[*Moose]

If you could own one or the other which would you prefer for your style of hunting?

 

[*Moose]

I chose the .30-06 because I try to keep my shots within 300 yards so I don't really need the extra range of the .270 and, I like the ability to go heavy with bullet weight on big animals.

 

[Birch812]

I have both but chose the .06. My soul reason for picking the 06 was I used it longer then a .270.
I use the .270 now much more for hunting here in Pa since it has better distance but have never found bullet weight a problem on the animals I shot.

 

[JasonN]

I picked the old '06. I don't own one and really have no desire to own one. I figure my 8x57 can do anything I'd want an '06 to do.

 

[tdd]

I chose the .30-06 because it does everything the .270 does and a little more. The "flat" .270 isn't enough of an improvement on the '06 trajectory to make a jot of difference in any practical sense. At distance, you still need to know the come-up, and if it's an MOA less elevation at 500 yards, it doesn't matter, the elevation change still needs to be known and accounted for.

I have no dislike for the .270 at all. I hunted with one for about 5-6 seasons and took a lot of deer with it. I just don't buy the hype of the "fast and flat" 270 when it's a negligible difference over the .30-06.

 

[blitzinstripes]

I own both and adore both cartridges, btr I gave the edge to the ol '06. It is simpy one of if not THE most versatile cartridge of all time. 270 has the slightly flatter trajectory, but I'd take the '06 for anything in N America. Elk and moose I'd call the 270 a little lighter than I'd like for the job. Same for larger bears, but with the broad selection of bullets and loads for the '06, I'd be confident tackling anything this continent could offer.

 

[Big Ken]

I can only speak from my own experience, owning several 270 and 30/06 rifles....The 270 has always been my favorite..With all the talk of an "all around" cartridge, few 30/06 users take advantage of this characteristic, instead opting to stay here in good ol' Pa. with their whitetails and 180 gr. moose slugs which simply blow a low velocity hole through a deer and bury themselves eight inches into the nearest tree.

The standard 130 gr. bullet out of a 270 hits a deer with much more velocity, causes more damage, and drops deer with much more authority...It's simple.The 100 gr. slug is more of a true varmint bullet than anything you can put into a 30/06, and the 150 gr. slug will send any black bear in existence to meet it's maker in a timely fashion........Nothing else is needed in Pa.

There is no question that the 30/06 is the more popular of the two..Ask any housewife or city slicker what a 30/06 is and they will tell you that it's a "gun".....The new and unrefined hunter will go to the nearest Wal-Mart and ask to see a 30/06, simply because it's the only cartridge he has ever heard of, and then buy it..I suspect that thousands of barely used 30/06 rifles are sitting in closets all over America just waiting for their annual two-hour jaunt into the woods.I'd venture to guess that this type of hunter comprises the bulk of 30/06 users.

 

[Sailor]

Have both and picked the one I am keeping. Mu justification is that the 30 bullet has more out west capability if I can ever afford to go. As far as for PA hunting I don't think it matters.

 

[tdd]

Just ran some numbers on Hornady's site (lets me compare same data source on both). Using the "standard" deer bullet weight of 150 for the '06 and 130 for the .270 and in the same ammo line, the difference in trajectory still hasn't reached 1MOA at 500 yards (but it's just under...4.5" difference). That's peanuts when the drop is over 30" for both (with a 200 yard zero). If you were gonna miss with the '06, you probably missed with the .270, too.

Energy-wise, the '06 has it up close, the .270 catches up at 400 yards. Inconsequential when most whitetails are killed under 100 yards anyway.

Face it, with out Mr. O'Connor, the .270 would have been another obscure footnote.

 

[*Moose]

I can only speak from my own experience, owning several 270 and 30/06 rifles....The 270 has always been my favorite..With all the talk of an "all around" cartridge, few 30/06 users take advantage of this characteristic, instead opting to stay here in good ol' Pa. with their whitetails and 180 gr. moose slugs which simply blow a low velocity hole through a deer and bury themselves eight inches into the nearest tree.

The standard 130 gr. bullet out of a 270 hits a deer with much more velocity, causes more damage, and drops deer with much more authority...It's simple.The 100 gr. slug is more of a true varmint bullet than anything you can put into a 30/06, and the 150 gr. slug will send any black bear in existence to meet it's maker in a timely fashion........Nothing else is needed in Pa.

There is no question that the 30/06 is the more popular of the two..Ask any housewife or city slicker what a 30/06 is and they will tell you that it's a "gun".....The new and unrefined hunter will go to the nearest Wal-Mart and ask to see a 30/06, simply because it's the only cartridge he has ever heard of, and then buy it..I suspect that thousands of barely used 30/06 rifles are sitting in closets all over America just waiting for their annual two-hour jaunt into the woods.I'd venture to guess that this type of hunter comprises the bulk of 30/06 users.

I think the reason you have a jaded opinion of the .30-06 is due to no shortcoming of that cartridge but has more to do with the fact that you enjoy more unusual cartridges. Not obscure cartridges, but you just don't like to use what the masses do. You like to stand out from the crowd. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Big Ken]

Mu justification is that the 30 bullet has more out west capability if I can ever afford to go.

Which is often the sole reason folks go out and buy an '06..."The all-around rifle"....Just in case they ever go elk or grizzly bear hunting...Which 99.99% of them never end up doing...It's nice to dream though !

 

[YankeeHunter]

A well placed shot with either will kill anything in North America and Africa.

BKen you're above comments like that, basically saying people who own 30-06 are ignorant.

<span style='font-size: 14pt'>Here's the Facts </span>

30-06 Springfield 150 gr. Super-X® Power-Point®
Ballistic Coefficient: 0.294 - Muzzle Velocity: 2920

A B C D E F
0 0 -1.5 0 2920 2837.09
50 0.05 -0.2 0.02 2761 2535.69
100 0.11 0 0.07 2607 2260.9
150 0.17 -1.1 0.17 2458 2010.28
200 0.23 -3.6 0.31 2314 1781.9
250 0.3 -7.8 0.49 2175 1574.14
300 0.37 -13.8 0.73 2041 1385.73
350 0.44 -21.9 1.02 1911 1215.74
400 0.53 -32.4 1.38 1788 1063.25
450 0.61 -45.5 1.81 1670 927.52
500 0.71 -61.9 2.31 1558 807.86

270 Winchester 150 gr. Super-X® Power-Point®
Ballistic Coefficient: 0.344 - Muzzle Velocity: 2850

A B C D E F
0 0 -1.5 0 2850 2702.7
50 0.05 -0.2 0.02 2716 2453.62
100 0.11 0 0.06 2585 2223.43
150 0.17 -1.1 0.15 2458 2010.66
200 0.23 -3.7 0.27 2335 1814.13
250 0.3 -7.9 0.43 2215 1632.82
300 0.37 -13.8 0.63 2099 1465.86
350 0.44 -21.7 0.88 1986 1312.66
400 0.52 -31.8 1.18 1877 1172.62
450 0.6 -44.4 1.53 1772 1045.2
500 0.69 -59.8 1.95 1672 929.96

A - Yards distant
B - Time Elapsed in Seconds
C - LOS Drop (inches)
D - Wind drift in inches
E - Velocity in feet per second
F - Energy in foot pounds

The the 30/06 up close has a small advantage, out further the 270 holds a slight. Both are negligible in comparison. It comes down to personal prefernce and the accuracy of you and the particular firearm you may be shooting at the time.

I would be confident to hunt with either.

 

[*Moose]

Mu justification is that the 30 bullet has more out west capability if I can ever afford to go.

Which is often the sole reason folks go out and buy an '06..."The all-around rifle"....Just in case they ever go elk or grizzly bear hunting...Which 99.99% of them never end up doing...It's nice to dream though !

A buddy of mine from High School bought his 7600 Remmy in .270 just in case he ever got to hunt out west. We used to heckle each other in school because I owned a 760 .30-06 and we both felt our cartridge to be the better one. He did go out west some years ago on an Idaho Elk hunt. He bought a .300 Weatherby mag for the trip so I guess his reasons for buying the .270 went out the window. Go figure.

 

[rflktrman]

I have both although I have not killed anything with the .270 yet. I voted for the 06 because of bullet selection. For all but big bears would feel confident with either depending on bullets.

 

[Big Ken]

BKen you're above comments like that, basically saying people who own 30-06 are ignorant.

I didn't say that...What I said was that if somebody is toying with the idea of becoming a hunter and is not very "up" on the subject, it is very likely that they've heard of a "30/06", and will purchase one just because they heard it's a "good gun"...Chances are he'll hunt with it for a little while, not be succesful, and move on till the next first day of the season....Mention "270" to him and he'll say "What's that?"

 

[Big Ken]

A buddy of mine from High School bought his 7600 Remmy in .270 just in case he ever got to hunt out west. We used to heckle each other in school because I owned a 760 .30-06 and we both felt our cartridge to be the better one.

I went through the same thing in college...Three 308 Winchester users against me!...It finally came down to a target match which I won with a Rem. 760 in 270....I'm no lover of 308's either!

 

[*Moose]

Ken, is there any .30 cal cartridge that you are endeared to? The 30/30 of course but any others?

 

[tdd]

What's interesting is that the British and the US militaries both had thoughts of changing to a .276" bullet early in the 20th Century. The Brits ran into WWI before they fielded their Pattern 13/No.2 rifle in .276 and wound up rechambering it to the then-issue .303 British, yielding the Pattern 14 rifle.

John Garand designed the M1 Garand in .276 Pedersen with a 10rd. capacity. With another world war looming, MacArthur couldn't see much sense in changing the small arms caliber when millions of rounds of ammo were already on hand.

The concept of the 6.8SPC as a replacement for the 5.56 round was floated, too. Again, no forward movement.

The .270-bored rounds seem to always be "also-ran's" in history, with the sole exception of the .270 Winchester. Hmmm...what could have been different? I know! There was a well-known author who took a shine to it!

This is not to belittle Mr. O'Connor. But look at the .280 Rem. It's an "also-ran" in the world of big game rounds, despite a lot of positive attributes. Had the .270 not had such favorable and well-read press, I can't help but wonder, would many of us even know what it is? For that matter, does any manufacturer even load 6.5-06? That's considered widely to be one the best evolutions from the .30-06, yet it's as obscure as one can get.

A lot of time and money has been spent on the newest whiz-bang magnums, but the .30-60 AND .270 have both just chugged right along working as well as always. The .30-06 just gives us more to choose from.

 

[John Henry]

Which is often the sole reason folks go out and buy an '06..."The all-around rifle"....Just in case they ever go elk or grizzly bear hunting...Which 99.99% of them never end up doing...It's nice to dream though !

Actually, that was the reason I bought my 300 RUM. But I won't be part of the 99.9 percent!

By the way, I voted for 270. Bought my first rifle, a 270 pump, at age 15 in 1981. Bought a 30-06 last year. (And a 30-06 barrel for my Encore the year prior.)

 

[Sailor]

Big Ken,

While I doubt your comment was a personal attack we are not all blessed with the financial means to afford numerous rifles with the same purpose. I have seen this argument time after time which is better. For my money if I am in podunk nowhere and stupidly forgot my ammo at home, I am pretty sure I can find 30-06 anywhere during any hunting season.