Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting What is your rifle of choice this season

Can’t make it this year but if I was going, I’d be carrying my 700 Stainless Mountain Rifle shooting 180 Accubonds over 58 grs of H4350 😁

I took my VZ-24 in 8X57. It was loaded with 175 gr Sierra Pro Hunters at ~2,800 or so fps.

Two weeks ago I shot a Canadian moose with my .300 Weatherby and my 180 gr Barnes TTSX handloads. I brought home 3/4 of the meat which filled my freezer and the freezer of my garage refridgerater. I have Montana elk and deer tags, but I think that my season is over because I'm out of freezer space and I don't hunt to give the meat away.

Another happy .270 wcf user, Browning B78
150 or 160 Partition's pushed along with RL 26.
I do carry a .450 Marlin BLR takedown to for 2nd and third loads...and a Norinco 12 gauge takedown is always in my pack, It looks sawed off ,legal in Canada and not in the USof A
Others, Browning bolt action 30/06 FN
Browning BLR takedown .270 wcf
Remington 700, 25/06...using partitions.

Im pretty sure I made up my mind lol. My Winchester 338 stainless classic in a Brown precision stock dual dovetail rings and bases, loaded with 210 partitions @ 2940 fps. 5 shots into a inch. Honestly usually shoot just 3 but did the 5 yesterday and added a 6th 225 into the same group. Multiple 3 shot groups under the inch mark yesterday. I have been hunting that rifle since the early to mid 90’s. It works.
Back up thoughts are a Browning 7mag shooting a 140 Barnes TTSX at 3000 fps the scope is probably a little big for a scabbard on a horse.
Or a 300 Weatherby with 180 Nosler BT’s.

Seems like a lot of guys are still toting big iron for elk.

I got it done last week in Wyoming with a Tikka T3x .30-06 w/ 1:11 twist. 57.0 gr IMR-4350 and 165 NAB. 1st shot at 330 yds was a solid hit. 2nd shot at 350 put him down. 7x6 bull. Almost went with the 165 TGK which shot slightly better, but went with a bullet I have some history with.

I like to hit elk hard. I always have or try out beforehand a stout cartridge. I've killed only four cows out here in 20 yrs (different reasons) My first was a 23" 30-06 with Hornady LM 180SP (going 300 H&H speed) 2nd was 375 H&H 300 Sierra ( was headed to South Africa later and wanted to see what the Sierra did.) It was too soft, opened too fast/made 5" exit wound. too much bs meat I dropped back to 270gr Fail Safe factory loads. 3rd was with a 338WM/185 Barnes, last was a 300WM/175 LRX. I am currently going to wring out a new to me Weatherby Mark V Ultra Lightweight in 338-06. I will focus on 200-210s first before a 185-210 mono.
My back-up minimum for me is a 25" barreled 7x57 with 160 Partition. My 'close range, timber" minimum is a 30-30 Ackley Improved with warm 170 Speers or 190 Hawk. With both I would pass on anything but a High Shoulder( would expect to anchor if not kill outright) or both lungs shot. No hard angles.

It’s the same rifle I’ve used for the last 30 years.
A model 70 featherweight classic in 35 whelen built by Matt Stewart. It sure ain’t one of those long range 6.5 thingy’s but it hits elk with a 225gr Partition at 2750 fps.
I shot a 5x5 yesterday and it looked like he got hit by a concrete truck! Dropped right where he was hit-
60 feet to one side and he would have gone over the edge of the mountain and I would need a helicopter to retrieve him !!

I’ll be packing my Remington 700 in 338 win mag., shooting a 225 Accubond.

Might switch up after a couple days to my Remington 725 in 30-06 shooting a 165 Interlock.

Already added one notch more on my old .300 win mag. It his been killing elk since 1973. Used a 165 Accubond this year at 426 yards.

Something in the .280 - 7rem mag - 30-06 range.

First two Rugers a tang safety and a hawkeye the third 'sporterized' 1917 Enfield

Vari-x II 3-9x40, VX-III 2.5-8x40 I think and a hawk 4-12x40 AO

I may have done something un-american by not ever killing an elk with a 30-06..... Trying to change that this year with the ol' Enfield and 165 gr. btips.

I've been asking myself this question. Kinda like asking myself what type shot opportunity will I have.
I've eliminated my long range rifle from consideration.
7 mag BLR maybe. It should have been retired or rebuilt years ago. Barrel is shot out, it has seen so much weather and the finish is so bad that the action will rust shut if we have a week of rain - or less. I carried it so many seasons that it feels like an appendage of my body. Killed over four dozen big game animals.
or
New .308. Never killed nothin' but shoots nice groups. It's light and the recoil doesn't beat the bejezus out of my arthritic bones.

Looks like I'll be taking my 338 WSM. Winchester M70 stainless classic with a Hart barrel. It ships a 215 gr Sierra Game King at 2890. I hope I get a chance to try it out!

Since 1975 its been a 340 Weatherby MK V.

My son got his first Elk late yesterday evening, a cow. Using a T-C Icon in 243, Kahles 3.5x10x50, using handloaded 80gr Barnes TTSX.

Head-on shot at about 240-245yds, and she went down so fast we thought he missed. Bullet broke the left shoulder, punched through the left lung (it was shredded) and was somewhere in the intestines. I don't think she wiggled.
I was hesitant for him to shoot, it is a 243 after all, and it is an elk at 240yds facing us, but the bullet was placed right and the Barnes did what a Barnes does, and that's kill stuff.

Me, I had been using a Harrington & Richardson Ultra Rifle in 270, since about 1970, until my Dad gave me his much used Model 70 in 30-06 in 2002, shortly before he passed away. So now, the 270 is the 'light' duty gun and the 30-06 is for big stuff.

130gr Barnes TTSX in the 270 and 168gr TTSX in the '06. I can't tell any difference in killing ability.

Older model 700 .06 that’s been customized, it really likes 180gr nosler partitions and the partitions perform well.

Osky

Edited to add I’ve a young lady coming out who will be taking her first elk and mule deer using a tuned up Tikka .243 with 100gr Core-Lokt rounds.

My first choice is a nice Mannlicher Schoenhauer 30-06 1952 and a 1952 Win 70 lightweight 30-06. The Mannlicher is a rich man’s gun but trust me I’m not, it was just a good trade for a couple Rem 600’s in 350 mag and 6 Rem. My other is a Rem Mtn Rifle KS in 30-06 AI. Before I traded my 600 350mag it was my favorite

Rick

Watched a bull taken cleanly with a 28 Nosler at 800 yards Saturday. That was a first.

Punched my tag last weekend in CO, used my 7mm Mashburn with 160gr Accubonds. Punched him in the boiler room from 400yds. He walked around in a circle so I put second one into his shoulder and that was it.