Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting What rifle did you set foot with on your rookie elk hunt?

Savage 99e .308 that my parents bought me for my 12th birthday.

I hunt with a savage 99 in .308 that was my grandfathers. Soon to be my sons.

Sporterized FN built Venezuelan 24/30 Mauser carbine in 7x57. Purchased for $37.50 in 1969/70. Williams 5D peep sight and and unknown make of ramp front sight silver soldered onto the barrel. Winchester/Olin 175 grain RNSP factory loads.

I went on my first elk hunt when I was 18. I went with my late uncle Bob, who used a Remington 760 pump in .300 Savage. I used the Marlin 336 in .30-30 that I had owned since I was eleven years old, and the Griffin and Howe on a 1903 Springfield action that I essentially inherited on my birthday the February prior.

The ammo I used in the .30-30 was a handload 170 grain Speer Hot-Core bullet over a full charge of W-W 748. That's what I shot the elk with. The load for the Springfield was a 180 grain Nosler Partition over 54 grains of IMR 4350 in ancient Frankford Arsenal brass.

The .30-30 worked and later, when I got a horse and started using her in elk country, I kept using the .30-30, too. It kept right on working.

I shot seven elk with it in my lifetime thus far.

I shot another seven with a .270, using 130 grain Barnes X bullets, mostly.

I shot my most recent one last fall with a 117 grain Interlock from my .257 Roberts A-Bolt II Medallion.

Model 70, 338. I never saw a bull but forgot what I was shooting, jumped off my horse on the last day, shot a grouse, scared my horse half to death and walked a couple miles until my brother brought the horse back.

Started off in the 90's with a 338WM and have over the years gravitated to the 270/30-06 realm of reality.

I see alot of similarities among many of our stories - big cartridges and rifles driven by thoughts of bullet proof elk. Kill a few then move to smaller catridges/lighter rifles.

Can someone publish this 'book', post it as a sticky on every board? <G>

Ruger 77 Mk II 7mm rem I bought off a kid in college that needed money. I loaded some 175g speer grand slams that I bought on a close out sale for about 50% off. Used an old can of H870 and got them going 2900 fps called it good.

Dropped a cow the first day about 375 yards out and a 2 point mule deer buck the next day. It was a two point only area at the time. It worked well on both but I've moved on to higher bc bullets.

Bb

Yup. What else caught my eye was those pre 64 model 70s.
I guess that back in the day they used to be the ordinary guy's rifle.
Nowdays you'd have to give your left nut to get one.

Sometimes they want both nuts.

Started with a 300 Weatherby. next 300 win mag rem classic now rem 700 in 7mm-08.

I killed my first bull year we moved to 1977 and I was 35yrs old. I used 7mag with 154gr Hornady and haven't missed a season since then.

A 300 Win Mag on a Rem 700 action (originally a 7mm RM). I think the handload was topped with 200-gr NP's.

Didn't bust a cap on an elk that trip but could've taken a nice Shiras.

Voere (Mauser action) 30/06 with a Weaver 6x fixed power scope, Remington 180 grain Core-Locks as I recall. No elk that year but connected in year 3 with it.

Remington 700 SS mountain rifle in 270 with Leupold 2.5-8.

Loaded with old school Barnes X, 140gr.
It worked. This was circa 1993.

7mm RM in a Remington 700 BDL topped with an Leupold M-8 4 x scope in Redfield mounts 175 gr Nosler Partition made on a screw machine, fueled by 4831 surplus 20mm cannon powder in a Winchester - Western Case and a Federal 215 primer! Come to think of it, it would be good one to take even by 2015 standards!

LH Remington Custom KS in 300 Win mag.

7mm RM the first year and for 20+ years following.

Scope was a Bushnell Sportview 3-9x which I never liked. (I have one on my Daisy pellet gun and don't like it either, but it came on a Marlin .30-30 I bought and I'm too cheap to buy something better for the Daisy.)

Have to say the Bushnell never gave me any problems but the glass (plastic?) lenses weren't great and the scope was marginal in low-light situations. It took a beating over the years and finally died after I put it on my Marlin 375 (.375 Win).

Remington stainless synthetic BDL with 3.5-10x40 Leupold shooting 175 gr. Nosler Partitions. Worked well on a 5x6 bull at 125 yards.

An old, beat up Mod 70 in 243 Win. The stock had been shortened and the rifle was passed around between all of the kids in the family.