You have won a lottery draw for a rut elk hunt on one of the big southwestern reservations. All expenses paid.
Shots can be inside 50yds to as far as the eye can see and the bulls are 350++ but as always the big boys (380+) are scarce and wary.
What rifle/cartridge/bullet would you choose???
What shots would you be willing to take with your cartridge of choice regarding range and angle??
The point is instead of worrying about adequate let�s talk about what is the absolute best elk cartridge in the world??
The absolute best elk rig in the world may not be the best rig for any particular hunt, it just works well for the most hunts. Even that is going to vary by hunter, by style, by terrain, by ... attitude.
I'm going to say a sporter weight rifle in anything from a .270 up to .338 win mag with premium bullets with a .270 or higher sectional density, .450 or higher BC, and muzzle velocity from 2800 fps or higher. Brand of rifle doesn't matter that much, whatever the hunter likes. What matters is that specific rifle has to be accurate, reliable, not have point of impact shift if the stock gets wet, cold, etc. Top it off with a good scope in the 2.5-8X to 3.5-10X range.
Go kill [bleep].
If your type of hunting suggests you need a specialty rifle for either long range or heavy cover, you need two guns, that specialty rifle and either a rifle specializing in the other or a general purpose rifle as I described above, because the specialty rifle you choose is going to suck pretty bad the day you have to apply it to the other specialty where it is anti-optimized.
If I had to pick just one myself, I guess my favorite is a Rem 700 in .338 win mag loaded with 225 grain accubonds topped off with a Leupold 2.5-8X with a B&C crosshair.
For the hunt you describe, though, I'd do something else. Probably something that qualifies as goofy. Like maybe a Kimber Montana in .257 Roberts, a muzzleloader, or maybe a revolver. Just because. If you always color between the lines, all you ever get is the picture on the box. It's already been done, so why bother?
Tom
Anyone who thinks there's two sides to everything hasn't met a M�bius strip.
