Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Elk, 30-06 and a Barnes 168 grain tipped TSX?

I've used the .30-06/168g TTSX to take deer and antelope and a 180g MRX from my .300WM to take elk. No one in my hunting party has recovered a TTSX or MRX. All animals have gone straight down or taken no more than a few steps, including my elk.

You have a good combination so use it without second guessing yourself. Zero 2.6" high at 100 yards and you'll have a MPBR (6" diameter target) of 290 yards. From 350 to 450 yards hold high on fur and you'll need your skinning knife very quickly.

Great information, thanks.

That's a great combo. I use it in my .30-06 for boar.

It works out of a 308, so I would have no worries out of your 30-06.

Go forth and slay elk.

At 5000ft elevation, a 168gr.TTSX leaving the muzzle at 2850fps, will still moving 2000fps at 550yd.

168ttsx work like they were made for elk. As to your '06, if elk tags are like it is here where I can draw a good bull tag every 10 years or so it does not seem reasonable to have a "better" rifle like 300WM or 338WM. I am just now dropping down to a '06 from a 300WM as I am now drawing for cow elk (easier draw) and I don't need that extra margin of range/error for follow-up shots, etc. as there is no cow of a life time that comes along and needs a long or less than ideal shot.

168 grain TSX/TTSX and H4350 is my favorite combo in my '06s for any big game.

Funny how the easterners think an '06 is marginal out here. Must be reading too much Boddington BS. By the way, he changed his mind on elk rifles after killing a giant bull with, gasp, a 270, several years ago.

I can see why you have loco in your name. Everyone knows that there is a self destruct setting in the tipped tsx that activates at 300.1 yards

Good Bullets, Good Caliber, Good shot= Good eats. I had never retrieved a Barnes bullet either , until 2012 on a very large bull at 206 yds. 1st shot he acted like he was stung by a bee. Stumbled and I thought he might go over a cliff, so put another one in him. Stumbled, took one step and nosed in the dirt. Probably went 5 feet from the first to the second shot. Found both bullets stuck in the skin . First time ever without a pass through. 180 gr. Barnes tsx out of 30-378 Weatherby Mag. Hope you have some good luck on your hunt!!

Where are these "easterners" that are saying the .30-06 is marginal?


Or are you just erecting a strawman?

Yeah what Easterners?

I believe they are in the east.

Noticed at least one from around here with the same bulletproof elk thoughts.

That combo will kill elk as far as you can hit them.

Your speed should be just fine for those 168 ttsx, i've been using them in my 20" .308 running a speedy 2550 for deer and hogs. They don't like them! Nice blood trails, sometimes a quick death run and sometimes they just roll over. Longest to date was 325 yards. I can only imagine a heavier animal with more bullet speed than i produce will make the ttsx perfect for you.

I have to grin at the concerns I see expressed in a great many of these threads, when I started hunting elk nearly 45 years ago the standard combo all the old geezers used was a remington 760 slide action 30/06 springfields loaded with remington/peters or winchester 220 grain round nose ammo a combo that most guys would laugh at today....we collected elk regularly....some of the guys eventually swapped to 200 or 180 grain speer hand loads in those 30/06 rifles, not much changed we still killed elk.
your 168 ttsx will work, a 45/70 will work, a 25/06 or a 7mm08 will work, its mostly a mater of placing the shot correctly, and, the main issue your going to be concerned with is simply finding a legal elk in a location, and under conditions where you have a chance to make a shot to the vitals, Ive had years when I would have been just as successful with a flyswatter, simply because I never saw a legal elk, under conditions when I could shoot.
I,ve killed elk with a 45/70 and archery equipment at under 30 yards, and with a 30/06 out near 300 yards, its not the equipment most trips thats limiting the results its simply the opportunity to use it.

So 340, why'd you switch to the, eh, 340?

I was 21 and at the time 100% convinced that my "failure" on my first two elk hunts to "instantly" drop elk on the spot with a 30/06 was due to use of a "WIMPY CALIBER" that was not up to the job, why those first two elk staggered around for a few yards before falling over,...I later found that was rather normal regardless of caliber used, the main advantage I see with the 340 wby is theres zero question from the games reaction that you hit them solidly, while thats not always the case with the 30/06.
yet the results with ether are similar, place the shot well and the elks dead in short order!
I guess I had a huge advantage in my education in that I got the opportunity to go on my first elk hunt when I was about 19- 20 years old. I learned while being mentored by 4 old geezers, who were members of the local rifle range, guys who had been making the trip out west too hunt elk,for decades before I had been granted the privilege,of being asked to join them and watch and learn from their experience.
I was specifically told what to buy wear,and bring and it was assumed I would take that advice as it was gleaned from decades of experience,and while I just "KNEW" I knew these old guys were not up on the newest stuff from reading all the magazine articles I also knew I wanted to fit in and be invited back so I followed the advice to the letter and for several years I worked, and I collected a legal elk on both of my first two trips using the 30/06 760 remington "loaded with 220 grain REMINGTON PETERS AMMO" that I was told was the "BEST DARN RIFLE AVAILABLE" for elk.
after 2 years I just KNEW I knew better and I bought a 340 wby and loaded some 250 grain hornadys and practiced a great deal, the first few elk I shot dropped on the spot, I was convinced I'd found the ANSWER!
but over the next 40 years a rather annoying fact kept, popping up, the guys in camp that continued to use those 30/06 rifles kept killing just as many elk just as dead as I did.
now in every magazine you see youll find pictures of elk , (mostly taken in places like YELLOWSTONE PARK) where ELK stand out in the open fields, but in areas that get hunted elk are rarely that stupid and those few that are don,t last very long.
once the first few car doors get slammed , and the first few shots get fired all the reasonably smart elk retreat to the remote side canyons and thicker brush. yes you might find a good place to intercept them as they move on a good choke point in the terrain as they vacate the easy to access areas but for the most part youll be sneaking thru aspen and oak brush and conifers, and shots over 250 yards will be rather rare, and if you can,t consistently place shots accurately under field conditions, what you carry won,t matter much!
the head stamp on the case or the caliber used is far less critical than you might think as long as the rifle is able to place shots accurately and punch holes clear thru an elk at any reasonable range.
why do I use a 340 wby? it works better than anything else Ive found, but I darn sure would not stay home if I only had a 257 Roberts, or a 308 win, as Ive seen enough elk killed convincingly dead with those to, think caliber was a huge factor in the success of a hunt any longer

Did anyone get past the second sentence?

taz on one of my early western hunts around Durango,I asked our outfitter(he had hunted all over the world and NA with lots of experience):

"John what do you think about the 270 on elk?"

"Good!", he said.

"How about the 7 Rem Mag?"

"Better!", he responded.

"And the 300 magnums?"

"Better still!" he replied.

I never forgot that. Over the years,killing elk of my own,I think he might have been right!

BTW he used a pre 64 M70 in 264 Win Mag for about everything,including a Grand Slam of sheep.

Old John was one of my favorite western characters. Too bad he is no longer with us.