Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 30-06 didn't impress me.

Agreed. I just don’t like being told I don’t know what I’m doing cause I wanna use, what I wanna use.

The magnums like fresh mountain air too

And I wasn’t implying nothing to Brad or you POC but it’s amazing how much folks get in the stranglehold that if you don’t use what they do, you’re somehow missing the boat.

Hi Scotty, I completely understood your post. Like you I've used different magnums on elk. Also, like you, I know they're not necessary. But on every elk thread I've ever read there is a certain type of male that believes a magnum is a necessity for elk, despite having used nothing else. My observation is about those guys - the ones with minds closed like a vault

As well elk/bullets threads...

Guy

Yep me too Scotty - I like to shoot light rifles so the magnums sit around a lot more. I think shooting my ..300 & 340 Wbys was when I realized that I may have taken things unnecessarily far for elk maybe it was just the speed of the recoil that soured me and I began to drift back to more moderate cartridges. The fast 7mms still hold an allure but I haven’t fiddled with them nearly as much.

I have said this before but I squarely blame Bob Hagel. 😜

Be well gents & shoot what makes ya smile!

I shot a buck with my 9.3x62 this fall. Should I seek help?

Hand loads on that one, Good old Hornady 180gr Interlocks and H4350. Shot a couple bulls with factory 180gr CoreLokt's and a couple with 180gr Partitions. They all worked just fine for me.

For sure. I for one love to talk guns and such.

I blame Hagel and Farese. SOBs…. Both of em!

Thanks for the info centershot. I never had an 06' in-hand when there was an opportunity. Last I carried an 06' Elk'n was roughly 28 years ago... Planning to change that this coming fall

If you don't like a 30-06, you could always go with the 9x19 or, a sling-shot.

I’ve told this story before. But the 06 isn’t enough. I found a DIY ranch hunt in New Mexico some years back. I signed my buddy and me up, but we needed a third. Buddy knew a guy, so all was good. We’re making the drive out and I ask third guy what he’s shooting. He tells me he shoots a .30-06, but his friend insisted that wasn’t enough and to take his 300 WBY. Now it had never been sighted in and he had no ammo. He was lucky to find ammo in Clayton, but nearly choked at the price. Buddy and I were setting up camp, while third guy was sighting in down the hill. He returned after about fifteen shots, still six inches low at 100. Of course, he did remember to hold high and got a 100 yard or so shot on the second day and killed the first bull of the hunt.

My first elk (cow) was shot on the run right at 135 steps, Aspen Grove. My 30-06 was loaded with the then new Hornady Light Magnums with Hornady 180SP ( clocked 2910 by chrono, 300 H&H speed!) first shot broke her back, wadded up in the vertebrae. When I go to about 100yds from her, she was trying to get up so popped her behind the shoulder, dead when I got to her. It ruined heart/lungs and was in fragment on the opposite rub cage. Not Classic Performance "per se", but it surely Impressed her and me both! ha Those speeds can be reached now with these New Powders we have. Heck, on those SE Texas deer we considered the 30-06 "a Magnum", ha. There the 30-30 was "the Big Gun". Bigger animals= Bigger Bullets! Yeah Baby! Next three were all shot with Magnums, just cause I wanted to! ( I'm with you Scotty! lol)

All this makes the world go around.

As always you can kill anything with anything as long as shot placement and correct bullet are used. A 30-06 with a ABLR or TTSX or ELDX will be extremely lethal to an elk. You also have to be aware of distance, a 6.5 creedmoor is lethal to an elk… at a certain range. 30-06 isn’t a long range cartridge and never will be, limit your range and it is extremely effective.

I’ve used an 06 with 180 grain partitions to kill a cow & it was the least impressive experience I’ve had on any elk. 3 rounds back of lungs still needed a finisher in the neck to keep her from running out of the area. Dads old Ruger used to kill an elk he never got to hunt and the worst shooting rifle I own. Did hit her 3 times on the run at 250 but all a little far back. More a function of bullet placement than anything else.

I’m a die hard 300 Weatherby fan for elk & love the extended & short range performance. A few bang flops & no long tracking jobs has convinced me. Two seasons ago I had to finish a 30-06 wounded cow. Again bullet placement the culprit for the 06.

If you hunt elk in your backyard by all means use a 30-30, if you want to take head shots use you 6.5 man bun. If you’re planning on limiting your shots to 300 yards or perfect angle 400 then the 06 is your huckleberry. I like the ability to reach out to 600 with confidence & take shots at tough angle without worrying about effectiveness.

I get to hunt elk the best week of every year. Boots, pack, fancy lightweight gear $2K in tags these days all expenditures just to hunt elk. We hunt public land much of it near private ranch borders & some with 400+ yard wide canyons. Less than 10% of my time is in thick woods or better close range conditions. So the 300 magnum elk rifle makes good sense to me. Mine is a heavy old Vanguard that shoots well & is practiced out to 800 yards every year.

I have 3 30-06’s & start all the family kids out with them as 1st elk rifles after 22 & 243’s it’s a manageable jump in recoil. But adults in our group tend to use 300 magnums bases on hunting conditions.

I believe often we mistake the cartridge not impressing as much as it can be the individual animal impressing.

From the OP, my guess is it was the 30-06 operator that had unimpressive shooting skills. 9 out of 10 times it’s the culprit.

Agree with this too. I wouldn't go past 4 or 500 with an 06. But I also wouldn't shoot a partition either. An 06 shooting a 165 interlock will mop the floor with anything inside 400. But if I was willing to shoot past 600 which I'm not, I have made kills that far, and don't really like shooting rifles the 5 pound turret telescopes on them, I would reach for a 300 win mag. Anything more is reinventing the wheel. I have an 06 and love it, live in wide open country and serves me well.

Curious why no to a NP?

Yeah seems like a lot of people forgot about that one.

Because they practice “Shoot and Release”.

Besides, elk are heavy and hard to pack out. 😁