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

The last few elk I've killed I used my .50 T/C Triumph, 100gr 777, and 250gr T/C Shockwaves. Switching to Barnes 250gr T-EZ's this year.

win .264 mag
leupold vxII 2-7
140 grn berger vld

My custom .30-06 model 70 classic Featherweight, Krieger factor contour with McMillan featherweight stock and 3.5x10 L. I'll be shooting 168 TSXs at 2875.

Can't wait for CO 3rd rifle in area 67.

Ken

That should get the job done in style. Sounds nice, do you have pics?????

Mine is Remington 700BDL in 7MM MAG. Wanting to try out my .257 WBY Mag model 700CDL.

rem 700 stainless something or other in 300 rum with stomping 180 sirocco if it's not archery hunting with drenaline and muzzys

It has been a Knight LK93 with 2 60grain pellets behind a .54 Caliber .348gr powerbelt. Have only shot deer with it so far.

This year it is a Browning Stainless Stalker in .338WM with a 250gr partition and a Leupold M8 4x33.

Mine is a Jim Cloward built .300 Super Mag. Built on a Win Model 70 action, Pacific Research fiberglass stock, Douglas barrel. The whole thing is black teflon coated. I've got detatchable scope mounts (need to get the Leupold type some day) and had iron sights put on it in case my scope got buggered on a hunt.
I had the barrel Mag-Na-Ported to reduce recoil and bother the guys next to me at the range. It shoots better than I'll admit to here because people just call BS since it's a magnum and those can't possibly be accurately used.

I'll hunt anything from antelope to moose with it and be happy about it. I'm too cheap to have rifle for every animal I'd like to shoot.

I shoot the Nosler partitions in 180 grain out of it. They fly right and do the job but I'm thinking about messing around with something with a better BC for those longer pokes after watching John Burns' video series about shooting beyond belief. Lots of good info. there.

270 Win 150 gr NP in a tang safety Ruger M77 composite stock topped with a Leupy 2.5-8X Vari X III.

I've got a 338 Win in the safe if ever I'm convinced the 270 isn't big enough. (unlikely to happen)

sgt217 - what 6mm bullet?

Trajectory closely follows that of the .30-06 with 180 grainers, but with a lot more terminal power (cape buffalo capable levels), however it seems to me that you're sacrificing in the area of a heavier rifle with more felt recoil. Most who regularly use .30-06/.308 class calibers don't seem to believe more power than that is needed to bring down even the toughest bull elk (even with non-ideal shot angles). Have you had experience that contradicts this?

Aren't .338 caliber bullets mostly designed to perform ideally at Win Mag velocities? Seems like that's a drawback for the .338-06 concept.

Beautiful pre-64 Winchester 70. Looks like a Super Grade.

In my experience almost any caliber from 257 roberts up to 458 win can deliver a mortal wound, the questions not so much "can you kill an elk with your rifle" as it is "can you reasonably expect to kill an elk shooting from any reasonable range and with the elk not standing at an ideal broad side angle and still have him drop close to the point where he stood at bullet impact."

when I started elk hunting nearly all the hunters in our group used a 30/06 and 180-220grain bullets, those rifles KILLED just fine, but even with good shot placement the elk seldom dropped on bullet impact, most ran, some stood, most dropped inside 70-80 yards
when I swapped to a 340 wby and occasionally a 375 H&H they didn,t kill elk any deader, but there sure was a noticeable difference in the elks reaction when hit, it was obvious it hit harder,some still ran, some stood,then dropped, most dropped, and most fell inside 30-40 yards
from a pragmatic view either caliber resulted in a one shot kill, and a 30/06 had less recoil, cost less and was easier to carry, but there was little doubt in my experience that the larger calibers got the elks full attention much better, and dressing them out showed the larger heavier bullets tended to be more consistent in performance, penetrated deeper and broke bones more effectively

From near as I can tell from the several elk I've shot with the 405 and the witnessed 375 ouchnouch kills, the only noticable difference is the sound of the bullet hitting home, other wise it's about the sameolsame ol , elk either locks up and stands there , falls over, or walks/runs off a ways and then dies.
The cow elk that had a 270 gr from a 375 complete pass thru the rib cage on a quartering away angle was a huge dissappointment, not only did she wander on another 200 yds, there was not 1 drop of blood on her hair or on the ground. Had she not of been out in the open the entire time we may not of recovered her.
The 45-80 with a 550 gr paper patch was the most dramatic non CNS stop I've ever seen. That little raghorn got hit at 204 yds and he just folded up into a sleeping position in midstride , hit the ground on his side and never moved even as much as a twitch.
With all that said if a big bore of one flavor or another gives you more self confidence then by all means have right at it. However if you feel more secure by using your tried and true nonmagnum rifle then go right to it, they all work and work well, but the bullet has to go where it supposed to. After all in or around 1904 there was a series of articles in Field and Forest about which was the better elk cartridge the 30-30 or the 30-40. The only thing that has really changed much is the numbers on the cartridge.

I think you just need to be aware of what bullet you pick to reload. A 210 partition will perform well across a wide range of velocity and will do well with a 338-06. Loaded ammo is a no brainer. The 338-06 doesn't give up enough velocity to the 338 WM to knock it out of the performance range of most bullets. With the increase interest of this cartridge and other numbers like the 338 Fed bullet selection is better.

Two reasons resulted in that (almost bad) situaion.

1. 165 grain is simply too light for deeper penetration (as needed with elk) unless the bullet is built for deep penetration as a partition/TSX/etc bullets are.
2. 50 yards is CLOSE and that bullet was still traveling very close to muzzle speed resulting in a high speed imapct with dense muscle and tissue with a too light of bullet.

Been killing elk for years and the rifle I have used the last tn years or so is a good ole 30/06 loaded with 180 grain bullets.
No matter the angle the elk stands at, they are dead out to about 300 yards.
After that range my eyes are not as trust worthy.

Last time my go-to rifle was this Ballard Pacific. .45-70.

It's generally my go to rifle for whatever. My 73 y.o. Husqvarna 146 rechambered to 9.3 x 62, with an old Redfield Lo-profile widefield 2-7x.

BN

Ruger 270 cal 130 gr bronze point