.270 Howa with Thumbhole okay???

**CanShoot** · 11-09-2012, 13:40

Hi All,
I have finally decided to go for the Howa .270 with the Laminated Thumbhole stock. Want to go and hunt (my first time) Springbuck, Eland, Wildebees, Kudu, Warthog etc.
I have read and noticed the debate between the .270 and 30 06, but I am more worried about the Thumbhole
Stock. It feels very comfortable and natural, but I have heard somebody say that hunters tend to twist the rifle or pull it skew when firing. I wonder if that is true?
And I like the Bushnell Trophy XLT 3-9x40 Mildot scope.
I have read that hunters sometimes tend to overkill (pardon pun) on Scopes, that you do not really need anything more than this.
I want to try and be very conservative, keep the max. distance I will shoot at 300m, to minimize wounding animals. Not sure if that will be feasible.
So, for this setup, do my equipment look mostly on target?
Thanks everybody for any tips.

**dritz** · 11-09-2012, 13:53

i have a 2 howas and my 308 has the thumbhole stock. it shoots like a dream and is very accurate. i have never heard of anyone complaining about twisting the rifle when shooting. if you have very week wrists then it could perhaps happen but otherwise if anything it gives you more stabality.
not saying i would like to shoot my 416 ot my 458 lott with a thumbhole stock, but on the smaler cals its magic.
my concern is the fact that you want to hunt Eland and Wildabeest with a 270.
not that it wont do the job, i have shot Eland with mine. but its not ideal for a novice hunter. you take a racking shot from the rear or hit the sholder bone or shoot a little bit too high, you are in a bit of trouble.
if its all you have then learn to shoot very, very well and learn the animals anatomy like the back of your hand.
to walk for 2 days no stop after a big Eland Bull and not find it and then having to pay betwean 7 and 15k for some bloddied stones is not going to make you enjoy hunting.

**CanShoot** · 12-09-2012, 08:04

Originally Posted by dritz

i have a 2 howas and my 308 has the thumbhole stock. it shoots like a dream and is very accurate. i have never heard of anyone complaining about twisting the rifle when shooting. if you have very week wrists then it could perhaps happen but otherwise if anything it gives you more stabality.
not saying i would like to shoot my 416 ot my 458 lott with a thumbhole stock, but on the smaler cals its magic.
my concern is the fact that you want to hunt Eland and Wildabeest with a 270.
not that it wont do the job, i have shot Eland with mine. but its not ideal for a novice hunter. you take a racking shot from the rear or hit the sholder bone or shoot a little bit too high, you are in a bit of trouble.
if its all you have then learn to shoot very, very well and learn the animals anatomy like the back of your hand.
to walk for 2 days no stop after a big Eland Bull and not find it and then having to pay betwean 7 and 15k for some bloddied stones is not going to make you enjoy hunting.

Thanks Dritz, very sound advice. But I was more thinking of working my way up, maybe start with warthogs, wildhogs, then maybe Gemsbuck etc. etc.
But my reasoning re the Eland was this: A Springbuck has +- a 6 " diameter killzone, I think it is just slightly above where the front leg joins the body? Will research this thoroughly.
An Eland probably has a 10 " killzone. Is this not an easier target?
Obviously I will practice a hell of a lot on the range, I want to be able to do a 4 " diameter grouping from 200 yards consistently, at least, before I even go near a farm to hunt.
I just like the flat trajectory of the .270 even up to 280 meters. I want to wound as little as humanly possible!

**Farmertron** · 12-09-2012, 08:12

Its not the size of the kill zone thats the issue really it the fact that lighter bullet wont go through the much heavier bones of larger animals if the shot is less than ideal.

**Maroelas** · 12-09-2012, 13:38

.270 on eland...big no no!

.270 on kudu...marginal!

My opinion of course. I'd suggest you go read up in the hunting sections just to see how many guys fight over this. Actually, you'd probably get a better response if you pose these questions in the hunting forum.

The caliber is much more important than the thumbhole stock considering what you want to go after.

**gustavroux** · 12-09-2012, 13:50

If guys shoot Eland with 308- good bullets (which could be 160-180 gr) ... Is it that bad an idea to use good bullets on 270, in 150 gr? Also keep in mind not to take quartering Away shots... but its always better not to shoot on that angle.

The quality of bullets make a HUGE difference today, and you can do a lot more of any given caliber. The question is- Where do we draw the line. I will let a guy shoot Eland with 270, under the following conditions, 1- he CAN shoot well, 2 he use good quality ammo, 3- select the angle we shoot.

If this is your first rifle/ and for now, your only- the 30-06 will be better, because you can shoot 180 gr bullets, and therefore shoot more animals, easier.

**Maroelas** · 12-09-2012, 15:33

Gustav, although my biggest caliber is a 30-06 and I hand load Nosler Accubond 180 grainers, I would still hesitate to use that on Eland.

After seeing an Eland bull up close for the first time this year, I don't know how good an idea the 30-06 is on eland. Lucky for me there is waaaaay to much meat on an eland for me, so unlikely I will ever hunt an eland.

**TStone** · 12-09-2012, 17:11

I've shot several eland with a 7x57 (140 Barnes-X) and have seen many shot with .270, 7x64, .308 and .30-'06, use a good premium bullet, study the anatomy of an eland and practise your shooting, you won't have a problem.

**dritz** · 13-09-2012, 07:03

the problem with useing a small bullet is that if the shot is not perfect then you run into major problems. a common mistake when shoting animals like Eland and Wildabeest is that the hunter often shoots to far back in the chest or too high. if the shot pases through the outside rim on the lungs then either of these two animals will run for hours on end.
a example of this was a friend of mine who shot an Eland 2 months ago. He insisted on useing his brand new 270 Remington. we have hunted together for years and he has shot a lot of Eland but this one he messed up. the shot went to high and passed betwean the ribs. hit the very top of only one lung and then passed out the other side betwean the ribs. l was standing about 50m back and i saw the hit throught my binoculars. 3 hours latter tracking spoor and the occasional blood smear on a leaf we stumbled across his Eland. it ran as we saw each other and at just under 30m i shot it at the root of the tail with my 416.
the 400g hornady destroyed about 40kg's of meat as it exploded the spine and went on through the heart and out the front of the chest.
The Bull dropped in its tracks.
Total distance as the crow flies from the point to being shot was 1.3km. total distance walked was 4.7km
This poor animal suffred for a long time before we were able to end the hunt, and all because the hunter was not useing the right tool for the job.
if he had been useing his 458 then 3 hours would have been turned into minutes.
so yes a 270 can take anything on earth, but there is no margin for error.
IF YOU ARE GOING TO USE IT ON BIG GAME, know your quary and know your limitations. if you cant put three shots into 2 inches from 100m off shooting sticks then practice until you can.
get a target of the animal you are going to be hunting and shoot that and only that for at least 3 range sessions before you go hunting.

**CanShoot** · 14-09-2012, 13:26

Originally Posted by dritz

the problem with useing a small bullet is that if the shot is not perfect then you run into major problems. a common mistake when shoting animals like Eland and Wildabeest is that the hunter often shoots to far back in the chest or too high. if the shot pases through the outside rim on the lungs then either of these two animals will run for hours on end.
a example of this was a friend of mine who shot an Eland 2 months ago. He insisted on useing his brand new 270 Remington. we have hunted together for years and he has shot a lot of Eland but this one he messed up. the shot went to high and passed betwean the ribs. hit the very top of only one lung and then passed out the other side betwean the ribs. l was standing about 50m back and i saw the hit throught my binoculars. 3 hours latter tracking spoor and the occasional blood smear on a leaf we stumbled across his Eland. it ran as we saw each other and at just under 30m i shot it at the root of the tail with my 416.
the 400g hornady destroyed about 40kg's of meat as it exploded the spine and went on through the heart and out the front of the chest.
The Bull dropped in its tracks.
Total distance as the crow flies from the point to being shot was 1.3km. total distance walked was 4.7km
This poor animal suffred for a long time before we were able to end the hunt, and all because the hunter was not useing the right tool for the job.
if he had been useing his 458 then 3 hours would have been turned into minutes.
so yes a 270 can take anything on earth, but there is no margin for error.
IF YOU ARE GOING TO USE IT ON BIG GAME, know your quary and know your limitations. if you cant put three shots into 2 inches from 100m off shooting sticks then practice until you can.
get a target of the animal you are going to be hunting and shoot that and only that for at least 3 range sessions before you go hunting.

Thanks to all you guys, I think I was a bit too enthusiastic! I will start on smaller game, get GOOD experience first, maybe then get a second rifle like a 30-06 for big game if I am still not confident enough.
Now, different question, I read that guys sometimes do an overkill on scopes.
I have looked at the new Bushnell Legend Ultra HD 4.5-14x44mm Mildot for R4015 and was wondering if that was a typical overkill?
If I am not going to shoot further than 300m, what do I actually need?
3-9x40??
Thanks again, very helpfull forum.