Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting .260 for elk

nope.

Sorry, I have no idea.

The 2 elk that I killed last year didn't seem to be overly pleased with the performance of my .260.

I was using the highest of quality bullets though, Federal Factory Loads, pushing 140 Gr. Sierra Game Kings.

First one, hit her with a double lung hit, she went 10-15 yards, did the Curly Shuffle and flopped. She was dying, but not going anywhere when I got to her, and put another one behind her ear. Full penetration out the other side, and blew through the far side shoulder blade shattering it on the way through.

Second one, I hit too far forward, broke the near side upper leg bone. Blew on through and destroyed some meet on the far side leg. She made it maybe 5 yards and curled up. She kept trying to get up, but couldn't. Shot in between the eyes ended the story there.

No problems elk hunting with a .260, and will do it again. Neither scenario would have gone any different if I had been carrying a 300 WM. Bad shot placement was my fault, and the .260 still performed well, even with a less then perfect shot.

Nice work on those two. I have heard the 140 Sierra is awfully good. Planning on testing those, 130 accubonds and 140 partitions. Feel like a 260 pushing those should be as effective as the 25-06 was pushing 115s last year.

The only reason I used the Sierra Game Kings was because that was what I had come hunting season. I farted around too long, and didn't get my 130 TSX's loaded up in time. But as you can see, the .260 is inadequate for elk, those were just little ones. And relied more on luck then anything else.

From the photos, it seems like those elk are barely dead. Guess I am okay with that. Did you have to stick them with a knife to finish them off, or am I okay if I just bring my little knife along?

Fastest kill I ever saw on an elk was my hunting buddy using my 6.5 x 55 with a 160 Hornady Round Nose. Went down like it was pole-axed. The shot was a 100 yards or so. I wouldn't use that bullet on elk today. I'd use a good premium 120 to 140 grain bullet. One of these days I'll probably end up with a 260 Remington. At the moment, I've got 3 Swedes (I had 4), a 6.5-06 and I just got a 264 Win Mag. I guess I'm a 6.5mm Rifle Looney........we're the looniest of all looneys.

Trombaguy....This coming elk season I have thought about and decided to just take 2 rifles to elk camp in Colorado. They will be the .338-06 using 210 grain Nosler partitions and the other will be my 6.5/06 using 160 grainers. These are both light rifles but the .338-06 is the lighter of the two.

I figure I can push that .338-06 out to 300 yards if need be or the 6.5/06 out to 200 hunting elk with no sweat. It will be somewhat of a change of heart from the .338mag and 7mm mag or .338-06 of past years.

Had a 338/06, spoke to a well known smith who advised around 380 yds, his 225 partitions at close to 2700 mv, busted BOTH shoulders on a bull elk, and I have no doubt it is a 400 yd capable elk round with shot placement and good bullets. It's a good one.

A 260 and similar rounds I'd prefer under 300. As depicted above, a good 6.5mm bullet through lungs does an elk no good

No knife sticking was required. Barely dead is still dead, and very little damage done to the meat. If similar shot placement had been made with a 300 WM or something similar, have the meat would have been destroyed. Now if you don't eat the meat, by all means, use an anti-aircraft gun. I just don't think bigger caliber helps all that much. If you are a [bleep] shot, you need to practice, not get a bigger gun.

The 308 Win seems to be a widely accepted elk round, using 150 gr bullets. Now if I use a 260, it surpasses the 308 after about 300 yards, in velocity, energy, and drop. With a bullet that weighs 10 grains less. So I don't see where everyone sees a problem with the 260. If you don't want to use it, don't. But it is more then capable of taking animals (elk) down if you know how to shoot, and know your own limitations.

I know this is an older post....but I have to chime in as well on the value of the .260/6.5mm Swede AND the .243. I belong to the "got my Elk with a .243 and 6.5mm club..." .243 was in Washington state in the 70's at about 100 yards...slipped the 100gr. corlokt thru the ribs and the 6.5mm was in Idaho in 1981.....140 yards with a 140gr. Nosler. So....I know they can do it...just make your hit in the right spot.

Until this fall I could only speculate to the efficiency of the 6.5x55 and its effectiveness when hunting Wapiti, No more. First shot complete pass through the neck of a 5x5 bull at approx. 198 yards. He was lying down and never got up. I put a finisher in him when I got to him, although he would have expired on his own. This was not with a premium bullet just Core-lokts. I passed up some shots on earlier bulls due to their proximity to cows, trees, poor angle, etc. I'm patient and it paid off in the end with a nice bull. Would I have shot at an earlier bull with a .270, 30-06, 7 mag? Nope! The Swede is a keeper and I'll exercise good judgement, woodsmanship,and good decision making over horsepower any day to fill my tag.

Then you haven't hunted enough. I haven't taken that many elk - let's say less than 10. My last one was shot at a bit less than 300 yards, and that's as close as I could get. It was above me on a grass covered slope, and the bush and log I used to conceal myself was the last hiding opportunity between the animal and I.

I took it with one shot from a 30-06, with a 165-gr. Interbond, by the way. If I had had a 260 with a suitable 120 - 140 gr. bullet, I'm confident that the results would have been the same.