Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Cartridge for elk

What long range cartridge for elk? 340 wby, 338 lapua, 300 win mag, 28 nosler, 280 AI 168 bullets were some of cartridges I were considering. Options to minimize recoil like a brake and barrel life are a concern. Largest caliber is a 308 win. What do you suggest for an accurate long range canyon boomer? That can be tamed.

I don't have too much experience shooting big magnums, but when I shot my buddies 338LM with the big 50 cal looking muzzle brake. I was pleasantly surprised where I wanted to shoot it more and more. It has been couple of year and only one outing, but I think it had less recoil than my hot 270 win. I felt we were too close shooting at 400 yard targets with that thing.

Looking hard at a 338 lapua in weatherby accumark or .340 weatherby?

This is highly personal, like why you chose the one you married. 😮🙂

But used the 340 Wby for a quarter century and very successfully. Of some 12 bulls and a caribou bull I only needed a second shot, and it wasn’t really needed.

The 340 and 338L are essentially ballistic equals. The 300 Win is a good cartridge. I have no experience with the Nosler and 280AI but do with the 284 Win which is just a step behind the AI. If the magnums are not necessary for elk, they will definitely do the job if you can handle them.

Are you a hand loader— another factor to consider.

If you are a hunter meaning not sending multiple hundreds of rounds down range a year you will not burn out a good barrel in years if ever in your hunting lifetime.

I would forget the “recoil arrestor” or at least, have a removable one. No Magna-Porting of the barrel or anything like that or you’ll likely regret it.

This year I will choose from. a #1 Ruger in 9.3X74R, a Mauser in 9.3X62 and I may use a Mauser in 300H&H if the elk are out in the open and don't get near any ground contour I can use to sneak up.

If I find they are staying in or near the trees I may use my Savage 99 in 300 Sav or my 303 British Speed style sporter.

300 Win Mag is tough to whoop.

What berettas said!

Some dude who shoots leupolds has posted some nice pics of long range elk. IIRC more than a couple were with a 264 WM.

I run a 300 Win and like it.

230 gr Berger OTMs

I’ve got one more build in me as a find my battery having 6.5 Saum as the largest cartridge. I’m thinking 300 prc as I can’t convince myself I gain anything with a 338 over a fast 30 shooting heavies in a shootable/carry-able rifle

Hard to go wrong with any of those cartridges. Pick one and shoot elk.

If starting over, I think I'd consider the PRC over the win mag, or go right to the 300WBY and be done with it..

Yup, all pretty much the same deal.. I went RUM but any of the others would work just as well for me.

I don't think I've seen a bad recommendation in this whole thread. The toughest thing is to pick one and live with it. I just built a 26 Nosler last year but haven't had a chance to get it bloody yet.. maybe this year. However, up until this time my longest shots on Elk have been with a 338 Win Mag with 225 Nosler Partitions.... I think the longest shot I've taken on a deer has been around 400 yards and my 270 does just fine for those distances.... but the 26 will get a chance to see how it does this year...

Bob

Has the OP done any searches on this topic? This has been hashed out here time and time again.

No need for a big boomer unless a guy just wants one. Short action rounds with the right bullets do just fine. Look at ballistics charts. The same bullet started at 2800 FPS vs 3200 FPS generally has a much smaller velocity gap at longer ranges (say 500 + yards), making the bigger rounds have much less of an advantage than initially assumed.

I carried a .340 Wby and .300 Win for several years and they did just fine at "normal" ranges, but that was before I started learning about B/C and shooting further out.
Carry on.

This is very true — it’s not so much the head-stamped engine as it the bullet you send from it. Though I generally liked big engines.😉

Another thing is to keep in mind is if you intend to hand load or not. If depending on factory cartridges, some mentioned here would be very problematic.

I shoot a 7mag now but a 300 WM with a good 180gn bullet is the best elk killing machine that I have owned.

I shoot the 7 now because my body can't take the recoil anymore.

I started with the 7 mag and switched to the .338 win mag for putting Elk down with less tracking. The 7 mag is still taken out as my bad weather rifle but the .338 is the knock out champion.

I’ve killed dozens of elk and seen a lot killed. I think lots of things come into play including where and how you hunt, and how well you shoot. My shots have nearly all been greater than 300yds hence it was important to to have a cartridge with reach. I’m badly color blind so not having to blood trail was important. Similarly, I want to be able to tell I’ve hit an animal. If you can shoot them, I prefer the large bullets at speed so I was drawn to the 338 and 340 shooting 210 partitions. I’ve never shot an elk that wasn’t visibly rocked with these bullets, and never had one not drop in sight.

I’ve killed them with various 300 mags, a 7STW and an 06, and seen them shot and (usually) killed with a number of lesser rounds.

For where and how I hunt, the 300mags with quality 165 to 200grain bullets are proven killers, and I’d be comfortable hunting with them if I didn’t have my 338/340. For a new elk hunter, I’d encourage them to bring what ever big game rifle they shot best (assuming it’s at least 270/308 or bigger and is loaded with appropriate bullets). I’d then plead with them to shoot regularly from hunting positions using improvised rests to figure out their proficiency at range.

I'd much rather use my 338wm as well. And yes, it does knock them out pretty good..