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

I'd think a 300 Weatherby would an excellent cartridge with premium bullets. There would be occasions where I'd prefer a rifle such as a 350 RM. I often hunt in the thick woods and a 300 Weatherby is usually found on a rather long rifle. Where I'll be hunting this fall the reports are that most elk are shot in less than 50 yards. But that may not be your hunting ground.
My favorite elk round is 338 WM with 250 grain Nosler Partitions.
If you're hunting in an area where Grizzlies may challenge you for the right to your elk and you have no other choice but to kill or be killed, would that change your mind on what you're hunting with?
I know it's popular with many to use the smallest cartridge possible. But I lean the other way. I want total penetration no matter where an what angle I shoot the elk with and I want to stand my ground after the elk is down. So the selection of cartridge would depend a lot on the terrain and unfriendly animals.
One more thing, if you were hunting next to an a map preserve such as Yellowstone Park and there's a hunter over every hill. You'd probably want to anchor that animal.
Again that 300 Weatherby would be as good as any in most situations.

Bell liked the larger .318 for the difficult oblique shot, its extra penetration allowed him to get through the neck mass region before reaching the brain.
At first, Bell thought he was misplacing with his 7x57 solids on the oblique brain shots, but then discovered the problem was lack of penetration, but
outside of that, the 7x57 pretty much covered all other shots on the brain very effectively.

Bell purchased two .416 Rigby mausers in 1913, and the first edition of his book came in 1923, in it he still praises the smaller bores for elephant.

"..Again, the smallest bore rifles with cartridges of a modern military description, such as the -256, -275,
•303 or -318, are quite sufficiently powerful for the brain shot. The advantages of these I need hardly enumerate..."
-- WDM Bell, Wanderings of An elephant Hunter.

" As regards rifles, I will simply state that I have tried the following : -416, -450/ -400, 360, 350, -318, 275 and -256.
At the time I possessed the double -400 I also had a 275. Sometimes I used one and sometimes the other, and it began
to dawn on me that when an elephant was hit in the right place with the 275 it died just as quickly as when hit with the -400,
....... I continued to use the -275 and the -256 in all kinds of country and for all kinds of game. Each hunter should use
the weapon he has most cojifidence in. -- WDM Bell, Wanderings of An elephant Hunter

Frankly, I don't care what Bell did or didn't use.

I do know a 300 WBY is not needed for mature bull elk, especially those behind a high fence.

But extra power, provided one can pack and shoot it, is never a bad thing.

If I wanted more than a 270/30-06, I'd skip right over the 300 WBY (or any 300) and use a 338 WM.

Brad ,
no you personally don't have to care what Bell used, but fact remains what Bell used on a wide range of PG is not entirely irrelevant,
with his moderate velocity .256 and .285 he killed a whopping pile variety of plains game simliar in size and even substantially larger than elk,
and Bell makes a very valid point that applies to anyone anywhere, that there is no hard and fast rule in choosing a cartridge, but rather, one
should use the rig they have the most confidence in.

So really it is irrelevant as to what Bell used. Please re read your post.

Weatherby=ultimate "dude" rifle.

Read my sig line:


Aside, what's your experience with 7x57-esque cartridges (or any cartridges) on elk?

What does a fence have to do with it? Having never shot an elk I would not know, but I have shot a few "elk-sized" animals and without question, the 300 Weatherby kills them well. I have taken your suggestion of going with the lightest rifle, my 24" tubed Mauser action Weatherby and my pre-64 Custom 338 are the lightest rifles I own in bigger calibers, but I take it you would prefer the 338 (w say, 210s) over the 300s w 180s)? Oh yeah, I use TTSXs that I know yo don't care for, but that's non-negotiable....

PS: Edited to add, "our" old friend Allen Day's favorite elk cartridge was the 300 WM...

The high fence comment is based on years of being on these forums. One guy agonized endlessly over a suitable cartridge only to report back he'd essentially shot the elk in a 20 acre pen!

Not saying the 300's aren't fine elk cartridges (I've used them), just saying for my own personal use, if I'm going to get rocked by recoil, I'll skip right past the 300's and pack a 22" bbl'd 338. With a 210 Partition I consider that combo to be the "ultimate" elk setup. Fortunately I don't need the "ultimate" anything

As to Allen, he was a Partition man to the core (pun intended). Like me he found them quicker killers, while having penetration in spades.

Allan had the good taste to roll a 300 Winchester vs a Weatherby,lol. Smart guy.

To echo Brads comments on what it takes to kill an elk. I would be perfectly content and not hamstringed in the least to use my 280 with a 150 Nosler Ballistic Tip. No Barnes 100 yard dash either.

I like that

Undoubtedly the mono's are getting better, but they'll never be the quicker killers frangible bullets like the Partition are.

Allen did indeed like Partitions and the 300 WM, he even took a Cape Buffalo with his (and it's on video on a Mark Sullivan film), but he also liked the 300 Weatherby, and in fact, he used to relate about his "hunting mentor" who'd literally hunted the world with a 300 Weatherby and he called it a great cartridge. My 338 has a 24" tube, but it's light. It shoots the 210 Partitions "ok" and if/when I ever get back to that leopard that will be my combo,but man, it loves that TTSX, I'm talking sub-half MOA. On my last safari, I put down a lot of game up to and including elk-sized stuff with the 300 Weatherby. I don't know what this "Barnes 100 yd run" issue is, but off the top of my head I've taken at least an Oryx, Axis, and a bunch of hogs (in texas) with a 140gr TTSX out of a 7mm Weatherby and many deer with my 257 and 100gr TTSXs and not a ONE has taken a step. I wouldn't touch a ballistic tip on ANYTHING with an MV higher than 2700 fps.

Jorge, I have shot more then a few head of game, including elk with a 1800 BT at 3400. This BT'S must be run below 2700 thing is non sense. Shrapnel has used the BT quit a bit in a 300 Bee and he didn't seem to have any problems

And Weatherby ' are akin to double knit poly leisure suits. Pretty damn cool in the when they first came out but gawdful ugly now.
I have no problem with the weatherby rounds other than I would rather not deal with free bore and weatherby brass. I HAVE owned quit a fee and am about to see a couple Mark V's in the next few weeks.

Appreciate the feedback. BTs must have changed from what I first saw and I do used them in my 06, but so far and at least in my experience. So about this 'TSX run" issue?

Yeah, Allen sent me that DVD (and some others) showing those Cape Buffalo kills. 180 Partition if I remember right.

Allen had simplified his hunting tools to just a few. The 270 Win was likely his favorite cartridge, but his mainstay was the 300 WM, followed by the 338 WM and 375H&H.

I've got a nice dvd showing him clobber a mountain grizz with the 375.

For me, a 270 and 375 would be all I'd want to hunt the world. Here in MT, the 270 suits me just fine.

That is your opinion no doubt. BTW, the free-board issue is a non-issue. And what is the issue with Norma brass?

I have the 375 video as well, and I really do need to get myself a 270 one of these days. If I had one, I'd be taking it. I just feel real comfortable with the 300 Weatherby and how it's performed for me throughout most of my hunting life, which I admit, pales in comparison to some of you guys that live in neat places like Montana and such. My uncle took his to Africa along with a 458 back in the 60s and took TWO lion with the 270 and with old fashioned Silvertips too!

I shot a pretty large cow elk at under a 100 yards last year with a 180 ttsx at 3400. Bullet placement was perfect. The cow ran off 70 + yards with no blood and the bullet exited. I can say from expiereance that a BT with the same load woukd have likely been a bang flop at best and much blood and a death stagger at worst.
In addition I have had deer do the same thing from 100gr tsx's out of a 25-06. JB has also observed the same.
And really it makes sense when you consider the design comprises.

Say, I have a bunch of RP 280 brass, all new. If yo shoot a 280, would you like them? PM me your address. On the TTSXs, see my comments above. I've used Partitions A LOT, but performance and accuracy-wise, I shoot TTSXs almost exclusively now, except if the rifle likes other bullets, I will shoot those, except Accubonds, those I've personally seen fail miserably. hell, most of the game I shoot nowadays are hogs and for them, a 180gr Hornady Interlock out of my 06 does it every time. J