Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 308 or 243AI for elk?

You are ph ucking nuts... any NA hunting?? Pass me a 375 H&H and 300gr TSX please

Bear aren’t that hard to kill in fact…

I have some TSX loaded, but have hundreds of 155 Scenars, the better to practice with.

Thanks Brad. I’m well and trust you are doing well from your posts.

This is sound advise. I should have just started there.

Open sage got me thinking long range.

The 243AI is perfect for deer here, but probably not elk.

Be well, DW.

I guess a .308 with 155 Scenars is not enough to kill cleanly kill elk huh...

A .308 is a marginal caliber for an elk?

Surely I wouldn't turn down an go at that rug if'n all I owned was a 308win. I'd still be in the game. 308 is actually a favorite of mine and I believe the 338 Federal is even better but 308win has the edge on economy and availability so it's somewhat better. It truly is outstanding.

David.

The 155 Scenar from a .308 is a well established elk killer, and accuracy is well known. When I have any doubt, I grab my Tikka .308 and 155 Scenars.

MS

Calm down delta force.. please don’t post a picture of my house and threaten to sneak in and cut my throat.. the point is he’s factoring the bc of the bullet to make best of the west 700yd shots. I’m not questioning if the 308 is marginal, it’s a great round for elk. But will say better choices when it comes to Bullets with a higher bc and the 145gr eld-x has a much higher bc than the 155 scenar. The 143gr eld-x 6.5 has a bc of .643. So if he’s wanting a Bullet with a high bc get a different chambering that allows you to shoot a higher bc bullet. I can think of better .308 Bullets with a higher bc. 178gr eld-x is one. If he needs some I will send him some. Hell I have over 100 308 loaded with 185 juggernauts I send him. Loaded in lapua brass. Loads been used out to a 1000yds in a f class 308.

Oh ok... I didn’t know you had a basement full of kodiak bear rugs my bad.....

There’s two guys posting on here who’ve killed a metric [bleep]-ton of elk with a 308. Big bulls too, I tend to believe that if they say it’s fine, that it is.

Dave I can send you some ready to go I just want my brass back. 185 juggernauts.

+1. I have killed, or seen killed first hand, more than a few elk, deer, and antelope killed by .308’s, 300 WSM’s, 300 Win’s, and even the 6.5 Creedmoor. Good shot placement is the ultimate equalizer. To tell the truth, while butchering a bunch of antelope shot with 30-06’s, a 300 WSM, a 257 Weatherby, and 6.5 Creedmoor, I had a hard time telling what was shot with what. Except, the 257 Weatherby…that was messy.

Saying a .308 anything isn’t enough for elk is pretty funny.

John,

Thanks for the offer but elk season is through next Sunday. I send out for the opener, with all the other thousands on public land, and saw only people.

I’m headed back out this Wednesday and Thursday, likely with the 155
Scenar load.

308 and 155 scenar bullets will kill lots of schit....

Out of your 2 options listed the 308 is the better choice.

Good luck on your hunt

I sorta agree, but would you stay home and give up your tag if that was what you had and it shot well?

A lot elk got 30-30’ed, 300 Savage, 250 Savage, etc back when that’s all a hunter had. I agree maybe there’s better but if you can do the work it probably won’t be the gun that lets you down.

Not arguing a bit but I always ask myself if I had to, I could and I’d just make sure my shots were good angles or as best as I could do. Just like I do with bigger guns as well but I don’t sweat angles quite as much with the bigger, heavier cartridges.

Brian litz tested the 155 scenar (old one) and he got a G1 BC of .459.

https://appliedballisticsllc.com/wp...ng-of-the-Lapua-308-155-grain-Scenar.pdf

I’ve seen to many elk killed with the .243 to say it’s not “enough”.

“Elk hunt” can mean a bunch of different things. If a person asks me if a 243 is enough for elk, I’m going to say absolutely.

If the the same person asked me if I’d use a .243 working thick North slopes or that country the PNW Mafia hunts, I’d say hell no.

In my opinion where I hunt the 308 is a marginal caliber for elk - average shot distance is a little over 300 yards and the canyons that lead to private are steep & shots at animals within 200 yards of the boundary are common so we need to hit & stop elk at 3-400 yards and I’ve seen them travel quite a ways with bullets through both lungs.

But you can kill elk all day long with a 308 inside 400 yards & sometimes stop them in their tracks - I like the extra horsepower for elk. You never know when you are lucky enough to have to anchor a 750 lb bull that already has some adrenaline going.

Hope you find one.