Jerry Jr. made a point I strongly agree with, based on my personal experience with a pile of edible critters: fit. Felt recoil ("kick") from my Ruger M77s in.338 WM and 7mm RM was substantially milder than my Buddy's Savage in .300WM. Different stock size and shape, very close to same weights. Fit is hard to define, but you just know when a rifle fits. I can't afford a custom stock, but through buying/selling/trading, I've settled on only those that truly fit me. I also agree with his points "confidence" and "two holes".

Bought my son a .270 when he first started hunting in a Ruger. Nice shooting gun. He says he will never get rid of it. He shoots factory ammo in it but that works just fine.

I've killed a lot of elk with a 270. That being said, as an elk guide I prefer my hunters to be using a larger caliber. With one caveat. As long as they are comfortable shooting the larger caliber. I would rather a hunter shoot a smaller caliber they are comfortable with than a larger caliber they are scared of. Shot placement is always key, after that things like bullet construction, downrange velocity and bullet size come into play. If asked what caliber they should buy for elk my first reply is always 300 win mag. There are a lot of good elk calibers, and a lot more that will do the job just fine if you stay within their limitations. But most men can shoot a properly fitted 300 mag without being punished by the recoil (unless it is an ultralight) it will perform great on an elk while not being too much overkill to also shoot a deer with, and chances are if something happens to your ammo there will be someone else in camp shooting the same caliber. I wouldn't recommend a 270 to someone looking for a strictly elk rifle, but if they are looking for or have a 270 deer rifle that they want to use occasionally for elk it will work just fine as a combination rifle.

Yep. Got 300 win mag now too. burns a lot of powder but sure does hit stuff hard