Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Elk rifle for a beginner

I've killed my last 4 elk with a 270, 308 or 30-06.........................

I too went through the bullet proof elk phase but decided cut eye brows weren't my thing. Use a good bullet in whatever he has and he'll be fine

+1. And don't forget the Scent-lok.

This seems to be a question raised quite often. You can kill elk with all kinds of cartridges, but day in and out, under most circumstances the 30-06 with 150, 165 or 180 grain bullets will do the job. I can account for more than 40 elk with the '06 and 165 grain Hornady spire pointed bullets...

You're really awesome aren't you?

Take him to the range with buddies that have several different calibers and let him shoot.


THAT is the way to find out.

Good news. That is the bullet I intend to use as an all arounder in my 30.06

I’d bet he would do well with a 270, 280, or a 30-06. I love the bigger magnum rifles but it takes some time to be proficient with them. A good 270 with good Bullets really is a great thing. If you can’t do it with that, a 300 magnum isn’t going to change much.

Or a .270, or a .280, or a .308, (as you said, all kinds of cartridges) or a.......Seriously, if he's thinking of getting a .300 magnum because someone says he needs one, the one thing you can tell him for certain is, he doesn't need a .300 magnum to kill an elk. Dick measuring contests aside.

He should get something he'll use for deer after the elk hunt. Whatever it is he should start shooting ASAP and get comfortable with it so he can place his shots, and when it comes time to hunt use a good bullet.

Cartirdges are propbably the most argued about aspect of elk hunting, and the least important, within reason.

Plus a Butt-Out tool.

Find somebody that has a 300RUM, 338WM or 375 and let him shoot those a few times. Then the 300WM will feel like a pussycat.
Seriously, caliber and energy won't make up for poor shot placement but they may help in less than ideal target presentations. A 270 is all he needs. Any guide would ten times rather have a client who is accurate with a rifle than shooting something big that he can't hit the broad side of a barn from the inside with.

I like the 300 just fine, but in his shoes I’d grab a .30/06 with a good bullet and not think twice.

As I stated above, not all 300 chambered rifles are punishing, but the ‘06 is very versatile and not exactly a weak round. I know a lot of folks that think it’s overkill on Whitetails, so it should work just fine on Elk (and has for years).

I guess that saying "you are what you eat" is true. Azzhat!

If he is a competent shot with a light .30-30 with a steel butt plate, he might do just fine with a .300 win mag. If he is willing to be coached and buy a significant amount of ammo for practice, he will probably be fine. I've shot a lot of rounds through a .270 win and a .338 win mag and honestly when I touch off a round on a big game animal I never feel the recoil.

I had a buddy in college who was obsessed with the .44 mag. He had a redhawk and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. I shot a target with it off a rest and had 5 shots touching at 25 yards. He had replaced the sights with a fine bead setup. So I took the revolver, put two rounds in it and spun the cylinder. The first trigger pull, there was a loud click, and the muzzle jumped 3 inches. He had a massive flinch. After a few cylinders of humiliation, he started to shoot it way better. Little old Elmer Keith regularly shot very hard kicking rifles with stellar results. It can be done, it just takes practice and discipline.

How much practice and discipline can he get in the next sixty days, assuming he's a working man?

By the time there is recoil to be felt it's too late. Lack of practice, fear of the rifle/recoil, and whatever else already taken their toll on the trigger squeeze.

That’s a fact there. I like all kinds of cartridges but needing one over another once you get above the 6.5mm’s for me is just fun camp discussion. I’d rather see a practiced up hunter with their deer rifle than anyone who has put a box of ammo thru a larger cartridge.

270, 308, or 30-06. if he still insists on the 300 mag, let it go.

Another idea would be to have him shoot a .300 Mag before he spends money on one. If he can handle it with confidence, no problem.

If he has problems, he may decide to go with an '06 with the right load.

DF

"He's just not built for that much rifle. "

What does that mean?

In general, a more slightly built person can often handle more recoil as there is less mass resistance and more "give" in dealing with recoil. Not so much on the bench, however. So whatever his stature, he may well develop flinch from the big shooter in just sighting it in. Precautions (double hearing protection, additional shoulder padding) may alleviate this.

That said, my .260 Rem 725 (maybe 7 lbs? ) has a whole lot less weight to pack around, and a whole lot less recoil than my (9 lb?) Ruger 77 .338WM. I (6 feet tall, 160 lbs) can handle the recoil from either, thank you very much, but I know which one I'm taking elk hunting (as I did this year, and again!!!, if I go!). The .260 with 140 gr Corelokts has accounted for an elk years ago at 150 yards (bang-flop), a half dozen or more caribou out to in excess of 300 yards, and a wolf at 30 or so yards. I plan on taking it moose hunting - just. because. I. can. I have no fear that it isn't "enough rifle".

In shooting that elk with it, the only way I could get a rest to shoot through a beach-ball size hole in the folage in front of me, was to brace my left forearm between two aspen, rest the rifle on my arm, and shoot one handed. No problem, but I'd not want to do that with anything much larger.

If a 7mm-08 or .308, or 280 with 140 grain bullets, or the .270 with 130 or 150 gr loads is "elk medicine" then so too is a 6.5 with similar load. 10 grains and a few fps isn't going to make any difference with a properly placed bullet, premium or not, as long as the bullet is decently constructed to begin with.

The .30-06 is an excellent choice, as are the smaller calibers.

If the dude insists on the 300 Mag, let him. Encourage him to start out with reduced loads, tho.

And by the way, my 1927 manufactured '94 with iron butt-plate isn't all that pleasant to shoot anyway....

fwiw - I have a MRC 300 Win Mag that is cut to 22” and has a MRC muzzle brake added. So the overall barrell length is 24” including the brake. A 165 Barnes TTSX in the 300 Win Mag has noticeably less recoil than my MRC .308 with a 130 Barnes TTSX and that is not much. The MRC muzzle brake is very effective. Cutting the 2” only gave up 40 fps, but kept it at a very handy overall length. It is very handy and useful rifle, and has minimal recoil.

So, if he really wants a .300 Win Mag, there is one option that will make it more pleasant for him. As a plus, the mag box is generous in length and will accommodate high bc bullets.

Brother in law quit playing musical rifles, settled on a Winchester Model 70 Featherweight in .30-06, dropped it in a McMillan stock, and only shoots 165 grain Partitions out of it. Deer, antelope, elk, it doesn't matter. One gun, one bullet, one load, it works.

He has strict instructions to not talk to my wife about this one and done crap.