270 Winchester, 7mm Rem. Mag., & 300 Win. Mag. Performance Differences (Are they enough to Matter?) — Ron Spomer Outdoors

Now, 683 foot-pounds might sound significant, but is it? Nine out of 10 elk surveyed said… absolutely nothing because elk can’t speak. Sorry, couldn’t resist standing that old joke on its head. But I do have a serious point. And this is it: kinetic energy doesn’t kill. Punch. Wallop. Smack. Thump. Knockdown power. Call it what you will, but another 100, 500, or 2,000 foot pounds in a bullet delivered to the chest of an elk is not going to make much of a difference in my experience.

Now what’s this subjective nonsense I’m spouting? Just this: energy beyond enough to propel the bullet to the vitals, disrupt them, and cause extensive hemorrhaging, serves little purpose. If massive foot pounds of energy killed then bullets carrying 4,000 foot-pounds of energy applied to an elk’s paunch ought to knock it down and kill it. Massive energy dump! Ask every elk guide you meet how many gut shot elk they’ve seen collapsed and expire.

You can read about the myth of knockdown power in this blog and believe it or not. But do consider the costs of hunting with a 7mm or 300 magnum before you rush to embrace. Are these two magnums good elk cartridges? Of course. But so are the 338 Win. Mag. and 35 Whelen and 375 H&H and 416 Rem. Mag. and 308 Win. Any cartridge/rifle that helps you place a good bullet in the vitals of your elk is viable. But none have the power to flatten an elk without a central nervous system hit or a lucky hydrostatic shock hit that sometimes works, more often doesn’t. (I love it when it does, whatever it is, but never depend on it.) Now let us visit some of my personal experiences with these three cartridges and three 6×6 bull elk to see if we can note any significant differences in terminal performance.

Hunt one: I send a plain Jane cup-and-core, 130-grain bullet from a 270 Winchester to behind a 6×6 bull’s shoulder from 130 yards. The elk spurts forward about 20 yards, stops, wobbles. I send a 150-gr. premium XP3 to its high shoulder and spine it. Dead right there.