billrquimby and BWalker
A couple of friends of mine and I were doing some sighting in before our elk hunt last year. One guy had a 270win, one guy had my 270wsm, and I had my 300saum. At 200 yards neither was hitting very well at first. After doing some flinching drills, the first of which just involved them shooting a round recocking the bolt and dry firing on the empty case. After this first drill both couldn't believe they were flinching as bad as they were even though they knew the gun wasn't going to fire. After awhile of that, I had them hand me the rifle to either load or not load then hand back to them which helped their groups considerably. Now that they were shooting well enough (within a 4in sqare at 200 every time from the bench) I let them have a go with my 300 saum. After only a few shots it was clear that this wasn't an option for them, and yes the flinches had returned. I had a .338 winmag that had me flinching so much with the anticipation of the recoil that I sold it.
It is my experience that the lighter the recoil the more accurate a person is going to shoot. I for instance shoot my .270wsm more accurately than my 300saum, but in my case the difference is so small as to be insignificant; therefore I prefer to hunt elk with the 300.
Incidently after I had shot my cow, I was spotting with them when we spotted a herd 550 yards down hill of a very steep slope. Both of them wanted to shoot, I told them I would beat them both if they did. We needed to get waaaaaay closer. We did, and they both got their elk.
Edited to add: If you shoot a magnum well go for it, the extra power might help, probably won't hurt.
Last edited by knight; 04/15/09.
