Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Am I Overthinking My Elk Rifle?

Can you imagine me hiring an outfitter, and showing up with a flintlock?

He'd probably hand me my money back.

Nahhhh. You should try it

I think, the instant you choose anything other than a 30/06 for elk hunting,you have already "over thought" your elk rifle.

Sez he with his Simillion 7mm Mashburn......

I dunno, but, here in most of BC, the only legal Elk one can shoot in most, not all, areas and seasons, are a minimum of 6pts. to at least one side.

These bulls are wary, live in some of the most densely forested, rugged, steep and usually "trackless" country in North America and the season is in warm to hot weather.

To me and many far more accomplished Elk hunters than I am or would ever probably be, this has come to mean using a .338WM with CEx. 225-250 gr. loads. NO, it is NOT absolutely necessary, but, this hits harder and makes bigger holes than any .30-06 load I know of and tends to put these very tough animals down faster, from what I have seen.

One of the most successful hunters here that I know, uses a customized tang safety Ruger .338, one of a pair that I had built circa mid-1980s. He is a wealthy contractor, 6+ ft., 200+ lb. former "pro" hockey player, superbly fit and hunts his butt off every year. He has shot several HUGE bulls with this rifle in the very tough Kootenays, where some of the finest Elking anywhere is found, IF, you know the country and are as fit as the average NHL player and he is also my eldest cousin's eldest son.

He started with a Winny 670-.30-06, then, after he and my youngest brother got a huge bull and had a fracas with a Grizzly, decided to go with the .338 and has never looked back in 30+ years of avid hunting. Maybe, he "overthinks" it and so do I, but, after almost 46 years with the .338WM, I "think" that we "thunk" right!!!

Kutenay, I think you smacked it way out of the park!!

Am I Overthinking My Elk Rifle?

Yep

If you want another rifle - Get one!

If you want to Elk hunt - Go kill one with that 06 BAR!
Then you can judge for yourself whether you want to continue hunting with it or replace it.

kutenay having killed some bull elk that soaked up solid hits,and behaved like they were love tapped,I can understand how guys come to use 338's and similar. Never been there but can't imagine anything better for your thickly forested elk country,if I wasn't in fact tempted to bring my 37H&H.

At times I thought nothing is really "enough".....you won't catch me dumping on folks who use mediums on big bulls.When I have carried a 338 the elk did not cooperate but I have seen it used on them, along with the 340 and they are good gear.

The Mashburn is just another in a procession of elk rifles.

I think the 30/06 represents the reasonable middle ground for them...and a guy is never far off base with it.

I am a huge BAR fan, however I wouldn't take it elk hunting. Not at all out of reliability concerns, proper care can ensure that. It is the weight. When I quit hunting out of shooting houses and started hunting more on my feet, the weight of the BAR I owned was just more than I cared for, that and the huge scope I had on it for long bean field shooting just didn't match up with how I was now hunting.

For a trip out west I would suggest a BLR in a short action caliber or a 99 D&T either with a decent 2-7 or 3-9 scope, those are great lever action choices.

Otherwise there are many many good bolt action rifles out there, take your pick of what you like, what fits you well, and what doesn't weigh a ton. Same optic suggestions as above.

For me its a long action M70 or Ruger MkII in boring old 30-06, 270 and so on. I have a VX3 3.5-10 with CDS dials on my M70. With a simple 180gr Partiton load my dial works out to 650 yards, way way further than I am good to right now. Working on that and dropping a few lbs are my goal in-between now and elk season.

to your original question, yep you're over-thinking it.

the 30-06 is more than adequate to take elk. I've killed em DRT with a 25-06 over 300 yards. bullet placement is everything.

now if you're thinking it's too heavy, then it sounds like a good excuse to get something else. I've always liked the Ruger M77 line.

This represents a great deal of common sense. I will add the .270Win, .280Rem, and .308Win., that also fit the sentiment.
However, if a hunter wants to deviate upward into the 300's and .338WM's, I'm all for it if they can handle the cartridge.
And that, is the stumbling block many never admit too. When the extra power cannot be utilized, the chances of a long fruitless track become more probable and therefore counter productive. Too many times ego gets in the way of reality.

If given the choice, a hunter is better off with the 30-06 class of cartridges they have mastered. They would be better served then to upgrade some aspect of their equipment which would make them more productive, efficient and even safer.

Well, that certainly makes sense and I much prefer a good .270Win., .30-06 and, especially the superb .280Rem. WITH my handloads, for a LOT of the "general" hunting available here in BC.

I have all of these, have owned scores of other rifles, mostly P-64-70s so chambered and prefer to load/use "medium-heavy" NPs in all of them, as in my two remaining .308Winnys.

Upgrades of equipment, well, BOOTS, PACK, BINO, FIRST and FITNESS are THE real issues with hunting big Elk and one can NEVER be "too" fit.

When, I go home to the Kootenays, Elk tag in hand, I keep encountering many "hunters", some are smokers, sucking bag a "soda" midday is commonplace and ATVs are everywhere.....some of the 30-somethings are in worse shape than I am at 67 and, guess what, they don't seem to kill very much......

I'm a bolt action guy through and through. Having said that, there is absolutely nothing wrong with your set up. If you want a reason to justify buying another gun or a different gun, your upcoming elk hunt is about as good of a reason as any of which I can think. As for weight of your set up, if that is your biggest concern, if you are like anybody else, lose two pounds of your own weight, and you will be at the same point of a two pound lighter rifle and $600 to a $1,000 richer to spend on other hunting toys.

Or, you can buy my stainless Winchester Model 70 300 Win Mag for $600 plus shipping. Hey, I had to offer.

Recruit,

Yes, in my opinion you are over thinking your elk rifle. The 06 will be fine with decent bullets. As far as the weight of your BAR, well I think you will hate carrying it in hand. But put a good carry strap on it and throw her on you shoulder and you will be fine. Elk hunting normally means a little walking, understated, and frankly the weight of your rifle is of little concern. As kutenay mentioned above...Get in GOOD SHAPE...a good pack is going to be needed. My advice is get it as soon as possible, load it up with about 40 pounds and start walking at home. Then increase it to 60# and walk as fast as you can for an hour. And keep increasing the weight and time you walk. That should get you ready for all day hikes up in the mountains.

The rifle is a very small part of elk hunting. Spend your money on other good gear. Just to let you know I chase elk with an over 10# rifle, that ten pounds doesn't bother me at the mid 50's mark in my life.

Good post wild bill 375. I'm in agreement with what everyone is saying. A lot of good advice here. I'll just leave it at that.

Thanks for all the responses guys.

I do a little backpacking and adventure racing so am in relatively decent shape. Not great though so will be putting the hammer down this winter to get in excellent shape. Also have two good pair of boots and pack. Binos will be the final upgrade...famous last words.

In the spirit of overthinking the rifle, I traded the BAR on a Ruger M77 30-06 yesterday. It's a tad lighter and the cold weather concerns with a semi-auto mentioned gave me enough excuse. Sounds like both concerns could be rectified but must admit part of the equation was just wanting a another rifle. Figure I have plenty of time now to practice with it and therefore no excuse for making a bad shot when the time comes!

Excellent choice. "Binos will be the final upgrade...famous last words." Personally a better spotting scope has saved me many miles of walking in the hills. I use a good pair of bino's for quick viewing but use the spotter to see if it's a bull I want to walk way over there to kill. Just a thought.

yup and sell the boat anchor or leave it at home

There's always a trade off. You lost a little weight from the BAR, and gained quite a few lbs of recoil.

Copy that. Felt recoil was my primary concern in stepping away from the semi-auto. Figure practice, practice and more practice is where it's at though to adapt to the extra thump

That and adding a softer recoil pad. The existing one is quite stiff.