Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting favorite elk rifle??

That is funny. I wonder if someone walked up and told them they don't shoot bigger rifles well but could call "iris or pupil" with their .270 which way they'd lean? I mean, all things being equal I lean toward the heavy side (who knows, it MIGHT just make a difference) but I can't imagine any guide EVER trying to even nudge someone away from any reasonable caliber their comfortable shooting towards a bigger one "just because".

I do suppose one might get a better blood trail more often with a bigger caliber which would make tracking easier. Still...

35 Whelen.

No explanation necessary.

I have an outfitter buddy who claims the 7mm is an elk crippler, I don't see why that is. my guess is guys using them thinking because its a magnum they can do anything with it, but they don't practice with it.

my dad bang flopped his last cow with his 7mm. I plan on shooting a cow this coming weekend with mine

I like the idea of a 200 grain bullet in a 30-06 and the .300 Win mag! Now that being said I have used the .338 Win mag for the past 15 years using a 225 grain bullet or the 250 grain bullet. It just makes better sence to me, simply because bull elk are not small animals.

I see people using a 150 grain bullet to hunt mule deer and how much larger is a bull elk verses a mulie buck for crying out loud. Hunters use enough gun and bigger bullets!

this one's going to see some play time I suspect in the next few years, a Bull Mtn Rifle Co. 300 Ultra.

You hear this stuff now and then....I suspect it mostly has to with pretty indifferent marksmanship(90%)or the use of bullets unsuitable for the intended purpose(10%). My numbers are a pure guess.....

My experience has been that 7mm's kill elk just fine when you (a)use good bullets and (b)stick them in the right place....about like any other suitable caliber....they tend to wound things when you neglect either of points a or b above.

Never had to track on I shot with my 7mm RM. My buddy shot one with his 7mm RM that we had to track, but it was a poorly-placed neck shot and it wouldn't have mattered what he used.

+1

Has to be my Browning 71 in .348 Win.

Jim: I like the shirt! And I'm not being a wise guy!got a few just like it...SSOOO much better than Camo

That is camo! So is my Filson...

What a boat anchor:)

Only elk I have shot, a raghorn, was with a 7mm and barnes xlc and a heart shot. I am not sure how far before it dropped because it fell out of sight (steep), tumbled goring itself twice in process and didn't stop sliding until its antlers caught in sage brush. I believe it dropped within 30 yards at most.

I no longer get teased anymore for using a 7mm or a 30-06. Rest of the group uses 340 weatherby or above.

For me, using medium calibers means I enjoy shooting more and it costs a lot less. Then again, I spend more on ammo than anyone else in the group because I practice more.

Nice thing about elk is that they're large enough that you can justify using as big a rifle as you want....even if it doesn't matter a whole lot

I agree with BobNH on the "elk crippler" thing. My hunch is too many guys have purchased 7mags as a "huge" step up in guns from their 30/30 or 35's they hunt deer with back in the NE. then never practice and show up with their 140 grain cup core bullets and just can't hit crap with them. Physically speaking, with a decent bullet and shot placement, it has to be about interchangable with 270, 280, 30/06 and the like.

It would depend on where and under what circumstances that I was hunting elk...Horse back in one area I pack my Sav. 99F 308 with 180 gr. Noslers, it's flat and fits well under my leg all day. In the Sagebrush on foot my 30-06 or 300 H&H with 200 gr. Nosler partitions works well..but in the Selous I hunt in the thick black timber swamps and have to take going away shots at big bulls and if they go to the bottom life becomes a living hell, so I use my 338 Win with 300 gr. Woodleighs, or my 9.3x62, 375 H&H or even a 416 Rem..My dad told me shooting elk in the Selous black timber was like masterbation, once you pull the trigger you have this awful mess on your hands!

Atkinson

The Selous for Elk? Where is that? I thought the Selous is in Africa. Were you thinking the Selkirks in Idaho? Am I geographicly impaired today?

Elk like African animals don't wear armour. I have taken 10 with a 264 Mag 130-140 grain bullets with one shot.

thats a question that could drive a feller crazy as I could pick many,I shot an elk a couple years back with a model 70 in 300 H&H at about 250 yards and boom boom out go the lights as the show was over as quickly as the big rifle barked..........

I'm sort of in the what ever I'm using at the time camp.
lately its been either the 45-2.3 with 550gr paper patch bullets or the model 95 winchester in 405.