Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Deer & Occasional Elk Rifle

I'd use a 270 and kill them with ease if I was a female or a child. I'd load 140 gamekings at 2750 for deer and a 150 partition at 3000 fps for elk. My loads would probably be something like............

150 partition
61 grains RL26 3000 fps
Hell of an elk load

140 gameking
57 grains H4831SC 2750 fps
Superb deer load

That's a good question

270 280 7mm08 308 30-06

Five there that tend to do most things quite well.

270 Bergera 110 Barnes for deer, 150 partition for elk

If you do like the '06, get it in a Browning X-Bolt of your choice and it will be kind to your shoulder. Stock ergos and recoil pad make it a real pussycat. RJ

A 20” or 22” 308 WCF. Make it fairly light weight with a fixed 4x or 6x scope. Boxes of high quality ammunition are on shelves worldwide. Knocks the hell out of whitetails, mule deer and antelope. It is more than adequate for bull elk out at 350 yards. Majority of elk are shot dead inside of 200 yards and many inside of that in heavy timber. It is also a popular African plains game cartridge, which tells you it works well on a variety of game big and small.

I learn more reading than typing. In the field making real world shots the less I have to think the better off I am & the more confident in the shot. We practice out to 800 yards but I try to hunt to be in 300 yard point & shoot territory. One gun is a great way to think less & kill more but the cheap 300 Weatherby I bought for a backup kills farther & faster than the 7 mag and that is an advantage hunting adjacent to private ranches that hate public land hunters killing “their” elk.

Make that a Brno 601 with integral peep and curved (non set) trigger and you are really on to something.

I haven't seen one that doesn't shoot.

Spot on sir. I completely agree!

I'm a 35 Whelen convert. Perfect for elk and great for no tracking on deer

In our house, our go to "not sure what I'm gonna get into" rifle/cartridge combo is the .300 win with 200 gr. accubonds.

Many deer and elk. Several bear and antelope. And 2 NM oryx....near or far. It has done a great job, with minimal tracking, and no lost animals. Although, 1 of the oryx took a little "convincing", that he was dead!

Andy3

Here in my neck of the woods, a .270 will do everything that needs doing, and still be legal for KY Elk. The only three LH bolt rifles in the cabinet at the moment are my go-to KS 270, a wood/blue/open sighted P.O. Ackley 7x57, and a 700 Remage .30-06 that I have been tinkering with. I know that a .30-06 will also do everything that needs doing. And I have owned a half dozen 30-06's over the years. Have never owned a .30-06 that really "flipped my switch". However, I keep tinkering with them...

While bullet selection and placement are paramount with any big game animal.....this is somewhat enhanced with large big game. That said, you can’t be “over-gunned” (within reason) for deer.....you can certainly be “under-gunned” for elk! memtb

When I started hunting, the deer were the tiny California Blacktail which are probably just as elusive as the Whitetail Deer and probably hunted under similar conditions. After about 19068, all my deer hunting has been after Nevada and Arizona Mule Deer.

If the OP is, or plans to reload his ammo my thoughts tend to go with something like the .270, .280 Remington or 30-06 with my leaning toward the 30-06.

Doing reloads for the cartridge of choice would call for a two bullet solution. I've done this with teo cartridges so far, the .270 and .300 Win. Mag, For the .270 I run a 150 gr. Sierra Game King andd the Nosler 150 gr. Partition. In the .300 Win. Mag. it'd the 200 gr. Speer Hot Core and 200 gr. Nosler. The .2270 loads use the same powder charge and the .300 likewise with the appropriate loads. In both cases, groups run .75" or less. If I were to mix and match three shots of each load the groups will usually run 1,5" or slightly less. The load work in three .270 rifle and four .300 Win. Mags. I won't give the loads because the powder, Winchester's WMR has been discontinued for quite a few years now.

Getting back to the 30-06, I'd look at the 180 gr. Sierra Pro-Hunter or Game King and the 180 gr. Nosler Partition. I haven't tried this in the 06 because WMR flat out does not work in the 30-06 case. It's fine in the .270, 280 and .300 WM but is a disaster in the 06. Also, my 30-06 has a 1 in12" twist and does not like 180 gr. bullets. I have tried WMR in a Remington 700 BDL but no workee. Anyway, I think that's a reasonable method for a one gun hunter big game rifle. Fairly cheap practice with the cup and core bullet which also serves for deer sized game and the premium bullet for elk, bear and other large animals.
Paul B.

If you are hunting in Timber you couldn't go wrong with a .358 Winchester or something (14 or 141 Remington ) in .35 Remington . In more open country I'd use my Kimber 84 in .325 WSM with 150 gr bullets for Deer and the 200 grainers for Elk. You can easily kill both with a .243 and 87-100 gr bullets as long as your shot placement is good but I would rather have a bit more thump for the Elk .

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I’m really have trouble how him thinking any 6.5 was a ‘big’ gun vs a 270, wasn’t an immediate red FLAG?

He didn't tell me no, he just asked if I had a heavier rifle. He absolutely hated the 270 WSM (it was the bullets they used, of course). But after some campfire coffee I found out he guided alot of rich guys from California (they were paying 8K to 12K for bulls on this ranch!), so there's that. ha. His 6.5/300 was a real flat shooter is why he liked it. I wanted to get my 300WM bloody anyhow, but like I said, I popped my cow at "maybe" 100yds eyeballing it. ha

Different people have varing opinions as to what constitutes a deer/elk rifle. I was given such a rifle years ago by a friend living in Chicago, Ill. He in turn had been given it by an older gentleman living and hunting near Cripple Creek, Col. That hunter had used it for years in that role. I was a bit surprised, as the rifle was an1891 "sporterized" Mauser in 7.65x53. Wore a Redfield Peep, ramp front sight, and had seen some use.

the rifle was an1891 "sporterized" Mauser in 7.65x53. Wore a Redfield Peep, ramp front sight, and had seen some use.[/quote]

I saw one of those as a kid in Texas ('67 I believe), it was full military. The firing pin had broke and no one could help the guy find a replacement, not even the local gunsmith. We lived 50+ miles from Houston or Beaumont, so the guy never took it to a shop there (he was another kid, like all os us then, no money for nothing). I think that round compared to our 308.

Guess I'l never understand the Creedmoor, bought one and still don't get it. When you hunt Elk bring enough rifle! It'll work when thing go right, but when things go wrong............as they sometimes do.