Originally Posted by shaman
Originally Posted by Esox357
What would you chooses for elk, sheep, and moose? I'm leaning towards the .300 win mag but open to suggestions. Im looking at a winchester or weatherby vanguard meateater series. Any other rifles you would suggest?



Look, I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but . . .

I agree with the guys who say "Try before you buy." I'm also with the guys who say "Try a 30-06."

Yes, there might be a reason why a 300 Win Mag or a 7 Rem Mag might make sense down the road, but you could get nearly all the way there with an '06 and 165 grainers. The reasons I suggest this are as follows: Most of the too-much-gun scenarios I've seen have included these two chamberings. They're also MUCH more expensive to shoot. I've shot them, and I'm a big guy, but they both punish my shoulder more than I like.

" But I might want to . . ." Honestly, most guys who buy hard recoiling rifles tend to leave them in the closet. The ones that give them good performance at reasonable recoil levels tend to be used a lot. Buy for what you know you're going to hunt now and you'll probably find that it's enough for later. If not, you'll know better what you need.


The 300 WSM is very close to the 300 WM. I used one for years and shot a lot of elk with it, almost all 1 shot kills DRT. The farthest I ever tracked one was 50 yds ( a dead elk sliding down a mountainside in snow doesn't count as tracking). Then one day I realized that there wasn't a single elk I'd killed with the 300 that I couldn't have shot just as easily with a 30-06 that weighs a pound less. Pounds add up as fast as my years have. So, I switched back to the old '06. I use 165 gr AB's and the elk killing results have been exactly the same since I did. The elk fall down with 1 shot, never going anywhere.
The 300's will reach out farther, but in all these years, the longest shot I've ever needed to take was 350 yds. I'm not a fan of long range wounding. You never hear about those, now do you? You only heard about the ones that die. I wonder why? When the elk is 500 yds away, I've never found it impossible to get closer.

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