Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Best Elk Cartridge in the World??

Ill vote for 7X57 Ackley shooting 150Gr TTSX.

Another vote for the 300 Wby and the 168 gr TTSX- just plain deadly out as far as one would like to take him!

Bow and arrow, 3006, long shots on the rez aren't a reality unless you work to make it that way, 380 bulls breath on your neck.

Kent

I am going to put in my vote for the 264 Win Mag/ 140 VLD combo. I am really liking the results.

No shots through the paunch on the way to the vitals but hit ribs or shoulders and it does the job at any reasonable range.

Now if I could win this lottery things would be really peachy.

.270, .280, 30-06, and if I absolutely had to take a Mag, it would be a .338 Win.

I would be happy with either of these, and know whichever one I pulled out of the safe would get the job done with the right handload.

Respects,

Richard

PS: Best ELk cartridge in the World????????

Let me see..I have killed Elk with my 270, 30-06 and 300 Weatherby..so I'll vote for my 30-06 loaded to 2800 and shooting 200 grain BBC...max yardage for me would be 400 yards...

I suppose that my 338-378 Wby would cover just about any elk hunting circumstance.

Although for elk hunting in the heavier timbers, my handy 300 WSM compact or maybe my 375 Ruger Alaskan would get that nod.

It would be very hard to define which cartridge could ever be titled as,,,,,,,,the best elk hunting cartridge in the world.

That debate has not, could not, and will never be settled.

I'd prolly take my 300WSM,it's already taken a few nice bulls.

It is built on an Ed Brown action and has a Rimrock stock,neither of which are avaiable now. It also has a 23 inch number two rifle contour barrel from Lilja and a Shilen trigger.It weighs less than seven pounds without a scope and shoots itty bitty groups.

It is also the rifle that taught me that it's better for me not to take shots at big game animals past 500 yards.

It dropped a dandy Gila Bull like a stone at over 800 yards,in the hour necessary to get to him across that canyon,the bull recovered enough to get up.

I never saw him again,he went off public ground and it was over.

Naturally,your mileage may vary.

One thats killes them ,don't matter if big or small what ever works

Likely it has not been invented yet.

Yup.

As long as the bullet gets to and wrecks vital organs/CNS, it doesn't matter what the cartridge is designated.

Repeatable first shot accuracy and utter reliability are WAY more important than caliber. To this GOF, anyways...

John,

Drawing from what I have, and have seen perform, it would be one of two rifles depending on conditions. IE, are we talking demanding, physical, mountain hunting or does this lottery include getting ATV'd to within a mile of where I'm hunting <grin>.

If it's a "normal" elk hunt, in other words very physical, I'd be carrying my M700 XCR in .338 WM, a 3-9 Conquest up top, loaded with 225-gn Accubonds at 2860 fps. This is an extremely accurate rifle and I've practiced extensively with it to 625 yards. I've yet to hear an argument against .338 WM for elk other than recoil. For whatever reasons that's a non-issue for ME with this rifle so there you go.

If, however, it wasn't a physically demanding hunt, I'd carry my M700 Sendero II SF, with a Zeiss 6.5-20x50mm on top, Jewell trigger set to 6 ounces, wingin' 200-gn Accubonds at that same 2860 fps. This is an extremely accurate rifle also and would give me a bit more reach.

It's very unlikely I will be hunting such a tag anytime soon.

In that scenario, it would be my tried and true "Green Bean", a 340 Wby with 210 TSXs at 3100 fps, a little tricked out, wearing a textured, green Brown Prec stock; hence the name.

Well, that's saying something since most guys (I'd guess >95%) won't ever attempt a 650 yard shot at a 380 bull, much less be so sure of the outcome.

................Which reminds me. I don`t have a nickname yet for my 338-378 Wby Accumark.

Have a 300 WSM Ruger Frontier which is dubbed,,,,,,,"mighty mouse"
Got a 375 Ruger Alaskan which is dubbed,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Sarah"

Other than the obvious and more common nicknames such as,,,,the beast, the hammer, hammer of Thor, monster, etc, what in heck do you nickname a 338-378 Accumark?

I'd take a Ruger in 30/06 and worry more about my binocular- Truth is, if any rifle had any substantive claim to being the best, that would be the only one you's see in the elk season. And I believe more hunters fail from having more rifle than they can handle than from having an elk get away from a good shot in the vitals with not enough rifle.

Royce

Did someone interject some truth and common sense into the issue of long range shooting? I think I'm going to keel over. My respect for you just went up immeasurably doc...and that's coming from a guy that actually likes to shoot long range.

Dave

p.s. There has never been, nor will there ever be, a better combination for elk than an '06 throwing 180 partitions. It should be noted that I shoot niether.

There ain't no "best", but there are a lot of very good cartridges for the job at hand

My .300 ULTRA Zoo rifle loaded with .200 Accubombs, or partitions, or 210 bergers. ART leupie 4.5X14 shot out 1000yds.


LC

lol - i just like to see all the different comments.

Take whatever gun you have that you know shoots accurately-
practice and know what your gun can do!

put the bullet in the right spot - he'll go down !