Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting The 300 Wby Mag for elk- is there anything better?

right....

Exactly.

right.....

Whatever.

A rhetorical question is a question you ask without expecting an answer.

Unless, of course, you pose your rhetorical question on the Internet.

In which case, it is answered, in, well, rhetoric. Sometimes, lots and lots of rhetoric. And BS. And endless, mind-numbing name calling.

Perhaps this forum is less about information, and more about entertainment......

Well, I will say this about that. You can get good information here, if you ask a good question. The subject of this thread is not one.

Figure once a thread goes to a second page anything past that is dribble

Especially if it started 5 years ago....

That about sums it up.

300 WSM for the WIN!

(I like short actions)

This

The kid has a Ruger Compact with 16.5" barrel. Like the rifle, but too loud.

I'm curious how many who have posted on this thread have actually killed elk with the 300 Weatherby?

I haven't but I read about it on the internet. Can I post now?

Why not?

The .300 Wby Mag kills 'em just as dead as the '06, .308 Win, 7x57, and a whole lot of other cartridges.

Anybody who thinks the little cartridges create as big a wound, break heavy bone as well, and overall inflict as much trauma as a 300 Weatherby, needs to kill more elk with both. I do not think it's true.And that has not been my observation especially as distances stretch out.

IME there is a lot more visual effect on those bigger animals (bulls, not little cows and calfs) from the 30 caliber magnums than the smaller cartridges in many instances I have seen.

This lethal equivalency among rifle cartridges ( the 243 is the same as 6.5x55 is the same as a 7x57, is the same as the 30/06, is the same as the 300 Weatherby,etc etc is as nonsensical with regard to rifle cartridges as it is with people, or anything else. It isn't true.

If it were there would be no advantage to using a 458 Lott on Cape Buffalo instead of a 243 and we all know that's not true.

Got a pal and hunting companion who lives in Wyoming. His lifetime tally on elk (mostly bulls) is likely around 60 animals,the majority killed with a 270. He says the 270 kills them but the 300 magnums flat out crush them. The 270 and similar cartridges are adequate elk cartridges but not in the category with the 300 magnums.

Very true... John Jobson was a real fan of the .270, but he said the .300 Wea. with 180 part. was the perfect elk medicine.. Jobson liked the .270 as much as O'Connor..

BobinNH,

A guide in an elk camp a couple years ago said he'd rather have a hunter show up with a .270 Win he can shoot than with a .300 magnum he can't. That outfitter hunted trophy elk. It routinely killed 400+ bulls every year.

I've one-shot killed a massive bull that went better than 900 pounds (guide's estimate) with a 160 grain 7MM Rem Mag Partition. The bullet took out his oxygenated blood pumping mechanism. He had seconds to live. The truth of the matter is a .30-30 Win, assuming the identical shot placement, would have produced the identical outcome. Elk don't know what cartridge launched a bullet that permanently interrupted its topside oxygenated blood flow. He knows only that he's dead.

I have a friend who's killed just about everything than can be killed in North America except polar bear. He began his hunting career with an '06, then switched to a .300 Wby Mag. After some years of killing a lot of stuff with his Mark V .300 Wby Mag, he no longer liked its recoil. He bought a Mark V in .270 Wby Mag, and hunted everything with it until he retired from killing big game.

He had at least 140 animals in his trophy room. He's probably killed somewhere around 500 head of big game during his hunting career, many during the 60's when hunters could kill two bucks in many Rocky Mountain states. He also has a grand slam in his trophy room.

Many years ago, my friend gave me what might be the best hunting advice anyone has given me. He told me that when 90% of hunters see a head of big game at 400 yards away, they try to figure out how they're gonna make the shot. Even though he's hunted with a .300 Wby Mag, when he saw a head of big game at 400 yards away, his first thought was how he was gonna close distance. He said that every single time, he'd rather shoot at 100 yards than farther.

From here on out, I'm hunting everything with a .270 Win, including moose if I'm drawn. Add bison to that list. If Yukon moose are killed every year with arrows at 300 FPS, a 150 grain Partition from a .270 Win outgta kill 'em just as dead. After all, no animal can get more dead than dead. There's only one degree of dead, and that's dead. Nothing living remains in that condition without topside oxygenated blood flow. Put an end to that, and you've got dead. Then get your gutting knife or quartering equipment out.

There will always be guys who go "big" and then find they are scared of the thing and subsequently the guides and outfitters get that guy with the camo underwear and the new 300 mag and a completely missed or wounded animal. It's the oft repeated argument against the bigger magnums. However, our outfitter of last year told my buddy his 270 with a 150-gr NP was too small. I reassured him it wasn't and he killed the biggest bull in camp.

But, but, if, IF you can shoot the 300, 338-340, and the 358 magnums, some of these with some high BC bullets (if you want and can go long), it gives you an undeniable advantage on a 700-900 lb animal with a very high desire-to-live quotient.

The recoil is a given and, yes, you carry some more weight. I've stated this before that most of my bulls have come at far north of 100 yds (my closest) and most between 400 and 500 and I shot a 340 for by far the most with 210-225 grain premium bullets. I've never lost one or had one go more than 25 yds wth the exception of the closest bull who ran a tight little circle and fell where he was originally hit.

If you shoot a 308 (for example) alongside a 300 or 340 (for example) at similar ranges, and repeat it often enough, if you deny there will be a noted difference you are denying science assuming the ability to shoot both well.

Yeah, the local who knows the land, has a month of weekends plus more, who can hunt and stalk like a Brad can do it all with a 308. A guy like me who goes one Week every two or three years, and gets one shot at dusk across a canyon with no way of closing, IMO is better served by something else.