Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Minimum Elk Cartridge

This is what makes me question all the discussion about 30-06 vs. 308 Win (other than amusement), in the field there is absolutely no difference in the two on game. However in my experience the .33 bore with 250 gr. loads shows a noticeable difference on heavy game over the .30 or other smaller bores. Is the recoil worth it, that is up to the individual and the game being pursued.

K

Not sure exactly where.....caliber choice, years of shooting experience, years of hunting experience, caliber selection, etc. should have me placed!

I’m 2 months away from 66...... hunting since age 5 or so, big game hunting since age 10, handloading centerfires since age 15, shooting the same caliber rifle since age 31, shooting/hunting with the rifle since age 38! 58+ years shooting experience! memtb

Probably have but I had you pegged right. lol

I'd like to believe the 243 is an acceptable minimum for Elk but I don't know having never hunted them. I have killed several Moose and I wouldn't be afraid to shoot one of them with a 243.

I know a guy that's killed wayy lots of elk with the 6mm Remington and cup-n-core bullets. Heart shot - they drop. Weren't long range nor guided affairs. No rodeos. He taught me you don't need a big cannon, you know, like the 270. Only an ass shot presented, you pass. Heart shots.... 243 minimum for me although I know the 22-250 can get it done. 6.5CM to 7mmRM are all good.

When I was a kid most of the ranchers I knew used 30-30 and 300 savage lever guns. Those guys killed elk every year. They hunted close and passed on marginal shots.

I hang here to feel youthful. 49

MtnBoomer, you're definitely a young'un. I'm going on 51. I was walking around, breaking lamps and my mom's vases while you were still in swaddling clothes.

Muledeer (john ) said:
Have also killed elk with not only the .300 Winchester Magnum, but the .300 WSM and .300 Weatherby. But have killed at least as many with the .30-06 as all .300 magnums put together, and have never found any noticeable difference in "killing power." Could also say that about various calibers smaller than .30.

As pointed out in the chapter on recoil in my latest book, GUN GACK II, have always found it interesting that some hunters apparently believe felt recoil is a measure of a rifle's "killing power." But increased recoil doesn't necessarily translate to how hard a bullet hits game.

My experience is the same.
I have been hunting deer for about 54 years now and elk for 45 years, and I have killed more game than I can count. I have seen 3-5 times more killed then I have killed myself because of my time as a guide in various states and at sundry times.
I am a bit of a big-rifle fan. I like them.

But about 20 years ago I was forced by actual experience to conclude that most of the tripe we read about ballistic energy, and how X is better then Y is all wrong when it comes to how well these cartridges kill.

I still have several bigger rifles and I like them all, but the honest truth from about 50 years of killing deer elk antelope bear and farm/ranch stock is that there is NO difference in the effect or speed of the kill from a good bullet fired from a 270 Winchester through the vitals, or a 338 Win Mag firing a good bullet through the vitals. And I do mean NONE at all.
I have used a very long list of cartridges on game and some of them have been used with long lists of different bullets too.

I wanted to justify my big rifles to myself for about 20-25 years, and like so many others I would re-think the energy, bullet weights, trajectories, wind drift and all the things that delight rifle fans everywhere.
But the naked truth is that I have seen more fast -to-instant drops on elk from the 270 Winchester and the 30-06 then most other cartridges, and far more often then some of the super magnums.

I do not dispute that a 338 Ultra-Stupendous-Magnum is more powerful. It is more powerful! What I can say factually is that in every case I have seen, it has not mattered.

Kills with the 308,30-06 and 270 Winchesters have been every bit as fast as I have seen (and used) from my 300 magnums, my 7MM mags or my 338 Win Mag. (This assumes the use of a good bullet that holds together in all kills to be compared one to another)

The ONLY round I have killed elk with that seems to hit them harder, to a point I can see a faster kill, is my 375H&H, and to be honest, I have to say it drops elk instantly most times and when it doesn't they drop maybe 1-2 seconds faster then similar hits with the 270. That's all. Of all the elk I have killed with 270s I can remember only about 6-7 that also didn't drop instantly. I absolutely love my old 375 H&H Mauser but I cannot say to anyone it's "better" for elk then a 270, 308 or 30-06. It really isn't.

I like it more.
I like my big rifles. And there is nothign wrong with any of them.
But I use them because they work well,and because I LIKE them, .............not because they are better killers.

It's all about shot placement and if the animal is not all charged up. Ive seen them shot 3x with 3006 in the chest 4" group and just stand there looking at you and then run 20 yrds and drop. A friend of mine uses a 30-30 in Washington State 75yrd shots max, no problem. My dad always used a 270 Win, 130gr Nosler Partitions always dropped them. I like the bigger caliber bullets like 338 all the way to 375. There is a measureable difference, seems to knock them off their feet. Barnes bullets in 375 cal 210 or 235 tsx are amazing as with 338 in that bullet size. Sometimes you can't get a perfect broadside shot, marginal shot is all you got. That's where the big boys come in handy.

I hear this: "there's no place in my home with a high enough ceiling to hang the head of a decent bull elk."

I was fortunate enough to bag a 7x8 bull (green scored 303) on a 2009 archery hunt. My buddies talked me into getting a shoulder mount and I did. Being a dumb ass I didn't even think about the fact that there is no place in my double wide mobile to hang it!!! It is now on semi-permanent loan to a friend with high ceilings.

What is the measurable difference?

Jordan Smith: I agree, as you are pointing out, no measurable difference, at least in my limited experience. Many years ago I shot my first elk. .270 WCF, shot the elk through both lungs and it stood there for a while, long enough for me to shoot it again through the lungs. Didn’t drop like all the deer I had shot before. So, I got myself a .375 Holland & Holland Ruger no. 1. Next season I shot another elk right through both lungs and it stood there looking at me while I reloaded the No. 1 and shot it again through the lungs. I wasn’t very quick at reloading a No. 1 back then. Conclusion from my sample of two: no measurable difference between a .270/130 and a .375/270.

I have shot elk with the .270 and the .375 H & H.. Both cows both well hit through the lungs.. With the .270 she ran about 200 yards across the prairie, the one with the 375 took a 260 gr low in the chest she just staggered and fell...

I love the look of a European mount regardless of space available.

I like big bullets on big critters...its just a whole lot of fun for me!" I just "feel better" with a round that can shoot 'through" an elk on hard angles. Not needed most of the time, but "I feel better"...and confidence is a big part of success. I'm sure I can kill every elk in the mountains with a 30-30 in decent range.

Nothing wrong with that!

Exactly! memtb

I don’t think you should have a minimum or some super duper ultra mag or elephant gun.
Just something that’s adequate and you can shoot well.
For ‘ME’ it’s the old 06.
I may not have 40 years of hunting or 20+ elk. But I have enough elk and shooting time and enough different shots to know what counts.

That’s a bit pretentious: You should not shoot the calibers that I decree should not be shot.

You might consider phrasing that differently: “I should …”; “I will not …”

So, I should not (or is it shall not?) hunt elk with my .340 Wby, which has worked perfectly on much larger game and which I carry well and which regularly shoots 1/8” to 1/4” groups at 100 yds?

I didn’t know that. Thanks for the decree. Dang, and I’m about 24 hours from leaving for my hunt.

I assume you must know something I don’t about the future. Unlike in the past, where I carry that rifle well; it shoots better than anything else I ever have shot (with almost NASA-like precision); and knocks down anything in its path, I assume you have some knowledge that, the next time I hunt with it, the 225gr bullet going at 3,140 fps will make a 90-degree left turn after leaving the muzzle and then immediately magically transform into whipped butter after doing so.

If so, thanks for the helpful warning and instructions. If not, I think I “should have,” rather than not “should have,” that rifle even if you mockingly disparage it as “some super duper ultra mag.”

Not saying whatever you use doesn't work well. And you "should have" that. I also "should have" my .340 Wby. It's freakin' awesome.