I have taken hundreds of animals with a 270. Never taken any with the 30/06. Only lost one elk that I shot at and creased along the top of the rump. It was a running shot in thick timber. A 338 wouldn't have made any difference in this case. The animals have rangd in size from duiker and Coues deer to kudu, moose and elk. The 30/06 or 338 couldn't have done any better.

465H&H

With the quality projectiles we have today. If you have either of these in a gun you can shoot straight and have confidence then just flip a coin.
I doubt anyone has plans to go after a dangerous game animal with either and probably less than 1/10 of 1% of hunters ever do anyway.
It is interesting to read about writers hawking certain guns and calibers but it is typically their opinion.
Go out and practice with what you decide on and you will be as successful as any of these writers with what ever you choose.

quote:

Originally posted by idahoelk101:
i love this subject. It should read "boattail vs flat base...which is better" that was the REAL issue when the 270 was introduced. The bullet selection at the time for 308 was almost exclusivly flat base vs the new wiss bang 270 with its boat tail bullet. Thats the primary reason for increased balistics on the charts and now that we have boat tails for both it is a moot discussion..

Now that I got that out of my system.. I have both and use both.

The 270 was introduced in 1925 with a boat tail bullet?? Don't think so. the difference was velocity, which was listed at 3140fps for the 130gr...substantially higher than anything in the '06.

quote:

Originally posted by dogcat:
Yes, both are fine. There is no "best." The best is what you shoot the best and have confidence in.

Flip a coin.

Well said

'Pends on which one you have in yer hands when it's time to shoot! I love both.

Hell anyyone who knows anything knows that the reason there are only a few weights for the .270 is that it's so damn good it only needs the few to cover the broad range of critters you can shoot with it.

Anything from prairie poodles to yotes with the 110 or 110gr, anything from yotes to mule deer with the 130's, 150's elk and moose, and with the 160 or 170 just about anything else left over.

All those different weights for the '06 are simply due to folks having to have them to find an accurate bullet that will actually shoot from their rifle. What differences does 5 or 10 grains really make anyway when you shoot a deer or elk, nothing if you hit it where you should.



Seriously which ever one you shoot the best with will work the best for you. There isn't a hill of beans worth of differences between the loads or what the preferred bullet weights will do for you. As mentioned earlier with the better bullets being made along with newer powders, you could hot rod either or simply shoot factory and take down anything within reason with either. I do however agree that with the weight of a critter getting on up there a bigger bullet might be desired, but certainly isn't mandatory.

Hell I have a couple of each and several smaller and several bigger, and generally I use a bow or handgun nowadays more than any of them.

280 remington

I have a 270 and had two of them. I took my first deer with a 270. What I don't like about it is that it is perhaps too fast and too loud.

To my mind it would have been better with a 140 grain bullet at about 2,800fps. A sort of Americanised 7 x 57.

But what should really decide the argument is what is available "off the shelf" where you live.

In France 30-06 is a prohibited calibre. In Great Britain whilst 270 is not as popular as it once was it is maybe a bit easier to find it in a gun shop than 30-06.

But if I had to choose only one? Well it is clear that the 30-06 can do anything that the 270 can (with the same weight bullet) but at a greater velocity.

But what difference does an odd two hundred feet per second really make? None I'd say.

So the only advantage that the 30-06 has is at the top end weight bullets. 160 grains and above.

If you need that weight or 180 grains or 220 grains then I suppose that the 30-06 is better.

Or, to open another "debate" do like I did and buy an 8 x 60S!

And I also have a 280 which as with the post from VINES I'd say is about the best of both worlds.

Having used both and noticed bugger all difference on deer sized animals that could not be attributed to bullet design, I would say the '06.

Even then only because i've got one!

The 270 is just a lesser variation of the 30-06 but it might be called the 30-06 improved.


ddj

As was pointed out above, this argument is older than dirt and God. All of you guys on the board know I'm a .270 fan, having used it here in Ak. for nigh on 40 years for sheep & caribou. Never have killed a deer or an elk with it but I do know it works with 150 gr. Partitions. I know guys that have used them on interior grizzlies with no problem.
I'm not gonna bash the '06 because it works just as well - have seen it put moose down "right now" with 180 gr. bullets. For my moose hunting, I use my .338 simply because our hunting area is pretty much heavily timbered and the chance of running into a grizzly is possible.
My point is that either the .270 or the '06 will work well and topics such as this are really a moot subject. One needs to practice with the rifle and gain the confidence to make the shot. Confidence in ones ability counts for a lot.
Bear in Fairbanks

I like redheads but I married a blond. Redheads seem to be a bit more finicky, blonds have a broader bullet selection. On the other hand, most of my rifles are synthetic stocked but I sure like to look at walnut...

There are a whole host of cartridges from 257 to 308 that basically do the same thing. The mono metal bullets have closed the gap even more.

I grew up with a 270, and am very passionate about the cartridge. I have shot alot of critters with the 270. I have used bullet weights ranging from the Barnes 85gr TSX to the Nosler 160gr partition. I have used it game ranging from cottontails to elk, and most everything in between. So I know it works.

In all those years and on all those animals, I have lost exactly one deer with a 270. A 30-06 would not have changed that outcome. When the nut pulling the trigger is off, it doesn't matter what cartridge/caliber you are shooting.

In all those years, I think I would have accomplished the exact same thing with a 30-06.

Here's my opinion. If a person is going to shoot mostly deer and occasionally bigger. A 270 is probably a better choice on paper.

If a person is going shoot mostly bigger, then a 30-06 is probably a better choice on paper.

In reality, you can not go wrong with either option.

My theory is pretty simple:
Higher velocity kills farther.
Bigger diameter kills better.

Shoot what you like, like what you shoot, but most important is to be able to hit what you are aiming at.

And here is the trump, shot placement relegates all other discussions to secondary importance.

Gee, I think I saw this debate whipped and snapped about in the hot air 'til it was tattered like a rag, back about 1950, or a bit before that.


Over the years, I've accumulated an awful lot of rifles, but there are four, one of which gets chosen for almost every hunt I've gone on in the last several decades.

One is a Pre'64 M70 .270 FW. Goes deer hunting almost every time I do.

Another is a Pre-War (clover-leaf tang) M70 Std. wt. .30-06. On my last half-dozen moose hunts, it was "the man".

Third is a Ruger No. 1 in 7x65-R...sort of a rimmed .280. For the last 10 years it has been my go-to elk rifle.

Last is the one which goes everytime I am hunting terrain where a little extra power might be useful... a Pre-War Model 70 which started out as a .300 H&H, but got rechambered by Roy Weatherby "hisself" in 1948 to .300 Wby.

But, ya know what? It is just affection and nostalgia which causes me to use those rifles for those specific purposes. I could have my wife stuff any one of them in the truck without telling me which...get to the hunting grounds, and be perfectly happy with whatever she'd put in there.

I just like each one to have its own specialty so that it gets to go along at least once every couple of years. Can't leave old friends at home pining for the scent of the forest or the hills, or the prairie, while I'm out there rolling and reveling in it.

Camp fire smoke is good for my friendly old rifles' souls as well as my own.

Uhhh, I think this argument has been going on since some time in the early 1900's.

Hey AC, If you would get something "reliable" like an excellent Remington, a Savage or a Marlin, you wouldn't need to carry 4-rifles all the time.

quote:

Originally posted by wasbeeman:
Uhhh, I think this argument has been going on since some time in the early 1900's.

Perhaps. Guess it depends on what you call "early" 1900s. the .270 wasn't even first manufactured until 1925, and darned few folks had sporter or sporterized .30'06s by then either.

I think the debate really got into full bloom in the early to mid 1930's. Then along came WWII and nobody was really arguing much over the .270 vs. the '06 for a few years there either, excepting a few combat-dodgers who managed to get themselves assigned to cushy, safe, state-side jobs.

Anyway, the gun periodicals really jumped on the "straw man" this-vs.-that theme in the late-'40S, early 1950's, and this particular comparison was one of their favourites.

Whatever...it's a Ford vs. Chevy vs. Dodge pickups kind of thing........

Hot Core, you old siwash - you know damned well I don't carry four rifles.

And yes, I own a lot of Remingtons, a few Savages, and numerous "furrin" pieces of iron too. I just carry those old Winchesters because I bought them many years ago and they have always done anything I asked them to. Why desert old friends when they've never let you down?

Would be kinda like trading in a 40-year old wife for two 20-year old Bimbos. Hell, I ain't wired for 220.

They know my ways and I know theirs. Why start over when there ain't no need?

Best wishes to you. Hope the jackals leave you alone for a while.

AC

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:
Hot Core, you old siwash - you know damned well I don't carry four rifles.

Realllly???

I normally carry a Deer Rifle and a Revolver. Had a couple of Stands with Tin Roofs and the Squirrels would send the Acorns smashing down onto them. Sounded like Bowling Balls when everything is seriously quiet. Then I'd get a severe case of the Grips.

Occasionally carried a 22LR of some sort when the Squirrels got going - in addition to the Deer Rifle and Revolver. Looked like I was ready for a small incursion.

quote:

Hope the jackals leave you alone for a while. ...

Aww..., it keeps them out of trouble and doesn't really matter when I consider the sources.

quote:

... combat-dodgers ...

The predecessors to todays yellow-streaked, spineless, jellyfish, Freedom Freeloaders. Totally worthless.

dogcat: +2

I find myself prejudiced against the .270 because I run into a lot of idiots wielding them. Not you guys, but the 9 day a year gun hunters who sighted in when they bought their Savage in 1990 with 130gr Ballistic Tips and are now hunting moose with it.

There is nothing you can do with a .30-'06 that I can't do with a .270. I would suspect that if you need a 220-grain bullet to do the job you are undergunned, and the '06 is at its best with 165s. The .270 will kill just about anything except African DG with a 160. Apples and apples, guys. One just has a bit of a better ballistic coefficient.

I would say the 30/06. It can shoot all the 30 caliber bullets whare as the 270 has its own group of bullets. I own both.

quote:

I find myself prejudiced against the .270 because I run into a lot of idiots wielding them. Not you guys, but the 9 day a year gun hunters who sighted in when they bought their Savage in 1990 with 130gr Ballistic Tips and are now hunting moose with it.

That is exactly how I feel about 7mm mag's.

But the same can said of any cartridge. If enough people use a certain cartridge, by the law of averages, you will have some idiots.

None of the two, I would lean to the 06 if I had to tho.

This argument is like asking for 6 doughnuts or half a dozen doughnuts.

465H&H

quote:

Originally posted by SDhunter:

quote:

I find myself prejudiced against the .270 because I run into a lot of idiots wielding them. Not you guys, but the 9 day a year gun hunters who sighted in when they bought their Savage in 1990 with 130gr Ballistic Tips and are now hunting moose with it.

That is exactly how I feel about 7mm mag's.

But the same can said of any cartridge. If enough people use a certain cartridge, by the law of averages, you will have some idiots.

This much is certain: even idiots often recognize the truth; but the idiot is never able to apply said truth effectively.

Such is the case with idiots who purchase a .270 or 7 mag. Great cartridges; improperly applied.

The .270. Absolutely. Without quesstion. Well, except maybe the king of the hills and fields, the 30-06. ??

Is it just me or is the .270 more and more popular the farther south you go?

I've spent more time afield after Moose than deer, so I'm thinking what someone hunts has a lot to do with what they like.

Why not both?

quote:

Originally posted by TerryR:
Ginger or Marianne?

I'll take Marianne but wouldn't kick Ginger out of my bed.

I wold say the 3006 hands down. It will do any thing that the 270 will plus a hole lot more. The 3006 can take up to a 220GR bullet.

I agree with all the guys who picked the 260 Remington!

quote:

Originally posted by seafire/B17G:
I agree with all the guys who picked the 260 Remington!

7mm-08.

On some game farms the owners sometimes specify minimum .30 cal for Kudu and larger game.

There's really no argument. 30-06 will do ALL that 270 does. Just as the 280 out performs the 270 so does the 30-06 out perform it.

Indeed the ONLY reason that I have a 270 and not a 30-06 is for when I shoot in France where 30-06 is illegal.

And now I've got an 8x60S I'm rapidly deciding that I don't need my 280!

The 270 and the 30-06 are equal.

No matter how you do the math it all comes up the same.

270: 2 + 7 + 0 = 9
3006: 3 + 0 + 0 + 6 = 9

Since 9 = 9 the cartridges are equal.

Other cartridges that are equal to the 270 and 30-06 are:

243: 2 + 4 + 3 = 9
333 Jeffery: 3 + 3 + 3 = 9
9mm: 9 = 9

quote:

Originally posted by Grenadier:
The 270 and the 30-06 are equal.

No matter how you do the math it all comes up the same.

270: 2 + 7 + 0 = 9
3006: 3 + 0 + 0 + 6 = 9

Since 9 = 9 the cartridges are equal.

Other cartridges that are equal to the 270 and 30-06 are:

243: 2 + 4 + 3 = 9
333 Jeffery: 3 + 3 + 3 = 9
9mm: 9 = 9

So the 22-250 must be really equal.

quote:

Originally posted by cobra:

So the 22-250 must be really equal.

Actually I pondered that and guessed it would be one of these but I didn't know if we were talking about use only in the USA or international use.

30-378 Weathery: 3 + 0 + 3 + 7 + 8 = 21
7.62x54: 7 + 6 + 2 + 5 + 4 = 24

quote:

Originally posted by seafire/B17G:
I agree with all the guys who picked the 260 Remington!

7mm-08.

Actually, .257 Roberts.

This is like the Ford-Chevy debate, personal preference. That being said, if you want to hunt deer-like critters, either will work great. On bigger critters, ie. bears,elk and such, I'd go with the .30 cal. version of this case. If you can only have one and you want to do more than hunt game, there are AP, tracers and 240 gr. VLD's available for the .30. The .270 will launch lighter bullets a bit faster and a little flatter. That being said, a few years back I shot two mulies in S. TX with 165 ballistic tips(hand loads) from an -06 at 515 and 555 yards (laser). Both died basically on impact.