Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Buy me an elk rifle!

Not literally, of course. I'm not here to redistribute your wealth. I am, however, here to benefit from your experience.

New member -- just registered but I've been reading for weeks. Lots of good info on the forum (thanks for that, BTW) and some of it addresses what I'll ask for help with but most of it does so only indirectly. I'm an experienced shooter and hunter but I've never hunted elk. That's something I'd like to change and I'll keep on applying for that tag until I'm drawn. I want to be prepared when that happens so, even though I'm sure you old timers have had it asked of you more than once, I'll ask for help putting together a rifle & scope combo for elk hunting in northern Arizona.

Hunting will be in northern Arizona with shots limited to ranges of 300 yards and less because of my self-imposed limits. I'm starting from scratch with a new rifle that will be dedicated to elk hunting; it won't do duty as an "all purpose" rifle so doesn't have to compromise away from what you consider ideal for elk. This won't be a custom build -- it's going to be an off-the-shelf factory rifle so the recommended chamberings should be something currently offered by major manufacturers. I'm not particularly recoil sensitive but don't care to have any more than is necessary to the task at hand. On the other hand, I don't want something so light that penetration and tissue destruction at 300 yards would be considered marginal. I suppose you might say I'm looking for "efficiency" in the cartridge choice.

What cartridge would you select as ideal for the chambering in this rifle? What scope would you put on it? What off-the-shelf rifle would you select?

Ruger 30-06 Leupold VX-11 3-9x40

NULA- best of the best- light weight, accurate, calibers pick one 30-06 recommended for first elk rifle. If you buy a NULA you may never need to buy another elk rifle.

30-06. If it was me I'd buy a SS 700 ADL and re-stock it for cheap (did it). But for an off the shelf, im kind of impressed with the bone stock SS savage models. If you got more to spend, look at kimber or maybe the new Forbes rifle.

I use a Winchester model 70 in 30-06 for northern Arizona elk. It's all the gun you need. I prefer the model 70, but there are a ton of options. All will work, in my opinion.

Ruger or Winchester S/S in 30-06, firing 200 gn Nosler Partitions or Accubonds.

Gunner

There are just too many "right" answers to this one.

For me they'd all be chambered in a M70...

In 30-06 improved?

the most versatile and effective 300-yard and under ELk rifle Ive used for many years
you can hardly go wrong with an accurate 35 whelen and 250 grain bullets, (mostly speer 250 grain)easily half the guys I hunt with have one, and every last guys been impressed with the results.
I have a remington slide action 35 whelen thats been the camp back-up rifle for years and that rifles, and its resulting kills in several guys hands has resulted in several people buying 35 whelens, Id be hard pressed to think of a better rifle for hunting the steep slopes and blow-downs,its light weight, easy to fire a second or third shot rapidly without taking your eyes off the game and devastating to elk with properly placed hits, mount a good 2x7x scope and go hunting.


reasonably light weight, hits like a bolt of lightning with 250 grain speers loaded to 2500fps and its accurate and dependable
few of us could pick a good wife, or hope to pick the best possible wife for a friend and few of us can select a friends ELK rifle, , but like wives a bit of each rifles charm is in the eye of the beholder, personally I like accuracy and dependability and something that hits hard, but something thats not going to cost a great deal to feed and maintain
...yes they are also made in 30/06 and 280 rem..but I don,t know anyone in my group that thinks the 35 whelens not an exceptional choice

A Remington 700 30-06 (plenty like new on GB)and a Meopta scope.
If you can or want find a used Ti stock and have at it.

I have a whelen, 700 classic. Great choice for elk. Kicks pretty hard though (300 win mag level IMO), and is really better suited for handloaders IMO. I dont know if you can still get them in bolt guns?

If the OP handloads it would be a great choice. Remington sells the 350 rem mag in the model 7 bolt gun too.

Just another $0.02 cents worth.

Savage makes a lot of value, inexpensive, and accurate as they are dependable.

The money saved could be mounted on top. Nothing beats a fine piece of glass when it comes an elk rifle.

Elkyri,

Welcome to the Campfire!

Since you're an experienced shooter and hunter, what riflers do you already have?

Ruger Scout in .308 or a Kimber Montana (or wood stock if you prefer) in .308.
Mind you, I don't own a .308 but it is a fully adequate elk round, smaller than 30-06 and the light and compact rifle will cover the elk hunting bases from aspen and dark timber to 300 yards in open country.
To me, the platform is important, it is the rifle that you lug around and get stuck in the thickets with, not the caliber. Any reasonable caliber is sufficient like .270, .308, 30-06, any .300 mag and any .338 and larger. It is the package that matters, like I chose a .338 RCM because it comes in the 20" barrel Ruger Hawkeye, a rifle the size of a .22 rimfire 10/22, very handy. As far as the caliber, I think .308 is about as versatile as it gets with tons of load options and short actions available.

338 win mag, as long as recoil isn't a issue, run some 225 gr bullets. Excellent elk choice. Perfect dedicated 300 yard elk rifle

Thanks for that, Mule Deer. Very happy to be here.



- far more rimfires than any one person needs;
- .204
- too many .223s;
- .243
- 6.5 Swede
- .30-30
- a couple of .308s

1. quality bolt action in 30-06
2. Leupold FX3 6x42mm
3. Tikka T3 Lite stainless

Welcome from one newby to another...

There some real sound imput here. One CANNOT go wrong with the ol' 06'. In a good bolt gun with a good 3x9-40 leupold or such for glass.

For good, premium factory elk type loads, doubt one could match the variety available in the 30-06 compared to any other caliber.

I killed my fist elk with an m-77 ruger in a 280 rem. with handloads, 160 grain speer grand slam over a healthy charge of imr 4831.

I will catch flack for say'n this, Personally, I would not go any lower in caliber than 7mm in rifles for elk....and always use premium controlled expansion bullets. To me a 270 win should be the absolute, bear bones minimum for a modern bolt gun for elk today.

Now before throw'n rocks at me and pm'n me with hate mail, I have seen elk and one moose sniped with a 25-06, with perfect broad side shots, and know of a couple elk killed with a 243 win. broad side shot on one and a spine hit on the other. Heck, I carried my 257 roberts on a hunt were the range was limited, and the wife was packing the 45-70... and yes, she did kill an elk that day, with the 45-70 lever gun.

I consider those lighter calibers not really intended for an animal that has the potential to weigh 6 times of a deer they are commonly used on.

Thats my 2 pennies worth

Rem. 700 in 30.06 with 180 gr. Nosler Partitions is close to perfect. 300 Win Mag with the same bullets is even better if you don't mind a little more recoil.

Seeing as you have a few 308's.
If one of them shoots well and you feel confident in it - by all means - take that one if your limit is 300 yards.
Stoke it with a good bullet and go forth and slay...

But, if you want a dedicated elk rifle...

Buy a new Stainless Ruger 77 or Winchester 70 in 30-06 and VXII 3-9x40 (Cabelas or Classifieds: $240). Mount it up and find a 180gr load that shoots well and drop an elk.

Just my $0.02