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

Exactly. I think some could get it done with a wrist rocket.

Is that cause, or effect?

That's usually the case with any BG animal.




PS: Talking about recoil tolerance just injects a variable that can't be quantified and clouds the issue of which cartridges are best suited for heavy ungulates,especially as distances stretch-out, because it varies with the individual. I notice a very strong tendency on here for people to try to make a case that no one can handle 300-338 level recoil,supposedly even with reasonable practice. This is mostly horse poop.

If a guy cant handle or decides to avoid 300-338 level recoil that's his choice and his issue.Maybe he needs to practice more, or more intelligently because anyone who practices with a hard recoiling rifle until it hurts is stupid.

But I won't listen too hard to his arguments that a little standard case cartridge is "as good" as a 300 magnum at distance....it isn't. The bigger cartridges and heavier bullets at high velocity simply inflict more trauma and bust up heavy bones better than anything smaller.

I say a lot of this TIC because things like the 270-280 are among my favorite cartridges and I'd probably hunt elk with either one anywhere (And I no longer even own a 300 magnum).

But I won't BS myself that either one is in the same class as a 300 Weatherby or a 338 when it comes to game elk sized and up....they aren't.

I hadn't noticed that Bob, maybe you could point out where anyone has made the case that no one can handle "300-338 level" recoil?

I've noticed it.

You read it all the time with the condescending nonsense about how people can't manage recoil and therefore a 300 magnum is a lousy choice.

Hell I've even said it myself at times LOL!

That's despite spending a couple of decades hunting elk with 300 magnums.....

I am not going to waste my time chasing down and citing specific examples.....this is a discussion forum, not an examination. We don't get paid for this crap..

That would be a colossal waste of your time, because you wouldn't find what you're looking for.

And you're right, this is a discussion forum, we discuss all kinds of opinions. This thread is the classic example of that; what could be more subjective than the "best" cartridge for a particular big game animal?

There are all manner of opinions on these kinds of subjects, some can be argued and some can't. But a common thread on this forum is, if you throw out a red herring (or a straw man in your case) you'll probably get challenged on it.

Then you can either back it up, or not. That's what a discussion forum is for, right? To discuss things.

It's funny to see a guy toss out a classic straw man, get called on it, refuse to back up his position, all the while saying that others are full of "horse poop." Classic.

I didn't throw out a straw man...I simply stated where I think a 300 Weatherby performs on elk as compared to smaller cartridges.

Based on my own observations and personal experiences with both classes of cartridges used on bull elk a good deal, that's what I believe.

You might regard that as an obligation to debate further but I don't....

Waste of time.

I think most of them know how hard you work for a big bull and don't want to have to pass on a shot because their rifle is not up to snuff.

Call it whatever you want.

Yes you did, it was a classic strawman, here's the definition:

A straw man is a common form of argument and is an informal fallacy based on giving the impression of refuting an opponent's argument, while actually refuting an argument that was not advanced by that opponent.

Here's your strawman, no one advanced this argument except you:




And here's where you "refute" the argument that you just put forward:





It's a prototypical straw man. No sense in denying it.

Gee smokepole, not that Bob needs a defense from me, but he is one of the most reasonable and cordial people on here.

Anybody can use what they want and good shooting, but Bob didn't just advance his opinion, he expressed a physical reality. And I think it's safe to say that the magnum 30's [/b]are[b] often mentioned as a recoil threshold many don't want to go beyond. The '06 has even been mentioned as being at that level by different writers for decades now.

Anyway, what is it, seventeen pages? Pretty incredible but I do realize there are young and new folks reading who can benefit and learn so all's good.

Very true, in fact, I mentioned something along those lines myself. That's much different than "no one can handle 300-338 level recoil."

No one has said that.

200 gr AB. At 3050.....

I'm pretty sure he was saying their are folks out their i.e. Not you that can't shoot magnums very accurately and probably should shoot something that's not so bad in the recoil department.. Every year yahoos show up from the lower 48 to Alaska with cannons i.e. 416's, 375's to hunt Brn bears and they flinch so [bleep] bad they can't hit [bleep]. They be better served shooting a 30-06 using 180gr partitions. Not everyone is like you and can handle the recoil of a 300 weatherby.

I'm pretty sure the perennial straw man creator, Coyote Hunter, was the one who started throwing recoil tolerance into the mix on this thread.

He doesn't own a 300 WBY, so it cannot be considered a viable elk round, much less "nothing better" as the thread title states.

Of course, if he owned one, it would be the best choice and he would slouch down to peck out 16 paragraphs in every post about how it is the absolute ultimate elk round and nothing else should be considered.

LOL, but only with A-frames or North Forks.

Lol well that is a very true statement as well..

Does your mother know she raised a fool?

When determining the 'best' of anything you have to take individual preferences and capabilities into account. The OP has this to say about the .300WBY:
"High but manageable recoil..."
"Almost unlimited bullet selection..."
"widely universal availability of factory ammo"
"Why undergun yourself with lesser armament...?
"or overrun yourself with higher recoil?"

There are plenty of people who can't handle the recoil of a .30-06, let alone a .300 WBY. Many people would consider the lower recoil to be a significant advantage for other cartridges with recoil they can actually manage.

For reloaders, bullet selection is the same as for other cartridges that use 308" bullets. No advantage to the .300WBY for reloaders.

Midwayusa shows 87 factory loads available for the .30-06 plus another 14 on backorder. The .308 Win shows availability for 96 factory loads with 19 on backorder. For the .300WBY midway shows 22 factory loads available, period. The cost of .30-06 factory ammo is also substantially less in most cases. Other cartridges also have a big advantage over the .300WBY in terms of availability. The advantage goes to the other cartridges.

"undergun" is a qualitative judgment that many people would disagree with but, that aside, no one I know feels "undergunned" for elk when they using any of a number of other "lesser" cartridges. For those who prefer less recoil the advantage goes to the "lesser" cartridges.

Using a .300WBY is to "overrun yourself with higher recoil" for those who haven't learned how to, prefer not to, for physical reasons cannot or for any other reasons choose not to manage or deal with the recoil of a .300WBY. For them the advantage again goes to "lesser" cartridges.

If I owned a .300WBY it would be like my other rifles. It would get used some years and not others. I've never considered or claimed any cartridge to be the "absolute ultimate elk round" and never suggested that "nothing else should be considered".

Say "Hi" to the men in white coats.

I've never seen a fish that so reliably and eagerly takes the bait. Too bad they can't genetically engineer a CH trout species.

You wouldn't enjoy fishing for it.

Catching it would be like reading one of his posts. It'd take you an hour to reel it in, then you'd realize you'd been fighting a huge whitefish the whole time.

This thread reminds me of what a professor said about academia... "the fights are so vicious because the stakes are so low."

Carry on...