Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Minimum Elk Cartridge

Or practice well, which may be just as important.

Kind of my thinking also.

As far as recoil tolerance, I found shotguns to be great "shoulder tougheners".

When I had time to shoot shotguns a lot, I never noticed that 300, or anything else I shot.

1oz 12g loads don't kick much in a clays gun. But a hundred or 2 at a time tend to toughen you up.

Understatement in metal form - 7x57 Mauser.

Way back when I was a kid, I killed 5 with a .308 and 180 grain CoreLokts -- no problem. I've killed one with a .270 and 130 grain Partitions -- no problem. I've killed a half dozen or so with a 7 Rem Mag and 160 grain Partitions -- some needed additional rounds to get them to fall over.

I believe my 7mm-08 with 140 grain Partitions will do just fine.

Saw my Nephew kill a nice Bull with a .243 and generic 100 grain bullets -- it took several hits to do the job.

get the rifle you can handle not everyone can handle a big cartridge rifle, some may like a smaller cartridge because of recoil ? distance can be a factor too you might need a more powerful rifle ?,bull`s many times die harder than cows do, I have seen bulls take a pounding sometimes. many caliber/cartridges are all great just get the type of rifle and what cartridge you like . good luck be safe ,Pete53

I think the best way to not be sensitive to recoil is to shoot more. I used to shoot often (very often) and I loved my 338. In fact I wondered why anyone would be bothered by that amount of recoil. The last few years I shoot very little and a few days ago I found myself flinching when shooting my 338-08. I think I really need too get back not only become used to recoil again but also to improve my accuracy. I can tell I'm not nearly as good as I used to be.

Have used a .44 Mag in a Ruger Super Redhawk, no shots.
Also .44 Mag in a Browning B92 carbine. Had an opportunity at 100 yards but passed because we already had one down that needed attention.

My .257 Robert has been used several times with 120g AFrames, no shots taken.

Would not hesitate to use my .243 Win, knowing I'd pass on shots I'd be happy to take with other rifles.

Eastern tenderfoot and Texas elk experts? SMH

That's a fair question. It is also not a simple question. First, it's personal and varies a lot. Second, shooting position is very important to the answer even for a single person. Lay prone and shoot uphill vs shooting seated vs shooting standing up at something downhill. Big difference in what will scope cut you vs what won't. So what's realistic where you hunt? A classic "elk country" high elevation meadow in the Rockies might be pretty different than the coastal jungle of Oregon or Washington where visibility might be in feet (but might also be over a mile).

For me .. I can use a lot of different things but I'll adapt how I use them to their limitations.

Tom

This is just one perspective, but if you already had two rifles in position to shoot at a big bull; could shoot both rifles well (big ifs, I know, but it’s true for some people/circumstances); and could squeeze the trigger on either one, would you prefer the rifle launching the left bullet or the right bullet at the bull? Both hit their previous victims right at about 3,000 fps. The one on the right went through about two feet of deer before stopping. The left one went through abut 3-1/2 feet of moose before stopping.




Just food for thought. Not saying the one on the right won’t work with the right shot placement.

Were they both found under the hide on the far side?

Exactly. So, I get that the smaller one would have gone further if the distance to the far hide was longer. Both went through various degrees of bone. I fully understand that the right bullet qualitatively is not as tough. It was a cup-and-core, where the left one was monolithic. I'm not suggesting it's an apples-apples comparison. Just a visual comparison of the size difference of expanded .243 vs. .338. 95gr vs. 225gr.

MarineHawk, I like the way you think! A strategically placed “knitting needle” will kill effectively, but there is little room for error! memtb

You should tell my wife that. After 15 years, I am starting to get suspicious that she does not agree.

.45-110-550

It’s the Mars/Venus thing! memtb

A reasonably accurate quote of Elmer Keith, when asked his opinion of the perfect cartridge.....his response, “ Something that would throw a campstove at about 3,000 fps!” memtb

Dillonbuck and Tracks,

Yeah, quite a few shooters think that shooting harder-kicking guns more is the way to "toughen shoulders," or get over the fear or recoil.

But the vast preponderance of evidence is that shooting harder-kicking guns a LOT has exactly the opposite effect on most humans., especially over time. This is exactly why so many hard-core competitive shotgunners eventually switch to release triggers, and why so many competitive rifle shooters switch to lighter-kicking cartridges. A good example is famous High Power legend David Tubb, who progressed "downhill" in cartridges from the .308 to the 6XC (even lighter recoiling than the .243) over the years.

This has nothing to do with being many, or toughening shoulders. Instead it has to do with the part of the brain that subconsciously creates a flinch if a human subjects themselves to recoil hundreds of thousands of time. Physical damage can also results, not just to shoulders but to brains.