Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting What 30 cal bullet w/ minimum velocity for elk?

AZ Southpaw,

Thanks so very much. I never even met my dad until I was 16. I swore I'd never allow that to happen with my two daughters. Always stayed in contact, either by phone or in person. It has paid off. My relationship with them is fantastic, much to the chargrin of my ex and, sorry to say, current spouse.

Thanks to all who have put forth their suggestions. I'm totally set up for 30-06 (brass and dies) and with the availability of the 150 Partitions and my uddles of H4895, I think I can find a suitable load.

Now, I just need to figure out whether or not to buy "new" and get the X-Mark trigger or go "older but new" for about $45 less.

I'm listening!

Ditto, and if forced to pick I'd go with a 150 Horn flat base and rock on.

Dober

GSSP,

No arguments with the other posters. However, I would have your daughter spend a lot of time with a 22 rifle first to build the foundation skills. It would be great if she could take an intermediate step up to a 243 or 25-06, or a similar caliber, just as a confidence builder (maybe you could borrow one from a friend just for practice). And prior to her hunting, she needs to know that she can hit accurately at 200 to 250 yards.
A range finder will help with boosting confidence when the time comes.

All of the loading information that has been discussed is good. But the real key is shot placement. I have killed elk with a great variety of calibers and bullet styles, but the most important aspect is shot placement.

We were living in northwest Colorado when my daughter turned 12, so we did antelope, elk and deer that first year. She killed her antelope at 163 yards, her elk at 80 yards and her buck at 110 yards. All hits were one shot kills - it's all about shot placement. She is now 24 and she comes home every year for hunting season. We have shared the start of a tradition with lots of love and many memories.

Good luck!

SD Hunter

Though it has nothing to do with 30 caliber check the 6mm remington for elk posting just a few lines down from this one it has a lot of food for thought. Congrats on your daughter.

I've loaded the Hornady 165 gr bt interloc to velocities running from about 2600 fps to just touching 3000, in the 308 and 3006. Its never failed to kill elk clean and quick,bulls or cows.
If you end up getting your daughter a 308 or an 06 , loading either one down into 300 savage ballistics is no real problem and should proove effective on any elk she decides to shoot.

You might want to re-think the "Youth" sized stock, check the fit for her while she's wearing a heavy coat as she would be wearing on the hunt, and consider putting a nice thick LimbSaver pad on it for her, just might make the fit JUST RIGHT!

I have been told that sheep hunters like the 130 TSX in their light weight .308 mountain rifles. I would think that the 130 grain bullet would work very well for deer and antelope as well. I don't reload so I'm certainly no expert.

A Partition is never a bad choice and would be nice to have if she shoots a big elk through the shoulder knuckle or something.

Congrats on being a good dad. My daughter is now 13. I was hoping this would be the year, but she's still just too hormonal and in trouble with the law (me) enough that the gun training needed to stop for a while...

I am very late to this thread, so if you've already decided then ignore this...I've used the 130 TSX quite a bit in my -06. I would load that bullet in a heartbeat for any deer or elk at which I could keep the impact velocity above 2000fps. It is deadly and gives the least recoil for the most return in terminal ballistics.

The shot BC for me is around .350 or so.

30/06 shooting an 165 Grain Nostler Partician or some other premium bullet for both deer, elk, bear or whatever other game and you'll do just fine.

+1 on the 30-06. i shoot it with 150 ttsx over 57 grs of imr4350 on my full power load. i also shot BLC(2) 44grs at 2400 fps and it was plenty accurate. or you could just buy those remington managed recoil loads. they shoot well too.

I have to chime in on this one. 2 years ago my girlfriend did the same thing with hunting and the Tikka T3 lite in a 300 WSM and a SIMS pad on it was the perfect fit for her and she really liked it. She's a normal built and about 5'6".

It comes in a wood/stainless version. We stick to 150-165 bullets and she shoots it all day and has fun. Plus it gives you room to load from .308 win velocities through '06 to the full big 300 status.