Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting The 300 Wby Mag for elk- is there anything better?

I have used 13 different cartridges (ranging from the .270 Winchester to the .375 H&H) to take elk in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho and Utah--all but one of them mature bulls. There may not be anything better than the .300 Weatherby, but there are a number of cartridges that are just as good for the elk hunting that I do. So good, in fact, that I ended up giving my .300 Weatherby to one of my brothers who wanted to try one.

As always, YMMV.

My reading comprehension is just fine, but I did use a poor choice of words--I never should have called your post a fallacy.

I should've just said you're as full of sh** as a Christmas turkey and been done with it.

Apparently your ability to have a fact-based discussion is as impaired as your reading comprehension skills.

Nobody suggested that you cannot handle the recoil and blast of your big guns and your statements about such abilities have no bearing whatsoever on the subject at hand.

When blast and recoil are the proximate cause of a shooter's poor shooting, reducing them is - in spite of your apparent claims to the contrary - a good place to start if the goal is to help the shooter improve.

You have an uncanny knack for stating the obvious. Perhaps only exceeded by your sense of discovery, which reveals your level of understanding. And by the way, I never made any "claims to the contrary," but nice try.

Your fallacy was the assumption implicit in your quote below, that hunters in general, or the hunter you were replying to choose mild-recoiling chamberings because they can't handle recoil:



And it's a fallacy because the previous poster (the one you were "agreeing with") said nothing about not being able to handle recoil or muzzle blast, you're the one who added that particular spin, and you're the one who implied he couldn't handle recoil.

I can draw a diagram if that would help.

I was agreeing with the OP that “Hunting is supposed to be fun”. I know quite a few shooters who are sensitive to recoil and blast and none of them consider it “fun” when recoil and blast exceed their tolerance levels.

I was also agreeing with the OP when he asked the question “whether more gun necessarily means better gun. Well, what's a better gun?” and then stated ”It becomes subjective pretty darn quickly.” I think the OP and I would agree that “more gun” generally means more recoil and blast as well. Nothing I wrote was about the OP’s shooting ability or his individual ability to handle recoil or blast – you made that part up.

Once again, your reading comprehension skills are lacking. Don’t need a drawing to see that.

Mudhen, what are you using presently?

Dang, I see that I was vastly underestimating you when I made the remark about being as FOS as a Christmas turkey.

That's tur-duck-en material right there!

Once again your lack of reading comprehension skills are on display.

When I responded to SakoAV I used the generic "a hunter" specifically because I was NOT referring to SakoAV.

The only point I disagreed with SakoAV on was that a .338WM is "far too powerful for everything in North America". He does not indicate whether or not he can shoot one well and I made and still make no assumption either way.

Dang, add Christmas ham to the list!!

I'm using a side lock muzzleloader for elk this year. Bullets will be made from a 500 s&w mould , 440ish grain.

Can you experienced elk pros tell me if it will work ok? Thanks

I assume you're talking to me. The answer is yes.

I feel obligated to tell you though, you'd be much better off with a .75 caliber rifle and a 750 grain bullet made of platinum.

But let me ask you a question: you're not one of those guys I read about who can't handle recoil are you?

Elk killing threads are always good entertainment.

Mudhen summed it up well.

As always.....

What I've found using a variety of cartridges on mature bulls, from the 7-08 up to the 338 WM, is they're more alike than different. If you want a big visual impact the 33's are the way to go. But they all kill dead pointed correctly with a decent bullet.

Yep, the list of what's important for putting an elk on the ground isn't very long, but cartridge choice is far down it.

I've always found that finding a big bull is harder than killing a big bull...

Agree, but it is fun to watch people thump their chest about cartridges.

Around here the ones who kill the least, need the most.

Most of the guys I know with several big bulls on the wall shoot some sort of magnum, usually 30 caliber.

I think it's only on the campfire that people think the best elk hunters use smaller cartridges. Although I do know a few that do use smaller rounds, most of them are cow/raghorn shooters.

That's what makes it interesting. Most of the guys that I know that consistently kill big bulls aren't using magnums.

The best elk rifle is whatever the best elk hunter has in his hands.