Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Best Elk Cartridge in the World??

I’ve killed multiple bulls with the 338 WM and 300... there’s not one of them that couldn’t have been cleanly killed with a 6.5 CM.

Ya I’ve killed multiple elk with a 243, 6mm and 6ai, some with 80 gr nbt’s. There are alledgedly elk that have been killed killed with 222’s, 22 hornets, well fuuck, hes dead now so he won’t get a ticket, old chaser buddy of mine used to kill a elk with a 22 magnum every year, and countless bucks... big [bleep] whoopie... personally I’ve never killed anything too “”dead” and I’ve never ruined too much meat.

Ahhh fuuck it, use the smallest caliber ya can, tape all over the muzzles, tall turrets blah blah [bleep] blah... shiit is for real at the 24 hcf!!! 😂😂

28 Nosler

Your living dangerously there!!! 😂😂

There’s no way you could shoot accurately with that recoil!!!! 7/08 or bust!!! 🤘🤘😄

Ok I think I will weigh in..... I didn't read the whole thread so good chance this has already been mentioned..... I vote 300 Win mag. 200 Nosler partition at 2900fps.
Oh and Jud... damn the recoil.... elk hunting is a mans sport but you already know that

My experiential sample size is admittedly smaller than some, but after witnessing hundreds of animals get shot by myself/partners/clients, I’ve witnessed what I’ve described above multiple times. A guy is afraid of his rifle before ever having an animal put in front of him. Shoots 10” groups at paper at 100 yards, misses animal. I give him my rifle with the assurance that it “kicks a lot less than your rifle” (whether that’s true or not is irrelevant), and he kills the critter.

Not everyone can bench press 500 lbs, and is made of iron...Although, I'm betting that if you were to shoot that rifle from prone or from the bench 50 times in a practice session (the average guy zeros and practices from the bench, remember), you'd see your first bruise.

You knew that I wasn’t being literal when I said “beat up”, but none-the-less I’ve seen bruising with my own eyes, caused by much less powerful rifles than the .340 Wby. Trust me, it’s not ridiculous and it’s no myth. Rifle fit matters. Physical effects like bruising aside, pain is mental, and you have to remember that the average hunter isn’t mentally conditioned to manage recoil properly from anything more than about a well-fitted .270 or maybe a .30-06.

How many elk have you shot, and guided, "I assume that's where clients" comes from. Do most use magnums? Its quite the "phenomenon" sounds like. These African PJ's and Alaskan gross guides must have fits!!😂😂

This threads been around 10 years? Damn!

Even though I’ve killed elk with small rounds, quite well I might add, I still prefer a big 30 cal.

Guys always say there is no difference, my experience says otherwise. There is a notable difference upon impact of a big bullet moving fast.

But the dead is dead argument can still be made for smaller rounds. Just my preference for big 30’s.

That said you could give me a 22-250 and I recon I’d still fill the tag, so there’s that.

Lol I've got a bull at 700 and a bull at 280. Somehow I made it work 🤣🤣🤣

👍😎

Jud,

Never done any paid elk guiding, but the concept applies regardless of the species a guy is chasing. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of guys that are well-practiced, serious hunters or shooters that can handle their magnums just fine. But there are also plenty of hunters that shoot magnums and really shouldn't. Like Brad and Greg, I've seen more guys struggle to cleanly kill critters because they were over-gunned than because they were under-gunned. Most of the occasions that come to mind at the moment involved 7 Mags, .300 Mags, or .338 Mags. A couple of the 7 Mag guys were handed a .308 or 7-08 and did much better. One of the .300 Mag guys was a client I was guiding for caribou. When he arrived at camp with the other hunters we checked zero from the bench, and he literally fired a 10" 3-shot group. I asked if I could fire a few rounds, and the rifle/load went sub-MOA. We got to within ~180 yards of a nice bull, and I had the hunter go prone with a solid but soft rest (a dead caribou). He unloaded his magazine at the bull, missing every shot. I knew from the moment that him and I both fired his rifle at paper that he was afraid of the thing, so I handed him my rifle (which unbeknownst to him was a 7 Mag) and told him that it had a lot less recoil than his .300. He drilled the bull center-chest on the first shot. Could he have become proficient with his .300 with enough practice and conditioning? Probably. But the hunter I saw was afraid of his newish .300 Mag. I've seen similar situations play out several times.

Interesting, did you shoot the fella’s 300 to see if it was him?

Reason I ask, and it baffles me why guys do it, but more often than not their guns don’t shoot worth a damn to begin with.

Say a guy starts with a 30-06, has a rodeo on an elk.. so they blame the 30-06. Next time out they’ll have a 300 or 338 of some sort, and end up with the same results.

Point being often times it’s not the cartridge, it’s that all too often people half ass the sight in process, they simply aren’t shooters and wouldn’t bother to practice with a smaller cartridge anymore than they would a big one. They seem to think 12” pattern at 100 will get the job done.

Sorry rosco, maybe I didn’t say it clearly enough, but after watching the guy shoot a 10” 3-shot group, I fired the rifle and shot a sub-MOA 3-shot group, made an adjustment to get the scope zeroed at 100, confirmed zero, and carried on.

What you’re describing certainly happens at times, too. Some guys aren’t interested in practicing and becoming proficient, and would suck equally with small or large chamberings.

The guy shooting 10" groups has no one to blame but himself. It takes dedication and practice to shoot a 300 well for most guys. Most dont bother and the results are predictable. For many of them they cant shoot a light recoiling rifle well either.
Personally I shoot thousands of rounds of 204,223, and 22-250 at prarie dogs every year and almost never from a bench. A few months before big game season I start to work the bigger rifles into the rotation. By the time hunting season rolls around I feel confident that I can kill anything that walks in Montana given the opportunity.

""" I’ve killed multiple bulls with the 338 WM and 300... there’s not one of them that couldn’t have been cleanly killed with a 6.5 CM.""
How many have have killed their elk while it was standing in the pasture (or meadow) grazing unawares, while giving the hunter the time to set up and get everything ready for that exactly perfect shot, that knocks the animal right off of their feet, and then lays down in the field waiting for the hunter to walk up and tag them? Those blessed with circumstances like that do not have to think about energy, or foot pounds of impact while trying to thread a bullet between two trees, in the deep dark, at sunset, or twilight. Who cares if it's the only shot that might be presented after getting up at 4 am, for days and walking miles to stalk or watching for their prey. It's easy to pass that shot up knowing that it could be your only opportunity for 12 more months to fulfill your dream. Its no big deal to wait for another year, waiting another year for a tag draw that may not happen, for another opportunity. After all there is "always another day". I can truly say, that out of the almost 200 ellk that myself and my very small group of friends and relatives have killed, during my 60+ years in the field. That a number of them would not have been cleanly taken with small caliber rifle, or would have made it into the deep dark and never found. That has happened, even with larger calibers and can never be overcome. Accuracy and energy are the key, without both you will most likely fail, elk are big and tough and can absorb tremendous amounts of energy and travel downhill a long ways prior to dropping dead. Do them and yourself a favor use enough gun and become proficient with it.

I have never seen an Elk that had to be shot !! if you don't have the shot don't shoot, Black timber, or not enough light, morning or evening, to rushed, not ready, spray and prey usually does not turn out real well, no matter what fire arm you chose, almost all the rodeo's, are caused by poor judgement and poor shooting. Rio7

You’d lose that bet. Never, ever will you see the slightest bruise if you use one of these at the range:
https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/cabelas-recoil-pad---right-hand

Everyone I've known who has used them (or the Past brand ones) says that they work way better than they ever would have thought possible. Everyone. There's no such thing as bad recoil, just bad gear.

One example is my 16-yr-old son. Here he is last week shooting, and sighting in for his eyes, my .300WM and 7mm Wby—with the pad on.





30 rounds; no problem. None.



Outside hunting or playing around, he doesn’t ever feel any recoil, like everyone else I know.

See video: https://i.imgur.com/7B0kR8u.mp4






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I love seeing young people interested in hunting and shooting, you are blessed. Thank you for your service, SPC 5- bill, RVN 67.