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

Yes, great info. I am guessing the trophy guys probably represent a serious bunch of hunters who have also learned to shoot well and can use the potential of the magnums. For all my opinions about magnum vs standard etc.etc. I have owned a number of magnums and found the .300's to be powerful and accurate with the ability to reach out with authority well beyond 500 yards. For many years I shot a .300 Jarrett. I was getting 3028 fps with 200 grain bullets and 3/4 MOA accuracy. That was an elk killing machine even at looooong ranges. Personally, I would still choose a 7 mag for the lower recoil. I don't like heavy recoil. I had a brake on the Jarrett and never fired the gun without it. All the elk I ever shot with my 7 mags died just as quickly as with the .300.

Early on I carried 300 Weatherby's and 300 Win Mags, and 338's.The 300's were wicked killers,close or far,if I stuck the bullet in the right spot.

But I got tired of the weight,and the recoil....the mag 7's are a good compromise of recoil, rifle weight,and lethal effect. Good bullets,and again, good placement, are key.....

And for good reason...

I'd say that'd be a handloaded 6.5x55 or 7x57. Factory fodder, then .260 or 7mm-08.

There is no "best". Your choice needs to match your hunting style, terraine, recoil sensitivity, the shots your are willing to take, your skill level, etc, etc, etc, Whatever works for you with the above criteria, is "best", but only for you.

338/338 Wby firing a 225 TTSX @ 3350 fps. Comfortable to 800 if wind is right. Any angle to vitals is do-able w/ this combo.
Gunner

Shot them with everything from .243 up to .338RUM. They all die when you put a bullet through their heart or double lung them. Pretty easy target...

Damm, cobrad � after getting through that lllloooonnnnngggg paragraph, I�m exhausted and my eyes hurt! ItwaslikereadingasentencewithnospacesbetweenthewordsifyouknowwhatImean.

I had to copy/paste your post into an editor and throw some randomly placed double line breaks in just to make it more readable.! Think next time you might find time to hit the carriage return/�Enter� key a few times? Please?

Silly me, I used a 7mm RM with 160g Grand Slams on elk for 20+ years because that was all I had. Didn�t learn until later that it was grossly deficient�

Should have guessed as much, however, as some managed to make it a few yards�

I was on a roll... so excited I could hardly slow down to take a breath.

My dream hunt gun (300WSM) would be for my sheep in Wy which I have 11 PP's for. My favorite elk hunt "gun" is my Hoyt Vectrix for which I am a max pt holder for a limited entry unit in Wy. How many pts did you have for your sheep? What wind conditions did you have on your 1100 yd shot? Thanks,

In all fairness I must agree with Bobin that the .300 Win mag and it's big brother the .338 Win mag take top billing!!!

I'd take my Sako A7 in 300WSM shooting 165 GMX's

3-9 Nikon Monarch

Best boots that I had at the time.

I would take my .270AI or my 257 weatherby shot several elk with both. But it comes down to personal preferance. I like the smaller calibers now because I can spend more time at the range, with less recoil.

The .300 Winchester
by Jack Steele

SAY YOU WANTED to hunt with just one big-game rifle. Have it become an extension of your own body. Know it like the smell of your Dad's wool coat. Say you wanted it in a caliber flat enough to poke coyotes at long distance but powerful enough to make a bull elk take notice at the far end of a cross-canyon shot. Say you wanted it all in one package so you could always count on that one rifle to get the job done. Sound like a pipe dream?

The do-it-all rifle is not a myth, as many a seasoned rifleman knows. In fact, while the gunrags do a healthy business recommending good calibers for this, and best bullet for that, it's a fact that when flying lead doesn't have the intended results, it's the man behind the rifle that's almost certainly to blame. Show me a man who blames a miss on his rifle, and I'll show you a rifleman in need of polish, which leads to the primary reason behind choosing one good rifle -- polished skills.

Of course, the best way to polish skills is by shooting your chosen Betsy often and from real-life shooting positions. A rifle that feels right and doesn't kick like a mule goes a long way toward promoting regular practice. So does reloading for it, which will promote accuracy and increased familiarity.

It goes without saying that a one-rifle battery should be as accurate as possible. In practical terms, however, a 2-MOA rifle is plenty good enough for most big-game hunting. Latch onto a rifle that consistently shoots 1 MOA, and you'll regret the day you part with it. Any big-game rifle more precise than that should be considered an heirloom.

What really gets interesting, however, is deciding on a caliber. Ask five seasoned riflemen for their top choice, and you can expect five different opinions, all vehement, all well reasoned.

The .30-06 is the perennial all-mention, and rightly so; there's no rust on the classic. The .270 Winchester, aside from being a hell of a caliber, was Jack O'Connor's darling (though he admitted the ought-six probably was better) and therefore commands a prodigious following. The .338 Winchester Magnum was a favorite of Elmer Keith and is a superb choice for the steel-shouldered. The 7mm Remington Magnum does a whole lot with class.

Lots of others, most notably the .308 Winchester and the .280 Remington as well as various Weatherby Magnums and a slew of wildcats, can and do fit the bill. But the .300 Winchester Magnum -- the .300 Win. Mag. just might be the best of all! Except for the big brownies, which rate their own .375 H&H Magnum to many minds, the North-American hunter with a good .300 Winny has all the rifle he will ever need. And then some.

So, why not the .30-06? Why not, indeed. The good ol' ought-six is still a top choice. From 'chucks to elk, it is a serious caliber for the serious hunter, no question about it.

There is one area, however, where the ought-six gives up some ground, and that's when it comes to pushing heavy bullets -- the kind you want when big, tough critters like elk and moose are on the program. Yes, the classic .30-06 load pushing a 180-grain pill at 2700-2800 ft/sec will do almost anything you need, but throw in a big bull elk across a wide canyon at dusk, and the Winny gets the nod. Consider that at 400 yards, the Winny's 3100 ft/sec with the same 180-grainer gets you 450 ft/lbs more terminal energy and five inches less drop.

If that weren't telling enough, jump up to the 200-grain rock ,and by today's mega-magnum standards the 2550 ft/sec generated by a .30-06 case can be considered positively lethargic, although for close work in heavy timber, the combination is hard to beat.

By contrast, the Winny pushes the 200-grainer to a speedy 2950 ft/sec with careful reloads. At 400 yards, this translates into almost 700 ft/lbs more terminal energy and a trajectory flattened by 7 inches. That is the kind of difference that makes a difference on tough game.

Bottom line: While the .30-06 still may be the finest all-around caliber, it says here that if elk are in your plans (and elk are increasingly in everyone's plans) the .300 Winchester might be a better choice.

The same analysis applies to the .270 Winchester. By all accounts a hell of a sheep and deer caliber, throw elk into the equation and the .270 becomes marginal. Sure, there are elk hunters who shoot their bull with a .270 every year, but they are the exception. Most of the savvy elk crowd considers the .270 either too small or the absolute bare minimum for wapiti.

Suffice it to say that, at 400 yards, the .270 shooting 130 spitzers and the .300 Win. Mag. shooting 200-grain spitzers have virtually identical trajectories. The difference is that the .270 arrives carrying roughly 1300 ft/lbs of energy (below the 1500 ft/lbs often cited as a minimum for elk) while the Winny will deliver over a ton of energy, almost 2300 ft/lbs What the great .270 is to deer and sheep, the .300 Winny is to elk. Bad medicine.

As to the 7mm Remington Magnum, this fine caliber is often considered to be the ought-six's ballistic clone. The 7-Rem's small advantages in sectional density are offset by the .30-06's increased frontal area. The ought-six has an advantage in that more and heavier bullets are readily available, especially for the handloader, but basically, in the field you could choose one or the other and never notice the difference. So as versatile, accurate, and popular as this .284 is, the .30-06 retains an edge, and the .300 WinMag outclasses them both.

The .338 Winchester Magnum is another thing altogether. By all accounts a large caliber by North-American standards, it has been said that true recoil starts at the .338. A seasoned rifleman who practices regularly certainly should have no trouble handling the .338, but for many casual shooters, the .338 is simply too much rifle to shoot regularly or accurately.

It is noteworthy, however, that in terms of the wide spectrum of game animals available in North America, the .338 is probably the most well centered. A fair choice for the big brown bears (though a .375 H&H is superior for this work by an order of magnitude), the .338 is rightly considered by many as the preeminent elk caliber, while still being plenty flat enough for whitetails, antelope, and even coyotes. Take the big bears out of the equation, however, which they are for the vast majority of hunters, and the .338 becomes a too large shoulder pounder for most weekend warriors, though still optimal for dedicated wapiti chasers. Let face it. You don't need a .338 for any whitetail walking the earth.

By contrast, the beauty of the .300 WinMag is that it is so well suited to the typical range of hunting experiences to be had in North America.

After plains game? 180-grain Ballistic Tips at 3100 ft/sec equal bad mule-deer medicine and devastating performance on pronghorns. The same load is a ringer in "beanfield" situations. Elk and moose in your plans? Load 200-grain Partitions or A-Frames at 2900 ft/sec, and be assured that you have the right gun! Feel like practicing on coyotes or chucks? Scream some 165-grain boattails at 3250 ft/sec, and worry about your end of the rifle.

Like with all calibers, there are situations where a different caliber would be ideal, but for all-around versatility, flat trajectory, and high energy, the .300 Winchester Magnum shines, maybe like no other.

In the end, the choice of an all-around rifle depends on many factors. If you like a gun, you are much more likely to shoot it and shoot it well, so choose a rifle you like. Also, any experienced rifleman knows that where you hit 'em is much more important than what you hit 'em with, so place your emphasis on skills rather than on the size of the rock. But when all that is said and done, take a good hard look at the .300 Winchester.

You may not look any further.

What a pile of nonsense... a lot of theoretical gyrations...

.300 Winny is a very powerful round. I've used a couple .300's. Still doesn't change that most of the hunters I have guided couldn't shoot one well. All the gun writers and armchair elk experts on the internet can't change 30+ years of observation guiding elk hunters. Now, I honestly don't think we represent the average hunter here, only a bunch of gun loonies would spend so much time debating this stuff, arguing, posting pix... we can shoot anything... on the internet . But real world experience guiding or outfitting a few hundred hunters has served to form my opinions. Good and wonderful as all that power looks on paper, most guys won't/can't master the recoil, and you don't NEED that power to kill elk at the ranges the vast majority of elk are taken at. I never hesitated to shoot elk at ranges out around 400 with an '06, and won't with the .270 I'm now shooting. Someone here has made a couple of references to the superior ability of the big magnums to shoot into the middle of an elk, a gut shot is my interpretation, and they will still fall. Big guns don't make up for crappy shooting. Get a gun you can shoot well, and for the majority of hunters out there that is not a magnum, and you'll kill elk. I still steer my hunters away from magnums unless they are already shooting one. I would much rather see my guys show up with a .270 they can shoot than a magnum anything they are intimidated by.

Not really a clone, although similar in capability. The 7mm RM can shoot flatter and deliver more energy at distance with recoil on a par or even less than a .30-06 with bullets of similar sectional density.

Where the -06 has an advantage is not so much in bullet availability but in the variety of factory ammo available. Even that advantage is due less to the choices available for hunting than to the relatively inexpensive ammo available for practice. For the handloader, the difference in bullet availability is generally unimportant. If one wants 220g bullets the .30-06 has the advantage, but most hunters would prefer jumping up in caliber if such heavies were required.



I would say the same applies to the .300WM.



I wouldn�t use BT�s at 3100fps, even in the .30/180g variety, but that is a different argument.

At ranges over 500 yards I�ll prefer my .300WM by a very slight margin, but for a �do-it-all� rifle the 7mm RM will get it done with significantly less recoil.

7mm RM, 175g @ 2950fps = If this won�t do it, I want something bigger than a .300...
7mm RM, 160g @ 3100fps = Yet to be found wanting on elk in my experience, works on mulies to prairie dogs, too.
7mm RM, 140g @ 3340fps = My choice these days (3200-3300).
7mm RM, 120g @ 3516fps = Talk about a �stringer� for bean fields...




Fixed that for him.

+1

Well Tonk I won't for a single second doubt their ballistic capabilities, nor their effect on game,which is stellar for obvious reasons

I used the hell out of my 300 mags for years;Weatherby, Winchester,and H&H.All were great,and some were customs. And a lot of my friends had them as well...they always did a bang up job on anything.....but about 15 or so years ago my infatuation started to slip a bit,as my brain started to focus on what it already "knew",but refused to admit..

Namely that by the time you got the 300's light enough to pack around,recoil started to become bothersome...to get similar ballistic performance from the 30 caliber mags, as compared to the 7mm mags,you had to burn heavier charges of powder with heavier bullets to get these bullets to go fast enough.....ergo the trade off between rifle weight/recoil, etc.

Today some of that has changed with the 300 WSM rifles (SOME of which are as light as some of the big 7's I've hunted with) and this is good.Today there are more options,but still I find the big 7's can be made into generally lighter rifles than the big 30's and still keep recoil very manageable,which really helps in precision shooting....especially as I age...

So that today,as has been the case for the past 15-20 years,I reach for a 7 mag in those situations in which I'd previously grabbed a 300 and the stuff continues to fall down.....not necessarily because of any ballistic advantage of power over 300's but more because bullets are fabulous in 7mm,powder charges more moderate,and recoil reduced for the same trajectories,etc.performance on game also seems more than adequate..

..not to mention the better bullets available today,to the point that I look at a Big 7 as my "big gun"today.....I feel bad shooting deer sized stuff with it...it is just way more than required even on really large bodied deer but obviously does a great job.

And those panatella-long 175's seem to be a payload...years past I mostly used 160's so never shot 175's at elk....but even a garden-variety 175 Nosler Partition has a BC of .519,I suspect higher than any other Nosler Partition;and started at 2950-3100 fps (7 RM,Weatherby, Dakota...etc)hangs right in there with 180 gr loads from the 300 Winchester and Weatherby.Thes velocities attainable with 66-73 or so grains of powder vs the generally heavier charges required from the 300's.

It's interesting to read articles that about bigger rifles/cartridges that always play up that they produce more energy/velocity or whatever. But there is a point when you produce enough, and any more really serves very little purpose. They never seem to address that.