Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Elk Rifle

Hi Guys. I went on an unsuccessful DIY elk hunt in Colorado in 2016 (over the counter archery). I would like to start going regularly (every other year or so) to hunt elk with a rifle. I own several rifles that could feasibly be used for elk. I have a very accurate 25-06, a 6.5 Creedmoor, a .308 Win and a 30-06. All of these are bolt-action rifles. I was thinking of using my Remington 700 30-06 with 190 grain Accubond LR bullets. I rarely use this rifle anymore so I thought I could make it or the 308 Win my elk rifle.

I know both are capable of killing an elk but would something bigger be a big improvement? If I am going to go regularly, I wouldn't mind buying a new rifle if it is the right tool for the job. The more that I have researched magnum cartridges, the more I have come to the conclusion that they don't offer much better trajectory until you get past 400 or 500 yards. I am not a skilled long-range shooter so I wouldn't be setting up for long shots. (In all honesty, I have never shot at game beyond about 60 yards because the areas I hunt at home are mostly dense forest.) I have shot targets at 200 yards with no issue (from a bench) and I intend to start practicing at 300 but would prefer not to shoot farther than that unless necessary. What do you think? Am I putting myself at a disadvantage with a 30-06 or 308? Thanks

Use the .308 or .30/06 and go forth and kill elk.

Nope, either one will be just fine! Take the money you don't spend on a new rifle and buy a good set of binos. Get plenty of exercises. Next, to find an elk to shoot, the real hard part comes once it's on the ground. As for bullets, A good 165 gr to 180 gr will be fine, I have always shot Nosler Partitions so I am a bit biased on that. Barnes X is a good one too. As for distance, well its one thing on the range it's another when you are exhausted and its the last bit of shooting light you have. That is a judgment call. If you can hit a grapefruit at 200 yards, you will be fine. Get in shape and stay in shape that maybe is the hardest part of the whole thing. I am a flat lander from New England, Elk hunting just takes a lot out of me. Mostly due to altitude differences.

Thanks. I was thinking about getting a Browning BAR in 7mm or 300 Win Mag but I am not sure if it would make much of a difference at those ranges. I was surprised to see that the 7mm had no energy advantage within at least 400 yards and neither had a significantly reduced bullet drop at that range. With a scope it would end up costing close to $2000 and I got thinking that that money might be better used on other equipment.

Any other opinions?

FYI, my 308 has a 24" barrel and the 30-06 has a 22' barrel. I don't reload. I assume they are neck and neck on speed with similar weight bullets. I shoot 165 grain Accubonds out of the .308 and bought a couple boxes of the 190g Accubond Long Range to test out in the 30-06.

What part of New England? I have a cabin in Vermont and, while not the Rockies, it isn't exactly flat. I agree on staying in shape. I am in reasonably good shape for my age and station in life. Still, I work indoors and I'm not in mountain shape most of the time. Fortunately, I have a pretty high tolerance for discomfort and am stubborn so I don't give up easily. I did fine physically on my last trip but I didn't have to pack meat.

Use the money you would spend on a new rifle and by ammunition for A LOT of practice at these ranges. Contrary to what you see on the long range TV shows, more elk are killed at ranges less than 300 yards than over. In my 40+ years of elk hunting, ALL of my elk were killed at less than 300 yards.

With the barrel lengths of your .308 and .30-06, the ballistics should be similar. Both of those calibers have killed thousands of elk. When I hunted elk with my .30-06 I used standard 150 and 180 grain Sierra and Hornady bullets. When I changed to magnum velocities I switched to 180 grain Partition bullets. Now my favorite elk rifle is my .300 Weatherby shooting 168 and 180 grain Barnes TSX or TTSX bullets. I've also killed elk with sub 30 caliber bullets. Its more about where you put the bullet rather than the size of the bullet.

Any of the 4 you list are fine, and the 308 and 30-06 are close to perfect.

Personally I recommend a bullet that is excellent for 97% of the kills you'll make in your life, instead of the 3%

In other words, stay away from the "long range bullets" that work wonderfully at 500 yards and farther, but not as good as the old standards from 500 and closer. I have killed enough elk that I can't count them easily, but the very longest shot I have made in 40 years on an elk is 400 yards. The next longest kill I have made on an elk was about 175 yards. ALL my others have been at 125 or less with most of them being at 65 yards and less. My closest was about 8 feet.

In my 40 years of hunting and guiding for elk hunters I can say that any "deer rifle" from a 25-06 and up is OK for elk, if you load "elk bullets" in them. My daughter and both my grand-sons have killed elk with a 257 Roberts,and none of them have needed 2 shots. They all used 120 grain Nosler partitions except for one elk that was killed with a 115 grian Barnes. All had exits and all fell withing 15 yards of where they were hit.

It's not so much the gun or the shell you need to worry about. It's the bullet that makes the bullet hole, and it's the bullet hole that is killing the game. The simple truth is that a bullet used on elk should exit and make a hole in a nearly straight line that is 1" or larger in diameter. Any bullet that does that will kill elk as well as any other cartridge you can name. Bullet that come apart can result in very dramatic kills but they are also the ones that do erratic things in the bodies of game animals and cause difficult tracking stories and sometimes lost game, even when the bullets are placed well. "Electric shock kills" 85% of the time with 15% being unreliable is NOT as desirable as 100% good kills in which you get exits, and the elk never go more then 25 yards. The "electric shock kills" impress a man because they look so dramatic, but overall, if they are happening with bullets that come apart and don't exit, you are just playing the odds and sooner or later your broken up bullet is going to fail your expectations.

A bullet that expends,never breaks up more than 40% of it's weight, and always goes clear through is far more reliable overall. If the elk falls instantly (many do) that's great, but if they run and fall, they will do so only a short distance away from where they were hit, leaving a blood trail a blind man can follow.

I am speaking form experience here as a hunter and guide, and I would FAR rather know my hunter has a bullet that will go clear through than any of the new "long range" bullets I have seen used so far. Many of them will not exit an elk. I am sure some will, and time will tell what kind of track-record they will give us, but if you are coming from out-of-state and spending hard earned money on these hunts, I would advise you to use a partition bullet, an expanding solid bullet ( X or GMX or the like) or any bonded bullet.
Some of the newest offerings may be OK, but then again they may not be. The ones I have seen used in the last 5 years have not impressed me much so far. If you use the ones I recommend you are going with a combination that is proven. Let those that don't have to risk the time and money you would risk do the experimentation. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" applies very well in your case.

The rule of thumb is that your bullet should weight 60% (or more) of it's unfired weight when it stops. Even if it hits bone.

Bullet construction is Key. Just going bigger is not always an answer.
I have personally seen 270 grain 9.3MM Speer bullets fail to go deeper than 5" in small deer when fired from a 9.3X74R. that's a gun and cartridge that is supposed to be a top choice for big bears, buffalo and bison. (Yes that 5 inches, and it was measured with a ruler, not just guessed at. The wound was oblong and 7" long at it largest point, but just under 5" deep) A poor hunting bullet is a poor hunting bullet no matter what it's fired from.

The 06 is fine.. My late wife killed several elk with that and 150 gr. Horn. The advantage of the magnums are they shoot flatter at over 300 yards.. But as others have pointed out those shots aren’t common in much of elk country.. However in my case, I have shot more elk over 300 yards than any other animal except coyotes.. But the reason for this is for many years elk was important to us to balance a budget!! Also I often hunted after work, at it was best to get to a spot I could see lots of country the last hour of day.. Also for many years we hunted a steep mountain that offered very long shots.. If I watched there every evening elk season, I would connect.. In the days before range finders the magnums made such shooting easier.. Now I seldom shoot at elk very far.. I like beef better than elk, and money is not so tight.. I carried my 30-06 and .25-06 several days each this fall, but did not see any elk with in even long range..

This ^^^^^^

I would take the .30 cal you like better and shoot straighter. Since you don't hand load and the .308 has 2' more tube, they will likely produce VERY similar velocities. Factory .308 tends to be loaded a bit hotter than factory 30-06. Couple that with 20-50 fps more due to 2" longer barrel and I doubt you'll see much difference.

To date, I have killed four elk.....one with a 280remimgton, one with a 35 whelen, ......and two with a 30-06 ..all one shot kills...but I used premium bullets and I'm not sure how important that is.....that said, I'll continue that practice with Barnes bullets

My point: it sure don't seem to be important how big the caliber.....but the shot placement is the trump card in every case. I wouldn't hesitate to take a .270 Winchester today!

Use whatever you shoot the best.....then shoot it even more, and get better with it.

It's not that complicated.

Thanks guys. Regarding the long range bullets, the Accubond LR have a higher ballistic coefficient (not a big deal for shorter ranges) but also are softer. I was thinking that would make for good expansion even at fairly low speeds that I would get from the 30-06 (something like 2200 fps at 300 yards). They are also bonded so I would think they would retain weight fairly well too. Maybe I am wrong.

I'd go with the 30-06 and a good 180 gr. bullet and not look back. To be honest, I've only used the 30-06 one time for elk. Of the others one was with a .300 Win. Mag. and the rest with a .35 Whelen.
So, with the 30-06 the load was a handload with the 165 gr. Nosler Accubond, not the ABLR at close to 2900 FPS. he elk was quartering away at about 100 yards. Bullet hit right at the short ribs and penetrated into the left lung. The elk went about 30 yards and laid down. The bullet did not exit and was never found. I believe it was buried in the mess that was the left lung.
Shot at the other elk were 530 yards/.300 Win. Mag., 75, 150, 200, 350, 125, 200 and250 yards/.35 Whelen 225 gr. TSX at 2700 FPS. Trajectory is very similar to the 30-06 180 gr. bullet at 2700 FPS. Winchester 180 gr. Power Point factory loads chronographed at 2650 from my 24" barreled 30-06. Close enough. The .308 180 Power Points did 2600 FPS from a 22" M70. Of the 30-06 vs .308, I'd probably go with the 06 first and take the .308 as back up.
The .300 Mag. shot was on a public land hunt and the rest were done on land owner tags on a private ranch.
Paul B.

Looking into it more, I am thinking that I should but some standard 180 grain Accubonds.

I would run the AB's or the NP's in both your .308 and your 06, and go from there. I would shy away from the LR's, as I agree most elk are shot at and killed closer up, and by far. You're much more likely to get close than you think.

There are a ton of other things FAR more important than what you are worrying about.

Grab either your .308 or 30-06, whichever you shoot best, and don't worry about it. They will kill elk just fine.


Are you in shape?
Do you have a beer gut?
Have you walked 5 miles in your hunting boots?
3 miles?

Do you own a decent set of binoculars?

How about a pack frame, gore-tex shell?

Bone saw?

How do you plan on getting the animal out?
De-boning? meat/game bags to keep the meat clean?

How do you plan on carrying a hind quarter, as well as your rifle?

etc,etc...


Many tend to worry about the rifle and cartridge, but are complete basket cases when it comes to everything else, and pathetically out of shape, poorly prepared for the other 98% of what is involved.



Elk are really not hard to kill. In fact that is the easy part.

Once you kill one though, that is when you find out if you have your schitt together.

Thanks for the good advice. I am in decent shape but would ratchet up my fitness before the season. I'm 6'1" and am a hair under 200. My ideal weight would probably be more like 185. I am fairly strong. I can bench press, squat, etc. a good bit more than I weigh but I'm not a bodybuilder either. I mountain bike frequently in the summer and hunt grouse in the fall (among other things) so that helps keep me in reasonable shape.

Yes, I have good boots (that I have covered many miles in while hunting out here), Gore-Tex, a pack frame, a few decent backpacks (Eberlestock F1, F2 and X2 and a KUIU 5800) and would probably strap the rifle to the pack after a kill. I have a couple wall tents, backpack tents, sleeping bags, game bags, a meat saw (didn't pack it last time but probably should), etc. I also have a Sig Kilo 2000 range finder and a GPS. I am generally prepared except I will need a good pair of binoculars. I am a fairly good woodsman and pretty resourceful - at least by East Coast standards.

On the down side, I have been getting IT band pain recently when walking long distance across slopes. I'll have to figure out a remedy for that.

I actually have a sled like that too. When I went in 2016, I took my 4x4 atv so I would be able to pack meat to the nearest trail then retrieve my atv. It was all public land with trails for atvs with a permit. I would do the same again unless I was going to do a drop camp hunt.

cool pics

I've got a whole box of fifty loaded rounds.....30-06, 180 accubonds that I'll sell you if you want them.....They shoot just fine in my M-70 but I'm going all lead free ammo from now.