Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Elk load - 2 choices

Same here, but maybe more of a blend of Page and Hagel since I have really come to like how well the 7 Mashburn Super has worked for me on the last 5-6 elk taken with it. I definitely don't prescribe to needing a 7 or a 30 or a 338. I'd still contend that any elk I have take from 30 yards to a hair over 600 could've been done with a 270 and a good bullet. Or 99 other great cartridges.

This is basically nonsense and is constantly trotted out by the old time “big gun” guys. Small bore shooters won’t admit wounding game any more than big bore guys will and both of them wound game.

The main issue is and will continue to be that most people cannot shoot. Most all bullets on the market today will give sufficient penetration to reach the vitals on shots taken from decent angles, regardless of caliber there is something that will work.

Having shot game, watched others in my party shoot game, and guided hunters to game, all while keeping notes for a good while now. Having killed game from 75lb to 1500lb with cartridges from .172 to .510 diameter with velocity from over 4000 down to 750 and ranges from single digits to over 500 yards. Using over 50 different bullets of every design imaginable.

The ONLY thing that matters is that the vitals get scrambled. No elk, deer, moose, or unicorn cares what made a 2” diameter hole through its lungs. They do not care one bit if that 2” hole was crushed through there by a 250gr flat nosed cast bullet from a 44 magnum or by a 77gr bullet from a 223, they die just the same.

Feel free to try to scramble a bull elk’s vitals with a 223. You won’t catch me trying a stunt like that.

With the difficulty of drawing elk tags these days, I want every advantage available. I don’t want to have to pass up a shot because I’m at the wrong angle to slip a too-small bullet into the vitals. Sometimes all you’re presented with is a less than perfect set-up. Then again, you won’t catch me shooting at anything at 800 yards either but people think there’s no problem with that.

Exactly. And I would actually say that, IME hunting with family and friends and guiding clients, "big gun" guys wound more often than "small gun" guys do.

⬆️ This is accurate.
The investment in scouting trips, packing in/out, time off work for the scouting, and also the hunt, the firearm, shooting practice, any travel involved, tags, the list goes on and on. The investment is huge! Then the shot presented frequently is not as clear as some fantasize about. I would not consider myself old, but elk hunting rarely culminates in a textbook broadside shot for someone to slip their shot in. The bull I got this year was at 90 yards and he was hustling! Waiting for some perfect shot and for him to hold still; he would have disappeared in 40 yards and never been seen again lol. You miss your opportunity here and that bull gets 600 yards away, there will be 4000 trees between you two.

Safe to say, I’ll keep hunting with my old guy rifle and drop them, and fill my freezer every single time lol

I will agree that there are many peeps out there that absolutely do not have enough shooting experience to be proficient in the woods. They will fail with most any firearm.

😆 I’m sure you’re right, sniper.

A gut or leg shot with a .378 Weatherby is still a bad shot and a lost elk.

Thank you

But, but, but....... It's all in the 'knock down power'........

As far off the rails as this has gotten, you need to know just how and where to hit the chicken to kill it. This diagram shows it doesn’t matter what cartridge or bullet as long as you hits the gizzard..

nm

You must be getting old Brad.. I saw what you did there

Yeah, a waste of time. "A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still!"

That's a good piece of advice.

I can remember reading magazines as a kid and writers were saying you really needed a 338 Win Mag to humanely hunt elk.

I am a fan of the TTSX. How about the 140 TTSX?¿? RZ.

Back in the 70's, (back in Texas) I was a big reader of Elmer Keith. I only had a .280 Mod 77 and was convinced it was "marginal" for elk! I was also lusting after the Ruger Tropical in .375 H&H. I figured it would be an "all around" elk rifle and bonus deer rifle. (couldn't afford nothing, but I could dream!) had never even held one , but I felt it was "perfect" for elk. (It was a truck axle, come to find out!) I'd never killed any game by then but deer/hogs, ha. I was on a Wireline Truck one night in 1979. I was on the winch and slow pulling a tool out from 10,000 ft. Took a couple hours. I got in a conversation with an older Gent (40's) we got to talking elk. I just opened with "I would not hunt elk with less than a 375". (Typical 26yr old, ha) He scoffed and told me him an three other buddies went elk hunting very often, up in Colorado. They all used Remington 742/30-06 (very, very popular in that region) and they killed them very easily. In fact he gave several accounts where the quick follow-up shots from the semi-autos came in handy. It helped me get back on the reality trail, ha.

I still like to use Big Guns (anything over .30 cal) on elk, but that's just a personal thing. When I first moved out here in 1990, I always asked the Locals what they used on elk. 30-06/270 and 308 Winchester was a given, followed by 300 Savage, 250/3000 Savage, 25-06, 243, 6mm Remington, and if a Magnum, it was the 7mm RM. Very few used a 300WM or bigger. My first hunting buddy here uses a .308 for everything, and with the 150 Corlokt.

I was the first to buy a rifle and hunt in my family. My influence came from three cousins who had 30-06's and hunted from tree stands in Minnesota forests. My exposure widened as I was helping a church paper sale and discovered Outdoor Life magazines. One parent said I could take the bundled magazines home for a few days and return them before the drive ended. In those magazines, I read stories from a guy name Jack O'Connor and was first exposed to the .270 Winchester. His exploits with sheep and medium game were influential and I began buying magazines off the local newsstand.
Now back in the late '60's and early '70's it was mostly frowned upon to hunt elk with the lowly .270 Win., especially by a writer named Elmer Keith.
When I had money and time, my first elk hunts were with 300 WM's and 338 WM's which certainly did the job. But fellow hunters were using .270's. 308's and 30-06's and tagged just as many cows and bulls. For the past 25 years, I only hunted elk as I became a student of their habitat and thoroughly enjoyed mountain hunting. So much so that I sold my 40 acre beautiful deer hunting spot. As I got older, the 300's and 338's weren't so kind anymore and in fact became downright difficult to shoot. So I sold them and since have taken cows and bulls with the 308, 30-06, 270Win and yes, the 6.5CM (cow, bull & caribou). Trimming down my rifle options, I may part with two Montana CM's and finish my elk hunting career with the .270 Winchester along with 150 gr. NP's and Accubonds.

This guy didn’t think my dad was undergunned with a 7mm-08 and a single 140 AccuBond at 225 yards.



This fella didn’t look down on a single 140 Partition from a Mighty-08 either.



This guy, on the other hand, went down harder than most from a single 140 Partition from a Mighty-08 at 346 yards.



My nephew went up in grade significantly with this bull, with a 10 grain upgrade, to a 150 ELDX out of a Mighty-08, but at 409 yards.




I wish I weren’t so undergunned, maybe I could kill more elk.





P


P.S. Sorry Brad, I couldn’t resist.