Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting What do you consider minimum cartridge for elk?

308 with a very good 180 gr bullet

Scirrocco comes to mind

Someone here posted an outfitter’s notes from the 40’s or 50’s here a few years ago. It was a list of hunters, what kind of elk they shot, what they shot it with, and maybe how many shots it took.

It was interesting to look back and see what people were using when the 30/06 was a big gun. Many references to the 30/30 and the 250 and 300 Savage IIRC.

The question is what percentage of shots are you willing to not take -or- what percentage of shots are you willing to try despite a fairly high chance of a screw up and cripple? I have hunted with cartridges as small as the .257 Roberts recognizing that there would be shots I'd happily take with a .300 win mag that I was going to have to pass on with the Roberts. That puts the .257 into the stunt category, not because it won't work, but because it increases the chances of having tag soup at the end of the season if I restrict myself to "ethical" shots.

I think the yardstick you are describing is the .270 Win with 150 or 160 grain bonded or partition bullets or the 7mm-08 or 7x57 with 140 grain or heavier bonded or partition bullets.

I guess it would depend on distance. I have seen 4 cow Rosie's drt with my 7-08 and barns 140. The shots were 200 yards and in. By young hunters. These were big mature cows. Where we hunt in Western Oregon you don't get many really long distance shots. I have a friend who has killed 25 plus bulls with a 270 and 130 grain partition.

There are definitely some themes in this thread. The 7-08 and 270 being one of them. Or the Poor Mans 6.5 PRC <G>

Got all 3 of my rifles ready to go - 308, 270, 338 Fed. - gen purpose, longish range, thumper. Or really whichever I have in my hand at the time.

Entrance wound shooting a 108eldm out of a .243ai.

Exit wound with a 108eldm at 200yds. Oh shiet it didn't exist and the off side shoulder didn't even get blood shot. A 108eldm isn't a bullet I'd choose for shooting elk.

Looks like a dead Elk to me.YMMV Rio7

I’ve carried a 7-08 elk hunting when I had “bigger” rifles in camp so I guess that’s my minimum.

For an any-bull hunt I really care about I’d keep it at 7 WSM on up. The “up” would be my .338 and I’d carry that for a change of luck or if I knew I was gonna be in thicker denser vegetation that day. Otherwise, I’m fine with 7 WSM.

I haven’t hunted Roosevelt’s in the Coast Range here… that would be interesting. They get really big, and the CR vegetation is a jungle. Might go 338 there, but if what I had was my 7 WSM in my hands… or my 30-06… I would lose any sleep.

Here's a photo of a cow Eileen took in 2014 with the .257 Roberts and a 100-grain Barnes TTSX. Obviously the country is timbered, so shots weren't going to be long--and it was mid-September, so they weren't moving much except during early morning and late evening. It took us four days to figure out their pattern, and the shot came close to last legal light.

The cow was angling away at 123 yards, and crumpled at the shot. I was somewhat surprised, as expected it to go maybe 50 yards before falling. But the bullet entered the middle of the right ribs, and ended up in the left shoulder--and between those two points it had gone through both lungs, and because the elk was angling uphill, it also ticked the bottom of the spinal column not far behind the shoulders. Which is why it dropped right there. Its head flopped a couple times, but otherwise it didn't move.

Have seen too many other big game animals taken with "stunt" cartridges to believe it was a fluke--both in North America and Africa. Probably the biggest "stunt" was a kudu bull killed with one shot from a .22-250 with a 55-grain soft-point through the heart. It went maybe 75 yards after the shot--and was shot while running by my hunting partner, a former U.S. Army sniper instructor.

If the bullet expands and penetrates sufficiently through the vitals, then they're dead.

Cool. I'll be sure to report back my experience.

What was the distance of the shot and starting muzzle velocity? Also, what killed the elk, just out of curiosity?


(Ps, are you sure you don't have the pics flipped...entrance vs exit?)

To answer the OP, whatever centerfire rifle I happened to have in my hands at the time I saw said elk in a place I could legally kill it. Yes, I'd happily shoot an elk in the lungs with a 55gn soft-point from a 223 which is the smallest centerfire rifle I own. I'd expect it to get sick and wilt in <10sec just like deer do.

If the crowbar was 2-3#, you don't have to get 14,000-21,000 grains going super-fast to do the job.

What do you figure the live weight of this critter was?

I'm pretty new to elk hunting and I've only killed a few but so far I like my 358 WSM. Elk don't like it at all... This year I might take a 338 WSM if I get it up and running in time.

The only Elk I ever killed was a Cow. We don't see many Elk in Texas. She succumbed to a 140 TTSX from 7 Weatherby Magnum. The round was not necessary but happened to be the only available rifle I had "up & running" at the time. I was much more impressed with bullet performance than any other aspect of the hunt. Oddly, I am not a fan of using the TTSX's. I don't use them. I was simply testing them then.

My minimum cartridge choices would be either a 280 Remington or 308 Winchester.

While I am a fan of the .243 and think it will kill an Elk no problem with a good shot and the proper bullet I would not use anything less than the .358 Winchester on an Elk. That is of what I already own. What I would use that is not minimum would be my Kimber in .325 WSM for anything over 200 yards and my Winchester 71 .348 if shots would be reliably 200 yards or under.

My hunting group's weapons of choice have been 270 Win, 308 Win, 30-06 and 7mm Rem Mag. One thing that stand out between those calibers is we all use a 150 grain to 180 grain bullets. We hunt meat so cows are the target, and those weight bullets put them down efficiently. we all are resident hunters but if I was paying for a non-resident license and maybe getting only one shot in a 6-7 day hunt at long range at that nice bull, I sure as hell wouldn't be messing around with a 243.

Probably 6 ARC or 30-30 for me. Wouldn’t feel terribly under gunned with a .357 magnum in a carbine either. I do most of my hunting with a stickbow though, and treat a rifle much the same way.

Was in an place yesterday you'd love to play with that stickbow.

I would not choose to use anything smaller or less capable than a .25-06 / 120 gr. for hunting elk. The various 6.5mms, .270 and light 7mms seem more sensible minimums to me. I've shot a bunch of elk with .308 and bigger, but not many with smaller calibers.