Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Rifle or Ammo - which is it?

The type of elk hunting a hunter does, the conditions under which the elk are likely to be hunted, past experiences, and a variety of other factors will all tend to make a thoughtful elk hunter favor one thing over another.

So the question is this.

As an elk hunter, which do you value the most? The rifle or the ammo?

The rifle -as in can I shoot it well, do I trust it to hold a zero, etc.

While I like Bearclaws and Partitions I have killed elk with Sierras and Power Points too. If I put it in the lungs they fall down. Appropriate bullet weight is nice. I have used 150, 165 and 180 grain bullets in .30 cal, They all worked though I prefer 11180's. I have only used 225 grainers out of my .338 Win Mag.

someone looking in my safe would see the following centerfires:
1 Browning
1 Remington
1 Interarms
3 Marlin
??? Ruger (all the rest)

So far I've hunted elk with the following:
.257 Roberts
.280Rem
7mm RM
.30-30
.30-06
.300WM
.338WM
.375 Win
.44 Mag
.45-70

Most of my elk have been taken with the 7mm RM, remotely followed by .30-06, .300WM , .338WM and .45-70 in that order.

Life would be simpler if I'd sell all but the 7mm RM.

is this one of those chicken or the egg questions?

someone looking in my safe would see the following centerfires:
1 Browning
1 Remington
1 Interarms
3 Marlin
??? Ruger (all the rest)

So far I've hunted elk with the following:
.257 Roberts
.280Rem
7mm RM
.30-30
.30-06
.300WM
.338WM
.375 Win
.44 Mag
.45-70

Most of my elk have been taken with the 7mm RM, remotely followed by .30-06, .300WM , .338WM and .45-70 in that order.

Life would be simpler if I'd sell all but the 7mm RM.

Most of the readers of this forum likely have a number of different centerfire rifles chambered for a variety of different cartridges. And those who have killed some elk have probably used more than a single rifle/cartridge combination over the years. Some will be favorites, but others worked just fine too.

In some cases, an elk hunter favors a particular rifle/action/whatever over most others, and cares a bit less about exactly what cartridge it is chambered for. As long as the hunter has his trusty Remington M700, he doesn't worry too much about whether it is a .25-06 or a .300 Win Mag.

In other cases, that elk hunter has a strong liking for a particular cartridge/bullet/whatever over other choices, and he values having the right chambering/ammo/bullet choice more than he worries about which rifle he grabbed off the rack. As long as this hunter can use his trusted Remington Core-Lokts, he is OK with shooting a Ruger Number One or a Savage bolt action.

Most elk hunters are a mixture of those two ends of the spectrum. The type of elk hunting a hunter does, the conditions under which the elk are likely to be hunted, past experiences, and a variety of other factors will all tend to make a thoughtful elk hunter favor one thing over another.

So the question is this.

As an elk hunter, which do you value the most? The rifle or the ammo?

WyoM70

The real answer is that often as not, and probably far more often, it's neither the rifle nor the ammo -- it's the shooter.

The bullet.

Bullets kill, rifles are just launchers.

Marlin
Remington
Ruger
Savage
Sako
Tikka, are in the safe.



If a rifle fits me and the need it does not matter. Maybe this is because I do not own a rifle that totally pleases me, I can fins gripes about them all.

Most of the readers of this forum likely have a number of different centerfire rifles chambered for a variety of different cartridges. And those who have killed some elk have probably used more than a single rifle/cartridge combination over the years. Some will be favorites, but others worked just fine too.

In some cases, an elk hunter favors a particular rifle/action/whatever over most others, and cares a bit less about exactly what cartridge it is chambered for. As long as the hunter has his trusty Remington M700, he doesn't worry too much about whether it is a .25-06 or a .300 Win Mag.

In other cases, that elk hunter has a strong liking for a particular cartridge/bullet/whatever over other choices, and he values having the right chambering/ammo/bullet choice more than he worries about which rifle he grabbed off the rack. As long as this hunter can use his trusted Remington Core-Lokts, he is OK with shooting a Ruger Number One or a Savage bolt action.

Most elk hunters are a mixture of those two ends of the spectrum. The type of elk hunting a hunter does, the conditions under which the elk are likely to be hunted, past experiences, and a variety of other factors will all tend to make a thoughtful elk hunter favor one thing over another.

So the question is this.

As an elk hunter, which do you value the most? The rifle or the ammo?

WyoM70

Its a system that involves 3 items hunter, rifle, ammo.

All three have to perform together to a certain degree to kill elk efficiently.

I have hunted elk 3 decades now with lever, bolt, pump action rifles ranging in caliber from 6mm to 45. Iron sights or telescopic.

Looking back a scoped bolt action has the most elk taken by far. Ruger tang safety and win m70.

For a short while, my 338 win mag and my 280 rem were tied for elk killed. Then came along a ruger 7mm rem mag about 7 years ago. Safe to say, 7mm caliber has killed the most elk for me now.

Bullets always have been premium build, old school dual core grand slams in the beginning transitioning to partitions. Not that there has been 'plain jane' bullets used here and there. A few hot cores, core lokt, interlocks and ballistic tips... Yes ballistic tips, 7mm 150 gr. from the 280 to be exact. Partitions are the main elk killers. 225 gr in the 338, lots of 160 gr and a few 175 gr. in 7mm caliber rifles.

When the final moment is playing out, the trigger getting pulled, I use place a lot of faith in bullet build. But I realize now is a combination of equipment and hunter to work in harmony to get elbow deep in elk guts

What I find odd, is that I was born, and grew up in Montana and knew/know some pretty darn good elk hunters.

About the last g-damn thing that any good elk hunters I knew/know talked about, or argued about, were the rifles and calibers they shot. Know some that have used .243's for years, some have shot 25-06, 270's, 308's, 300's, 7 mags, 338's. The thing they all had in common, was they killed a metric [bleep] ton of elk. The caliber they chose to pack didn't make them the elk hunters they were. I also don't recall many giving advice to anyone on what they should be using for a rifle or caliber.

They worried more about the best way to get an elk back to the truck, where to hunt, when and how to hunt a particular ridge, when to take their vacations...you know things that mattered about actually killing and hunting elk.

I've sort of come full circle myself...started with a 6mm Remington, shot my first few with that, moved to a hand-me-down 30/06 for years, moved up to a 338 for a long time, killing 35 elk along the way. Since 2006, I've shot another 30 elk, all but one of those with either a 7RM or 7-08.

I find myself often wondering why some people still give the advice of a 30 magnum, 338, etc. when I know for a fact that they simply are NOT necessary. I even question why I ever felt the need for a .338? Not taking away anything about the .338, as it performed on elk, I had great results. But, like others have mentioned, they are NO fun to lug around, and even less fun to shoot.

I just cant see myself arguing that a .270 isn't enough gun for elk...or arguing that all the "good elk hunters from Montana only use 300 mags and larger".

Just isn't based on reality.

Great post boomwack.