Thoughts on 270 or 30.06 for an elk cartridge? It looks like an elk hunt is lining up for me next year. I don’t want to invest in a magnum caliber Elk gun since I won’t hunt them often. I was thinking about a caliber that could serve as a deer rifle and an occasional Elk.

Either is fine.

I would have no problem shooting an elk with a .270 with a 130 or 140 grain accubond or a .30-06 with a 180 grain accubond or partition style bullet.

A lot has been written on elk cartridges but finding the elk is the most critical part of the hunt.

Magazine writers have done a brisk business for magnum cartridge manufacturers while locals have piled up elk with both the .270 and 06’

I would choose the .270 as my personal beliefs are a 06’ is a tad on the heavy side for a deer rifle. I much prefer the recoil of a .270

How far do you plan to shoot and what do you currently own? Lots of elk killed with .308, 7-08, even 6.5 CM. They aren't tanks. Since you don't currently own either, if you aren't confident in what you have I'd look at splitting the difference and going .280. Also, if you have good friends and this isn't a regular thing, maybe borrow a rifle to use for the hunt.

Not likely you or the elk will ever know the difference between the two.

Either will work fine. Which one do you shoot better? Which one is lighter? Select an adequate bullet for either caliber and your are GTG.

Either will work fine.

.30-06 is what I would pick with a 180 gr bullet, over a .270 for elk.

Absolutely this.

Mark

I'd take the rifle I liked best.

I agree with QSYB. If you’re buying get a .280.

If you ever leave the country for a hunting trip, you have a better chance of finding .30-06 ammo in more places than the other calibers. (And I'm a .280 big fan.)

In southern Africa, it's a plains game smacker.

As others have stated, either will do the job. If I had to choose between the two it would be the 30-06 with 180 Nosler Partitions

Either will work fine and if you are shooting it a good bit for whitetail I'd go 270. Get a load that works for deer with a 130gr bullet and then go heavy (150gr) Nosler Partition for elk. Or- if you wanna do from far away get a 270 put on an 8 Twist and run the 170gr Berger for some really impressive numbers.

30-06 because there is no replacement for displacement!

180-215 gr well built bullet. Like a accubond or partition style bullet.
I’ve shot a bunch of the 180 gr hornady spbt in game and never had any issues.

I am a 270 nut, read every book and magazine articles from Jack O'Connor. But my choice of the 2 for elk, would be an 06. With a trophy bonded 180. Or TTSX. But wouldn't hesitate to use my trusty old 270 either, with a well constructed 140 or 150 gr bullet.

30-06 for sure between those two. I have used the 180 grain trophy bonded tip bullet from Federal and have had great success with it.

x2

I have a great shooting Remmy 700 in 308, but it’s a Varmint model and heavy. I’ve chopped the barrel to 18”, but with the HS Precision stock and bottom metal it’s still heavy. If my rifle were lighter I’d take it and shoot 165 Noslers. Looking for a rifle that’s significantly lighter, but is adequate for elk. Hence the question about the 270 and 30.06.

Go get a model 7 stainless in 7mm-08. Problem solved. Perfect mountain gun that’s also about the handiest deer rifle ever made



What your looking for is a new deer rifle that will kill an elk. Not a battle between the .270 vs. 30-06 in which is the better elk gun

Either will work just fine with the proper bullet and bullet placement. 270 140 Nosler Partitions and 30 cal 165 grain Nosler Partition would be my personal choice in bullets.

The bullet is more important than the cartridge...

and in the end the rifle its chambered in is about as important. Its starting to balance out now but for years all people read about was about what elk cartridge you need, what bullet you need but very little was written about rifle weight/ gear weight, etc.


The fact is that in most cases, certainly on public lands, opportunities for a bull elk are few and far between ( most success rates are in the 20% range) so while you need to have a rifle/cartridge combo that will carry the mail if you do get a opportunity, the fact remains you will be carrying the rifle far more than shooting it and you may need to carry it a long ways to get back into where the elk actually live.


I'm no expert on killing elk but i can tell you two things i have learned from hunting them;. one being that carrying a heavy rifle in the mountains is a PITA and that most people end up shooting elk twice, so pick a round that will kill a 600-1000 lb animal in two shots that you don't mind lugging around for miles on end day after day

Yelp, cartridge only puts a theoretical distance limitation. If someone doesn’t want to become proficient over a certain range then really just comes down to bullet and bullet placement

As people have said already, the type of bullet is far more important than the cartridge itself. You honestly can't go wrong with either. As I like to say, when in doubt, just get both guns!