Your .270 will work just fine in Montana. If you want to up your big game hunting success, spend as much money as you can tolerate on a good pair of binoculars.

I would look at the highly under rated .340 Weatherby. Great trajectory with the lighter accubonds and an absolute thumper with the heavier bullets. Some cool factor, and in these times of no ammo you will always be able to get supplies from Weatherby. A new model Mark V Weathermark LT would check alot of boxes.

I would second the motion on the .340 Wby for the ideal Montana rifle. My sporter model (the cheap model) shoots the 240 grain Northfork and 250 grain Barnes XLC (the blue coated bullet) into a three shots touching group when I do my part pulling the trigger. I load the bullets to near identical speeds st 3000 fps plus. I have taken many Deer of both types and several Elk as well as a BC Moose with the rifle. Mounted with. Burris Signature 4X16 scope it has served me so well it will never leave my hands. Good Shooting.

Reading many of the suggestions given in this thread, I don't know how I could have possibly killed almost 30 Montana elk just using my .257 Ackley, .30-06, .30 Gibbs, and .300 Weatherby?

quote:

Originally posted by buffybr:
Reading many of the suggestions given in this thread, I don't know how I could have possibly killed almost 30 Montana elk just using my .257 Ackley, .30-06, .30 Gibbs, and .300 Weatherby?

Just lucky I s'pose

quote:

Originally posted by secondtry:

quote:

Originally posted by buffybr:
Reading many of the suggestions given in this thread, I don't know how I could have possibly killed almost 30 Montana elk just using my .257 Ackley, .30-06, .30 Gibbs, and .300 Weatherby?

Just lucky I s'pose

I'll second that. I'm not a fan of the .270 for no particular reason but I have yet to read here any good reason not to just stay with it and continue having fun.

I know a local in western Montana that does all of his hunting with an original Winchester 1895 in .30/40 Krag and open sights. Takes elk every year. Of course he is a master hunter, not a long range shooter. I would probably need a .338 Win mag.

At my age, (no, I'm, not as old as Ray) but I don't know that I will ever get an opportunity to hunt in Montana, Wyoming or other states that have grizzly or brown bears that might require larger calibers. I quit chasing elk in CO three years ago. I have hunted 6 states from TX to SD and most all states in-between and could probably get by with my 25-06. But, I shoot my CZ 550 9.3x62 as well as any rifle I own. I have really accurate hand loads for both 286gr. Nosler Partitions and 250gr. AB's and would not hesitate to use it on any game animal in NA and beyond. Not too big for deer or hogs nor too small for big bears (from what I've heard). One of the rifles that my kinfolk will have to sell after I'm gone.

quote:

Originally posted by CP:
Your .270 will work just fine in Montana. If you want to up your big game hunting success, spend as much money as you can tolerate on a good pair of binoculars.

That is the most true advice I have read in a long tine!

Hi John,

You've received many excellent recommendations.

I've done the circle. I began with my first big game rifle, a Model 700 .270 Win, and then picked up a .338 Win Mag and then a 7MM Rem Mag, and ended with a .47/70 Gov't. I'll tell you from experience that there is no more miserable recoil pain than a max loaded .45/70 round fired from an 1895.

Big guns do produce big recoil. It's elementary physics. Big recoil causes big flinches. Big flinches destroy confidence. And confidence kills big game.

I've seen well-put-up study dudes get punished by .300 Win Mag recoil out of sporter weight rifles. My guess is the 7MM Rem Mag is the most powerful rifle that 90% of big game hunters can bench shoot without suffering the feeling of going 15 rounds with Ali.

A heavy rifle will lessen recoil of big cartridges. But I can tell you for an absolute fact that you'll feel every ounce of a heavy rifle at Rocky Mountain altitude.

In the end, cartridge is mostly immaterial. What a bullet destroys is very material. Put a .243 Win bullet in the oxygenated blood pumping apparatus of the most massive Rocky Mountain bull elk to ever live, and it'll hit dirt within 30 seconds. Nothing living remains in that condition without topside oxygenated blood flow. Some hunters will deny this biological fact: a .243 Win in the boiler room will kill all big game just as dead as any mega magnum.

I'm long past done carrying heavy rifles up-and-down high ridges of the Rockies. I've sold all of my big game rifles except my 2 .270 Win rifles and my 7MM Rem Mag rifle. Last season, I used my first big game rifle, my Model 700 .270 Win when hunting Rocky Mountain mule deer. If I ever hunt bull elk again, I'll use 150 grain Partitions fried from my .270 Win.

Considering that Eskimos use the '06 for everything to include polar bear and their Canadian brethren, Inuit, use the .303 British for everything to include polar bear, the conclusion is destroying parts necessary for topside oxygenated blood flow is the most important aspect of big game hunting. And that's where confidence factors into the tag affixing equation. A hunter who's confident with his rifle will fill his tag every time.

Always buy what's right for you, not what's right for people giving you advice.

The way it's proved right for me is a very accurate, lightweight rifle chambered in any member of the '06 family to include the .308 Win will cause you to do the really heavy work of big game hunting: processing your kills.

My Model 700 .270 will print .25" groups at a hundred yards all day and night using the classic .270 Win load: 130 grain bullet (I like Sierra GK), 60 grains of H-4831, and Fed 210M primers. My Sako AV .270 Win and my Sako AV 7MM Rem Mag will print very tiny groups, too. I can shoot these rifles all day and never flinch. I'm 100% confident when hunting with any of these three rifles. And remember, confidence kills big game.

John, if you keep the fundamental law of biology at the forefront of your mind, that nothing living remains in that condition without a functioning oxygenated blood pumping apparatus, your cartridge election will become much easier.

Yes, it is factual that a .30-30 Win bullet to the boiler room of the largest elk that has ever lived will have about 30 seconds' hoof time remaining before its dirt nap. A mega magnum will not kill deader than a .30-30 Win assuming bullets from either destroy identical prats required for sustaining life.

Based upon my time spent cussing heavy rifles at Rocky Mountain altitude, I'd go with a lightweight .270 Win every single time.

BTW, I've used the example of Rocky Mountain bull elk because it's alleged to be the most difficult animal to induce dirt napping. I've found that will correct bullet placement, Rocky Mountain bull elk take dirt naps as easily as other species.

John, I wish you the absolute best with your decision. Remember, always buy what's right for you, not what's right for others.

quote:

Originally posted by carpetman1:

quote:

If I had to, I would be happy with owning just one .270. (Or .30-06...better in my eyes, but animals probably wouldn't know which is which).

Your .270 Winchester will handle anything Montana has to offer.

+1

Why ask if your mind is already made up?

Agree. I guided in the Bob Marshall with a Rem BDL in 270 (which is still in the family) With 150g Partitions at 2900 plus fps, it will handle anything including grizzlies as long as you can shoot.

The 270 would be just fine. I moved here in 2010 and shoot mostly deer but have shot 4 elk. Two with my 308 win (my personal favorite), one with a 30-06 and my only 6x6 so far with a bow.

We shoot most of the deer with a 20 gauge shotgun.

.270 or its ballistic twin 7mm-08 will work. Did .270 for 25 years, 7mm-08 for the last ten. In 35 years nothing has walked away. Shot placement is what matters 99.9% of the time, so use whatever you shoot well.

"Get a 300 mag of some sort for Elk, and you're covered." (Biebs)

Yep. 300 WM, 300 WSM, 300 PRC or 325 WSM would work for everything.

I have grown to like my 325WSM a lot. 160 gr at 3250, 180 gr at 3050 and 220gr touches 2750. Not a 1000 yd rifle but 400 is all I will shoot.

You have the .270 and like it so why not stay in the same ball park? .270 Ackley Improved with a faster twist barrel to utilise the newer selection of heavier bullets available???? You'll have loads of brass and components kicking around and if it really is a new rifle for a new rifle's sake then you're half way there.
Alternatively 27 Nosler or .27 Sig Fury.

Haven't posted in a long time but thought I would chirp in.

When they first brought out the 77 Mk II I was planning my first Wyoming trip. I bought one in .338, had it Magnaported to control muzzle jump, stuck on a 1-1/2 - 6 Leupold. First 3 210 Nosler Federal Safaris went into less than 1/2". For the next 35 years I never shot another rifle at any kind of big game. (And I have owned over a hundred different ones in that time.) As a game getter that is accurate, powerful and doesn't ruin meat, I don't think there is a better solution out there.

quote:

Originally posted by Hasher:
You clearly need a 338-06 AI.

I agree! Best rifle cartridge form North America. Any 30-cal is not enough of a change from your 270 to make much of a difference. If it has to be a magnum, go for a 375 H&H and then you have this and all of the other continents covered.

RC

You can’t do better than a .338 to go with that .270. I’ve shot a handful of Montana whitetails with my 338, and it was fine. It’s like any other rifle, put a good bullet where it’s supposed to go and the animal goes flop. I think the recoil of a 338 is a bit less sharp than most 300 mags, so I prefer shooting it. And, it’d be nice to carry a 338 when in grizzly country.

quote:

Originally posted by Wildcatter:

quote:

Originally posted by Hasher:
You clearly need a 338-06 AI.

Any 30-cal is not enough of a change from your 270 to make much of a difference. If it has to be a magnum, go for a 375 H&H and then you have this and all of the other continents covered.

Maybe the .375, but only if hunting Africa is included. For strictly N.A. hunting (including Alaska), it isn't necessary. The next logical step up in power from the .30-cal class is the .35-cal class.

Specifically, the .35 Whelen (a/k/a 'the poor man's magnum) in a 22" or 24" rifle the same size and weight as your .30-06.

Or, if hunting in thick brush or the timbered areas where shots on moose or elk are likely to be inside 100-yds, a 19"-20" handy carbine in .350 Rem Mag, like Rem's old Model 600s and 660s, or a similarly compact set-up like the Model Seven.

Welll there you have it, about a couple of hundred choices out there and they all work, not one that wouldn't as far as I can tell..

I will add two, my 25-35 and 250-3000, and they took care of about a half dozen elk one shot kills each give or take a couple..just kept the range under a 100 yards..The point Im trying to make is how you shoot, when you shoot, its the secret to the 25-35 and the 375 Ruger..

bottom line? get a 30-06, and the world is your oyster..