Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Minimum Elk Cartridge

I've got a 243 that has killed 11 elk--all of 'em on public land...........

It’s only overkill if the recoil affects your accuracy.






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You mean something like this.....

I don't think so. Dead is dead no matter the caliber.

Personally,I like the .340 and .338 RUM for elk.

Winning comment on this thread

That's fine if you hunt in New Mexico but.......

I guess if our elk ever learn to read english we’ll have to start using real guns.

Group from my .460 Wby using 95.0 grains of Var-Get with a 500 grain Hornady DGX at 100 yards. Velocity average is 2300 fps.

Ken,
Case closed with criticism invalidated.
Well done.
John

Yup.

Dre posted “243” and “416” which are calibers, not cartridges. Dre changed the subject to calibers by not specifying a particular 243 cartridge, there are two, or a particular 416 cartridge, of which there are four.

Again, you show yourself to be a complete fool out here, which you have perfected better than anyone I’ve ever seen on the internet, Mr. fake backpacker Elk hunter.

Purpose is different. Poachers aren't looking for an ethical shot that will cleanly and quickly take the one elk they legally can shoot per year. They're just shooting at multiple animals presumably all year long. Analogous to slimy plaintiff's lawyers that take a high volume of low-probability cases and barely do any work, hoping one of them will stick,

Ethical hunting on a single animal often involves hoping to have some pride in harvesting versus what unethical slimy poachers do.

I'm not taking second-hand implicit cartridge advice from sleazebags who care not if they wound countless animals and leave them for dead.

I'll eagerly pay attention to ethical hunters who hunt elk with anything from a .243 Win up to a .460 Wby, but I don't care what the criminal barbarians use.

Dang. You’re right. I need to stop hunting with my .340 Wby.

Some of my recent 3-shot 100 yd groups sighting in my new scope have gone from 1/8” to 1/4” and I even had one 3/4" group when the barrel got hot.





The three upper-left 100 yd groups below comprising eight shots were when I began re-sighting in my .340 after bore-sighting with the new scope (the other four groups were from my son's new .243 with various loads to see how they grouped).



What should I do? I’m just going to throw that rifle in the creek and be done with it. I can shoot my .308 about the same, way more accurately than I can shoot my way-lower-recoiling 5.56s (hint; it ain’t the recoil); I can shoot the 340 Wby way better than my 7mm Wby (same hint); I can shoot my .375 Wby way better than my .243 (same hint); I can shoot my .300 Win Mag way better than anything other than my .340 (same hint). It ain’t the recoil.

What’s worse is that, in this only video I have of me shooting the 5,000 ft-lb .340 Wby (225 gr TTSX at 3,160 fps) my son took last year, you can see how violent the recoil is. The .340 moved the rifle back into my shoulder almost a half inch! That's far too much shock and awe for me.

Video: https://i.imgur.com/xMUu4AG.mp4

It’s insane! And it's way unacceptable to even think of shooting such a thing. It’s almost(!!!) as bad as shooting a 12 gauge! I’m talking about a 12 gauge! Not a .410. I’m done with that rifle. Give me a .0111 caliber from now on.

That little non-bruising harmless slap on the shoulder is way, way too much potential future pain for me to gently squeeze a trigger while holding the rifle and scope still. Even though I have done it consistently for 32 years, all of those hundreds of range sessions and dead animals must have been a fluke. I need to quit what's working so well, and start shooting a .000000112 caliber rifle because anything more obviously is stupid.

That non-bruising push on my shoulder can't go on!!!!! I need a minimum caliber that is good because ... it also doesn't bruise my shoulder.

I'm a convert.

If I shoot a .243, it will equally non-bruise my shoulder. But, because it has a lighter bullet, it will shoot much more better than the 1/8" - 1/2" groups I shoot with my .340 Wby

Thanks.

Judge: I believe we are at a stopping point here, and will go into lunch recess.

Will the prosecution be ready after lunch recess for their cross examination?

Prosecutor: Your honor, the prosecution drops all charges against high caliber / magnum hunting rifles, and would kindly ask the court to dismiss the case, based on grounds of no evidence.

LOL, "elkslayer" called me a fake backapcker, what am I to do?

But I do like the way you just unwittingly proved you don't know the difference between "cartridge" and "caliber" when you pegged the number of 243 cartridges at "two."

When you're using 243 to mean caliber as you did above you have to know that there are many more than two, including all of the various cartridges with 6 or 6 mm in the name.

When you're using 243 to mean the name of a particular cartridge, you might end up at "two."

PS, the topic of the thread is set by the OP, and is contained in the title of the thread........

You know well as others I was saying 243 win. And 416 rigby. Just like someone says they are using a 308, they are talkin about 308 win. Not 300 win mag that uses 308 bullet.
You want to be technical? If, I was talking about bullet diameter I would have used the (.) as in point xxx. OR I would have saiid 24 caliber, as no one really says 243 caliber. SMH.
I’m Glad you boys shoot those guns well and feel the need to shoot 45/70, 340, 460 as your ‘minimum’ elk cartridges.
Get over what some one thinks, and back on topic.

My .260 with 140 gr Corelokts did a DRT elk kill, at 150 yards. A sample of one......

I would not hesitate to use it again, and plan to on a moose. Good killer on a half-dozen caribou.

The minimum cartridge I would want to use on elk in Wyoming would be a 7x57 or a 7-08. I have seen elk killed with 243 rifles but I have seen elk that got away after being hit with them also. Same with the 25-06. Since I don't have to use the minimum I would use I would take a 270, 7MM RM, 30-06, 300 Win mag, 338 Win mag or a 35 Whelen. I have killed elk with these rifles and would feel comfortable using them again. Were I to hunt Roosevelt elk in western Washington state my minimum would be a light 358 Winchester pushing 250 grain bullets. I guess a 338 Federal would be just as good. My choices are based on personal experience in those two states.

A good bullet from about any caliber placed in the right spot will kill elk.

I like a .270 and can't determine any difference from a good 6.5 (260 Rem) and a good 7mm to 30 cal bullet launched at decent velocity.

Poke 'em in something that supplies oxygen or pumps blood and they will die pretty regularly.