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

What bullet were you using in the 10 minute / 4 shot episode and what bullets were you using in the dead right there kills?

Sounds to me more like a bullet issue rather than a wrong caliber issue.

It also looks like an example of one. Did you have that sort of thing happen more than once?



HBB

Federal Factory Premium with 140 grain bullets.....I'll never use a 7mm-08 on an animal again.

Dead right there kills are always with .308 Remington 150 grain CoreLocts.

The .308 does the job first time, everytime.

Federal Factory Premium with 140 grain bullets.....I'll never use a 7mm-08 on an animal again.

Dead right there kills are always with .308 Remington 150 grain CoreLocts.

But which bullet was it? Federal Premiums are loaded with several different styles. It might have been a bullet that was designed for heavier game than southern whitetails.

HBB

It was a PA whitetail. 140 grain Nosler Balistic Tip. I'm completely convinced the .260 and 7mm-08 are not worth a second look. The .243 is as good as the .260, and the .308 is better than the 7mm-08 with the same recoil.

There really seems to be something amiss here. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

All four of those chamberings use the same case, the .308, as a basis. The only difference is the diameter of the bullet and a slight difference in case capacity. So, what's not to like about the .260 and 7mm-08? How can you like two and not the other two?

I don't really like any of them, but that's just personal preference and my way of saying I'd like a .30-06 or 7 x 57 based chambering better.

I will also heartily agree, it was probably a bullet issue, instead of a chambering issue. Try the Rem Core-Lokt, since you seem to like them, in a 7mm-08 and see if the results are different. It will probably change your whole outlook on the value of the 7mm-08! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Alright, so you had one bad experience with the 7-08, and have had zero experiences at all with the .260, or similar.

From exactly one experience, you are capable of making such a blanket statement?

If so, I'd have long ago made the same statement against both the .30-30 and the .30-06. However, I did not. Here's why.

As for the .30-30, it was a yearling doe that took 6 rounds through the heart lung area, and still ran about 1/4 mile. Now, that was my first experience with the .30-30; so I guess I could have just written it off. But, if it was so piss-poor, just how did millions of deer fall to it annually? I decided that it was based upon three things: one, she was really worked up (run by dogs), two, she was small bodied, thus didn't offer a heckuva lot of room for expansion, and three, the bullets were probably wrong for the job. Since then, I've stopped using 170 gr. SilverTips, and gone to the JHP loads (BIG difference). I also try not to shoot deer being run like that, and no more little ones. End results? The .30-30 is a definite deer round, and the sample of one was a fluke.

The .30-06 was strickly a bullet issue. The 220 gr. RN is not a deer bullet. Maybe moose or elk, but not deer. Switched from that to 150 gr. loads, and deer stopped running with pencil holes in and out, and started being DRT.

The .260 and 7-08 class rounds (7-08, 7x57, .280 factory loads, .270 Winchester, .260, 6.5x55, etc.) are not only fantastic deer rounds, but just about the best all-rounders for North America for someone who hunts deer-sized game with an occassional foray into larger ungulates (elk, moose).

How am I so confident of saying that? Those rounds did not get their deserved reputations based upon singular instances of kills (samples of one), but upon thousands of uses, annually, on just about everything in North America. If they were crap, we'd all know it. The simple fact is they just plain work. One experience where a single one of those rounds did not work for you, on one particular deer, exactly the way you wanted it to, does not changes facts.

A sample of one, does not refute a trend of millions.

My guess is that you shot that PA deer up close, and with a fast loaded Ballistic Tip offering. Lots of entry wound damage, not much penetration. BTs aren't designed for that; shoot it at 300 yards, and it's like DRT. The rapid expansion of that bullet was the problem, likely, not the round.

That's fine, I'll never own a .270, 7mm-08, or a .260 other than to sell it for a profit. The .308 and .30-06 haven't let me down.

That's fine, I'll never own a .270, 7mm-08, or a .260 other than to sell it for a profit, or part it out. The .308 and .30-06 haven't let me down.

I once shot a deer with the .308. It ran off about 25 or 30 yards before it died....

I once shot a deer with the .30-40 Krag. It DRT'ed.

[color:"red"]Therefore, I deduce that the .30-40 Krag is a better deer caliber than the .308 Win. [/color]

The above is a true story!

"Therefore, I deduce that the .30-40 Krag is a better deer caliber"

I tend to agree, at least in a single shot.

Ya gotta hate when your humour is missed by the person you aimed it at, doncha Grasshopper? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Grass, swampman is just poking fun in a clumsy way. No one can find much difference between the calibers under discussion. I killed my first elk this year with a 6.5-06 and a 140 at around 2850fps. DRT and both front shoulders were broken.

I suspect that you have to jump up to the 30 magnums to see a terminal performance increase. The 6.5 lays closer to the wind and drops a bit less so it is easier to hit with, but the 180gr. 300's are pretty hard hitters.

Either (and all in between) kill well with good hits and perform about the same with poor hits.

The truth is that the best placed shot makes the round pretty irrelevant.

SS

Gents, what we have here is "Failure To Communicate"......

You might consider settling down and doing alot of reading and understanding, or consider finding another forum to roam..... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

back to Elk calibers. Browning/Win made the Hi wall traditional hunter in .45-70, .405, and .45-90. It came with a nice tang sight. Not cheap, but a cool rifle.

If you might want a scope eventually, then a Ruger #1 is pretty hard
to beat.

The deer that I have had to track the longest distance in my life was a doe shot by a friend with a 30-06 using an factory 180 grain bullet. I remember it was a Federal Premium, but can't remember the exact bullet. The deer was hit through both lungs. We tracked it for between 1/4 and 1/2 mile through hardwoods. We were lucky to find it. When we finally found the deer, it looked like it had been shot with a full metal jacket bullet.

That same day, I dispatched a nice doe with a 150 grain 300 Savage bullet. The doe took about 5 steps and fell over dead. From this one day's hunting experience, I would have to conclude that the 300 Savage is vastly superior to the 30-06 as a deer cartridge. However, I do not base my conclusions on one day's hunting experience. I dont think any reasonable person should.

I have begun to suspect that using "premium" bullets on soft game like deer is like cracking nuts with a sledge hammer. Cracks them dead, but finding the meat can be a problem.

I'll be hunting whitetails in a couple of weeks, with core-lokt bullets in a caliber than shall remain nameless. If elk was on the menu, I might have to use partitions.

I guess you're really gonna [bleep] when I post photos of a successful hunt with my 223.......... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

badger

BY A NEW ENGLAND HANDY RIFLE IN 30-06 OR 280 REM.

GREAT WITHIN 300 YRDS. WITH A 165 GR NOSLER BT

YOU DON'T NEED A CANNON IF YOU KNOW HOW TO HUNT.

Ruger #1A 30-06 / 2.5X8 Leupold / 180gr Nosler partion I think I'm in love