Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Honest elk rifle opinion.

I’ve answered this earlier, but after some consideration:

Some people seem to shoot the 700 NE accurately. I’m not in that crowd! But I find shooting the 300 Weatherby with 200 grain partitions not an issue.

The reason I mention that is some places I’ve hunted there’s very deep and steep ravines and I carry everything such as meat, and if I’m lucky head and antlers, on my back to as close as I can get my pickup. I am in my 70’s and have steel knees and carrying lots of weight out of those ravines is difficult to say the least.

The other thing is bulls will often have a lot more muscle mass than cows. If I had to take a shot other than a standing broad side shot and I want the elk to drop where it stands or to travel only a very short distance I believe that I would want to carry a rifle with power and yet one that I can shoot accurately.

Finally the distance I’m willing to shoot comes into play.
As for me shooting a game animal at long range is just wrong. 350 yards is the longest shot I’ve taken on elk and I only did that as I couldn’t get closer. I was lucky as the cow dropped where it stood.

All these things come into consideration for me. Some places a cartridge like a 270 Win, 7x57, 308, etc. works for me. Other places I’d pick the 300 magnums in H&H, Win, or Weatherby. Further, like I wrote before if I knew there were Grizzlies in the area, that would influence my decision as to what rifle I choose.


Actually asking what is the best elk rifle is similar to asking what’s the best deer rifle. The answer is adult diapers - depends.