Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting ADEQUATE ELK CARTRIDGES

Recently one of the better known outdoor writers wrote a treatsie on what calibers were suitable for elk hunting. It appears he might have been facing a deadline to get his monthly report in on time.
Going back 40 yrs I can remember a friend showing me a card trick where he basically eliminated 51 of the 52 cards in the deck, forcing you, unknownly to pick the card he had in mind.
Now lets fast forward to Sept 2010 & the article on what calibers to use for elk does pretty much the same thing. The author puts you in a situation where you have spent several thousand dollars on an elk hunt, you've pounded the turf for 10 days with little sleep, food or water & in the fading light of the last day, in the last minute of legal shooting light he drops the bomb...do you shoot with a lesser caliber & chance wounded the disappearing bull or do you shoot one of his super magnums with total confidence & make the kill.
Well, its like my old friend & the card trick, if everyone of those things aligned all at the same time I guess I'd have to choose one of the super magnums. Everyone knows that elk are much tougher now days than when we first started killing them with the 300 Savage, 260, 284, 308, 30/40 Krag, 7/57 Mauser & the classic 270. Even the old 30/30 in heavy timber at close range was an effective elk killer, no it wasn't a 300 yd open country gun but for up close & personal it got the job done.
We got by just fine with the old Remingtion Core Lokt's, Nosler Partitions & the regular cup & core Hornady, Speer & Sierra bullets.
The author states that the old 270 is down to only 1800 ft lbs of energy at 200 yds, he also states in the article that the escaping bull is 300 yds away...remember the card trick!
I'm sure there are many old elk hunters here in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming & other surrounding western states that would be flabbergasted to know their old elk rifles couldn't cut the mustard.
The author uses the tired old argument of a minimum of 2000 ft lbs of energy for elk & then just a few paragraphs away states " Energy doesn't kill elk", now I'm really confused! Actually on this last part he's correct, it still takes bullet placement & penetration. Sure you can take any caliber out of range, thats up to the hunter, he knows his ability & his guns limitations. Where the 2000 ft lbs came up as a minimum for elk is a total mystery.
He also states in the article that anyone who has disagreed with him in the past is simply bragging about using a lesser caliber than those he suggests...so none of us can use our own experiences as proof that the super magnums only give you more distance, they don't kill any better than what we've been using for generations.
OK, first lets get the energy part of the argument out of the way. The old 30/30 has a hard time getting much over 1000 ft lbs at 200 yds & is probably out of range at that distance although elk have been taken cleanly many times at that distance, but at 150 yds & closer... & thats where the old 30/30 makes its claim to fame, will work just fine if the shooter does his part.
How about the 44 magnum handgun, it has a difficult time exceeding 1000 ft lbs at the "muzzle" & its taken lots of elk, I know this for a fact because I've used it many times, also the 41 magnum & the old 45 have taken elk for me. Now I know I'm bragging here & the author says we can't do that but this stuff about energy just might be overrated. Think bullet placement & penetration.
I've taken 27 elk in the last 40 years, 13 years I was a high scool coach & elk hunting was pretty much a faded memory, I'd like to think I'd have taken several more in those lost years. Again, bragging is against the rules so don't give stats.
With the excellent premium bullets available now its a fact that many of the "lesser" calibers will continum to take elk cleanly if the shooter keeps the distance reasonable & places his shot correctly. Again, the super magnums only gain you distance, they also provide lots of healthly recoil, something the author does't allow in his article, he states that muzzle brakes have eliminated this excuse.
He doesn't mention the fact that many outfitters get a little uneasy when the client shows up with his new whiz bang super magnum that bellows like a elephant & in many cases wounds game because the shooter is over gunned. Remember, a wounded elk is still wounded, whether its with a 300 Savage or a 358 SSM!
Now don't go & throw that old 300 Savage, 284 or 7/57 in the scrap pile, just keep putting those elk steaks on the table like you've done for the last 30-40 years!
If its the last minute of the last day & that bull is 300 yds running, make sure its a super magnum, thats the answer!

Dick

To me adequate means what you shoot good. Take what you shoot good and kill elk.

If it was the last day of the season, in the last 10 minutes, and I've not gotten much food, water, or sleep during the hunt, I want a rifle in my hands that makes me feel confident that I can put the bullet (I'd use a TTSX- it inspires confidence in me based on my past experiences with it) in the boiler room, whether that rifle is a .243 or a .300 NEWFADMAGNUM. What rifle do I NOT want in my hands? The brand new, shiny, unfamiliar super magnum that I have little trigger time with, and that does not feel like an old friend to me.

Under the circumstances described, 300 yards, and although it wouldn�t be my first choice, I�d be comfortable with my .257 Roberts and 120g A-Frame load if that was what was in my hands. The cartridge is secondary to placement and the Roberts lends itself to easy placement.

as does my .260......

When in doubt use the old 338 win mag. It will plow an elk down at 300 yards without even breaking a sweat.

The sheer volume of powder in that cannon, must surely induce maybe a tad of heat/sweat........

I don't see why anyone would be crazy enough to hunt elk with anything less than a .50 BMG.

Once you see that sucker lined up next to some wimpy little 300 WinMag, you'll see what I'm talking about. Now *that's* what I call frontal area!

This weekend, I saw a portable trailer blind overlooking a 2 mile wide meadow; in his blind, he had a 50 set up for moose.

And yet, the Scandinavians take moose all the time with a 6.5 Swede... go figure!

At a mile out?

When I'm elk hunting, I don't want a new superbang magnum; just give me my 50 cal muzzleloader. The whizbang magnum isn't even legal to use during the time that I hunt. Seem to do ok with a hundred yard or so range limit.

This seems to be one of the topics that knows no end...like .270 or .30-06. Ford or Chevy......Coke or Pepsi............................

Don-you are scary good with that .260 kinda unfair LOL
depending on how thick the cover is this year I might take my 35 rem

I'm lucky to be alive! I shot my first elk and my first bear with a 30-30, and it's a wonder they didn't come over and stomp a mudhole in me, before trotting away. Must have had the wind in my favor...

Ford or Chebbie....neither, make mine Mopar.

Coke or Pepsi...how about iced tea.

270 or ought Six...I'll take a Whelen, thank ya.

338 lapua 300gr sierra match king

The best "driver" will come out on top. Know your limits and stick with them.

I've seen several hundred elk shot with just about everything under the sun and will always say that shot placement trumps all else...

Seems the older /wiser I get the smaller the caliber I use ; 257 Roberts, 6.5x47 Lapua and 260 Rem.

Who's the author? I'll put him on my ignore list.

Alan

I wasn't out to "knock" the author, he's a very good writer, I only pointed out that you can make up any scenario you want to if you work hard enough at it.
I would bet the biggest steak in Texas that a lot more game is wounded or totally missed because the shooter was overgunned than from being undergunned.

Dick