Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting New rifle for 1st Elk / Mule deer hunt

Mule Deer, unlike some of the altruistic members here, SLM, giving back to multiple youth hunters. I’ve brought several first timers doing my small part but have to admit I’ve never seen an elk killed with less than a 30-06. Since I believe in use enough gun it would be a little hypocritical to encourage less.

Most youngsters & inexperienced women need to limit recoil & also shooting distances.

My 12 year old grandson was able to hit elk vitals targets at 600 yards with his 06 before he went - the youngest I’ve taken. I did train 115 lb woman archer how to shoot rifles for a competitive TV hunting show. She was able to handle my light Remington Classic 375 H&H shooting a charging Buffalo target so some women can handle heavy recoil. She did make one shot kills on Oryx & Audad- a 270 was used on those 2.

Recoil shy hunters should shoot what they can handle. My son hates the recoil from a 300 weatherby, used my braked 7mm for elk & hunts deer with a 243. He’s seen elk run off public land so when it was time to buy an elk gun he bought a 300 Win mag but put a muzzle brake on it.

First son in law is adding a muzzle brake to his 300 Weatherby but won’t give up that thump & stop that he never got shooting his 7 mag.

If you think 257 is an elk gun - use it. I’ll stick to 30-06 & larger even if I have to add brakes, lead weights & special recoil pads as I get older.

You said it all... The next ranch over. Called private land. I have no problem with it, but it is a different hunt.

Then get the 300!

And those that base cartridge preference on "numbers" (in this case ft lbs energy) usually have the least amount of game experience with a variety of cartridges. In an effort at controlling the wild world, males typically want to reduce everything to some sort of mathematical formula, but it's funny how life (and in this case death/lethality) just doesn't fit in those neat little boxes.

Better to shoot something you're familiar and comfortable with. A good bullet in the right place will kill any elk that ever walked.

After 51 years of deer hunting & 22 years of elk hunting I haven’t com close to killing nearly as many 1/4 large creatures as I’ve killed squirrels with a 22. But when it comes to killing effectively my 17 HMR is much better. It’s a lighter faster smaller diameter projectile. But that extra speed & horsepower translates to about double the effective range and drastically more tissue damage. At closer ranges 12 gauge birdshot is better than either. The better tools cost much more per shot when it comes to ground squirrels.

When it comes to elk hunting the price difference between a 257, 243, 270 and some kind of 300 magnum is minuscule for a hand loader & tiny for premium factory ammo so I’ll use the more efficient tools every time for elk. Deer are a different story since all the smaller rifles do very well.

Cheaper by far to zap them with a reusable arrow but sadly ground squirrels are beyond my archery skills & elk way too tasty to use less efficient methods.

The most "efficient" rifle for elk is the one you're comfortable with and shoot well, not a new rifle you're unfamiliar with, which has increased recoil.

And recoil absolutely enters into it... those that don't think so are deluded.

specneeds,

Am not surprised that you admit to never seen an elk killed with a cartridge smaller than the .30-06, apparently because you knew everything about "appropriate" cartridges before you ever hunted elk.

and there you have it......

It doesn't take long reading this thread to see who has or hasn't killed more than a few elk in their career. There are a lot of elk hunters, but only a few guys who actually kill elk on a really regular basis. I count myself somewhere in the middle but after watching enough people who I shoot with and talk to about elk and deer hunting on a pretty regular basis I know a few things. The guys who shoot a lot for some reason seem to be the guys who take elk and other game on a regular basis and the guys who are familiar with their rifles are especially efficient at taking care of business. The one thing that they have in common is they don't shoot high recoiling rifles all the time for practice. At the range, heavy recoil is detrimental to getting familiar with your rifle. If after a few shots you don't really want to shoot any more with that rifle, it pretty much ensures you won't be sure of your shot in the field.

I'm pretty much not recoil shy but I have my limits- which I found were in the 375 H&H area for range work... and for years I kept plugging along at the range with my 338 WM, 300 H&H AI, 300 WM, etc... knowing someday I would need to shoot across canyons or winter wheat fields to collect my elk. In 48 years of hunting elk that has happened 3 times in total. To be honest I convinced myself that I couldn't have made those shots with any lesser cartridges and still wonder to this day if the ballistics of a lesser cartridge would have reaped the benefits of those magnum rounds at 600 yards or there about... after watching several of my buddies and my brother drop down to lighter cartridges in the 30-06/270 class, I started to question my choices. No doubt the magnums have been very effective, but they didn't really give me any end result a smaller cartridge wouldn't have knowing my ballistics as I did the magnums.

I have to laugh now after reading this thread that my answer to my question was to build a new rifle in 26 Nosler and shoot the 140 Grain Accubonds as a do-it-all rifle. In the couple years I have hunted with it I've had opportunity to shoot one spike elk and it dropped in its tracks. It may take a few years to find out how effective my new "smaller" rifle is, but I still wouldn't have a problem going up or down in cartridge horsepower to hunt deer, elk, bears, or just about anything any more... I have hunted elk a couple times with my 270 with no opportunities and deer with a 25-06, 30-06, 270, and a 300 mag, all with about equal results on game.

It is evident there is no right or wrong to this argument and it will go on long after we are gone. But I am convinced a lot of "smaller" cartridges are quite capable of taking any game in North America in capable hands. And are easier for recoil sensitive shooters to master in a shorter time. So, the question is- if you can recommend a 270/25-06/243/6.5 CM/7-08 etc.. for a child or woman to shoot elk/deer/bears with, why isn't it sufficient for a man to hunt with?

If you can’t comfortably shoot a rifle with more recoil than a 30-06 don’t.

Assuming everyone has the same limitations shooting a hard kicker a few times at game & a few dozen rounds in preparation is rather small minded. It’s apparently in fashion to shoot smaller rounds at animals 2-4X the size of a deer.

My average shots at 24 elk over 20 years is just under 300 yards & less than 400 yards from a private boundary. For what I’m doing a 300 Weatherby is a better tool than a 257,270 etc. I seldom do more than a 20 round box of those in a year & can’t think that harms my accuracy or gives me a flinch. But for those of you wanting to insist that less is more hopefully you have the restraint to stay within your rifles limitations.

OMG these threads make my head explode. Lots of opinions not supported by experience.
Note: reading ballistic charts isn’t experience.

Your 257 Wby is just fine, actually a pretty good choice. Use great bullets.

Rusty - You must be pumped & wondering all sorts of things related to preparedness for Elk hunting must be going thru your mind!

If you ‘want’ a bigger rifle get it - you don’t need one tho. Elk hunting is super big mental game and it’s more important to bring a rifle that you don’t have to worry about shooting well without thinking about it. I’d put more emphasis on the durability & function of your current rifle if it were me.

I’d put way more thought into personal conditioning, clothing layers, boots, binos & sleep systems - put a TTSX into that sweet quarter-bore and spend your money on the stuff that will minimize the physical & mental burdens.

Elk are just big ole deer - noting more. However they are WAY more intense to hunt because of their habits and the terrain they occupy.

Let us know how your hunt goes & save the ivories!

Have to throw in my two cents worth - maybe a different perspective given that I have always lived in elk country (south central MT). Have shot quite a few elk over the years with a bunch of different calibers, not because I thought something larger or smaller was needed, but because using different rifles is the fun of it for me. Last four years I shot a cow with a 7x64, 5x5 bull with a .270 Win, 6x7 bull with a .300 H&H & this most recent fall a 5x5 bull with a .416 based on a .325 case. Didn’t feel under-gunned with any of them. Pick your shot, use a decent bullet, & shoot the rifle you are comfortable with. Will say that I probably won’t use the .416 again, was a broadside lung shot at maybe 125 yds & he ran farther than any of them. 350 gr Speer, don’t think it ever slowed down. Wasted a lot of energy somewhere on the exit side. Hunting parter thought I missed based on the reaction of the elk. Found it maybe 75 yards off in the timber. Hunting partners comment? “Maybe there is such a thing as too much gun”. Not saying I have all the answers, but have killed a truckload of them in the last 40 years & really believe the hunter with a rifle he is comfortable with, with decent bullets, regardless of the caliber, is on the right track.

Great post. As is yours POC..

I agree with Rick as well. Burn some ammo in that 257 with great bullets and you’ll never know you weren’t using a 270

Here's a photo of a buddy of mine on a hunt we did together a decade ago. It was his first elk, taken with one shot from his .257 Weatherby Magnum, using a "primitive" 120-grain Nosler Partition--which exited. The bull made it 75 yards before falling--but only because it was on a very steep slope, and headed downhill until it ran head-on into a big Douglas fir, obviously dead on its feet.

Barely kilt him

Good bull for a first or even a 10th in my book.

Nosler Partitions still work these days? 😜

My horn obsessed brother would say you'd need either a 300 WM or 5 rounds from a .30-06 to take that bull.

Why? 'Cause it took him 5 rounds ...

If you can’t find CoreLokts they’ll do in a pinch

A 100gr Core-Lokt in .243 is devastating on elk and mule deer as far as I'm concerned. I've killed one of each with a .243 and neither one took a step. Personally I don't care to shoot a rifle with a muzzle brake, the only thing worse than the added noise is the residue - dust being blown around. Putting some trigger time in with whatever your going to hunt with is the key to success.