Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Which would you choose?

I don’t get to go very often. If I get a shot, I don’t want to take any chances with whether I have enough gun. A better question might be why you would choose a 243 fo elk? It seems to me that there are much better options. Recoil sensitive? Have it on hand and don’t want to buy another rifle?

I have a 6.5 and a 25-06 but I’d rather use something a bit bigger.

I'd take the one you're confident in and don't mind carrying for several days, then not second guess the choice.
They'll all work fine if you place the shot well enough.
I much prefer a scope with holdover dots rather than guesstimating but that's just personal preference too...

A or B

No difference in killing ability between the three.

I would consider weight of the rifle. I’ve carried a rifle a damned long way some days.

I would consider how pretty the rifles are. I like pretty rifles!

Or one in 270Win, use monos in both. The Tikka Stainless Superlite jumps to my mind for a rifle. The 30-06/168TTSX or the 270/130TTSX or Trophy Bonded Copper, etc. Shoot them through the shoulders. Whichever rifle you have that is the lightest, easiest handling. You "might" get time to get in a good shooting position and pop him at 300-350, but more likely will jump him up closer, like quail hunting! Have a ball Pard!

165, 308 & Varget

A, and by a mile for me.

You know how many blued rifles I hunt in bad weather? Damn man....Quite a few and most of my hunting is in the rain or snow... Just sayin. I'd still pick B. 30-06 with the right bullets, will never let you down, if you put that bullet in the right spot..

Sounds like you may have put that '06 200gr Partition load together we talked about Buddy, if you did, and hit something with it, you did indeed see it's a STONER!

How about the 165 out of the .30-06?
I much prefer 22 inch barrels no matter where I'm hunting.

Didn't get many replies, did you?

I've used the 30-06 with the old Hornady Light Magnum 180sp on a running cow at 135 steps. Broke her spine behind her shoulders. I popped her high lung as she was trying to get up. Since I was planning a S.A. PG hunt later, I used a 375 H&h/300 Sierra ( bullet too soft) and later on a 338WM(185 Barnes) I have a hunting buddy who uses nothing but the 308/150 corlokt on them! Both the 30.06 & .308 are quite effective. BTW, my average on 3 cows is 190yds.

I have. They all work just fine, but the .338 Federal load just seems to really hammer big bulls.

BSA- how do you prepare your wood/blued rifles for the rain/snow? I usually have a good wax on the wood and, surprisingly, found Outers Tri-Lube to be great on steel. I wet the barreled action ( I use a wet Qtip on trigger housing) down well, allow to dry before screwing back in stock. I wipe it down each evening.

I have always used a 7mm or 300 mag. but the 338 was designed with elk in mind. In lodge pole pines or any thick cover I would pay homage to Elmer and take the 338. Any will work fine if you don't push them too far. Otherwise I would pick the lightest one. A 308 carbine with a 165 Barnes is pretty handy.

JK: On the prep flush out the trigger with lighter fluid and only wax the external surfaces. Something like Corrosion X might be light enough but I trust the lighter fluid only more if temperatures are likely to be low. I have had a dud even when the temperature were in the teens, this was due to a bad primer strike, so when I flush the trigger I do the firing pin spring too.

165 partition in .308W loaded with the book max of Ramshot Biggame and magnum primer. Yup chrony says 2875fps.

Damn, I was hoping you would all tell me that I needed a 300 Win Short Mag.

For some reason I like shooting the 338 Federal but I have only shot it at a 100 yard rifle range. I just bought it last month. I'll mess with it at 200 and 300 soon. I have not done much reloading but I would have to if I want to use the partition in the 338. The partition factory loads are no longer available in 338 Federal. The Nosler load data shows significantly lower velocities than the factory ammo. That is supposedly the result of proprietary powders but it may be just as much inflated claims by the factory ammo manufacturers.

I really like the 30-06 cartridge for some reason. It is a thing of beauty to me. Some folks find it boring but it appeals to me much more than the 308 Win for some reason despite the longer action. I have the 308 because it was given to me as a gift. Don't get me wrong, I like it but I would trade it for a 30-06 if I had the opportunity. It is a stainless Remington 700 with a Bell and Carlson stock and a Timney trigger. It, along with a couple others, has replaced my 30-06. I don't want to duplicate what I already have but I might eventually pick up a stainless 30-06 (or a coated Browning BAR). However, whenever I get close to doing that, I start think it would make more sense to buy a 300 WSM.

If only I were rich and could just buy them all/

Oh, only 5 elk while I've been carrying one of the 243's, another 6 elk by my now 20 year old son, remaining elk by 13-14 year olds. My son's first elk was at 375 yds with the bull quartering towards us. Over the past 50+ years, between myself, friends, family, and guiding I've witnessed quite a few elk killed and have done a lot of "bullet necropsies". The bullet one chooses matters a lot more than the cartridge. So far, with a 100 gr NPt, the 243 has been a No Drama cartridge--something I can't say about a lot of other bullets regardless of caliber.......

And yes, the low recoil makes the 243 a hoot to shoot in a light mountain rifle, and I have a 243 AI I'm saving back for when I hit 70 yo, it might become my primary big game rifle. In the mean time, I stick with my big guns in 270W or 7mm08.

I have all three, if Elk hunting, I’d go 338.

Hanco: Is your 338 a 338 Federal?