Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Standard Cartridges for Elk

Boreas -

IMHO the .30-06 is more than "enough gun" for shots on elk out to 300 yards. Load it up with good 180g bullets and practice until you know where it shoots and you can place the bullet where you want from field positions. None of the elk I've taken with my 7mm Mag and 160g Grand Slams would have survived a 180g .30-06 bullet in the same place, and there haven't been any that a .30-06 couldn't have reached.

For quartering away shots I would prefer a controlled expansion bullet like (in no particular order) the Barnes TSX, Swift A-Frame, North Fork, or Speer Trophy Bonded. All of the aforementioned have bonded cores except the TSX which is solid copper. I haven't tried the Swift Scirroco bullets (also bonded) but I think they would be excellent. The Nosler Partion is a proven performer as are the Speer Grand Slams. I'm not sold on the Nosler Accubond or Hornady Interbond for elk-sized game, but they will probably perform very well at .30-06 velocities.

Standard cartridges work fine, but the exotic cartridges sound better around the campfire.

I think RemFan put it down right. Have you noticed that the gunwriters in the mags, all seem to start shooting and dropping down to submagnums after they get older, extolling the virtues of these.

This Forum is a great source of information and I sure have learned a lot from it.

Shrike, I am surprised that Wholesale hasn't reoppened yet. I thought they were just going to shut down over Christmas so they could get their inventory moved. In all honesty, I haven't set foot in their store for a few months now. I get all of my components from P&D. They're ever so slightly more expensive but they have their components in the open so if you want several boxes of bullets from the same lot you can get them. Sometimes at Wholesale, if I ask for the same lot number I get a balnk stare. Sorry about the above comments, I don't usually plug businesses but those folks seem to be real nice and helpful.

What have I learned from this thread/ Wity MY kind of hunting needs, I can confidently take my 30/06 and 180 or 200 partitions. I am only confident in my ability to accurately (12 inch circle 95% of the time) place shots at 200 to 225 from a sitting position and prone with a backpack out to maybe 250 to 300. At those distances I should have time to get steady or find a rest and pass if I can't do either.

I won't miss that extra 50 yards of range with my 338 Win mag or its 9# weight. The nice thing about being old is that you don't have to be ashamed of admitting that you can't do something.

For aobut 15 years I hunted EVERTHING w/ a .338. Now I hunt w/ .25/06 or .270. All I can say is "less filling, tastes great".

You have to use what pleases you(as long as it is legal) weather or not it pleases someone else is a moot point. tom

Tom, I would hunt elk with everything you have listed and several you don't have listed. -- no <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Well, I bought an elk rifle. It's a Sako M995 TRGS, and yes, it's a magnum. It's a 30-378 Weatherby magnum! I don't know if I can kill anything with it but it does have maximum campfire value. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> A table at the latest gun show had 2 of them. Supposedly, 2 guys had a gunsmith sight them in, took them out west to shoot elk, and never finished the first box of ammo. The bore looks pristine. I got it for $550 including a set of extremely high Sako scope mounts.

Anybody know anything about this rifle? I haven't found much on the web. I never heard of it until I found these 2 at the gun show. My buddy got upset with me because I just had to 1-up his new 300 Win Mag Savage. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I would guess that if ever there was a gun that needed "hard" bullets, this is it. I doubt the average 180 grain plastic tipped bullet will penetrate an elk shoulder at 3500 fps. I bought a box of factory Weatherby ammo with 180 grain X-bullets. At $86.95 per box, that is the LAST box of factory ammo I will buy. The RCBS dies were only $25.

If it shoots well (don't know yet) I should be able to aim dead-on an elk out to 400 yards. That's why I bought the fire-breathing dragon in the first place. The muzzle flash is downright impressive. The recoil is significant, but tolerable. If you can shoot a 3-inch mag 12 gauge, you can certainly shoot this thing. I would compare it to a 3-1/2 inch 12 gauge, but nothing I've shot compares to the recoil of those things.

I was reading this thread .. hmmmmmm

I was reading this thread .. hmmmmmm
if you can kill a elk with sharp pointed stick slingers (bow and
arrows) then with proper placement most anything should kill
one ... I was planing to use a savage 99 in 358win for 0 to
200yrd hunting this fall .. now I guess I'll have to reconsider
my options and buy a bow :-) .. so how does a bow figure
into the "whatever point the energy falls below that figure is
that cartridge's practical limit" .. {just spoofing ya'll}

Talon <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Rogue, I really do not know how you and other outfitters like you can tolerate some of the hunters you have to work with. All of the effort it takes to put someone in the position to make a shot and have them blow it simply because they never practice with their rifle. I have been on several guided hunts and I understand the pressure that can be on the hunter. You are in a strange land, planned long for the trip, spent considerable money and it all comes down to one shot. I am an average shot but I do make sure my gear is in good condition, make sure that I am in reasonable shape and practice, practice, practice. So far, I have enjoyed great luck on my traveling hunting adventures. I now "guide" my kids deer hunting and I am beginning to see what it takes from a guides perspecitive, at least a little. I work hard to put them into position for a shot and it is a real thrill when they connect.

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seriously... common...
serious LR Elk Rifle. no, no, no,no.. this is not long range and the whole energy ft lb thing is pretty rediculous inside of 500 yards. Keep in mind Mr. Boddington has to and cannot say certain things. After all it is for a magazine and we all know how much truth is in rags and newspapers.
2000 ft lbs is not a min. for Elk. Accuracy is more important than anything. Bullet and bullet placement play as much of an important roll as do the power of a rifle. I personally wouldn't hunt Elk with a 243. because the bullets are way to light but that doesn't mean I need a 416 Rigby either.
Use a rifle that you can shoot accuratly to 500 yards and posess' enough energy to drive your choice of bullet into the boiler room taking into consideration you may have to go through bone to get there.
If you buy a HUGE magnum caliber and you cannot shoot it accuratly, you have a very expensive garden stake. Likewise if you buy a very light caliber and cannot get to the boiler room you now have 2 very expensive garden stakes.

use common sense.

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