For the purposes of this article, we will go out to 500 yards, so at 500 yards, the .270 Winchester has a speed of around 2085 feet per second. Though the .308 Winchester certainly has an edge over the .270 when shooting 150gr bullets, the 130gr .270 load has more energy remaining and shoots flatter (the .308 has 15-20″ more bullet drop) at 500 yards than both .308 Winchester loads. But I’d opt for something of stouter construction for a 130 gr 270, which means a bit more expensive. The table below compares the recoil produced by 130gr and 150gr .270 loads to 150gr and 180gr .308 loads (all shooting a Nosler Partition bullet) when fired from a Ruger American rifle. John Species not Browm Bear I firmly believe that shot placement and the correct choice of ammunition plays a great role in all hunts know your rifles capability and your own limitations to insure humane kills respect the animals God has blessed us with to provide awesome meals for our families take great shots be patient teach the next generation about safety and our hunting tradition choose a rifle that your comfortable firing we are hunters not snipers respect our wildlife make great decisions clean humane kills with correct ammo for the animals you hunt, The 6.8 SPC is another mass produced, commercially available .277 caliber cartridge. This round was originally brought to be in the form of the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge, but Winchester commercially produced and sold it as the .308 Winchester. If you are looking for a semi-automatic weapon, the .308 would probably be your best choice. On the other hand, the majority of .270 Winchester factory loads shoot bullets in the 120-150 grain range. The .270 also has a bit less recoil. They’re both about the same up to 150 gr bullets, but 160 and 175 gr bullets are easily obtained for 280R, and in a wide variety of cartridge and bullet makers. The .270 Win has a muzzle energy of around 3000 foot pounds, meaning that it has this much energy when the bullet exits the muzzle of the barrel. Let’s get down to it; the .308 vs .270. There has been many moose found that were shot and never recovered by the hunter because of lack of a blood trail, so use what will drop it in its tracks or at least leave a good blood trail. The .270 generally shoots flatter than the .308, which means that the bullet will drop less during its travel to the target. Especially with the great bullets we have available today the .270 is just fine for elk…but I remain convinced that the .30-06 is better for elk, and certainly better for moose and bear. They formally released the resulting .270 Winchester cartridge in 1925 with the Winchester Model 54 rifle. Not surprisingly, pretty much every ammunition manufacturer of note like Barnes, Black Hills, Browning, Federal Premium, Fiocchi, Hornady, Magtech, Nosler, PMC, PPU, Remington, Swift, and Winchester (just to name a few) produce a wide variety of ammo for both cartridges. It’s unclear exactly why Winchester opted for .277″ instead of the much more popular .284″ bullets. Regardless of their reasons though, the design team at Winchester went with that bullet diameter and the rest is history. For instance, though it’s possible to find .308 ammo shooting bullets weighing as little as 110 grains, most .308 Winchester factory loads designed for big game hunting use heavier weight bullets in the 150 grain to 180 grain range. Splitting hairs with arguments like the age old “.308 vs .30-06” are pretty much a toss-up. This is only a preference, not a requirement for me. Again, 270 is a fine cartridge, but whatever you shoot, you need to understand that cartridge’s limitations. The .308 is absolutely enough gun for elk hunting. For this reason, the .270 Winchester is used in standard/long action rifles, while the .308 Winchester is the poster child for short action rifles. Good luck in deciding between the 270, 30-06 or even the 300 WSM. It’s difficult to pick an accuracy winner between the 270 vs 308 though because it’s something of an apples to oranges comparison. We shot and compared three popular options to help you decide on the best elk cartridge for your style of hunting The .270 Winchester is a very flat shooting and moderately powerful cartridge, especially considering that it’s nearly 100 years old. Choosing the .308 cartridge in say, a semi-automatic AR-10 type platform, would be an excellent choice for self defense and would do well in this type of role. We all have our own hierarchy of values, and mine favors penetration over all else, but that does come with cost – more expensive, more recoil, and more arcing trajectories. Many western hunters annually take elk with 6mms and .25s. The Lyman 50th Edition (197-198, p241-245), and Hornady 10th Edition (p251-355, p474-488) reloading manuals were also used as references for the history of the cartridges and provided data to compare their size and recoil. In this hunter’s opinion, 175 gr 280 Rem and 180 gr 308W hit a sweet spot in bullet performance. So on my next elk hunt, I`ll be using perhaps what some consider to be a more un-conventional and unpopular bullet. Around here, the .270 has a much better reputation for being a good all around choice ie; antelope, deer, bear, sheep and elk, than the .308. Mag.! Even so, the .270 Winchester has significantly more case capacity due to the much longer case used by the cartridge.Finally, the .270 Winchester has a slightly higher maximum average pressure authorized by SAAMI cartridges (65,000psi vs 62,000psi for the .308 Win). It is a well known cartridge, capable of travelling long distances with lots of energy to knock down your intended target. Momentum (not KE) is king when it comes to penetration, and heavier bullets retain it better than lighter bullets. On the other hand, even though the 180gr .308 bullet weighs more and has a slightly higher BC than the 130gr .270 bullet, the .270 has an additional 490fps of muzzle velocity that translates into a significantly flatter trajectory and less wind drift. my choice is the 270 win, shooting range for animals is most in the 200 yards. All cartridges/rifles are a balancing act between Some hunters report that the .270 is a nearly ideal elk cartridge. Of course Remington and Winchester produce the Model 70 and Model 700 rifles in .270 and .308 Winchester. I like a 22 inch barreled rifle for dark timber elk hunting. Just a few years after the introduction of the .308, the wildcatters mated the case with 7mm bullets. Eventually, I wanted to go after elk but wanted to remain with a lever action so in 1972 I bought a Savage 99 in .308 shooting 180 grain core-lokt ammo. Would be even happier with 168 Ballistic Tips, but couldn't find any before the season. We’ll start with the .308 Winchester. I’m more than happy to shoot inexpensive bullets like Speer Grand Slam (180 gr and 175 grain, respectively) out of a 308 or 280 Rem. For these reasons, some elk hunters are calling it an extremely promising lightweight backcountry rifle. While each cartridge offers certain benefits to hunters, there is also a pretty big overlap in their capabilities. The .270 bullet is about 10% as big as the .308 Winchester with the same size casing that has been necked down to fit a .277 diameter bullet, but has been known to take down animals ranging from things smaller than Coyotes to animals like elk and moose. Some recommended products may use affiliate links. Though some were reluctant to adopt the cartridge, many American hunters eventually came to appreciate the flat shooting characteristics of the round as well as the fact that it was so effective on thin skinned game. Introduced by Hornady in 2007, the 6.5 Creedmoor is easily the hottest-selling rifle … I used the Federal Ballistic calculator and ShootersCalculator.com to compare wind drift, the range each bullet goes subsonic, and recoil for the cartridges. The .270 Winchester commonly has weights from 130 to 160 grains, depending on what your intended use is. There isn't any factory match ammo or rifles set up for it. Thanks Brian. Note: there is quite a bit of overlap with the performance of various 150 grain loads for both the .270 Winchester and .308 Winchester. 308 left, 30-06 right What’s great about both the 308 and 30-06. GoShootGuns.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. I also think the heaviest bullet for the .308 should be no more than 165 grains. All that being said, while the .308 probably has a slight edge here, both cartridges have the potential for excellent accuracy in the right hands. For instance, the 150gr Nosler Partition below really did a number on a big kudu bull in South Africa. It’s really just a matter of each cartridge having certain strengths and weaknesses. The .308 commonly has a 150 to 180 grain range. This fits with the original intent of the designers interested in building a mild shooting and easy to handle cartridge that was still powerful enough for hunting medium sized game at short to moderate range. The Glenfield 30-30 is my main rifle for deer and wild hogs. 6.5 Creedmoor vs. 270 - which cartridges are an ideal companion when hunting?Finding the answer to this question is no piece of cake. With a significantly flatter trajectory and more resistance to wind, the cartridge does very well on longer shots, particuarly on thin skinned game like mule deer, pronghorn, sheep, or tahr. It saw use in the military from the early 1950’s (mostly in the 7.62x51mm variation, which has small differences from the .308 Winchester) until the United States started the move over to the 5.56×45 NATO cartridge when they moved from the M14 to the M16 around the Vietnam era. The .308 has quite the popularity in bolt-action rifles, as well as semi-automatic platforms, and even some lever action rifles. Concealed Carry Class – Legal “Loophole” Allows You To Carry Concealed, Best Hunting Binoculars in 2018 You Can Buy, Best Ar-15 For The Money 2018 – Top 7 [NEW!!! This data is for Federal factory ammo using a 200 yard zero. The .270 is a necked down 30-06. The US Army began the search for a new rifle and cartridge after receiving a deadly demonstration of the capabilities of the revolutionary new Mauser rifle and 7mm Mauser cartridge in the hands of Spanish troops in Cuba during 1898. However, the .308 performs better with heavier bullets than the .270 and is available in a wider range of bullet weights and models. The .30-06 isn’t fancy or flashy, but with a 180-grain bullet it’s a real thumper. Basically, there is no shortage of quality .270 Win and .308 Win factory ammunition suitable for hunting. I like the 308 over the 270, but if I needed a vary long shot I would go with the 300 win mag. Updated: May 10, 2019. Step up .013 inch and you have .277 inch, the bullet diameter of the .270 Winchester (and .270 WSM and Weatherby Magnum). On the other hand, since it shoots heavier and larger diameter bullets, the .308 Winchester has a clear advantage when hunting larger species moose, elk, and caribou. for longer range better go for the 7mm Rem Mag or 300 Win Mag/300 Wby Mag with 180gr. Case capacities for the .270 Win and .308 Win were obtained from Nosler. Thoughts? In fact, I’d wager that they’re both among the Top 10 (if not the Top 5) best selling rifle cartridges in the United States each year. Book an outstanding Africa hunting safari here. 2. recoil Still others consider the .270 worthless for elk hunting and recommend nothing less than a .300 Magnum as the absolute minimum elk cartridge. This round was originally brought to be in the form of the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge, but Winchester commercially produced and sold it as the .308 Winchester. I have done BC calculations on Hornady website and a .308 shoots just as flat and with more energy than a .270 when you get up to 150 and 160 gr bullets for the .270. The 6.5 Creedmoor is adequate for elk only because the high ballistic coefficient and downrange terminal velocity that carries. ... Because a 150gr .270 has a high sectional density than a 150gr .308. And even though the .270 is skinnier, its .5 inch increase in the casing length allows it to hold more powder and can withstand 3,000 more units of pressure than the .308. If you’d like to learn more about the evolution of intermediate cartridges, read the article below. depending on how long the shots would be. Both cartridges are also well suited for handloaders and reloading components for both cartridges are widely available. At a MV of around 2600 fps, nearly all bullets will perform reasonably well, both ballistically and, more importantly, terminally out to 200 or 250 yards. 270 Winchester. However, the folks at Winchester went the opposite route and necked down the .30-06 to use .277″ instead of .308″ bullets. Generally, the .270 is travelling at a faster speed, being a smaller projectile, and also has a bit more energy in foot pounds down range. The relatively light recoil of the cartridge also makes it easier to handle in a lightweight rifle that’s desirable on a mountain hunt. Maximum pressure obtained from SAAMI (p171 and p172). However, the .308 has a slightly steeper shoulder angle (20 degrees vs 17.5 degrees). But if you are looking for a hunting rifle or something that you can go shoot at targets at long range, both of these rounds would be excellent choices. But to make the task of choosing one which suits your hunting best much easier, let’s walk through their most outstanding features.