Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Honest elk rifle opinion.

Unless you want to shoot at game over 500yds the high BC type bullets and newer cartridges really don't offer much over the old standbys. Take a 30/06 loaded with a good bullet of your choosing and you will kill elk quite handily out to 400yds.

As mentioned already, I think boots, optics, packs, fitness, etc, have a much bigger impact on success/enjoyment than the rifle, cartridge, bullet rabbit hole if one is on a public land DIY type hunt.

Most elk are killed with a bone stock rifle, whatever scope the guy behind the counter suggests and whatever cartridges are available at the local gun store.

If I were going elk hunting tomorrow, I would choose one of the three you mentioned. I'd probably go 7mm because: a.) it's super close to a 30-06; b.) I've only killed one elk that I can remember with a 7mm where I've used the other two on several.

400yds? Any cartridge from .243 and up. Hell some would say .223 77gr tmk and up.....

I've gotten to the point where I worry less about the caliber and more about getting in shape and "keeping after it" on the hunt.

If you can't kill it with one of those, it likely can't be killed at all. They're kind of the big 3 when it comes to elk calibers. Sure there are lots of others that will kill elk, but dead's dead and any of those 3 will get it dead.

A nice, trim 300WM/165-200gr 2.5x8 or 3x9 scope. There ya go! OTOH A handloaded 200gr in your 30-06 is one humdinger of a big game round...just saying. I personally don't care for the 7mm RM UNLESS I can get them to really shoot the Nosler 160! Have fun pard!

Any of those will be fine.

Stick a good bullet, in the right place, and they will die.

Go with what you have. I've hunted since 1981 with my Remington 700--30/06 with a 2.5 x 8 Leupold. Never had a problem killing elk. Instead of a new rifle---I used my money to buy a wall tent, wood stove, cots, camping gear etc. New boots & warm wool clothing helps a bunch. I have also given up handloading. !80 grain plain jane factory ammunition kills elk just as dead as my handloads. My reloads are more accurate but factory ammo is minute of elk.

I started hunting with an 06, and killed my first elk and mule deer in the early 60's. That was my first rifle a 721 Remington, with a Weaver 4 power scope. I killed around 15 elk and 50 deer with that rifle. Somewhere around 1970 i shot a cow elk in central Oregon across a small canyon. I was holding high and broke her knee on her near and far leg, when she went down. I recreated that same scenario a couple of years later, only the bull walked away. I then purchased a post 64 Model 70 in 300 WM, for the grand sum of $150 with a 3X9 Leupold, and went hunting. The scope eventually morphed into a Zeiss with a elevation turret. I have yet to shoot under an elk with that rifle , with the longest shot being 540 yards. Today's scopes and affordable range finders have really been a boon to today's hunter. They allow shots well beyond anything that we imagined in my early days. Where I hunt, most shots are football fields away ( lots of yards) and are done from a prone position with a magnum rifle. Two years ago a young hunter in our group made a one shot kill at over 600 yards, the next day another bull fell at nearly the same range, with a 06. My nearest shot in the last few years was at 200 or so, longest at 410, both with a 280AI. Bullet placement is probably the most critical factor, but right behind it, is energy, the more the batter.

No matter how many cartridges you chase over your hunting career, you’ll wind up back where you began in the end.

I started with a 308 in 78, went thru over two dozen “next best things” & now I much prefer my 308. You cannot deny the capability of the 30-06.

How about a Kimber Hunter in 280 AI? Nice and light, good B.C on the bullets.

I personally bought a 338WM for elk. Had to put the hunt off, but still have the rifle haha.

I started out elk hunting with a .308 Win, the only center fire rifle that I owned at the time. It did work but I went bigger and smaller over the years, finally landing on .308 Holland & Holland Improved that coincidentally chambers just fine in a .300 Weatherby rifle…..🤣

well a lot of what has been said is true.myself when hunting elk and especially in grizz country i start at a 30 mag.have a 300 win and dakota.years ago when i hunted grizz in british columbia where there were and still are some large grizzlies,i stepped up to the 338.99% chance wont be needed.but grizz are no joke.i like myself and my family.good hunting to all.

Under 400 yards your 30-06 with a good bullet will certainly work. I love my 7mm RM and bought it specifically to be able to hunt elk 20 years before I actually got to go. It’s a nice elk gun loaded with 150 grain TTSX good to 500 yards without too much wind. After I tried a 300 Weatherby I’m a huge fan & not going back to the 7mm any time soon.

Agree that great boots & pack are a bigger improvement on your enjoyment of the hunt but having a rifle you know will do the job is great feeling when you finally get to pull the trigger.

Absolutely buy another rifle. It is always the answer.

My personal favorite elk rifle cartridge is a 338-06. Have killed/witnessed elk put in the freezer with 243 to 375 calibers. They all worked.

If I owned a couple of .30-06’s, I think I would work up a 175 LRX or 180 Terminal Ascent or similar heavy high BC bullet for a long barreled rifle and a 130 gr TTSX load for the lightest one for deer hunting. Problem solved!

Or just shoot a 180 gr NP and be done with it. Near to far. Big to small. No problemo if one can shoot.

I’m going stick my neck out and say that the .270 Win & the 7mm Mag are not very different. I think the 30-06 is a tick more versatile with modern powders & bullets. If I had to choose, I’d grudgingly go with a 30-06 knowing that I love the .270 Win and have killed with it more than any other chambering without fuss - it’s just so shootable & effective that I keep coming back. Again, my words apply to if I were choosing ONE rifle. Fortunately I have not had to make such torturous decisions.

Rationale: The 200gr Nosler Partition was my final thought point in determining where I think differences would be. I don’t know how to describe it but an ‘06 with a 200gr Nosler Partition is truly something very special in the game fields of North America.

I think the same thing about a 7x57 for deer hunting with a medium heavy bullet at not-too-fast velocity.