Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Success with sub 30 caliber non magnum cartridges

WTF does 'days' have to do with the rifle you use? Or are you just going to bring physics, insecurities and illogicalisticness into it?

Pussy. I only use my .50 cal.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around this.

Bigger kills only bear better, not elk.

More of a security blanket than anything else.

Elk don't try to kill humans as a rule and bears are not dangerous at all until they are close enough to touch you. So the power of the bigger rifles is for my comfort. At spitting distance I like the idea of a 270 grain bullet at rifle speed better than a 150 grain bullet at rifle speed.

The 270 is very good for hunting.
The 375H&H is better if you are hunted.

More power feels better in my hands when I am around a lot of bears. Which I am----------- nearly every season.

Wimp. I use a .58.

Haha touche

It’s funny how marginally smaller cartridges are fine for elk but never for bears. I’m fine with shooting an elk with a 6.5, but I don’t have illusions that it puts a bigger hole in a critter than a 338. End result, for the same placement, will be the same, but bigger might do it faster.

No, I believe in penetration.

It's all in the bullet reaching the boiler room.

My old man dropped a charging Grizzly at bad breath range with a 130 grain something or other out of a .270 back in the 60's, but I have never ever had him tell me that he was glad he had that rifle and not the 300 H&H. A bigger hole, bore deeper, is always better when dealing with pissed off critters bent on destruction, as well as the less ideal shot angles at less than ideal ranges and in less than idea weather. I'm not saying that the .338 is my favorite, or the right choice for everybody, only that you are limiting yourself by choosing a lighter cartridge when you can handle one that can get the job done where others can't.

No argument there.

I'm two bulls for two shots from my 7mm-08. Both bullets were 140 grain Partitions started at 2875 fps. Both bulls were DRT.

My dad is 1/1 on a big 5x5 from his 7mm-08, 140 Accubond started at 2850 fps. Maybe 90' recovery.

My nephew killed a modest 5x6 this year with his 7mm-08, 150 ELDX at 2800 fps.





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Given similar bullet construction....momentum of a heavier bullet will likely pay dividends, especially when bone is encountered.

.338's normally launch bullets with more mass. I have a 338, but haven't used it for elk (yet). 7mm's and 30's for me......heavy-for-caliber, well-constructed bullets. Get loose-enough fillings with those.



At least no one brought up those VLD's in this thread.

VLD = very low density (after impact)! There....I fixed it! memtb

Ironically, hunters shooting VLD's are very dense......

Uh oh.....this thread was very civilized up to this point. Sorry.

Do you notice any real difference between the 270 and the 6.5s?

nope

memtb

It's not a linear process. The "results" as a function of "power" curve flattens out after a while.

This makes a LOT of sense. Take the lever guns if you want, but in my experience, "timber rifles" only make sense when you hunt a place that has nothing but timber, and that's generally dictated by property lines, not terrain and vegetation. There are plenty of places where you can step out of the timber and see elk far enough away that a lever gun isn't a good choice but you wouldn't think twice about using a bolt gun. Instead of doing your pre-hunt training with two completely different types of rifles, I'd put the extra time, money, and ammo into getting really fast with your bolt guns at close range. It's not that hard, and that particular skill will serve you well when you hunt deer or pigs. Here are a couple of examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4Cerq1Q_vE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WbpptdFiNE

I'd zero your two rifles at 200 yards with 160-grain Partitions. Set them up with 4x scopes, then start burning up ammo offhand and in field positions.


Okie John