Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting The 300 Wby Mag for elk- is there anything better?

Absurd statement. I have never felt recoil when pulling the trigger on game and have seen this confirmed by my petite 4'11" wife, who do a malfunction on her 308, had to use my 375h&h with full power 270 gr tsx loads to shoot her quarry. She said she didn't feel the recoil. Have let me nephew practice lots with 223 and then gave him a "real" rifle (308 with 150 btips) to go hunting with. Made a perfect shot and didn't feel the recoil either.

I'll agree, it is an obsurd statement. However I didn't want to get into a pizzing match. Like I've said numerous times. Shooting 1 rifle vs. another is same same personally in a hunting situation. It all boils down to fundamentals. If you don't have them, you just don't have them regardless of which rifle or cartridge you are shooting. Now if you are scared of big rifles with more recoil, then I'll agree you have no business shooting a magnum. Leave the bigger guns to the grown-ups who can handle them.. . Not directed at Shodd or kman, just stating a simple fact..

All about fundamentals I bought my daughter a vanguard in 223 so she can shoot all day long practice practice and practice.. Time for hunting get her hunting rifle out and off we go.. I know guys who shoot 300 win mags no problem they shoot a 338 and they are whimpering in the corner lol..

... Fundamentals are generally best learned with rimfires and small centerfire cartridges...Good on you for trying to teach your daughter right from the beginning..

Yep I really need to get her a bull barrel 223. But we get to the range and I plop a bag off ammo next to her. tell her to check the barrel to see how hot it is she's a pretty good learner that's for sure I have two 223 but I never get to shoot mine my daughter shoots one, barrel gets warm she grabs the other and shoots it. So a nice bull barrel 223 with a good scope and have her shoot out to 200yds be sweet.

.300 Wby, 180 NPT, 150 yds.

I'm sure there are a number of rounds that would whack an elk as good as the .300 Wby.

How does one define "better"?

DF

I define that as one of the "better" bulls I've seen - very nice!

Now I can't be selling you all of my rifles....

DF. That is a damn nice bull!!!!!!

short answer to OP: "NO"..

Good grief, what a bull. Around here with all that green, that would be early September. There would be less hunting pressure, as rifle season wouldn't open for another month...

BSA, I agree with you. The fact is there are many hunters out there that shoot magnums very well. In fact most on this forum are far from (gun shy).

I suppose I really should be more careful in my choice of words as I really don't want to affend any of the fine hunters that frequent the forum. There are no doubt some very knowledgeable hunters here who have passed on much more information that I've learned from than I could ever teach them.

I'll be more specific yet less affending and attempt an answer that contains a bit more logic and reasoning other than I don't like magnums because I think they suck. Lol

I'll explain my typical preparation for an elk hunt especially when working up a load or preparing a new rifle that I'm just getting used to. I'll use the 270 Tikka T3 I acquired several years ago as an example.

Basically once my load work is done I'll go to the range 4-5 times a week and shoot right around 20 rounds each visit however I do bring other rifles and shoot around 50+ rounds of big game ammo.

I shoot at 100,200,300,400,500,600 yds. My goal is I want to be extremely well versed in how my rifle is shooting and exactly where to hold for each yardage. I also want to be very well versed in any changes I may run into under different weather conditions. The end result is thousands of rounds of familiarizing myself with my rifle and I feel like my rifle truely becomes almost like an extension of my body. For instance two years ago I shot a Muley buck at 530 yds making a clean heart shot. Did I feel confident. My confidence was through the roof. I'd already made that shot 100s of times at the range with nary a miss. I didn't even follow up by ejecting the spent casing. I simply watched and waited.

This is my main pitta and what I have noted over the years. When I show up at the range sporting a number of Magnums my round count goes way down. Not because I don't shoot them well but because.....well......300 rounds a week of Magnum recoil is going to do some bruising to 98% of us and then there's always that 2% that seem to be somewhat inhuman.

Shod

Is there a better Elk rifle than the .300 Wby?

Yes, in many cases there are "better" chamberings for many people.

For myself, I am one of those individuals who are very recoil tollerent. I shoot most bigger guns just as well as I do smaller rifles, but for many shooters this isn't true. For most, the recoil limit is somewhere near .30-06 level before shooting is negatively effected.

The .300 Wby is just past that limit and for those people a 7mm Magnum or .30-06 might be a better choice.

For those, like myself, who aren't as sensitive to recoil the .338 Magnum is a better choice as it hits a bit harder and (in my experience) kills quicker than the .300's.

What the various .300's have going for them is that they are a near perfect compromise chambering. It's recoil is stiff, but not as punishing as the bigger .338's. It shoots as flat as the smaller 7mm and .270 rifles. And it handles heavier bullets than the smaller chamberings as well....providing better killing power.

It is a near perfect "tweener" round that sits between "too small" and "too big" competitors for most people.

The .300 is good, however I prefer the fast .338's for Elk.

6.5 Grendel worth a TTSX 100-120gr bullet has taken a bull from this combo had taller cows-bulls from100yards to 450 yards. I'd use a 6.5 Grendel with no hesitation.

Exactly.

From what I've seen at the range and in the field, , most people have no business shooting past 200 yards and that is a stretch for many. You don't need to put up with .300WBY levels of recoil for shots that close in and in fact the recoil would only add to the accuracy problems many shooters have.

Here at the fire we are mostly a bunch of rifle loonies - completely atypical of the average hunter. I've hunted with guys who had their rifle bore sighted by the dealer on Day 1 and on Day 2 be in the field hunting with it, having never fired it at all. Numerous times I've asked people what load they were using only to discover they didn't have any clue. Many who spend more time with their rifles are still far from rifle loonies - they practice enough to be fairly good with them but simply have other priorities. They are quite happy and successful with their .30-06 or whatever and feel no need or desire for anything else.

Daughter #1 is no longer a kid but she is still rather petite and doesn't care much for recoil. For her first elk hunt we settled on a .308 Win with a 130g TTSX running 3045fps at the muzzle. Recoil is very moderate at about 15 ft-lbs. She is not prepared for ranges over 300-350 yards and within her range I expect that load to work just fine. Unfortunately she only had 2 days to hunt this year and didn't get a shot opportunity. We'll have to wait until at least next year to find out how that combo really performs.

While I've taken two elk with a .338WM with a 225g AccuBond @ 2742fps, the last at 487 yards, and while I really like that combo, at about 33 ft-lbs the recoil is more than most people are comfortable with. A .300 WBY factory 180g @ 3240fps claimed will probably exceed this by 1 pound or so in the same weight rifle (depends on powder charge, could be as much as +3 ft-lbs). My .300WM loads (180g @ 3033fps) run noticeably less at about 28 ft-lbs. and have proven capable of whacking elk just fine at 400 yards, my longest with it so far. Under perfect conditions I'd take shots out to 600 yards (the extent of my regular practice) with this combo and not worry about whether or not I had "enough gun". Tomorrow I'll be taking my .338WM/225g AB/2742fps, a .30-06/150g AB/2991fps and my .280 Rem/140g AB/2900fps to the range to decide which two will be going elk hunting. Frankly, I doubt it makes much difference in terms of final outcome. I do know I'd rather pull the trigger on the .30-06 or .280.


Recoil for 150-180g .30-06 loads typically run around 20-24 ft-lbs. My 7mm RM loads are about 22-25 ft-lbs depending on the specific load, not much different than .30-06 loads. Not to be picky but a .300WBY load that runs up to 10 ft-lbs more is considerably more than 'just past' those recoil levels.



For 20+ years my only bolt action big game rifle was a 7mm RM. I often wondered if a .300WM would have been a better choice and eventually I got one. As much as I like that .300WM, its advantages with the loads I use are vanishingly small when compared to the 7mm RM. At the ranges I've used it (400 yards max), it doesn't have a lot of advantage over a gentler .30-06, either.

Last night Daughter #1 got married to Son-in-Law #2. Like Son-in-Law #1, he is getting a .30-06 as a wedding present. For 90% of all hunters and hunting situations I think that is more gun than they will ever need.

Not knocking your choices, though, I think the .338WM will likely make the elk hunt this year - the main question in my mind is whether to take the .30-06 or .280 Rem.

What ever I take out on any given day is better than a 300 bee for me. Easy as that.

Give me a .270 and Partitions and I'll show you dead elk until you're sick of looking at dead elk.

It's always been the Indian, not the arrow.

Pretty hard to argue with this.

The 300 Weatherby is no doubt a great elk cartridge. But today the world is so full of great elk cartridges you can't keep up with them all.

Personally I'd rather have a 7mm Mashburn. It kicks less.

The puny 270 Win throwing a 140 gr TSX worked for me a couple of weeks ago.