cartridges may end up in a animal getting away...But I'm not a long range artist, I never shoot beyond 300 yards these days and mostly shoot at 200 or under, too many long tracking jobs in the past and elk seem to go downhill in Idaho and that is chore city as we have little flat ground and deep, deep canyons and I'm too old to deal with it....

The upcrop of long range hunters is growing, the sniper type of hunter or shooter is a better term, and they seem to be very good at what they do, but I know many that just jumped into the sport that can't shoot for s---t and they talk about the elk that got away a little to often.

I always recommend that folks do their hunting before they shoot, not after, but all this is my opine and I am not the hunting cop, so do what you do and try to do it well.

A .270W works a lot like a .25-06 does. It works well when the bullet hits the right spot.

Having lived/hunted in Oregon I would say my choice would depend on where you're hunting. There are places where I would rather have my .338WM or similar, than about anthing else. There are places where it's thick and quick shooting needs to be done with something big enough to leave a good blood trail. Unless of course, you're willing to pass up hasty shots. Then take whatever you want that's legal. Eastern Oregon is much more open, Western is so thick that the .45-70 in a lever gun is quite popular.

Having witnessed numerous elk kills with a 270 Winchester, 10, and seen them all drop within a few yards of the shot, I'd say that was just a bit of experience. The caveot, and I will agree with Ray, is the distance. All the elk we have shot, several dozen amongst me and my shooting pals, the longest shot 225 yards, that was me with a 35 Whelen, the others were right around 100yds. All these elk were shot with NON magnum calibers, except one, and that was a 7MM Remington Magnum and as expected it performed perfectly. In the hands of a good shot, and within a couple 100 yards, the 270 is superb on elk or any other similar sized critter. In fact if one cares to look at the Speer #8 Manual, they talk about the 270 being a favorite of " Idaho's expert elk hunters". That said, I have an elk tag for December and I am going to use a 375 H&H becuase it hasn't been blooded yet!

Jerry

Idaho's elk experts.
that got me to chuckling a bit.
it's mostly the kids using a 270 for elk.
it's not an overly popular caliber around here even for deer hunting.
but it does the job as well as anything else.

quote:

Originally posted by Jerry Eden:
Speer #8 Manual, they talk about the 270 being a favorite of " Idaho's expert elk hunters". Jerry

LOL! I just lost any respect I had for whomever approved this being in their manual. Next we will see it quoted as it being an experts cartridge, soon to become, "only" for experts.

Under most circumstances your 270 will kill very easly when you see that bull of a life time walk into the dark timber and you go after him when he gets up at 50 yds and all you can see is his ass do you take the shot yes if you shoot a 375 338 358 270???? 130gr??? ben there done that I was lucky had fresh snow tracked a long way to finish it off what I say now is shoot a bigger caliber if you have one also I know almost all the locals shoot non magnums Kevin

As has been said multiple times, the .270 Winchester is adequate for elk IF the shot placement is right and the bullet is up to the task.

I have repeatedly referenced a thread I posted years ago about a .270 and a 150-grain Speer GS taking a five point bull in Idaho. The bullet fragmented, but the bull only went 150 yards before collapsing. We found a 43-grain piece of antimonial lead against the off side, and no exit hole. Not good in the big country out west!

What I would offer was that the cartidge was adequate, my selection of bullet was not. Shoot your TSX bullets and enjoy your elk meat!

quote:

Originally posted by wolfhunter 2:
Under most circumstances your 270 will kill very easly when you see that bull of a life time walk into the dark timber and you go after him when he gets up at 50 yds and all you can see is his ass do you take the shot yes if you shoot a 375 338 358 270???? 130gr??? ben there done that I was lucky had fresh snow tracked a long way to finish it off what I say now is shoot a bigger caliber if you have one also I know almost all the locals shoot non magnums Kevin

Why would you even shoot an elk in the ass unless he was already hit?
An elk "sighting" does not always automatically mean a shot opportunity just because you are toting a magnum or a big bore.

The question here was in reference to "NM Elk" not the whimpy, lightweight ones found in other States. Our Elk are far superior in the ability to shed small calibur rounds, anything less than .30 cal something, is unexceptable.

In reality a .270 will kill an elk, but why not use something in the 30-06 and up good bullet range rather than take chances with lesser firepower? As I have mentioned before on other threads, as an Outfitter for Elk I always insist the hunter bring a minimum of the above. Shoot what you want, but my question is why go undergunned when you don't need to? A lot of folks only get a chance or two to hunt elk, so why not take as many negative factors away as possible?

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

This reminds me of my hunting partner. He drew a Moose tag in Alberta a couple of years ago. He hunts with one rifle. A well used and experienced Ruger 77 in 280 Remington.

Upon learning of his pending hunting season a well meaning client of his insisted he use his 338 Win Mag for hunting such a beast. Surely the 280 and it's little 140 grain bullets would fail miserably. My partner politely declined and proceeded to kill his Moose cleanly. Just like many Moose and Elk before.

Imagine that.

I don't think the 270 Win could ever be effective on elk, there's been too many of them killed with it to be sure.

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Sellers:
In reality a .270 will kill an elk, but why not use something in the 30-06 and up good bullet range rather than take chances with lesser firepower?
Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

Are you for real? You honestly place a .30 cal minimum on clients?
Exactly how did you decide on .30 as the cutoff? There isn't a hill of beans difference between a .270W and a .30-06, and I'd dare say the 7mm is even beter in many cases. (7RM or .280) Seems to me you'd be moreinterested in their ability than what they chose to shoot.

I think I'd like to start at the range with the client, have them "check the zero" w/o a bench to see how the shoot. -Nate

BN - Yes I do and nobody has complained and the success factor with this requirement has been great. Everyone is made aware in advance so if they don't agree or like it then it's up to them whether they choose to hunt here or not. Quite simple really. Don't think I need to get into the overall effectivness of .30 cal and above cartridges, they speak for themselves.

When you hunt elswhere I really don't care what calibur you shoot, that's your choice and good luck.

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

quote:

Originally posted by BigNate:

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Sellers:
In reality a .270 will kill an elk, but why not use something in the 30-06 and up good bullet range rather than take chances with lesser firepower?
Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

Are you for real? You honestly place a .30 cal minimum on clients?
Exactly how did you decide on .30 as the cutoff? There isn't a hill of beans difference between a .270W and a .30-06, and I'd dare say the 7mm is even beter in many cases. (7RM or .280) Seems to me you'd be moreinterested in their ability than what they chose to shoot.

I think I'd like to start at the range with the client, have them "check the zero" w/o a bench to see how the shoot. -Nate