Which Hunting Rifle - .270, .300, .308 or 30/06?

Winchester model 70, I have two. One in 30.06 and the other in .375 H&H. I did have a .35 Whelen but it's performance was on a par with my .375 out to 250 yds. My opinion, get a 30.06. If you ever need ammo while hunting, you can get it in any little hardware store in BFE. Not so with the Whelen.
 
I bought a new rifle last fall that I am really happy with.

It's a Sako A7 RoughTech 308 Win. I believe I paid $1150 for it which is a very nice rifle for the money. The A7 is like a nicer Tikka in that it has the same three lug short throw bolt as the higher end Sako rifles, but uses Weaver style scope mounts vs the proprietary built in mounts the Tikka and other Sako rifles use. It has a 24.5" barrel and comes with a 5 shot MOA warrenty. Also has a much nicer stock than the Tikka IMO.

I'm shooting the 175g Barnes LRX Bullet at 2.9" OAL and 2760 FPS into MOA groups and I am very happy with this rifle to say the least.

I put a Leopold VXR 3x9x40 Illuminated Firedot reticle with Mark IV ring set. ( $625 total )

It available in all the calibers your looking at: http://www.sako.fi/rifles/sako-a7/a7-roughtech-pro

It's a winner.

I also have a Winchester Model 70 Featherweight in 300WSM that I shoot 200g Barnes LRX bullets at 2820 fps from. It's a winner too. :)

You really can't go wrong with anything in this thread....
 
Last edited:
If Alaskan brown bear is on your list, I'd go with the 30-06, otherwise it's pickem between the 30-06 and the 270. I love my 270, accounted for a bunch of deer a couple of dozen elk and seven black bears. 150g Partitions at 2900 plus fps just works wonders
 
270 is a great cartridge, but its a lot more bang and boom than it returns.

Lethality on Elk is a bit marginal at long range.
Click to expand...

Why would the 270 be less lethal at long range than a 30-06? The 270 retains more energy than a 30-06 past about 150 yards, at least according to the ballistics charts I've read.
 
I shoot a 30-06, but my buddy with a 270 Win could do almost anything I could do--but we are vanilla hunters: a couple deer, a couple elk... We don't chase big bears. If by 'bears' you mean big and brown, I would definitely take the 30-06 b/c you can launch heavier bullets. Otherwise...fielder's choice.

I have a 260 Rem for chasing smaller, long distance game, but either the 270 or 30-06 could do that as well.
 
I'm very impressed with the many endorsements of the .270. I would have thought the 30-06 would be king around here.
 
Brian, the 270 crowd is always proud and loud. :)
I won't say anything bad about either and you can likely find 270 any place that sells 3006. I will say that for big dangerous game the 3006 has the weight advantage. I have never used the 270 but you have to give it its due. It has been used as a sniper round just like the 3006, it can hunt most of the game animals that the 3006 can with limitations on moose and big bears. It's not that you can't kill moose or big bears with it, just that it provide less safety margin when doing it. I split a 5 foot granite boulder with my 3006 and I have never seen that done with a 270 but then I've never seen it done with any other gun either. I also don't know why anyone would try - it proves nothing except that a young man can be more daring than smart. :)

I have a feeling that the 3006 is going to fade away in the future and the 308 will take its place, and if I was to buy another 30 caliber it would likely be a 308. (just for the sake of ammo availability in the future)
 
Perhaps for military purposes, the 7.62 NATO round has replaced the 30-'06. Indeed, the two calibers have equal performance when considered in the context of M1 Garand versus M1A. But for hunting ammo in hunting rifles, the 30-'06 is more versatile and more powerful. In that scenario, the 308 Winchester is the replacement for the 300 Savage. As long as there is big game to hunt, the 30-'06 will remain with us. It does more things really well than perhaps any other caliber. Mind you, I'm a 270 Winchester guy, I've never owned a 30-'06. I think the 270 is slightly better for most purposes, but not all. I have a lot of respect for the '06 and I expect it to be with us for the long haul.
 
Shootist, the 30.06 isn't going away anytime soon. There are millions upon millions of rifles chambered for it, the geezer 30.06 will be around for over another hundred years.
 
I've had two .30-06s over a period of about 25 years. I switched to the .270 Win, primarily because my best hunting stand allows up to a 400 yard shot (which I've taken). The .270, with a 130 grain Ballistic Tip and a hefty load of Reloder 22 has nearly the same trajectory as a 7mm mag, but with less recoil and in a standard case. The .30-06 drops about 8-10 inches more at 400 yards, depending on how it's sighted-in.

I gave my .30-06 to my son and he's done well with it. If I kept my shots under 300 yards, the '06 would be fine. It's still be adequate over 300 yards, but I really like the higher velocity of the .270 and the fact that I can load 90 grain Sierras for lower velocity/recoil, informal target shooting, plus the fact that they shoot to the same POI at 100 yards as the hotter loads.

If shooting factory ammo, you can't go wrong with the '06. Ammo is often less expensive and more available than even the .308.
 
I have two 270's, a Remington 721 and a 700 BDL, both of which have proved themselves to be "perfect" (for me anyhow), beyond question. In my experience, hunting whitetail deer, and I have had many hunting rifles over the years in various calibers, the .270 is best. Hits like a .30-06, but recoils less. As accurate as you and your scope are. From woodchucks to black bear and moose, the 130 grain .270 will handle anything I choose to hunt here in Maine. Years ago, I fell in love with the caliber hunting woodchucks with an old .270 Mossberg / Howa and a basic 4x Simmons scope. I wish I had kept that rifle!!!
 
Last edited:
Having the hindsight of banging around in the woods chasing moose, caribou, bears and sheep for 40 some years, I have some thoughts on what I'd do starting over. That said, keep in mind, us old gas plants didn't have the choices you have today so we'll go with todays offerings.
From a practical point, I would go with a med contour barrel, synthetic stock and in 30-06. Hunting time is best spent hunting and not worrying about your gun, thus the synthetic stock. The caliber is capable of 110 gr. to 220 gr and does it well so you can adapt to the hunt, i.e.. more practical. With your budget I would look at a Remington 700 SPS on sale at Cabela's for under $600. I would spend a couple hundred having it blueprinted(barrel trued along with bolt face and lugs) and bedded. I would put a Leopold Vx 3i in 6.5-25 for somewhere around $700-$800. And finally, I would put a Timney or Jewel trigger in it.
Not only would this be a nice hunting setup, it would also be at home on the target range for informal shooting with light or cast bullets.

The gun I packed for most of those years was a 7mm Rem Mag. Great gun that served the purpose but it wasn't one I wanted or had time to just shoot. It came out during hunting season and that was about it. Every couple years I'd load up 20 rounds and when those were down to mag full, I'd load up a few more.
These days I'm more inclined to take my 1903 Springfield 30-06. The last moose I shot was with a Remington 1903A/4 sniper rifle so I have choices and if nothing else, I can go hunting at Safeway on the way home...lol.

Good luck in what ever you choose.
 
I don't know if I can articulate it correctly. But in short, and for the average shooter, the .270 is actually a better cartridge.

Same ballistics and a thinner bullet means better ballistic coefficient and better distance/energy retention...

The main criticism I've heard has been that the .270 can't really accommodate an over-sized bullet like a 220 grain, which I see as totally legitimate in regards to something like brown bear, but for a deer gun, I'd see no reason to take a .30-06 over a .270. And I say that as someone who owns a .30-06 and no .270... :)
 
No doubt in my mind that a 270 is very adequate for a lot of game.

Like 30-06 you will never see it go away, while not a 30-06 it works and works well and any new gun that comes out is in 270 Winchester.

If you can place your shot you can shoot elk with it, moose as well.

Deere sized game no question and I ponder people that shoot them with 300 WM and the like.

But, per the OP, if you want the best overall cartridge that can take anything, then the 30-06 is it.

One thing missing in the 270 is the plethora of bullets the 30 calibers have out. As those range from small 30s (30 BR) to mother 30s (300 WM) you get a wide range of bullets and the VLDs for them. Something around 30 cartridge that are 30 caliber.

In short, you can put a 130 gr bullet in the 30-06 and you can shoot as good as the 270.

270 caliber is not ever going to be re-discovered. The range of bullets will always be limited. Probably would have been the best by far military cartridge ever but it never got there and won't now. All of 3 cartridges use the .277 bullet.

Keep in mind it was the 30-06 that shot Grizzly bears by far the most, as time went by that was bucket up to 375 minimum, but the early hunters did not have 375, they had 30-06. US was not Africa, people were not on Safari, they were late century pioneers out West still (and AK) and they used the guns they hunted game with to kill Grizzly as needed. My step dads father killed 8 of them with a 30-06.

Hand load wise the 30-06 just keeps getting better as new powders come along. R-17 has put it up an easy 2900 fps in 175 gr bullets. New powders are coming out all the time.

Given the right region I would be good with a 270.

Given one cartridge to range the US (or the planet), it would be a 30-06.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top