Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots I am looking for a single shot rifle for Elk.

Paul,

Those are good groups, but would you use that load on elk? You're shooting light loads with a big bore and that's great, but my guess is that the original poster wants something he can put the hurt on an elk with, and one that he may have to push out to a couple hundred yards. A 45-70 will do that, but with the blue dot loads the trajectory would be a little like a rainbow, wouldn't it?

I have a 45-70 in the H&R Buffalo Classic, and for the price it is a fine rifle, and it shoots clover leafs with iron sights using factory 300 HP's. But unless the range was 100 yards or under, I wouldn't take it on a moose hunt. And with the 32" barrel on it, it would be a little cumbersome in the swamp.

I think the NEF is a good rifle, but it ain't a #1 or even an Encore. I am not fussy about the Encore either. Friends say they shoot well. To me, they're ugly, and a little light for the big stuff. But to each his own.

The 35 Whelen Handirifle sold by Walmart for $199.99 should be plenty for moose or elk. It OAL is 38" which is pretty handi in the thick stuff.

I think the fact that it isn't a #1 or an Encore is a plus not a minus.

Yeah, just so long as it ain't in those non-deer-capable cartridges like the 7-08 or .260, right?

Those little calibers are ok for southern deer that don't get over maybe 125lbs. Those calibers fill a niche that was already filled by the .243 and the .308. They were invented just to sell new rifles.

Yeah, sure. So I guess all those elk killed with the 7-08, or it's equivalent the 7x57, and all those moose killed with the 6.5x55 and/or it's ballistic twin the .260 just were too dumb to know that.

The 7-08 too small for anything other than 125 lbs. deer.

That's just too f'kin' funny.....

Many animals are taken with tools that are unsuitable, that doesn't make the tools suitable. Shoot them through the lungs, follow them long enough and you will find them. A Poor blood trail doesn't make finding them any easier. Some states allow dogs to be used in the search for wounded game. If you are gonna stunt hunt, have one handy.

Hunting deer with a 7-08 or a .260 is a STUNT?

You can't be serious..........

You forgot the .270 Winchester. I said for small deer they are ok. Why not just use a .243 for little deer or a .308 for northern deer and elk because the recoil is the same but you get a lot better performance.

Swampman, You are joking I hope. Are you seriously suggesting that the 7m-08 and 260 Rem are only suitable for deer 125lbs and under? I will reserve the beatdown until I know whether you are serious.

Dude, either you're joking, and such is lost via electrons... or you have no clue.

This is one of the most ignorant statements I have ever seen on the Campfire.

Have you ever used, or perhaps more properly ever seen, a 7/08 or a .260? There has never been a deer hatched that either of these cartridges cannot reduce to a pile of meat ready for the freezer.

Methinks you are either an impressionable young person who watches too many of the "Trophy" hunting programs on tv and/or reads too many of the corporate advertising bulletins that masquerade as "hunting publications" or your just an outright troll searching for yet another corner of cyberspace to pollute with mindless drivel.

HBB

Used them with poor results. Not so with the .308.

Used them with poor results. Not so with the .308.

Ever think maybe it was a personal problem, and not an equipment related one?

'Cause if you can tell me how a .308 is that much more of a killing machine than the .260 or the 7-08, I'll be real damned impressed.

Take your time... and be as specific as possible on the details.

This oughta be good.

Please define poor results. If you can do well with a .308 then there is no plausible reason you can't do as equally well with the .260 or 7/08. Could it be an operator actuated issue?

HBB

Bell shot over 1000 elephants with the 275 Rigby . Ain't much I wouldn't hunt in NA with a 7-08mm and I value my hide much more than others do. And I do hunt "Northern" deer. I have seen them go over 250lbs but not with the regularity that some think.

Shootist,

My Handi is a 22" barrel, so it is pretty handy. It's pretty well conceded even 1000 fps with a 400+ gr bullet is more than sufficient for the task at hand. Even so, the 300 gr Rem HP I was using produces close to 1500 fps, so it would have a flatter trajectory than the 405 gr does.

The 405 gr is shooting 6" high at 50 yards, when zeroed at 100 yards. I don't think it is usable at too much longer range than 125 yards with a scope. A vernier sight would be a different situation.

The .30-06 or .35 Whelen in a Handi rifle would be very suitable for elk/moose/bear. The .280 or .270 would probably do the job just fine too.

Personally, I don't like the .308 case, even though I have a .243 Handi. I would prefer a 6mm Rem, but it isn't chambered in much any more.

With a single shot, there isn't a reason to use the short cases, other than preference.

"Please define poor results. "

Dead in 10 minutes, after 3 rounds through the heart lung area, 4th shot through the brain at point blank range.

Good results

Dead on the spot.

These other guys are less diplomatic than I, but I would suggest that perhaps your results on one animal are a bit atypical?

First deer I ever shot with a .270 Win. was a picture perfect shot - middlin' sized mulie buck, 110 yards away, broadside, 1/3 up the body on the leg line, the Hornady 130 SP was found beautifully mushroomed under the skin on the far side - classic perfect bullet performance.

The deer fell down right away, then got back up and started walking away! I whanged away in my discombobulation and fired another 8 rounds, hitting it in the back of the lungs and other peripheral areas. It finally fell over but I still had to put a finisher in the heart from 6" away.

Were I to judge the .270 Winchester on that one episode I would conclude that it was the most piss poor mule deer caliber ever invented. However, about elventy gazillion other hunters seem to have contrary evidence, so I figured my first experience was a fluke.

Used to be a picture at Intermountain Arms in Meridian, ID of a 12 year old girl sitting on top of a dead moose she had killed. One shot with a 7mm-08 worked for her.

Not trying to argue with you, but suggesting that one data point does not make a good base for extrapolating a trend.

Staggering specificity.

Why, I can easily see how the 7-08... or was that the .260... and with that premium handload... or was it Federal factory fodder.... Remington perhaps.... could have been the reason for such colossal failure. Of course, shot placement had nothing to do with that... nor did proper bullet selection... or range...

Why, after such a singular incident it is so clear to me that it's the fault of either/both/neither of those rounds and bullets that I musta been a fool to think otherwise.

'Course your one f'k up vs. near on a dozen personal experiences otherwise, not to mention the dozens more I'm personally privy to, nor the hundreds more I have less than no reason to doubt cast more than a little doubt on your stellar recountation of a mindblowing singular occurrence.