Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Semi-auto for Elk?

No Sir....It’s a dandy at killing stuff. Distance is arbitrary based on personal abilities. What I feel comfortable shooting mine is in the 350 yards or under range. You or someone else may find farther is a non-issue. That’s just my decision.

A semi-auto makes sense for me in timber where a snapshot and following up on a bull moving is easier than working a lever or bolt gun. 😎.

I killed my one and only elk with a nine-pound 338.



I wanted this rifle to be a pound heavier when I had to shoot it and a pound lighter when I had to carry it. I'll take an eight-pound 30-06 the next time I hunt elk.


Okie John

Nice rifle! 😎

QUOTE: from okie john
I wanted this rifle to be a pound heavier when I had to shoot it and a pound lighter when I had to carry it.

I’ve said exactly that several times! memtb

You girls are never happy. Grin 😂😎

My hunting partner uses the Benelli R1 in .30-06 and loves it. I watched him drop a mulie at 565 yards. They are more accurate than people think. He got on the .338-06 A square band wagon and sent his R1 to JES reboring in Oregon and had it converted to it. He dropped his elk lastyear in Wyoming at 410 yards, no problem. The R1 has the Argo system as their M4’s which have proven themselves in the military, very dependable. They make a 10 round magazine for the .30-06 and it’s derivetives. It would make a viable dangerous grizzly country tool. They also make it in .338 WM.
One point of consideration is, if you use semi autos in hot dry enviroment, the cases come out scorching hot and could start a fire easily.

Yep! You “nailed it”....never happy! I found a way to lighten my rifle by nearly a pound.....but, it took too long to load it for a quick shot! I guess I should’ve only loaded one instead of four! memtb

That is impressive and longer than I am capable of shooting.

Let's say my 30-06 is enough gun but I wanted a new rifle anyway. The 30-06 and one of my 308 Wins are Remington 700s. I like the rifles but they are kind of bland. I am now thinking about getting a Browning X-Bolt Hell's Canyon Speed or a Benelli R1. If I settled on one, would you go 30-06 or 300 Win Mag? I am not sure if there is enough improvement in performance to justify the added recoil and length in a 300 Win Mag. What do you think?

The BAR can be accurate, I would go with a WSM for a lighter rifle. But what I think makes more sense is to put one of your other rifles on a diet. Anyone of them from the 6.5 CM to the 06 could be a dandy elk rifle. Depending on the make a lighter stock and scope can usually shave a pound or two off the weight and a lighter barrel another 1/2 to 1 lb.

With the savings you could also upgrade the optics. I see all these rifle deals out there but when I stop and add up all the components and accessories the bargain rifle is now pushing towards 3 grand plus. But when you have the itch it's hard to be practical.

Just saw the last post. The Browning Speed calls out for the 300 Win. Mag as it is sort of Brownings version of the Sendero. The 300 seems to be an inherently accurate cartridge and it instills confidence, sometimes too much, but it is not as big a step up from the 30-06 as many fans believe. Ok flame on.

I have killed elk with 3 auto-loaders in my life.
3 with an M1 Garand, (30-06, loaded with 220 grain RN bullets)
1 with an FN-FAL (loaded with 180 grain Nosler Partitions)
and 1 with a Benelli R1 in 270 Short Mag (loaded with 160 grain Nosler partitions)

The elk killed with the M1 and the FAL were all shot at between 20 yards and 60 yards in heavy timber.
The one I killed with the R1 was killed at just over 400 yards on the open prairie.

No problem with any of them.

A Browning BAR in 300 would do all you'd ever ask of it. Use a good bullet that will hold together and I'd bet you'll never have a problem.

My old chiropractor switched back and forth between archery and a BAR in .338. It certainly worked well for him. It ain't what floats my boat, but if you want to do it, do it and don't let anyone tell you different. It's your elk, not theirs. It's your rifle, not theirs.

Tom

I can't comment on the 300 WM in a BAR, but I can on a BAR in .338 WM. It was by far the softest shooting .338 I have shot. Another BAR in 7mm RM would put round pretty much in the same hole at 100 yards. My only problem with them is there safety and the extra noise to chamber a round. If you want one get one. Only you can decide if it works for you or not.

One of the best elk hunters I ever met swore by (and at) his bar. His thoughts were fast follow ups sure but follow up with NO NOISE of chambering the next round. He was a tracker, as was I and shot elk close in heavy timber and while they would jump up at the close shot they wouldn't know for sure from whence it had come.. If you then cycled a bolt their ears would pinpoint exactly where the danger had come from and off they would go at 40 mph. He was correct in this, I can tell you from personal experience. Of course the way around this is to never need the follow up.

He swore at it cause it was a heavy SOB for the EXTREMELY physical sport of elk tracking successfully. I was toting a BBR that tipped the scales at 10 lbs so i did not give him my shoulder to cry on, Now that I am his age i understand why I should have.

Like a dope, I decided to upgrade the stock and trigger on my one 308 Win to make it my "elk rifle." I use quotes because I have never gotten the chance to hunt for elk with a rifle yet. Of the rifles that I own, none of them seem to be ideal for elk. For example, 30-06 is a Remington BDL with a wood stock and blued barrel - but I prefer stainless and synthetic these days.

A good friend of mine gave me a Remington 700 SPS Stainless as a gift a couple years ago. I bagged 2 bucks and screwed up a shot on a bear with it. I is a nice rifle but I tend to use my 6.5 Creedmoor or 25-06 or BLR 308 when I hunt the woods around my area. It has a 24" barrel. I ordered a Bell and Carlson stock, a Leupold VX-3i 4-10x40, and a Timney trigger for it. I think I will use it to practice a lot at a 300 target range and see if I can get it to shoot the way I want it to for elk instead of buying a new rifle right now.

You guys were a lot of help. The next time I have $1,500 laying around I am going to buy a Browning BAR MOBU or a X-Bolt Hell's Canyon Speed (haven't decided - depends on the accuracy of my 308) in 300 WSM. As much as I like the idea of a 300 Win Mag and 7mm Mag, I don't want a 26" barrel. The 300 WSM comes with a 23". If I get the accuracy that I want out of my 308, I'll buy the BAR for fun. If I don't, I'll buy an X-Bolt for elk hunting.

Magnum BAR's have 24" barrels. I've hunted with BAR's in New York state for over 45 years and never had an ejection problem. Some BAR's are more accurate than others. I would not hesitate to use one.

Browning Bar Mk3 in 300wsm is an awesome rifle.

I bought a BAR in 7mm Rem Mag when I got out of the Army, 1973. My intentions were to hunt deer locally ( East, Tx) and elk in Colorado. It was accurate, but very heavy and, at that time, no scope. I was a "bonafide iron sight user" until I was about 26yrs old! ha Anyhow, if you kept it "spotless", it worked right. A little dust/ or just not enough lube in the right spot...jammomatic. It got traded for, across the board swap, a new Model 870 Wingmaster ( 3", 12) and a Marlin 1894, 44 magnum. That little Marlin was one of "the fastest", best handling woods rifles I ever used! I killed deer and hogs with it, ducks & rabbits with the 12ga. I got into bow hunting for about 5 yrs and hunted elk with it. Yes, I belong to the "Missed an elk" club. A big cow, right at dark, my arrow hit an unseen dead spruce limb. Bent that Easton Game Getter like a half circle, ha. Later in life I bought a friend ( like a brother) a BAR in .338WM, even had it Mag Na Ported. He is recoil shy, and now, has a defibrillator in his peck, so he has never shot it! Anyhow, it is a pussy cat, especially with the 200 BTs. I bought an old Belgium BAR in .270 after my dad died, had a bunch of engraving done to it to commemorate him. It shot like a bolt gun! But yes, noisy to load/unload getting in and out of truck, and heavy. They are nice rifles if one wants to mess with them.

I've killed several elk with a .30-06 and .300 WM. None would have known the difference.

I used to be enamoured with Browning BAR's. Had 2 , both Mark II safaris, a 300 win mag, and a 270 wby mag, killed a couple bulls a piece with em, both shot good, never seen 1 jam. Heavy bastards...

After a half doz elk with my 300 WSM, I realized that there wasn't one of them that I couldn't have taken just as well with a 30-06. I switched and saved a lb. Actually, most of mine have been with a 270.