Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Whats your go to elk rifle and caliber ?

Don't really have just one. I have taken elk with a variety of cartridges ranging from .270 up through .375 H&H. I am taking a couple of Ruger No. 1s to camp this year: a .338 Win Mag and a 9.3x74R.

If I had to pick just one, any of the rifles that I have used over the past 47 years would work just fine. Still, I would probably be partial to that pre-64 Model 70 in .30-06 that I bought when I was 18. I killed my first bull with it. I kind of hope that I will take the last one with it, too, but (God willing) that's still a few years down the road.

I only own 2 any more. One is my dad's '50ish Rem 721 30-06. My other one that I use all the time is a Savage 300 WSM. It's actually lighter than the '06 so it's got a bit more 'boost' to the shoulder. So far it's accounted for 2 deer and 2 elk since I traded my 270 for it and it's 100% on what I've shot at with it. I love Savage's Accu-trigger.

BTW - I don't care a bit about what a gun looks like. It's a tool and I expect to use it like one. If I need something to cuddle and pet, I have a perfectly good wife for the job.

As of this moment its ye ole Remmy 700 280 AI, complete with 140 TSX's.

Joseph

Thompson Center Icon Weathershield 30-06, Federal Pemium HE 180 grain Nosler Partitions (2,900 fps), Leupold VX-III 3.5x10x40 scope.

KC

Mine's a Pre 64 Win M70 chambered for the .338-06. My favorite bullet is the 210 gr. Nosler Partion.

Very nice, that is damn near perfection for elk I'd imagine...

I just shot a 600 pounder with a Tikka T-3 Lite 30-06 with a Pentax Gameskeeper 4-12X 40. It went down immediately being hit in the shoulder with the bullet lodged in the backstrap. I was not too happy with the bullet when I got it out. it was a Hornady
Light Magnum 165 grain SST, factory loaded. The retained weight was only 93.5 grains. True, it did the job and mushroomed nicely, losing almost half of it's weight surprised me. Any thought's. It was only a 50 yard shot.

My thought is that the SST isn't as hardy as the Interlock. I shot non-Light-Magnum factory loads in .30-06, & kept digging jackets out of the backstop at the range. I switched to Interlocks in handloads, & now I pull out intact bullets.

On my actual elk hunt, I used factory loaded 165 Interbonds, resulting in 1 pass through, & a 2nd resulting in a perfect mushroom lodged in the off-side temple.

And yes - this is a neat place where we can argue about bullet failures in dead critters...

FC

Ruger # 1 in 30-06.

Model 700 stainless mountain rifle, .30/06 with a Leupold VX3 3.5-10X40. Backup is a 700 CDL fluted, stainless 7 Mag with Conquest 4.5-14X50. Both with handloads (180 gr and 160 gr Accubonds, respectively) approximating factory ballistics.

totally depends on the area and ranges,I expect to get shots, and if Im planing on sitting and watching across a canyon, for anything moving thru that looks impressive enough to shoot, or still hunting timber, as part of a group, looking to call or jump elk.
I take the 340wby on most opening days, but after about 3 days I revert to the other two, and in 40 years plus of hunting elk I can,t remember having more than 2-3 shots past 300 yards

340wby long range (0-500 plus yards
375 H&H medium range (0-350plus yards)
35 whelen short range timber hunts (0-250 plus yards)
all three rifles kill elk just fine

I believe from here on out, it will be my .300 Wby. Mag.

I'm not wedded to a single rifle and like to try new things. So far I've killed elk with:

Ruger #1 416 Rigby
Ruger hawkeye .338 WM
Browning (don't laugh) .338 WM
Browning (don't laugh) .375 H&H
Rem 700 375 H&H
Rem 700 270 Win
Ruger hawkeye 30-06

new-to-try this coming season Ruger Hawkeye 280AI 160 TSX

I have been using my Kimber Montana 300 Win Mag. Last year filled my cow tag with it using a 180 Accubond. This year I will be shooting 168gr TTSX.

I'm fussy about rifles. I have not had an elk rifle I was truly satisfied with yet. I'm still searching for that combination of accuracy with an acceptable bullet, both long and short range adequacy, portability, yet enough weight to manage recoil, to all converge in a single package. I came close a couple years ago but the rifle wouldn't give accuracy with a bullet I wanted to hunt elk with.

This year will see me head for the elk hills with a TC Custom Shop .58 Renegade ... since I have a ML-only tag and that's the ML I currently own. It has accuracy issues but if I get within 50 yards, there will be a dead elk.

Next year I return to centerfire but I'm seriously considering switching to handgun, then sticking with that 'til I succeed.

Tom

first trip in the woods for a Sako 85 Finn 300 WM, The glass is a redfield revo 4x10x40. Hope to have the Leupy 3.5x10x40 cds on it for next year.

What ever rifle I have in my hands when he steps out.
BBJ

It's a Rem 700 Left Hand in 7 Mag that I bought in 1980. I had all metal parts coated with Teflon and put a H-S Precision stock (ADL type - no floorplate) on it. In fact I just checked the zero on it yesterday. Still shoots great with Nosler 160 grain Partitions that I handload with IMR4831.

Anything greater than/equal to .24 caliber.

................Same thing basically applies to me. My go to elk rifle and cartridge depends on terrain and expected shooting distances.

Whichever of the three below I go to at the time, will be at that time, my go to round.