Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Big Seven for Elk

Sometime in the late 60's me and a buddy use to go up to WY to hunt deer and pronghorn, around Laramie peak, NE of Wheatland or Chugwater. We would drive up from Albuquerque meet his father and uncles up there who were all from Wisconsin and used the old pump action Remingtons in.06.
I was doing a lot of rifle competition back then, but was in no way a world class marksman.

I was out one evening trying to get one of the uncles his pronghorn and he was worried that his rifle was not accurate enough for long distances( 200 yards to him).So I loaned him my Model 70 7 mag to use and told him it was dead on at 200 yards.

We made a sneak on a nice goat and the guy laid down prone. I told him to hold dead center on the chest, but he blew one over it's back. The goat trotted away another 50 yards or so and stopped. Ditto on the shot. He handed me the rifle and asked me to shoot the pronghorn which at this time was about 300 yards and about to crest a small rise. Running, but not flat out.

I swung on the animal and let a shot go. The pronghorn disappeared over the rise.

This was the last day of the season and in the evening. The guy was dejected that he was going to eat tag soup and said "well you gave it a good try, but missed". I told him, no I didn't miss ,lets go look.

We walked up the hill and over it and sure enough there was a dead buck laying there,shot perfectly thru the chest. I had an unfilled tag,but really wasn't interested in filling it, so I let him tag it and figured my tag was punched

It was one of those shots that you might make one in a thousand. Just crap house luck.

The guy was estatic and said he just had to buy one of those long distance 7 mags. I don't know if he ever did as he never came back, but he sure bragged on my shooting and the rifle that night. I was too embarrassed to tell him I could not make that shot again if I tried a thousand times.

The 7RM has always been a lucky round for me. It seem the more I practice with it the luckier I get. But as others have suggested it is no better than several other capable rounds. But at the same time, if there is a better combo than a 160gr. Nosler Partition or a Nosler Accubond out of a 7RM at 3000fps or so for mule deer and elk it would be news to me.

Same here.
I have 3 7mags.
I'll be using one of them this year.

My "kid" uses nothing but a 7mag.
He'll be 47 next month and has killed a lot of animals.
He started with it when he was 14 and never saw a reason to change.
A few years ago I had his original rifle redone and upgraded because it was about worn out.

Tracts, sounds like both you and your kid are fortunate people. You've got a smart kid and he's got a loving, generous dad.

Cool story.

I pack a small 7.
Short and fat.
It seems to work.
(That's what she said)



Why did I buy an stw again?

Alcohol was probably involved .

That and a virgin Ti stock must have been it.



Who can turn down a virgin?
GFY.

7mm mag, .300 mag and 30-06 are the most common calibers where I hunt. Sure you occasionally see other calibers, but if you look at a guys rifle it will more likely than not be one of those calibers.

KC

I'll probably be carrying my 7mm-300weatherby some this season.

That is funny ill be carrying one or the other 7mm RM or 300 Wby. I like the Barnes150 TTSX in 7 for elk. Th reason 7 mag shooters may not adjust well is inside 325 you don't ever need to think - just shoot. I tell new hunters to go get a 30-06 but it is tough to beat that 7 for making things simple. Ive been fairly lucky with mine it tends to cause lots of work cutting and packing when it goes off.

I picked up the 300 Wby as a cheap back-up rifle but it shoots really well out to way past elk range. And it took a cow at 300 and bull at 337 in the first week it got into the field.

It was my wife's favorite!!.

LOL.

My 270 with enough H4831 to push a 140 AB at 2800+
or the old 700 30-06 with 4350 pushing a 165 at 2800 kill every bit as well as a 7mm mag in my experience.

I see no need most days to carry anything else, though if I feel the need for more, I have 300mags and a 338. Just really never feel the need...

7mm Rem Mag is a great elk caliber. Use a quality bullet, I've had great success with Nosler 160g Partitions for over 30 years in mine. I've put a lot of elk in the dirt with that caliber at distances out to and just past 400 yds. Use it with confidence and don't pay any attention to all of these retarded azz clowns comments who don't know WTF they are talking about anyway.

Foxx...

What he said! I have never lost an elk that I knew was hit. A 160 Partition at 3000+ fps is serious medicine. My go-to load is Re 25 under the partition for 3006 fps from my Remington 700. Another good load is 75 grains of Re33 under that bullet. It produces 3124fps in my rifle. Reloder 33 with a 175 produces 3024 fps in my rifle and shoots half inch groups, also.

7mm AnyMag

The end all cure all

My primary is a 300 Win Mag, my backup is a 7mm STW. I have killed elk with both. But more with the 300, I have had it longer and it is more accurate than the STW.

I have 4 7mm's , a Remington magnum, an STW, a 7x61 S&H, and a 7-08. I take them out fairly regularly, but have only killed elk with the Sharps & Hart. The others are newer to me and so far have only been to the range, but looking forward to getting them into the field.

I'm taking my 7MM Rem Mag n my elk hunt.

When the 7MM Rem Mag was designed, it was the definitive elk rifle. Since then elk must have begun juicing because now a hunter needs a 30-378 Wby to kill one. Elk must be smuggling steroids from Mexico.