Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Old Timers

There's been a fair bit of talk of the 99 Savage so I figured I'd put up this pic from last weekend here in AZ. Rifle's about as old as me - 60. It's a .358 Win. I hope the 1-4X scope is not considered too much cheating - it's pretty old too if that counts. When I combine this rig with the 200 grain Barnes TTSX at 2700 FPS with 51/TAC (a little lower than Mule Deer's load), it's actually a pretty darn sophisticated elk rig, and not just for the woods. Shoots plenty flat to 400 yards, only 19" down when sighted 3" high at 100 yards, and still going over 2000 FPS. (That's at 7200' elevation where this hunt happened.)

Cheers,
Rex

Great picture!
Next time smile! Looks like you had damn good reason to smile.....
Love the rifle. Congratulations.

I am smiling...


OK, went back and found this. Maybe a little better?

But it was last year I REALLY had something to smile about!

Some great pictures and stories here! Just about a year ago today I punished a cow with my old 721 Magnum 300. I squeezed the trigger, she slowly turned her head and them just crumbled. My next one will be taken with a pre-war model 70 in either 06 or Magnum 300.

Some good pics, gentlemen. Some good chewin there!

Killed my first elk in 1971 with my Grandfathers 30WCF 1894 made in 1917...Still carry it occasionally. It's old but it shoots pretty good..

Arizona guy here also. Ive always used a 270 or 7mm08 for elk. I have a Winch 94 30-30 that my dad gave me for my HS graduation in 72 but I've not used it for any big game. I'm going to have to get it out for deer this year.

My dad took a job on a surveying crew based near Leadville, Colorado after he was discharged from his WWII ETO service. He hunted with a "bring back" Mauser 98 open-sighted 7x57 rifle and 175 grain round nose bullets. He took one elk with it during his two years in Colorado. Don't know details of the hunt, but likely it wasn't too far (<150 yards???). I do remember that the elk was taken with one shot.

It worked.

I’ve got my Grandpas 94’ in .32 win spl, I’ve been debating on using it one of these years for a nostalgia hunt of some sort.
Only tag I drew this year is a mule doe, I want it to be a bit more memorable then that . This one according to serial number was built in 1904. I don’t know how many miles, hrs and days the ol girl spent in the scabbard on the side of a horse but if the ol girl could talk I bet there would be some fantastic stories.

I got my first elk in 61 a cow in NE Oregon, and have missed three seasons since. I have been blessed with great success. I started out with a 30:06, then moved up to 300 WM, and have experimented with a few other cartridges. Last week I took a cow at 266 with one shot, from a 7 mm AI. I frequently feel blessed to have spent all of those seasons in the woods.

It was argued for decades about which was better, the 32 Spc or the 30-30. There's very little difference. Most of the difference is that the 32 had a slower twist to reduce fouling so it could be used with black powder. After smokeless powders became readily available, it was no contest in popularity in favor of the 30-30.

So far this year, the group that I hunt with have killed three elk. One at over 400 yards, one at over 600 yards, one at 266 yards. The shot at 600 + was atypical, but I would guess my average shot distance over my life time to be around 300 yards. Not country and ranges for 30-30, 300 Savage, 250, nor other old time popular cartridges.

Thanks for all the stories Gents...they were good.

This was probably the last bull I will ever kill 2018. Probably about 11,000 feet,..06 , 180 gr, partirion, Pre -64 Win. with a stock I made.

This was my first bull, 1966, Latir Lakes region of NM .308. Model 88 Win , 165 gr Remington Bronze point



And a lot in between.This was a bull I took in Unit 201,CO about 2007, after applying 21years. That .06 killed a lot of elk.

Great thread! I keep coming back to it to see new posts..

Some nice bulls Saddlesore! That bottom one is a dandy! Also nice picture of your 1st one!

My dad is 90 years old. He killed his first elk in 1955. He has had three elk rifles in that time, a M721 that the horse eventually bent the bbl while in the scabbard, a one season affair with a slammin', jammin, M742, and since 1970 a M77. All of them chambered in 30-06, always loaded with factory 180g Core-lokt RN. His scope is a late 60's Bushnell Scopechief 3x9 with the flip up "Command Post". The Command Post stopped flipping up decades ago. The magnification ring is frozen on 3x. He "temporarily" repaired his sling with athletic shoelace 15 years ago. The rifle is hysterical. Until this year it still had the factory hard, thin red pad on it, but because my dear old dad has shrunk a bit and was having trouble getting the rifle to his shoulder with his hunting coat on I shortened the stock and put a Decelerator pad on it. I hated to cut that all original factory stock--even as dinged up as it is. I don't know how he shot that thing with the original hard pad on it for so long.

Dad is perfectly happy to draw a cow tag most years, and most of those years he still kills an elk........

Nice!

This is a great thread, I've really enjoyed all of it. I've never hunted elk and probably won't ever get the chance, but if I did I'd want to do it with one of my Pre 64 70s.

That's a heart warming story alpinecrick.

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Nice bulls saddlesore! The old, some say boreing, .30'06 seems to always get the job done!